The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-12-10
FOUR THOUSAND MEN
CROWDED TOMLINsON HALL LAST
NIGHT TO HEAR DIR. CHAPMAN.
He Makes n strong Appeal To Men to
Refrain from immortality, d
ity and Dissipation.

weary TOUR tnOuSdUQ men dtleD0eu tnc
first meeting of evangelist Chapman in
Tomlinson Hall last night. Hundreds OF
them stood In the street in front OF the
hall and occupied the corridors long before
the doors were thrown open at 7:30 o'clock.
From that hour until the services began
a constant stream of humanity poured
through the doors into the auditorium Inc
upstairs TO the galleries. Three hundred
men and women, representatives of every
Protestant church in indianapolis, stood
upon the stage and blended their voices
with the notes of the great organ in filling
the hall with harmony. BY 5 o'clock there
was scarcely breathing space in the room,
and Rev. William Sunday sent word down
to the front to- close the doors. After that
hundreds of people came TO the hall, looked
in upon the great crowd and turned away
From lower floor to gallery loft there was
one vast expanse of masculine faces. Aside
from the ladies in the choir of three hun
dred. not a woman's face could be seen in
the vast audience. The scene viewed
from the stage was one rarely seen in a
religious gathering. There were men from
every walk of life; from every section of
the city; men whose gray locks and calm.
peaceful faces told of long and peaceful
years. Men of jaunty, fashionable dress
anu fHGl OI the WOIfus lnc Cuui uLid
and the s~coffer. the mechanic and the mer-
chant sat side by side and heard the
story from the lips of the evangelist.
After a prayer by Rev. DIR. Buchtel, of
the Central-avenue Church, the hymn,
.Hallujah, Thine the Glory" was given
out. The evangelist asked that the several
sections of the audience repeat the refrain
at the conclusion of each verse. The re-
quest met with a generous response from
the audience. Three verses OF the hymn
were sung, the first gallery aking up the
words, ''Hallujah, Thine the Glory" at the
end OF each. Then the words were echoed
back from the top gallery, by men who
were, perhaps, for the first time in their
iy those on the lower floor would get the
refrain and then. all would join In the
chorus. Following the rendition of the solo.
Where is My Wandering Boy Tonight
by Mr.. Bilhorn, the familiar hymn. Nearer,
my God, to Thee" was sung by the entire
audience.
stage an unusual incident was observed
while the verses of the old hymn were be-
ing sung. A number of the pupils from the
Institute for the Deaf and Dumb occupied
chairs in that particular part of the house.
one of the staff of instructors of the in
stitute stood in the midst Oh MS pupils, ana,
the audience, he Interpreted them to the
unfortunates bereft Of hearing. and speech.
EVa0RelSI OQdDIIldn tdshcu VI tnlCC
infdelity and dissipation.
He chose his text from Jeremiah xii, .,
'How wilt thou do In the swelling OF Joy?',
believes Him, he shall have eternal hfe,'
the evangelist began. Man Is not honest
to the test; until he has tried God to see
if He be true. We need not expect life,
freedom or peace until we have. honestly
river Jordan, like the Ohio, runs through
rocky ways. On either side there are
caves where the wild beasts make their
rise up and drive these beasts out OF their
caves and place them at the mercy OF men
who put them TO death. Inc tly y, So.ua Ia
every mar, woman and child must pass be-
fore they can face God. Every man In this
hall is in some cave of retreat: some are in
caves OF dissipation, and some In caves OF
infdelity.
First of all I want to speak TO the men
in the caves of dissipation L begin with
drinking, not because il is the worst evil,
but because il is one of the most common.
and with the power God has given me /
will sound this note of warning. L have
been working with men for five years, /
know their stores through and through,
and in the light of the experiences of these
men /, tonight, cry out against drink. 1
cry out to you who are taking your first
steps. You are placing yourselves in the
way of an avalanche that will sweep you
down TO eternity. oh! men, in the name of
God, 1 call you back from such ruin as
that. There is not a man in all this build
ing that can steel himself against the pow
er that has slain giants in the past. OH
that makes you men, and in the name of
God, / call you back from all that would
make you brutes.
1.-THE sin Of gamblingi In all my exper-
fence I would rather labor with any other
sin than with a man touched with such a
passion. When 1 was laboring in Lead
Vile 1 became acquainted with one of the
brightest men that ever graduated from
Harvard College. He gambled. and when
he had lost his last, he ifft this note upon
The last of $40. 200 lost in a week.
Then he took his infant child, motherless
| less than a month. staked her and lost. j
warning against anything that will make a
father forget his own flesh and blood, and
Vow. I want to speak of those men who
are licentious. i think 1t makes any pure
man blush to know that a fellowman. made
| but little lower than the angels, can sink
until he is lower than the beast. God
says: And his bones are full OF the sins
of his youth Oh. you men witt sha mothers
| God / bid you be pure men.
Concerning the men who are in the cave
| skeptics. / prefer them to the man who
puts his fingers in his vest and tries TO ar
que me out of my hope; whose only argu,
deal OF the so-called infidelity of to-day
is deceiving. Josh Billings said that he
would not give 10 cents to hear ingersol
Ol tHt 11tdhC VI llOotos ~ III lit 1oAAt
breath ADDED that he would give a good
deal TO hear Moses on the mistakes Of In
gersoll. Mr.. Ingersoll, in one of his flights
of oratory, said:
"sWhen 1 think of what the Bible Is
and all God pictured IL to be L am glad tina
/ am not a Christian. / would rather be
the humblest peasant that ever lived, with
my family about me, than TO be the might
est Christian the world ever knew
'"This is but the play OF an orator with
words: let me change IL. When think
of all that infidelity has failed TO tio-never
established a mission or a hospital-l car
say 1 am glad 1 am not a skeptic When
they take away from me the hope of eter-
| nifty and the thought that l will see my
mother again / thank God / am not 3
skeptic. Blot out all the future il they
will, and make it plain to me that the
grave ends it. 1 will sing my whole life
| through because of the sweet delusion
| Now / come to the man who stands as q
moral man, but who stands without the
saving faith in Jesus Christ. There is no
a word in the Testament that declares, j
am saved because L am good Never q
man is saved except he puts his trust In
Jesus Christ. My brother, you are n STUN
bling block in the way OF the man whC
is weaker than YOU"
Evangelist Chapman addressed the Muir
ply League at the Y. NJ. c. A auditorium
Yesterday afternoon. The hall was crowd
ed. and the spirit OF the meeting was OF
the most intense nature. On account OF
conIicfinO anga gements- the evangelist was