The times., 1897-05-17

The congregation of Trinity Methodist
Church held farewell services in their his
toric church on Fourth street, near Il
street southeast, yesterday, preparatory
to the dedication OF their new edifice at
the corner of Fifth and streets southeast,
next Sunday.
The services yesterday were largely at
tended and were both impressive and APP
propriatc to the occasion
The new pastor, Rev E. ID Huntley, d.
D., preached the farewell sermon. and
took as his text Isaiah XLIII, 18th verse:
"Behold, l will do a new thing, now IT
shall spring forth He said, in part:
.To progress it is necessary that thercbe
synchronous development Of mind, soul
aud body. All these are germs Of deyel-
opment in the church. We arein stateof
change, and in making that change we
should not dwell ON the past, but should
be aware of the opportunities of the pres
ent, that progress may aybemadein thefuture.
Dante mentions sinners in he'll that have
their heads turned around SO that they
look at their heels, With the result that
they can never go faster than crabs
pace. So 1t is with people that iinger over
the past They are non-pmgressive;
nDuEdhCc 10 lucSe ltdb W pio-
gress, and wemust go att agreatlyincreased
gait To keep with the inpetuous advance
of the present day.
I'VE owe much to the past, but must
do more for the future. Do not grasp the
past so that the grip cannot be ioosened
Never look behind. A too continuous yaze
back W ard may deprive you OF all sympathy
with the present. There was never such
FOR a fhurx
is now. We must be sympathetic with
and adap;a ;able to our environment No
church can live without the observance Of
this great principle.
We bid an affectionate farewell to these
consecrated walls, to this sacred altar, that
has been the Mecca of many penitents. and
are about to enter new temple. Enter
with working hearts, and happy souls, look
to the future, gaze not behind, and God
will pour into your hearts such an abundant
blessing that there will not be room for
more"
The history of old Trinity Church is an
interesting one. 1t is one OF the oldest
Methodist congregations in the United
States, dating back to April /, lS02, when
William Walters was appointed the pastor
of Georgetown and Was hington. He
started the first Methodist church III Wash
ington. The place OF meeting was at the
famous Twenty Buildings" which stood
ON South Capitol, near street. The
first official meeting of which any record
is preserved was held April 7, 1903, when
John Potts was the preacher in charge.
How long the congregation met at the
Twenty Buildings is not known. In
1907 the congregation held its first service
in the '.Old Tobacco House. on New
Jersey avenue, south OF ID street south
east, and continued TO meet there until
1911. The "Old Tobacco House" had
been barn of Dudley Carroll, one OF the
proprictors of the land south OF the Capt.
tol, and was used by him as tobacco
warehouse, hence its name. After 1871 1t
was also used for many years by another
congregation. from which Christ Church,
at Sixth aud q streets southeast, was
evolved 1t was destroyed by fire in
1911 In 1928 sketch of the structure
was published in the newspapers of the
city The sketch was made by E. p.
Cranch. son of Justice Cranch.
In 1911 Beverly Waugh took charge
of the congregation A new church was
built by him on the present site OF old
Trinity, and was called Ebenezer Church.
Fer forty-six years it was the sole rep
resentative OF Episcopal Methodism in
Southeast Washington. In l857-'5S the
present church, known as the Fourth
Street Methodist Church, was built, dur
Ing the pastorship of Rev. William II.
Chapman. During the term Of Rev.
Ii. F. r. Rice, several years ago, the
project Of new church was begun. The
work was taken up and pushed by Rev.
G. w. Hobbs, during whose term the
cornerstone of the new church Was laid
last August.
The new church cost about $50, 600
and is one Of the finest in East Washing
ton The building committee consisted
of the pastor, Rev. Hobbs, F P. Stoll,
A F. Belt, A A. Chaplin, Maurice Otter
back, j. F B. Piles.
The complete list of pastors is as fol-
lows: william Walters, 1902: John Potts,
1903; Seely Bum, 1904; william Walters,
1905; John Watson, 1907; Joshua Wells,
1903: James weet 1 800; James Saunders,
1910; Beverly Waugh, 1911; Andrew Hemp
bill, 1928; John c. Watts, 1914; An
drew Hemphill, 1S1 3: Samuel Montgomery,
1915: Beverly Waugh, 1917; Richard Hunt,
1919; william Monroe, 1919; George Wells,
1920; John Macklefresh, 1921; Ellerton I.
Peyton, 1929: Henry Slicer, 1924; Rob
ert s. vinton, 1925: Norval Wilson, 1926;
William RyIand, 1927: John S. Gibson,
NJ D., 182S-29; John Smith, ls3O-S1:
Tobias Kelley, 1882; Henry S. Keppler,
1s33-34; A. s.. Eskridge, s. Mcmillan,
1895; Jacob Gruber, 1886; B. N. Brown,
R. F. Nixon, 1887; B. N. Brown, 1888;
George Hildt, 1889: George T. Brooke,
1s4O-41: James n. Brown, Albert Barker,
1912; j. b. Brown, Zachariah Jordan,
1e43; +. P. Phelps, 1874; Oliver Eye,
1S45-46: William Prettyman, 1S47-4s;
George w Israel, 1s49; Thomas Meyers,
185O-51: R. NJ. Lipscomb, 1928;
A G. Chenowith, F. H. Richey, 1886;
william n. Chapman, 1S57-5S: william
Ryan, NJ D., 1859-60; John Lanahan,
1851: Thomas a. w. Monroe 1S62-63; H.
NJ Sipes, 1S64-65: George v. Leech,
1S8G-67; William H. Holiday, 1868
60; W. T. D. Glenn, 1s7O-71; C. Nc
Elfresh. 1872; A. j. Gill, 1873; j. E Amos,
1874: ]. w. Hedges, 1S75-76; B. G. w
Reid, 1a77-7S; GeorgeV. Leech, / S79-s0-S1;
]. A. France, 1Ss2-S3-s4: NJ F. B.
Rice, 1S85-S6-S7; w. N. Ferguson, 1883
s9-9O-91; w. F. Speak, W. Thompson,
1892: NJ F. B. Rice, 1s93-94-95; G. w
Hobbs, 1896, and E. d. Huntley, 1897
Bishop Hurst will preach the dedicatory
sermon in the new church next Sunday ut
II a. m. DR.. Luther B. Hubbard will
preach at p. M, and Rev. Wilson will