The times., 1899-03-17
THE TALMAGE RESIGNATION.
Accepted at n Brief Special Meeting
of the Congregation.

of the Congregation.
The resignation of the Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmage as pastor of the First Presby
terian Church, rendered on March ., was
accepted by the congregation last night. at
a special meeting called for that purpose.
There was no debate and no comment. The
s o'clock, and in less than ten minutes
the resignation and a motion of acceptance
had been read and the latter was adopted
by unanimous viva yoee vote
There were about fifty members of the
church present at the meeting. mostly
ladies. Rev. Mr.. Stuchell, acting pastor
OF the church, opened the meeting with
prayer. He then announced that. as this
was meeting OF the church the clerk of
the session would preside, whereupon Mr..
Dalremple read the call of the meeting
and the letter of resignation.
DIR. Stuchell then said that. at this time.
it was only for the congregation to say
what it wished to do in the matter. Mr..
Sargeant one of the elders OF the church,
Immediately presented the following reso
luton:
Resolved, That the request of the Rev DIR.
T. DE Witt Talmagc contained in his letter of
the 9th instant for the dissolution of his pas
toral relations with this church be and the same
IS hereby acquesced in. TO take effect at once,
and that commissioners be requested to so
notify the Presbytcry at its next meeting in
April.
The resolution was seconded and adopt
ed. Deacons Sergeant and Dubois were
then appointed to notify the Presbytery of
this action. DR.. Stuchell then asked if
there was any other business pertaining
to this matter or anything more to be said,
and. as no response was made, the meeting
was declared adjourned. In speaking of
the relations between the church and Dr.
Talmage, one of the trustees of the church
said last night:
There is the most cordial relation between the
congregation and DIR. Tamasc. We expect to
| have him preach for US many times in the iu-
! ture, and | have 10 doubt he will give large
sum toward paying off the church debt. which it
Is the desire to liquidate as soon as possible
In speaking of the legality of the pro-
| ceedings last night it was brought out
] that the First Presbyterian Church is the
/ only church in the country that is or
ganized by charter from Congress, and
/ the action taken last night was in strict
accordance with the bylaws prescribed by
that charter, even to the matter of hav
ing the clerk of the session read the res
igIaton.
In the matter of the successor of DR..
Talmage nothing official has been done. but
! there was no doubt that Rev. Mr. Stucheii
would be requested to become the pastor
of the church.
| Plans are already under way looking to
the liquidation of the church Indebtedness.
which amounts to about $4,000, and an
/ emergency fund for immediate use has al
ready been subscribed. This fund is to
make up for the deficit that will occur
in the weekly contributions. These con-
! tributions when Dr. Talmage was in
| charge amounted to in the neighborhood
Of $500 a month, and came largely from
| the transient populace of the town who
regularly packed the church.
Many amusing stories are told of the
| means employed by belated visitors who
desired to hear DIR. Talmage preach to OBJ
claim TO be important personages from all
sections of the country and would ask as
| a special favor that they be allowed to
| occupy the pewholders' seats. Two Nor
mon elders who came to Washington to
witness the last Presidential inauguration
| presented themselves to the elder in
| charge of the door one Sunday evening
after all the seats for the public had been
! filled and asked TO be allowed to get in
side somewhere They said they had come
all the way from Salt Lake City for only
| ley and the other to hear the great Amer
| lean preacher They were given cards OF
| admission and a;ter the sermon they ex-
| pressed themselves in glowing terms as
more than satisfied for their trip East.