Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-04-04
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thing is to be decided.
At o'clock of that evening the
architect presented his plans and the
bids of builder and mason were pre-
sented and in five minutes after the
plans were presented they We're unani-
mously adopted. So that | would not
be in the way of the trustees during the
work [ went to Europe, and when | got
back the church was well nigh done.
| But here came in Il staggering him
elrancc We expected to pay for the
new church ~ the sale of the old build
ing The o.d one had been sold, but
Just at the time we must have the
money the purchasers backed out, and
we ilaI lg-o churches and no money.
By the help Of God and the indomit-
able and unparalleled energy of our
trustees {here and there one of them
present today, but the most in a better
world). we got the building ready for
conservation, and on Sept 25, 1870,
morning and evening dedicatory serv-
ices were held, and in the afternoon the
| children with sweet and multitudlnous
voices consecrated the place to God.
! Twenty thousand dollars were raised
that day to pay a floating debt. In the
! morning old DR.. Stephen H. Tying, the
! glory of the Episcopal church and the
/ Chrysostom of the American pulpit,
/ preached a sermon which fingered in its
/ gracious effects us long as the building
/ stood He read enough out OF the Epis-
copal prayer book TO keep himself from
being reprimanded by his bishop for
preaching at non-Episcopal service,
and we, although belonging to another
denomination, responded with hearth
ness, as though we were used to the
liturgy Good Lord, deliver us!'
During the short time we occupied
that building we had constant down
pour of religious awakening. Hosannah!
Ten million years IN heaven will have no
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, was
called by some ''Talmage's Hippo
drome,' by others, Church OF the Holy
! Circus and by other mirthful nomen-
clature. But it was q building perfect
for acoustics, and stood long enough to
have it's imitation in al the large cities
of America 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 were arranged in semicircle,
so that they could see one another's faces,
and the auditorium was o great family
circle seated around fireplace, which
was the pulpit It was an iron struc-
4 fST.n715.9nf h77f tho
insurance companies looked At it, and
after we had gone too far to stop in its
construction, they declined to insure it,
except for a mere nothing, declaring
that. being of iron, if the infiammable
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 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 IL
all parts of the land toiling nightly for
God
One Sunday morning in December,
1872, the thermometer nearly down to
zero. was on my wayto church. There
was an excitement In the street and
much smoke in the all. fire engines
dashed past But my mind was on the
sermon | was about to preach, until
some one rushed up and told me
that our church was going up III the
same kind Of chariot that Elijah took
from the banks Of the Jordan. That
Sunday morning tragedy, with its
wringing of handsand frozen tears on
the check OF many thousands standing
in the street. and the crash thar shook
the earth, is as vivid as though it were
Yesterday Bet 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 the
members. at the risk Of his life, rushed
in among the fallen walls, mounted the
pulpit and took glass Of water from
the table and brought it IN safety to the
street. SO you see it was not total
loss. Within an hour from many
churches came kind invitations TO oc-
cupy their buildings, and hanging against
a larnppost, near the destroyed building.
before 10 o'clock that morning, was q
board with the inscription, 1.-The con
oreeation of Brooklyn Tabernacle viii
worship tonlShG III L ylnoutn cnufch.
Mr.. Beecher made the opening prayer,
which was full Of commiseration for me
and my homeless flock, and preached
that night the sermon that intended to
preach that morning in my own church,
the text concerning the precious ala
baster box broken at the feet Of Christ,
and sure enough we had one very pre-
cious broken that day. We were, as q
church. obliterated. But arise and
, build, said many voices. Another
architect took the a1nphitheatrical plan
) OF church, which, in the first instance