Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-04-09
ACCoMAC G. H. VA SATURDAY. APRIL 9, 1892

voices consecratcd the place to God
Twenty thousand dollars were raised
that day to pay floating debt. In thu
morning old DIR. Stephen H. Tying, thu
glory of the Episcopal church and the
Chrysostom of the American pulpit
gracious effects rs long as the building
stood. lie read enough out of the Epis
copal prayer book to keep himself from
being reprimanded by his bishop fo'
preaching ut a non-Episcopal service
and VIC, although belonging to another
denomination. responded with hearth
ness, as though we were used to the
liturgy Cool Lord, deliver us!'
During the short time we occupied
that building we had a constant down
pour of religious awakening. Hosannah
Ten million years in heaven will have nc
power to dim my memory of the glorious
times we had in that first Tabernacle
which. because Of its invasion of the us
ual style of church architecture, wa;
called by some "Talmage's Hippo
drome,r by others, Church of the Holy
Circus and 10y other mirthful nomen
clatrre. But it was a building perfect
for acoustics, and stood long enough tc
have its imitation in all the large cities
Of AmeriGn and TO completely revolu-
tionize church architecture. People
saw that it was the common sense way
of seating an audience.
Instead of putting them in an angular
church, where each one chiefly saw the
back part of somebody else's head, the
audience wero arranged in semicircle,
so that they could see one anothcr's faces,
and the auditorium was great family
circle seated around fireplace, which
was the pulpit 1t was an iron struc-
ture, and we supposed fireproof, but the
insurance companies looked at it, and
after we had gone too far to stop in it's
construction. they declined to insure it,
except for a mere nothing, declaring
that, being of iron. if the in1lainmable
material between the sheets of iron took
fire no engine hose could play upon it.
And they wcro right. During those
days we educated and sent out from a
lay college under our charge some
twelve hundred young men and women,
many of them becoming evangelists and
many of them becoming regularly or
dained preachers, and / meet them in
all parts of the land toiling nightly for
Z God.
One Sunday morning in December,
1872, the thermometer nearly down to
zero, was OH my way to church. There
was an excitement in the street and
much smoke in the air. Fire engines
dashed past But my mind was on the
sermon. | was about to preach, until
some ono rushed up and told me
that our church was going up in the
same kind of chariot that Elijah took
from the banks of the Jordan. 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 earth. is as vivid as though it were
yesterday. But it was not perfect loss.
All were anxious to do something.
and as on such occasions sensible people
are apt to do unusual things. one of tho
IICuiUSrS, at Lilo rion Ills IIIe, rushed
in among the fallen walls, mounted the
pulpit and took a glass of water from
the table and brought it i'll safety to the
street. So you see it was rot total
loss. Within an hour from many
churches came kind invitations to oc-
cupy their buildings, and hanging against
a lamppost. near the destroyed building,
before l2 o'clock that morning: was a
board with the inscription, The con-
gregation of Brooklyn Tabernacle will
worship tonight in Plymouth church.
Mr.. Beechcr made the opening prayer,
which was full of comlniseration for NE
and my homeless flock, ard preached
that night the sermon that intended to
preach that morning i'll my own church,
the text concerning the precious ala
baster box broken at the feet of Christ,
and sure enough we had one very pro-
cious broken that day. We were, as a
church, obliteratcd. But arise and
build" said many voices. Another
architect took the amphitheatrical plan
of church. which, in the first instance,
was necessarily somewhat rude, and de-
veloped it into an elaborate plan that
was Immediately adopted But how to
raise the money for such an expensive
undertaking was the Question-expensive
not because of any senseless adornment
proposed, but expensive because of the
immense size-of the building needed to
hold our congregation.
1t was at that time when for years our
entire country was suffering, not from a
financial panic, but from that long con-
tinued financial depression which all
business men remember, as the cloud
hung heavy year after year and COM
mcrcial establishments without number
went down. Through what struggles
VIC passed the Eternal God and some
bravo souls today remember. Many a
time would have gladly accepted calls
to some other field, but could not
JclVC Tue uOCh Ill tilC VI ilISi HOoo. Al
last, after in the interregnuln having
worshipcd in our beautiful Academy of
Music, On the morning of Feb. q, 1874,
TIC ..--.-., yrsAry OF the Washington who
conquered ilnpossibilitics and on the
Sabbath that always celebrates the res
direction, DR.. Byron Sunderland, chap
lain of the United States senate, thrilled
us through and through with dedica-
tory sermon from Haggai ii, o, "The
glory of this house shall be greater than
that of the former. saith the Lord of
Hosts.
The corner stone of that building had
been laid by the illustrious and now en-
thronod DR.. Ireneus Prime. On the
platform on dedication day sat, among
others, DR.. Bowling, of the Baptist
church; DR.. Crook, of the Methodist
church; Mir. Beecier, of the Consrega-
tional church, and Dr.. French, of the
Presbyterian church. Hosannah! An
ron ...... <,,, Sa1y