The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-12-11

atcn. and If one asked the average
New Yorker today where the Church of
the TRANSPORTATION was situated, the
man would look puzzled; but nearly
every one is able and eager to direct
stranger TO The Little Church Around
the Corner" Still it is a mistake to
suppose that the burial of George Hol-
land from this church was the frat in
stance in which DR.. Houghton ofticiat-
ed at the funeral Of one Of that class
of people who for centuries have been
considered under a kind of social and
ecclesiastical ban. Just after the Civil
war an English actress, who was also
writer of some note, Rls buried from
the Church of the TRANSPORTATION, and
several players in consequence became
the rector's personal friends.
Since the Saline epgram, however,
this church has come to be regarded as
the special sanctuary of the dramatic
profession. From its portals Lester
W allack, Harry Montague, Edwin
Pooth, Dion Boucicault and others Of
less note have had the bringing home
of bell and burial"
Not funerals alone. The marriages Ot
many players have been solemnized
here. Dr. Houghton said IN one Of his
sermons: My friends the aCtors--God
bless them-hithcr bring their brides
for the wedding. their babes for the
baptism, their deed for the burial:
hither come that their sick may be
visited, their mourners comforted. their
perpleXed and troubles and sinful coun-
sced and relieved. Alas. alas! that
this last is so infreQuentlY. So cHcep-
tiunally done"
1t is a part of the curious felicity ana
singular implicitly of this truly priestlv
and princaly life that, with all his fra
tarnal fondness for the dramatic pro-
fessiOn. Dr. Houghton was never in a
theater but once
Not that he disapproved of the stage.
on the contrary he believed that the
highest kinds of plays are an education
to the race; but his abstenton from
the thpatrr was due to the force of an
carly sentiment \ cousin had per-
suaded him. when he was a lad OF
fifteen, to visit the old Chatham Street
theater, and the sorrow of his mother,
when she found it out, made such e
deep impression upon him that ne new
er went again.
In the regular congregation of his lit
tie church around the corner there
have been for years many players ana,
when announcement was made, nor
long ago. that the expenses of the
church had gone far beyond its income,
members of the theatrical guild gener-
ally got up a subscription at once which
more than Cancelled the indebtedness.
Rur it was not alone or especially
for the members of this ng-tabooed
profession that DR.. HOughton ostab-
lished his church of the living Christ,
and maintained unsWcrVingly his min
stry of mercy with all the ardor Of a
youth, all the unaagging zeal OF a
devotee and all the practical wisdom
of n man Of the world. In a sermon,
which he preached four years ago, he
took the public entirely into his con-
, fidcncc as to what he had endeavOred
to make the Church Of the Trlnsfigur-
alton stand for in the minds and hearts
of men-a personal ministry of mercy
| and of blessing:
"TO that ministry no sin. no deGra =
! dation, no sickness, no possible peril,
! has been or can be u barrier The
gambling house, the house Of ill-repute.
the prison house, have been open to 1t:
| there has been no place shut against
! it; there has been no man or woman
| who has needed to hesitate to seek it in
| time of need. And, thanks be TO God.
| during all these forty ana five years
not so much as once has the foot of the
! personal ministry from the Church of
| the Transformation withheld itself
! from crossing any threshold through
| fear of possible peril. From the dying
| it has come out of the Gambling house
at midnight. and from the house OF
| ill-repute at the dawn of day. And the
| hand of that ministry. despite of warm
inS. in the midst of pestlence, has
| held the head. as it should, of the pes
thence smitten. for receiving the body
and blood Of the Lord "
What a sublime picture is here--ths
vigorous, stormdcfying man of God
with kindly. forsiving eyes and VEN
cradle beard, white as snow. coming
forth from the gambling house where
some poor swindler may have been
struck down in sudden quarrel, or may
have collapsed with consumption
which makes a special prey of that
| profession
Or behold with reVerent ewes this
mar Of God standing like a statue OF
| peace and spiritual brightness in the
| Garish room where some Magdalene in
agony and remorse is breathing her
| last. With soothing hand he seals the
glazing eyes, and murmurs softly in
| the failing ear the pardon and the
! benediCtiOn of Him who died on the
cross: Neither do condemn thee &C
! thou and sin no more
Surely when one regards a life like
| that of DR.. Houghton, the pitiful eX-
| amplCs of a Saline, a Chadband or a
| StpgginS become Oblitoratpd i'm the duSi
Of their own inaignificancc, and the
! true character, mission and glory OF
Christianity stand revealed in the light
| which leads the world on.