The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-10
The Broadway Tabernacle.

The Rcv. DIR. STIMsoN's resignation as
pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle was &C
cepted by a large majority OF a meeting Of
the members of that Congregational church
IN Wednesday evening. 1t seems that there
has been much dissatisfaction with DR.. STIM
SON for some time past, and the reason for it
Is indicated by remarks made at the meeting.
For instance, Deacon JOIN II. wAsHBURNE
spoke of him as "a misfit in the Broadway
Tabernacle pulpit" adding in explanation
of that slang expression that "he does not
fill the place" Trustee FISHER acknowl-
edged that the pastor is a good man, but as
serted that his preaching does not lift US
up intellectually as well as morally"
This, 1t will be seen, was very frank speak
ing. 1t amounted to saying that DIR. Sim
son is a good man, but a poor preacher.
Even a saint would be justified in resent
ing such an imputation; but a Congrega-
tional pastor cannot expect delicate con-
sideration for his feelings II his church
wants to get rid of him. When DR..
STIMsoN was called to the Broadway
Tabernacle, three years ago, he was Sc
lected from among many eminent Congre-
gational ministers after the New York
church had heard and liked his preaching.
He came to fill the place OF the late DIR. Will
LIAM NJ. TAYLOR, who was a Scotchman
imported by the Broadway Tabernacle in
1879, and who was regarded as a very
eloquent preacher in his prime. But
even before DR.. TAYLoR's retirement
from the active pastorship in 1892
the congregation had already begun to
decrease. His preaching did not stir up the
people as of old. This decline in their in
%terest, it seems, has continued under DIR.
STIMsoN; mt hat is why the majority OF
the Tabernacle members want To get rid Of
him. They want somebody in the pulpit
who will draw better.
The Tabernacle wants a star preacher;
but as DR.. WILLIAM H.. THOMPSON said at
Wednesday nights meeting, when such a
pastor is taken away 1.-The church is
like a rope Of sand, because there has
been only an audience and not a
church" Even when DIR. TAYLOR himself
began to get old, his preaching lost much
of It's attractiveness for the crowd and it
involves no reflection on the preaching of
his successor to say that it did not fill
the house to the satisfaction of the
trustees of the Tabernacle. Dissatisfac-
ton with a minister's sermon may
indicate rather religious and intellectual
deficiency in the congregation than inferior
ity in the preaching. The amount of the
receipts at the box office is not always a
measure of the artistic merit Of the acting.
The Broadway Tabernacle has been
through exciting experiences, and probably
its taste in preaching has been affected by
them so that it demands sensational pulpit
orators. In the old days when it was sit
hi Broadway, between Leonard and
Worth streets. and it was under the pastor
ate of the late DR.. JOSEPH p. THOMPSON,
1t was the scene of many stirring assem-
blages. The Abolitionists of the time held
their May meetings there, and its walls re-
TO the eloquence Of WENDELL
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, GER
RIr SMITH, and LUCRETIA MOTT. while an
CRY pro-slavery auditors assailed them with
insults and contumely. for abolitionism
was very questionable in those days. The
thus went through a baptism of
in its infancy, Since it has moved
up to Thirty-fourth street, it has
become respectable and conventional. 1t is
lao longer prosecuted, Naturally, therefore, it
seems slow to those who were in the excite
ments Of its earlier days. Hence we question
II it is now possible for the Tabernacle to
find any preacher who will do better than
STIMsoN. Probably he has succeeded as
we'll as anybody could ave done. The days
Of it's glory have passed.