The Hazel Green herald., 1892-05-13

~ ~ Noulu not oe churcnly, ana Wouid
subject themselves and up 10 riinons
criticism; ia other words, they were
not rchdy for rcvolutldn in church
architccture. Utterly disheartcned rs
to my favoritc style OF architecture,
j said 10 the trustees: "Build any thing
YOU please, and 1 must be satisfied" I"
But one morning young architect APP
peared at my house and asked IL we had
yet selected plan for our church. I
said mo. and what we wnnt we can
not get" What style of building do
you want?n he asked. And taking out
lead pencil and n letter envelope from
my pocket. in less than minute, by u
few curved lines, indicated in the
rough what we wanted. "But," said,
'old architects tell us IL can't be done,
and there is no use in your trying"
lie said. ~ can do il. How long can /
have 20 make out the plans?" / said,
This evening Mt o'clock every thing
is TO bc decided"
At s o'clock of that evening the arch
itect presented his plans, and the bid of
builder and mason were presented, and
in five minutes after the plans were
presented they were unanimously
adopted. So that would not be in the
way of the trustees during the work, l
went To Europe, and when l got back
the church was well-nigh done. hut
here came in a staggering hindrance-
We expected tn pay for the new church
by the sale of the old building. The
old one had been sold, but just at the
time we must have the money the pur-
chascrs backed out and we had two
churches and no money. by the help
of God and the indomitable and unpar-
alleled energy OF our trustees there and
there one of them present to-day, but
the most in n better world, we got the
building ready for conservation, and on
September -, 1870, morning and even
ing dedicatory services were held,
and in the afternoon the chill
drcn, with sweet and multitudinous
voices, consccratcd the place 20 God.
Twenty Thousand dollars were raised
that day 10 pay a floating debt. In the
morning old DR.. stephen II. Tying, the
glory of the Episcopal church and the
ChrysoStom OF the American pulpit,
reached a sermon, which fingered in its
gracious effects as long as the building
stood. He read enough of the Episcopal
prayer-boolS To keep himself from being
rcprimandcd by his bishop for preach
ing n non-Episcopal service; and we, al
though belonging to another denomina-
ton, responded with heartiness, as
though we were used to the Liturgy:
Good Lord, deliver us!' During the
short time we occupied that building,
we had "a constant downpour of re-
ligious awakening. Hosannah. Ten
million years in Heaven will have no
power To dim my memory of the glori-
ous times we had in that first taber-
nacle, which, because of its invasion
of the usual style of church architecture,
was called 10y some "ralmagc's hippo
drome,' by others, Church of the Holy
Circus" aud by other mirthful nomcn-
claturc. But it was building perfect
for acoustics, and stood long enough
To have its imitation in all the large cit
les of America, and To completely rcvo-
lutionizc church architecture. People
saw that il was the common-scnse way
of seating an audience. Instead of put
ting them in an angular church, where
each one chiefly saw the back part of
somebody clsc's head, the audience were
arranged in scmi-circle, so that they
could see each others faces, and the
auditorium was great family
circle seated around fireplace.
which was the pulpit. 1t wa'
an iron structure, and. we supposed,
tirc-proof, but the insurance companies
looked at it and, after we had gone too
far To stop in its construction, they de-
clincd 10 insure IL except for a mere
nothing, declaring that, being of iron,
if the infammablc material between
the sheets of iron took fire, no
engine hose could play upon it. And
they were right. During those days
we educated and sent out from lay
college under our charge some 1000
young men and women, many of them
becoming evangelists and many of them
becoming regularly ordained preachers,
and meet them in all parts of the land
toiling nightly for God.
One Sunday morning in December,
1872, the thermometer nearly down to
zero, was on my way 10 church. There
was an excitement in the street and
much smoke in the air. Fire engines
dashed past. But my mind was on my
sermon ! was about 20 preach, until
someone rushed up and told me that
our church was going up in the same
kind OF chariot that Elijah took from
the banks OF Jordon. That Sunday
morning tragedy, with its wringing of
hands, and frozen tears on the cheek OF
many thousands standing in the street,
and the crash that shook the