Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-04-13
DIFFICULT FORCES.

ly givers to the support of the church
work.
Rev. MacAyeal came from there to
the Central Congregational church OF
st. Louis, Mo- This church was Il
colony from Pilgrim church, a down
town organization. The uptown"
movement followed the removal of this
colony and left Pilgrim church very
much weakened. When he came he
found out after a fair view of the
situation, that the congregation could
not hope to compete with the big
churches in the neighborhood which
had sold downtown property, and
buiided palatial churches 1t was ap-
parent also that Pilgrim church was
losing steadily, away down in the city.
There was no prospect, according to
all the wise men, but after two years,
Rev. MacAyeal saw his people COM
pacted and ready to follow almost
any direction.
CONGREGATIONS UNITED.
A quiet movement resulted in a un-
ion of the two congregations, and it
| is now proposed to erect new build
| ing ON the west side and to main
! tain a mission work at the old down
| town stand. 1t Is but fair to say
that the credit is given to Rev. Mae
Ayeal for this result Since March l.,
he has been co-pastor with DR.. NJ
Burnam of the United church.
From this it will be seen that Rev.
MacAyeal has been solving church
problems nearly all his life. Akron
will be the first charge he has been
called to on account of anything else
than desire to secure Il man who
can manage difficult forces.
Rev. MacAyeal has not sought Ak
ron; the First Congregational church
has sought him, which is considered a
good Indication. In reference to Rev.
MacAyeal's
PERSONAL HABITS
In pastoral work, he is a great read
er, and tries to keep literally abreast
of every movement, of the age,
In reading the annotates, clips
and files and memories i'm,
portant passages or thoughts
and tries to think out all the lines of
thoughts suggested. He hast made it
a special business TO know the Bible
and all things as related to it. He
does not write sermons at all, or very
rarely, but when he becomes master
OF a theme he draws up a brief out.
line of the drift he intends to pursue
and extemporizes altogether in the
pulpit. In fact, his method is never
to preach until he has sufficient knowl
edge on the topic to talk an hour Oh
two, when he goes over it mentally
decides on what is best, and boill
it down to sermon length, and trust,
to the inspiration of the hour for tn,
words. At the same time he full,
realizes that thinking a subject owe
must be done with words, and this il
a kind of mental writing or compost
tloi. His library is small as yet, abou
1,200 well selected volumes. Rev
MacAyeais preaching is rarely topi
Cal, nearly always exposltory. Hi
idea is that the newspaper, maga
zines and current literature give al
the general information his congrega
tion can take care Of, and hence hi
business is with religion and the ex
PLANTATION OF the Bible. OF course h
realizes that art, science and litera
ture all have their place, but tn
place in his teaching is one of illum
ination for the great truths of religion
His conception of religion as relate
to this life, is a very large one, EN-
blacing science, sociology, art litera
ture, politics and. business.
Rev. MacAyeal is 81 years old,
married, and has one child, boy o
fve years.