The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-27

' tory sermon of the Rev. George w. 1 Nicholson was preached before a large
 congregation at the First Baptist church yesterday morning. It was in I tended as Pastor Nicholson's farewell
 sermon but at the urgent request of
 the church, he will preach again next | Sunday.
 Pastor Nicholson has been in charge of the First Baptist church for IT years, and his absence will
 seem a great hardship to his parish toners. His plans for the future have
 not been definitely laid, but he ex- poets to stay in Bridgeport for some day sketched the growth of the church during his pastorate. He modestly refrained from mentioning his own share in the achievements, although the growth of the church and it's prosperity was due in large | measure to his untiring efforts. Rev. MT. Nicholsons sermon was as
 follows:
 April 1, 1894, was called to the
 pastorate of this church: You were called the Tabernacle, a temporary home while the church was in process of erection, and abandoned after this
 was completed. It cost $3, .15. in cluding furnishings. Your member ship in this year on the church roll
 was 34S. Some had died, others wan dered away, while 100 or more we have never been able to locate, having perhaps removed from the city. not letting the clerk know of their where abouts ,
 'The treasurer of the church, Dea- con J. w. Brittin, reported at the an- | nual meeting for that year receipts S3,210, defict $326. At that time there were between 75 and 80 who had pledged various sums toward the sup say concerning the history of the church for the IT years is not in a spirit of egotism. To God be all the
 Glory; He has permitted us to work together in peace and harmony, and whatever has been accomplished has been through His favor and blessing Sunday, October 28, 1894, the day of the dedication, must ever remain a marked period in the history of this church, and to those who attended the
 services can never be forgotten. It was a most beautiful autumn day, and the auditorium was filled to its ut most capacity: every available space in this and the Bible school room be- ing occupied with a happy, rejoicing
 people. It was estimated that there were 1,200 in the audience.
 At 10:30 a. m. Rev. Dr. Benjamin Andrews, then president of Brown university, preached the dedicatoryl sermon.
 Question of Stock Issue.
 At 2:3O D. m. Rev. pr. M. H. Pog- son, former pastor, preached.
 At 7:3O p. m. Rev. Dr. T. Armi- 1 tage, at that time pastor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist church of New York city. preached.
 some of you may remember that the financial conition of the. church in 1894, it seemed to be desperate. There was current deficit. The building committee had gone beyond their in- tended expenditure, and a large debt was hanging over them, with the grave | question where will the money come from with which to pay it? We were told that another congregation in the city stood ready to relieve us by taking | the property off our hands. The ques- tion was asked why we had ever built I so handsome structure? as the Bap- | list church was poor, and could never carry such burden and prosper. A plan was suggested to meet the obliga- | ton and so relieve the difficulty; the | plan was to organize a stock company, 1 issue bonds to the amount of $40,000, and sell them to whoever would buy. l had had an experience in a former pastorate with this method. A num- of years before my going there, their church building had burned, and as they had no money to rebuild they formed a stock company, selling the stock to whoever would buy. Twenty l five years later, when I went there, they were in sore trouble. A majority | of the stock, by way of transfer and sale, had fallen into the hands of other denominations, who could have taken
 possession of the property and turned out the Baptists at any time. With
 could even consider such a proposi- | ton until a strong persistent effort, at l least, was made among the church 1 membership and the congregation.
 The month of April gave almost en-
 tlrely to calling on the people, making over 200 calls.
 $1O,OOO in Day.
 In the month of May a special effort was made to increase the number of | contributors toward church support,
 and about 250 pledges were secured i; | then 1t was announced that during the
 month of June I would attempt to se-
 cure pledges for s20,0O0 on the debt,
 and by the first of July this amount
 had been promised. The night before | the dedication, when the committee met in the church parlors for final preparation, were asked if we should
 make a plea for special offering dur | ing the day, at first they were averse | to it because the field had so lately been convassed, but after considerable 1 discussion it was decided that we might in this way get two or three l hundred dollars from friends of the cause. who might be present at the | services during the day. At the sug- | gestion of Deacon w. A. Grippin the matter was left to the judgment of the
 pastor. Pencils and paper were se-
 cured, and at the close of the morning ] service opportunity was given for | pledges; this was also done in the afternoon and again in the evening.
 The offerings for the day amounted to
 nearly $10,000. Financially that proved
 the day of days for the church. The
 plan of issuing stock was dropped. The l question as to the Baptist holding this
 property was settled. All were filled
 with joy at the results, and from that
 day to this the question of a stock
 company or a mortgage has never been | considered, because never needed. | December 31, 1900, the last dollar was paid on the debt, and January 2, 1901,
 we had a grand jubilee, which also
 will long remain in our memories as | glorious occasion. The amount
 raised was over $46,00O. The entire | cost of the property was $92,5O0. Comparison of Figures.
 'As many of those who were promi-
 nent in those days have gone to their l reward, and a new element who have
 known nothing beyond the hearsay of l the struggles and sacrifices, the loyalty
 and courage of the men and women | then with us, it may be that a com parisonor statement of facts and fig | ures between the years 1894 and 1911
 might prove interesting and profitable so I append the following: Tn 1894 we | had in this citv siv Ro pfiSt oh,,roI, os