The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-25

"No man can hypnotic the same people
Cor hft cen consecutive years that is. hyp-
notice their pocketIoOks, said the heN'
A. B. simpson of the Gospel Tabernacle
in Eighth avenue and champion mission
collector Of the universe He was speak
Ing OF the collections taken up there in the
last fifteen years or so. 1t has been limited
that Mr.. Simpson has hypnotic powers,
A few weeks ago at a Sunday morning
service the congregation contributed III
money and pied yes mostly in pied
due for payment within six months-the
sum OF S02, 22o At a money raising con-
vention held at Old richard, Me-, last
August over which Mr.. Simpson presided
So 900 in the same sort of currency was put
in the collection boxes, and in August al
Lancaster, Pa, on n similar occasion, Mr.
Simpson leading. the offering was ss7 600
more than 3l7l 900 In three months, accord
ing to the figures.
Such meetings with similar results have
been going on uninterruptedly for more
than fifteen years, 40 whatever r. Simp-
son $ method may be. it loses none Of its
efficacy by use. Instead of diminishing
the collection totals at his church and at
conventions over which he has presided
have grown And everybody remem-
bers the stories about how the missionary
enthusiasts al these meetings, lacking sutfi-
Gent ready cash for Mr.. Simpson, tore on
their iewelry, pulled out their watches
and cast the into the collection plates.
Mr.. Simpson says, however, that he has
frowned upon this practice as being too
spectacular. That's why it has been
dropped.
It all makes many good church people
less skilled in the art Of money collecting
as well as many more unregenerate materi-
alists open their eyes. II the Tabernacle
congregation was fashionable or rich there
would be less cause to wonder, But it is
neither.
To he sure, it includes Il few persons OF
comparative wealth. but it's personnel
for the .rost part is made up Of plain, hard
working people. Sweet perfumes and the
musical fro,i-frou OF silken skirts trailed
w the aisles anywhere from ten to twenty
minutes late are not distinguishing features
Of any Sunday morning service there.
Late corners II they want to sit down at all
are lucky to get a seat near the door, for
the DEW rent system does not go In the
Gospel Tabernacle. All the seats are free.
which is another way Of saying that the
first to come are the first served. and the
church is supported by voluntary con-
tributions.
In spite OF this precarious method Of
sustenance. as some think it, the Taber-
nacle has grown in fifteen years from
membership OF II to 1,40O, and q morning
congregation seldom includes fewer than
1900 persons. Mr., Simpson never seems
called upon to face the unfattering spec
tac!e OF small attendance.
The building. ia comfortable enough,
though far from ornate, but evidently the
last thing any one has in mind is to spend any
money to decorate it or to build a more
imposing one. For that matter. the key
note of the organization might be said to be
frugality in everything but giving and
getting money. The pastor and the assist
ant pastor live almost az plainly as the
poorer members Of the congregation.
What ia tho secret Of such big collections
and, If they are genuine, what becomes
OF the money! These questions have been
asked idly many times. and there have
been insiruiations that Mr.. Simpson was
O1SlnClIneu 10 COuNcEsc Ou JIlS bupJtCt.
That is mistake. This, in brief, is what
he says:
Almost all the money we collect here
goes TO foreign missions by way Of the
Christian and Missionary Alliance. We
have training school for missionaries at
Nyack and re,cue mission in New York.
both Of which we take care Of, but these
are minor considerations. Foreign mis-
sions come first
Mr.. Simpson is president and general
SUPERINTENDENT Of the Alliance, which he
explains is not an ecclesiastical body in
any sense but simply fraternal union Of
people from many denominations. 1t does
not organize churches here nor require
it's members to leave their present church
connection. It works through local con-
yentions, such as those at Old Orchard
and Lancaster, and printed publications,
and it is sustained by voluntary contribu
tions. It's prime object, to quote from
report, Ii "the evangelization OF the whole
world by sending out missionaries to I'M