The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-04-14

nave ptoatncu mere tWchty-llrCc |
'cars, and expect, iImy life and health |
lrc continued, to preach here twenty
hrcc years longer, although We will all |
10 well to remember that our breath is |
II our nostrils, and any hour We may be
called TO give an account of our steward
ship. All we ask for the future Is that
you do your best, contributing all you
can to the support Of our institutions.
Our best days arc yet to come; our
greatest rcvivals of religion, and our
outpourings of the Holy Ghost.
We have got through the Red sea and
stand today on the other bank clapping
the cymbals of victory.
DO you wonder that last Sabbath |
asked you in the midst of the service to
rise and sing with iubilant voice the
long meter DoXology:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
IraiSc him, all creatures here below,
IIaiSc him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Yes twenty-threc years have passed
since / ca nc to live in Bro0kly, and
they have been to me eventul years. 1t
was Il prostratcd church to which |
came. q church so flat down it could
drop no farther. Through controversies
which it would be unless to rchca sc it
was we'll nigh extinct, and for long
while it had been without Il pastor. But
nineteen members could be mustered
to sign cali for my coming
AS Il committee was putting that
call before me in an upper room in my
house in Philadelphia, there were two
other committees on similar errands
from other churches in other rooms,
whom my wife was entertaining aud
keeping apart from unhappy collision
The auditorium Of the Brooklyn church
to which | came dtlird all the laws of
acoustics; the church had a StCeplo that
was the derislon Of the town, and a
high box pulpit which shut in the
preacher as though he were dangerous
to be let loose, or it acted as 4 DarricaGe
that was unnecessary to keep back the
p oplr, for they were SO few that a min
lister of ordinary muscle could have
kept back all who were there.
Before the close of that year we re-
solved to construct the first Taberna-
Gle. 1t was to he Il temporary Struct-
urr, and therefore we called it IA Taber-
nacle instead of II Temple, by the
help OF God and the indomitablt and
unparalleled energy Of our trustees
(hrre and there one of them present to-
day, hut the most in q letter wOrld), we
got the building ready for conservation
and on September %, 1870, morning aud
evening dedicatOry services were held.
and in the afternoon the children, with
sweet and multitudinouS voices, con-
secratcd the place to God.
During the short time we occupied
that building we had IA constant down
pour of religious awakening. ITcSan
ma. 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 inVa-
sion OF the usual style Of church archi-
lecture. was called by some "Talmagc's
llppodrome," by others, "Church Of the
Holy Clrcus,' and by other mirthful
nomenclature. But it was Il building
perfect for acoustics, and stood long
enough to have its imitation in Ill the
large cities Of America and to COM
plrtrly revolutionizc church archittc-
ture. People saw that IT WAS the COM
mon sense way Of seating an audience.
One Sunday luornihg in December,
1872, the thermometer nearly down to
zero, | was Oh my way to church.
There was III excitement in tho street
and much smoke in the air. Fire Ell
glnes 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 gong up in the
same kind Of chariot that lijah took
from the banks of the Jordan. That
Sunday morning tragedy, with its
wrin2ing of hands and frozen tears on
the checks 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.
We were, as 4 church, obliterated.
"But arise and build said many voices.
Another architect took the amphithca-
trical plan of q church, which in the
first instance was necessarily somewhat
rude. and developed 1T Into an elabor-
ate plan that was immediately adopted
But how to raise the III oney for such
an cXi ensive undertaking was the ques-
ton expensive not because Of any
SenScleSa adornment proposed, but ex-
peuSiVe because Of the immense size
of the building needed to hold our con-
grtgatlOn. 1t was at that time when
for years our entire country was suffer
ing, not from Il financial panic, but
from that long continued financial de-
preston which all business men remem-
Der, as the cloud hung heavy year after
year and commercial eStabli ,hmentS
without number went down. Through
what struggles we passed the et9rnel
God and some brave souls today re-
member. Many Il time would have
gladly accepted calls to some other field,
but could not leave the flock in the
wilderness.
At last, after, in the interregnum,
having wOrshiped in our beautiful
Academy of Music, on the morning of
Feb, %, 1874, the anniversary of the
Washington who conquered impossi-
bilities and on the Sabbath that always
celebrates the resurrection, DR.. Byron
chaplain Of the United
States senate, thrilled us through and
through with a dedicatory sermon
from Ilaggai ii, 8, "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-
throned DR.. Irenpus Prime. On the
platform on dedication day sat, among
others, DR.. bowling of the Baptist
church, DR.. Crook of the Methodist
church, Mr.. Beecher of the Congrega.
tional church and DR.. French of the
ch urch. IIosannah,
Another S3y ono was raised on that