The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-06-24
EFFORT WAS
NOT A SUCCESS
DIR. BIRD SAYS PROHIBITION
CHURCH WAS A FAILURE.

DR.. BIRD SAYS PROHIBITION
CHURCH WAS A FAILURE.
In His Farewell Sermon Yesterday
Afternoon He Said He Received a
Call from God to Preach Prohibit
tion and the Pure Gospel Forced
to Say That He Had Labored in
Scranton in Vain-Cannot See
That Conditions Have Improved
Any.
The Peoples Prohibition church.
which has been in existence Just four
years, has not been success. At
least, that's what Rev. DR.. Levi Bird,
It's founder and pastor, says. In fact,
the church has been such IL failure.
In his opinion, that he decided some
time ago, to abandon II and has ac-
Cepted a call to the pastorate of the
Western Methodist Episcopal church.
of Cataragus. New York. The Prohi-
bition church dsbands with his going.
He preached his farewell sermon
yesterday afternoon in Morers hail. on
Breaker street, Green Ridge. 1t is in
this hall that the members OF the
church have met for some time past.
DR.. Bird chose a most appropriate
text Isaiah, Xix: 40 "Theu l said. |
have spent my strength for nought.
and in vain; yet surely my Judgment
IS with the Lord and my work with
my God. And now. saith the Lord
that formed me from the womb to be
his servant. to bring Jacob again to
him, Though Israel be not gathered.
yet shall | be glorious in the eyes of
the Lord. and my God shall be my
strength
Dr. Bird. in beginning his remarks.
told of the establishment of the
church in this city and of how he had
received call direct from God to
come here and preach prohibition and
the pure Gospel from the pulpit. 81
have never doubted the call" said ne.
"and have never chided myself for
my failure, but ! believe that I am
forced to say that l have labored in
Scrantol in vain.'
HE Is NOT ALONE.
"1f only had failed" he continued,
II might we'll hang my head abashed.
but | am NO! alone. You. each and
every one of Won have failed. and when
you all go back into your home life
YOU know that you will be forced to
admit, 4 had cherished plan, but it
failed.'"
Or. Bird then souSl, to explain why
he had failed: Il have been told that
/ have preached startling sermons"
ca ia bp shpf | do mt reprat ono Gin.
gle word that | have said from this
pulpit. I remember that positions /
have taken have robbed me of
support and left the church at times
so weak that it could hardly live, but
l have nothing to regret.
"When the country was in the throes
Of great excitement, after the blow
ing up of the Maine. | criticized the
policy of the president and protested
against the plunging of the nation
into War. God gave me the spirit
of prophecy then and ! foretold some
of the entanglements that would re-
suit and told of the territory that
would be erasred and held, 1 lost
friends then and was called a fanatic
and a crank, l'ut what said has come
true"
tinued. "I felt when / received the
call that there We're oppressed peo
pie here in this city and valley who
needed champion and 1 came here.
I raised my poor voice in protest
against the miners wrongs, but l
received no encouragement from them.
Proha bly, 100000 persons out of the
1O2, 900 in this city have never heard
m I =
on the streets and to whom my heart
goes out in pity, doesn't know that
] gave up a pastorate worth $1,000 Il
year to speak for him. He doesn't
know that | have given up almost
all and have lived on the smallest
rittance for his sake"
SADNESS IN HIS VOICE.
There was sadness and sorrow and
almost despair in DR.. Birds voice, as
he said:
81 vas dedicated to the cause of
prohibition by my mother. as | was
rocked in the cradle, and | have
preached prohibition and have decried
the lcgaliHed liquor traffic from this
pulpit. Is there any less drinking? No.
there is more, it seems, than when |
came here. | have labored earnestly,
but in vain, and sometimes ! doubt
whether | have been the means of
saving even one soul in this city"
There was a home thrust in his
words when he spoke of the custom OF
praiSnS a person when he or she has
gone away or is dead, instead of en-
cpurag gins and pralsing when he or
she is alive.
of yea have flowers to give" said
he. give them To the living and dor't
strew them on the coffin of the dead.
If you have Il kind word 20 say, don't
wait una! the person for whom it is
intended has passed away, but say it
before you forget it,"
Towards the end of his sermon, DR..
Bird allowed himself to indulge in Il
number of sweeping generalities
touching the moral conditions of this
state and of the country at large. He
called the Stalwart members of the
state legislature "a gang Of rascally
political plunderers whose equals can
be found nowhere on earth" and he
said that the country at large is $50
reeiing with pestilential rot, despite
its churches and It's profession of being
"A Christian nation, that heaven holds
its nostrils.'
PLEADED FOR ASSISTANCE.
In il little talk after the sermon DR.
Bird explained that he had been OBJ
liged during his pastorate TO labor out
side the church, as the money he re-
ceived was not sufficient To pay for
even the rent of the hall and of his
house. lie pleaded FOR "a little gener-
oslty. as his baby needed new pair
of shoes and the expenses of moving