The Portland daily press., 1895-11-08

Under the administration of able pastors
| the number of church members increased,
till in 1841 John Hobart reported 72O
This comprised all the members of Port
land and vicinity. During the decade
from the building of Park street church
to 1889, among the able preachers in
Portland, we may mention Stephen
| Lowell, the popular pastor and eloquent
preacher: W. Fl. Norris, who went from
| Portland as missionary to South Amer
lea; Horton, the prominent early
abolitionist, father OF the well known d:
Elton Foster; Gershom Cox, editor of
the Maine Wesleyan Journal, Rev.
Charles Baker, the smooth spoken pastor,
and presiding elder. The venerable j.
B. Hustled the oldest surviving Portland
pastor who is still with us, J. ID Jenne,
energetic and successful, DR.. George Web
Der Of strong intellect and sound theology
who, a member of the General confer
ence in 1852, failed by a very few votes
of being elected bishop. The Maine ives
leyan Journal was established in Port
land in 1881, and was published here nine
years till it was united with lions Her
aid OF Boston in 1940 When the old
| Chestnut street church was enlarged IN
| 1886 n pipe organ was placed in the reno
waited building. This was the first organ
ever put into any Methodist church in
the United States This instrument made
quite a connection throughout the whole
connection The New York Christian Adj
vocate then under the editorshlp OF
| Nathan Bangs made strong 1nVectlve
| against such an instrument in church
worship, as leading the church away from
the simplicity of Methodism, and the
spirituality of religion. Bishop Hedding
presided at the Maine conference in Port
| land that year. DR.. Clark with whom the
bishop boarded asked him how he liked
the tone of their new instrument y said
| he sit is so loud heard it all the way to
| New York" That old organ is still in
use at a church in Scion. So late as 1864,
when at the general conference in Phila-
| delphia, / peached for the pastor of one
of the smaller churches where there was
| a little melodeon my attention was d.
reoted to his instrument by the pastor,
who as matter of wonder, told me they
| had just put an organ into one of their
city churches, that cost 500. He said, II
suppose you have no musical instruments
| in your churches in Maine" 1 replied
''There are organs in all our principal
churches" "Anywhere you are stationed?
| And how much did it cost?' I answered
there is one, that cost two or three thous-
and dollars. That was almost too much
| for him to believe. In many things has
Maine been the Dirigo State.
In 1S42 tho Casco Bay mission was set
off as separate charge with 2l4 members
Out of this circuit grew up the societies
at Harpswell Chebeague and Peaks Is
land. In 1888 services were again COM
menced in the west part OF the city. "A
Portland City mission was formed and a
Sabbath school organized unGer the super
attendance OF Samuel r. Leavitt in the
Brackett street Ward Room. This result
ed in the formation Of new society and
in 1914 Rev. H. M. Blake was appointed
pastor. The next year ~ members were
transferred to this new charge over which
Rev. Stephen Allen was pastor. This
society by the aid of Dr. Clark and other
| Chestnut street members built for them
selves house of worship on Pine street.
Fifty four members on Cape Elizabeth
were set off from Chestnut street .church.
| In 1916, about the same time the church
in Cumberland was set off with 35 mem
bers. Afterwards Cape Elizabeth Ferry
and afterwards South Portland were
made separate charge In 1851 another
mission was formed in the eastern part OF
the city on Munjoy Hill, under the guild
ance of Samuel r. Leavitt, who had
been so successful in starting the Pine
street church. Glass and prayer meetings
vera held in the house of Solomon Davis
Oh Monument street. chapel was built
on the corner of Congress and ST. Law
renee streets, on lot given to the socie-
~ by Dr. E. Clark. This honse was too
small to accommodate the increased num-
4 Der of worshipers and in few years the
present attractive Congress street church
was built. Soon after another mission
Sunday school was stated at Woodfords
| by Henry Lowell which in 1857 resulted
| IN the building of the Clark Memorial
church named for DIR. e Clark of sainted
memory, who was such a princely fnan-
cial pillar of Chestnut street church and
was Instrumental in the formation of
Pine and Congress street churches. From
Woodfords has sprung West End Knight
vile and East Deering societies. Surely
Chestnut street church is the mother of
many daughters beautiful as corner
stones polished after the similitude of a
palace.'' W. F. Harrington, whose melo-
dious voice in song and his pathetic or
| humorous stories so often interspersed in
his sermons is we'll remembers by many
in this assembly. And then came Eaton
Shaw preacher of fine intellect and
sanity spirit; These precede, my pastor
ate i'll 184S. 1 b an followed William Nc
Donald, afterW ards we'll known as editor
and author of Works on christian Holt
ness. Afterwards Aaron SandersOn,
one of the original members of the Maine
| Conference founded in 1924 He was
the first of our old preachers to discard
the clerical dress worn by all the preach
ers and to assume the garb of lay gem
tleman. Joseph Colby was here in 1859
and SO who afterwards went out as chap
lain in the war of the Rebellion Then
came Charles W. Morse, a holy, devoted
man of good, SO well known cover the
| whole conference for his deep and fervent
piety. So many colonies had been sent
out of this church, that the number OF
mem bers wassreduced to 315lin 1859. The
old church after its elongation was not
very attractive in it's appearance. Crowd
ed into narrow lot, and antiq uated in
style, it hardly seemed credltable to such
a prosperous society. The bishops en-
outraged the society to build a better sane
tuayr. and transferred to this charge Rev.
Henry Cox, who had succeeded in build
ding an elegant church i'll Newark, N. j.
The old lot was sold, and new one
nearer to Congress street was purchased
at cost of more than $1,000. The estl-
mated cost of the new building was $40,
900; but the real expenditure for house
|
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.