The Indianapolis journal., 1895-08-05
OSCAR M'CULLOCH'S WORK.
His Methods and Those OF the Church
He Established I'm This City.
In Tir,oS


He Established I'm This City.
Eleanor Atkinson. in Chicago Times-Her-
ald
Plymouth Congregational Church looks
like clubhouse Of prosperous, intellectual,
civic center that it is. All day long people
are coming and going The rich, the poor.
the child and the man. Inside something is
writer and of the telegraph instrument.
You see sick children tended. flowers and
dainties and clothes brought in for distribu-
tion. In the parlors lady meets friend
for an afternoons shopping. A door OPEN
ing to some late corner reveals a class
meeting for serious study. child. tired
slipped in to read ST. Nicholas; a girl.
who lives in clearinghouse, has come
in to write lette..
At night the lamp is lighted under the
arch to show the open door. and every
window is ablaze with light The doors are
open as late as the latest saloon and as
to the field of labor.
Il am come that We might have life more
abundantly."
Twelve years ago. when the church was
opened, Rev. Oscar C. McCulloch took this
for his text He said that 1t had been con-
sidered, before beginning the building what
the structure should stand for. Was Ii TO
be another pile of stone and brick for the
expound.ng Of the gospel according to
creed. to the necessary EXCLUSION of all peo-
pie who denied the creed? No; there were
enough Of that kind; they had their use.
hut there was a use for church that was
concerned less with creeds than with the
credo. less with doctrine than with the be-
lief in individual man. We have raised
these walls around an idea of Christ In
man, and will question no man as to his
new one through mental. moral, physical
and soul culture.
indianapolis is quiet, prosperous. vir-
paupers; 1t has the best school system in
the United States There is leisure for
the people are members of orthodox church,
es. The members of Plymouth Church
soon came to be spoken of as the intellect
rather looked askance at the e strange mod
ern structure that had no sp.re or Gothic
window or stained glass. The minister took
or preached on some question that was agi-
tating the congregation on week days. such
as the Citizens Gas Company and is fight
The song service was introduced and the
pictorial sermon. Glasses in every con-
ceivable study were opened and conducted
was instituted, the lectures given in the
church. Friday afternoons, after school,
children listened TO popular talks on Incl
10 cents. delivered by local speakers and
writer's of national reputation. Travel lee
lures with stereopticon views were given:
lent Society made the schurch it's head
quarters. the Equal Suffragist Society and
the Gentlemen's Literary Club dld also.
All day long and far into the night the
church teemed with activity The young
men of the church went out to the hotels
and brought strangers in. Within year
life and the moral. intellectual and re-
ligious source of energy to all without the
immediate pale of the orthodox churches.
The director Of all this work was a deep
student of the labor problem and an
nounced that 1.-The division of labor has be-
come closer and closer and this highly
upon the human spirit Organization upon
a higher plane would seem to he the only
remedy-organizston for spiritual and
that material conditions cannot reach or
affect man standing upon It,"
The church met and coped with all the
problems that indianapolis presented.
Without endowment and with volunteer
teachers II conducted an industrial school
and intellectual college for the people, 1t
became public building for elevating and
instructive amusement ard the recognized
channel for charity. 1t kept the open door
not only one day In seven, but seven days
and nights In seven its hinges swung out
to welcome any good work, helpful to any
human soul.
Perhaps the most important work of all
was the foundation that was laid for organ
izing charity, and that has resulted in
establishing clearing houses in cities that
VIII hnaliy eliminate pauperism. The work
MAS Wa cbrnh Segun oy the pastor and completed by
Twenty years ago Mr.. McCulloch was
called to visit case of extreme destitu-
fn HE ee nn sn Ola fanrsa ha in h ens sn
sons wife with child. and a daughter
with two children. After relieving their
found it spread out in scattered pages of
the records of the township trustee. They
had a pauper history of several genera
tons and so intermarried that they. formed
a ganglion of several hundreds, all para
sites on communities. utterly degraded and
irreclaimable. the children. when taken out.
h hnxFttn fav16a
Again and again was this tribe of Ish-
mael found. The records were looked up.
until the investigation ended in. the prep
aration of a marvellous genealogical tree.
with nearly 100 members descended from
one pair OF paupers less than century
ago. With this record Mr.. McCulloch came
creation of a board OF children's guardians
for the purpose of rescuing the children OF
professional paupers and of inhuman par
ents.
Then the various charity societies of the
city, seeing the danger of ind:scriminate
giving, formed the charity organization.
man will not work he may not eat is
the rule. Work is provided for him. the
and sne sick a cared are b f1 ,h pn the the
basket are practically unknown in that
city. Other cities have followed this ex-
ample. and pauperism bids fair to be
The church has long since been taken
into full fellowship with the most ortho-
dOx, ana intellectually eiect rs no longer
term of reproach. signifying that intel
lect is opposed to orthodoxy. The work
inaugurated by Plymouth-and its consre-
cation takes the initiative in nearly all
public enterprises that come within the
scope OF church or college works. en-
tered into heartily by other churches. The
song service and pictorial sermons have
people of many shades of belief. There
are. not agnostic exactly, but people who
rigid orthodoxy and of the widest liberal
ism.
But among the members you never hear
docfrinai discussion Christ had but one
creed for his disciples. Follow me-" and
they are following Him In singleness OF
heart. each according TO his leadtngs.
ing others nm the anne uIane where nnre