Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-25

| vide, than is an individual in putting up a
| palatial mansion without the money to pay
for it. s'Owe no man anything" is a Script
J ural injunction which falls dead fiat upon
/ a congregation sitting in softly cushioned
pews, in an elegantly appointed church
that is not paid Tor. Mechanics liens and
| debts are not very creditable decorations
for anybody's house. and they are certainly
quite as reprehensible in church.
Not Dishonest but Thoughtless.
Churches do not mean to be dishonest
They intend to pay their debts in course of
time. But with credit they spend too law
ishly. They depend TOO much upon be-
quests, donations, contributions, bazaars,
church fairs and other means of raising the
| funds The money should be raised first,
and then the church should be built in ac-
eordance with the cash. When a
church is burdened with debt it
cuts down the minister's salary and destroys
his efficiency In large measure, by keep
/ ing his nose on the grindstone and his
whole mind bent upon the problem of how
to make both ends meet upon poverty-
stricken salary from a deeply-indebted
| church
Instead of going in debt for handsome
church, it would be great deal better to
| read the Bible at home and pray in the
well to go to church. to listen to a nice SER
mon, to hear some fine music, to join in
| PRAYER, and say Amen devoutly, and bow
| under q benedietion, but TO know of the
mortgages, the mechanics liens, the notes
to pay of, the salaries of the preacher and
the organist. and all the other expenses
to be met with no money in the treasury,
will hardly conduce to a calm and heavenly
frame of mind.
The Tabernacle people have had load of
debt ever since the beginning. Now it is
said to be S75,0 The mechanics must be
| pretty hardly pushed when the Sheriff has
to be called upon to levy on the church.
Jay Gould might have paid off the debt and
never felt the strain. But he didn't.
Brother Talmage breaches 70 vast numbers
every Sunday, but they do not come down
with the cash to ease off the burden of debt.
Many from all parts of the country go to
hear the eloquent preacher, who would not
give dollar to support the church.
What the Women Would Do.
Some men are fond of growing about the
extravaganza of women, but it is very much
to be doubted, if women occupied the re-
sponsible places of church trustees or man.
ayers, that they would ever run a church so
deeply in debt that they could never see the
end of it. In this extremity and dearth of
cash there will be a lot OF appealing, of
begging, of praying and of hoping. But
those who built this great expensive church
without the money to pay for it will hardly
be spared the bitterness of feeling that they
are keeping mechanics and others out of
their hard-earned money. 1t will not add
to their Christian comfort to gaze upon the
beautiful decorations OF the Tabernacle and
know that the Sheriff is after them.
Its very richness and splendor keep out
~, Id
stay at home by the high rent of pews. Jay
Gould, they say, paid 81, 800 year for his
pew rent and his share of Sunday pIety, but
anybody with $780, 900 could do that
easily.
A church should keep out of debt as a
shining example of honesty. Poor Richard,
of Almanac lame, says somewhere: 1.-THE
first vice is running in debt-the second is
lying, and Lying rides upon Debts back. %
Anybody who has been reading the SER
mons OF BrotherTalmage of late eau see that
he is bothered in his mind. Perhaps this
mountain OF debt upon his church is the
cause of it. The New York Rerdd says that
in the great preaching tour of Talmage last
summer, he addressed hundreds of thou
sands of eager auditors" and collected vast
sums of money for English benevolences-
not Withholding brass tarthing for him
self" Now, in return, it would seem to be
a nice neighborly act for these eager audi
tors to pass around the hat and relieve
Brother Talmage and the Tabernacle
With background of debt q man is apt
to take gloomy views and seek for some
thing to divert his mind. Brother Talmage
has taken to a study of astronomy and the
worlds unknown. From this study he
deduces the remarkable answer to the 1ues
tion that has perpleXed every intelligent
man and woman since the earth has stood:
"Why did God let sin and sorrow come into
this world when he could have prevented
them from coming?" Brother Talmage
thinks ne has found the reason. 1t is this:
Brother Talmage's Unique Theory.
To keep the universe loyal to a Holy God,
it was important i'll some world, somewhere,
to demonstrate the gigantic disasters that
would come npon any world that allowed
sin to enter Which world should it be?
Well the smaller the world the better, for
less numbers would suffer. So our world
was selected. The stage was large enough
for the enactment of the tragedy. Although
we know comparatively little about the
other worlds-lest we become completely
dissatisfied with our own-no doubt the
other worlds have heard. and are now hear
ing all about this world i'll the awful ex-
pertinent of sin which the human race has
been making.
Then he proceeds to declare that he be-
lieves every world in the skies above us
has heard Of our terrific terrestrial expert
ment, and that we are an awful "objeot
lesson" to all the multi-millions of the popu-
lation of the stars, especially when they
heard that the "Worldmaker," the 'World-
starter" and the Worldupholder" gave
His only son to be assassinated to expiate
and restore and save the victims of the
worlds shipwreck.
1t may be interesting and instructive for
the people of Jupiter anL Saturn and Mars
and all the rest OF them to contemplate the
experiment OF sin and suffering being in |
trodueed into world, but it is pretty hard |
on nine-tenths of the people on this planet |
to be singled out and doomed to "endless |
fire and chains" for the benefit of the |
Saturnians, the Jupiterians, the Uranians
and the millions in all the other stars. Our
world may be small. but it is not pleasing
thought or a welcome theory that we were
picked out to become ''holy terror" or
an lawful example" to the whole heavens
above. Let us hope that with all the debts
of the Tabernacle paid up, with the
mechanics liens crossed of, with the ab-
sence of the Sheritf's mlnions assured and
the prospect of plenty of revenue made
reasonably certain, that Brother Talmage
will ''chirk up" grow cheerful and con-
struct theory that will be somewhat less
depressing. BESSIE BRAMBLE
For a clear head and steady nerves
Take BrOmO.SeltZer-lOc u bottle,