The Portland daily press., 1895-11-08

funeral Municipal officers and other
l hin6 dignitaries were present The
Msyor of the city had been his pupil
Wan the funeral procession left his resi-
5ance on High street the bell of High
wet o4maet church first struck to be answered
81; -, eoIemn peal by nearly all the bells of
10 city. And the bell OF the First Parish
ohnrch announced when the procession
LET Chestnut street church. Joshua
Tavlor was small in stature with a
nIeasant and serene countenance, with a
cclear. orderly and methodical mind n
| sound Judgment, and a warm heart,
He was a kind, social neighbor, sy1n-
nathizing friend, and a faithful minister
IF tie gospel. His end was peaceful. 10
| friends gathered around his dying bed
who sang "On Jordan's stormy banks
/ stand'' he said sing it, on Jordan's
neaceful banks" and soon on the other
side of the narrow stream, he rested in
heavenly peace Taylor's success in Port
land did not overcome all obstacles in
| the pathway of the society. In two years
| the little church on Federal street was
too small to accommodate the congre-
CATION The owner of the lot on which
| the house stood refused to lease to the
Methodists any more land to enlarge their
| building. In 1868, the old Chestnut
street church lot was bought of Joseph
Titcomb for $3.50. The first Board of
Trustees consisted of William Wa err
house, Thomas Delano, William True,
Thomas Runnells, Samuel Homer, Lem
uel Gooding and Thomas Dodge. The first
Chestnut street church was not ready for
worship till 1911; when it was dedicated
by Rev. Epaphras Kibby. But the out
side was not finished till the next year.
There were benches to seat the worship
ers, and the men and women sat apart.
1t was not peWed till 1919; and this was
not accomplished without remonstrance
by some of the trustees and members, as
| it was contrary to Methodist usage. The
church was not paid for till 1894. This
struggle of eighteen years for the second
| house of worship was owing to the Strin-
geney of the lines occasioned by the
| embargo, the war of 1912, the cold season
| of 1916 and other public disturbances.
| There were also internal discussions,
occasioned by selling the pews and the
church music, intensified by questions
| of decorum i'll public worship. Some felt
that if shouting loud Halelujahs and
! Amens and exhortations after the sermon
were prohibited, the spirituality of the
worship was destroyed One 1anatical
spinster, who had been warned not to
| interrupt the service by giving her testi-
mony at an inoppOrtune time was carried
out of the church by father Gooding and
J. B. Cahoon, afterwards mayor of the
| CITY. CQ6 dN6AS6t uGTS6il Oil n6G ctSSdll-
| ants by shouting at the top of her voice,
tJust like my Lord and Master, crucified
between two thievesp' The dissension
| Increased till in 1919 the disatfected to
| the number of 80 withdrew and formed
n separate society. The new organization
was in uerision called the Goose church
They held their services in a small wood
en- building afterwards changed to Fluent
Block on Congress street opposite to
/ n t1ont V'hp cnriotU
| formed of such discordant materials that
| they soon disbanded. Rev. Joshua Tay
| Ior's wife went with the Seceders; and
| william True one of the first Board of
| Stewards and of the Trustees was very
boisterous advocate OF the strange move
! ment. This secession accounts for the
diminution of the mem hers of Chestnut
street church from 1Sl to 143. OF the
preachers on Portland station from the
time of Taylor till 1924, twenty years,
we can give but brief notice OF a few
| prominent names. EpaphraS klbby
who was stationed here in 1909 and 1910
was one of the most successful ltnerants
in early New England Methodism. While
he was preaching at Monmouth the wife
was powerfully converted. On their re-
| moyal to Bath she and her husband be-
came pillars of the church in that city.
| At Hallowell under the preaching of
| Kibby there was an extensive revival
that led to the establishment of the
Methodist Society. Among the converts
were MIR. and Mrs Cox, who presented
| for baptism their twin sons. Gerhsam, and
| Melville. Gersham was the we'll known
Portland preacher and Melville the first
| Methodist Missionary sent to Africa.
Martin Ruter here in 1911 is noted as
one of the finest scholars and foremost
educators in our early history. He was
the first Methodist in the United States
| to receive collegiate honors. A self
edge of Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and
Latin. Ruter prepared Hebrew Gram
mar and wrote Church History, with
| other valuable treatises. He was fol-
| loed by Rev. John Lindsay, another
scholarly preacher. who was afterwards
one Of the founders of the Wesleyan Uni
versity. Then came Daniel Fillmore a
DISTINGUISHED preacher among the promi-
nent New England Methodists. After
wards Eleazer Wells the weeping proph-
et whose pathetic appeals, attended by
| the tears of the preacher, seldom failed
| of awakening the tenderest sensibilities
of the audience. Afterwards the able
Jacob Sanborn was the preacher, followed
in 1917 by Elijah Holding, the well
known bishop. Holding had been ap-
pointed presiding elder of Portland dis
| trict but with the consent Of the authori-
ties he exchanged with Noah Bigelow the
stationed preacher in this town.
Then came CHARLES Virgin, a sweet
spirited, earnest saint, converted in early
| life at Rumford and called into the min
istry from the wilds of Oxford county.
Tall, erect and vigorous, he was a noble
sample of the sturdy, frontier Maine men.
These were some of the preachers, during
that twenty years of struggle and victory,
from the time the little old Episcopal
church was purchased by Taylor to the
nayment of the debt contracted by build
Ing the first Methodist church on Chest
nut street.
Next comes the era of sweeping revivals
which in few years increased the mem
bership from $50 to GIT. IN 1926 the first
parsonage was built in the rear of the old
church at the cost of $500. Though Port
land was named in the minutes of confer
ence as a station, yet the labors of the
nreachers were not confined to this town,
hut extended to all the surrounding re-
zion; members were gathered from Fal-
mouth and Westbrook, from Cape Eliza
beth and the Islands The increase of
adhera,,ts in what was then the west