Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-03-31

period Of christian architecture called
RosuAneUQuo with the hEst period The
Characteristic feature OF this second
period II tho halavy square tower. In
our now church building wo have .
combination OF the dome and tower et-~
fest. In Ot3ser words we have n COM
binA&ion of first and second periods OF
christian architecture technically called
Byzantine Romanesque
I'm studying examples OF early
christian architecture one Is impressed
with the beauty and simplicity Of the
main entrance And the main entrance
to our new building Is an exact repro
duction Of the early christian style.
And this entrance symbolizes the
beauty and simplicity OF entrance Int"
the church spiritual. And again az
one looks at this entrance he must feel
that It 10 ample And this too SYM
bollxes the entrance into the church
| spiritual-it 10 ample. When one mas
| passed up the broad expanse Of steps
he enters the arcade; the arcade opens
| in two directions into as many Hobbies;
from the lobbies one passes into the
main auditorium and Sunday school
rooms. and these rooms we trust VIII
never fail to open into the splrituai
courts Of God.
| within the main audience room you
will notice the. effect of combination
OF circles and half circles. In TINS
room are four great arches, eacn one
OF which approXimates a half-clrcie
Now this Is all distinctly early chris
tan, and Is what is called the radiating
| plan How appropriate that design for
a church-a center from which radiates
light and life and faith and hope and
! love! A center from which radiate
I, Influences to bless an entire commun-
| ity And if its beams should guide but
| q single youth-in all its history
from the paths of darkness to the paths
Of light. and that youth were a son Of
yours, you would believe its worth in
| this community vastly more than it has
cost.
1 Another feature Of our church
| building is the manner In which the
light is admitted. You have noticed the
circle of windows at the base OF the
dome. 1t is thru these windows that
practically all the light of the building
will come. And this too is a feature of
early christian Observation-Disclosures
| from above. Churches that are lighted
from above ought to prosper. for this
is the true light that lighteth every
man that cometh into this world.
| And then these towers have their
special significance. Why were they
Quilt SO high? Why was not the money
spent in building them given to feed
the poor? Well. those towers have
profound religious significance. His
torically they are a development from
the towers In which bells were original
ly placed. standing apart from the main
building. They were used as watch
| t0 nd nla Nf
ance. Their height made them easy
to locate for those who were fleeing
| for protection and enabled the man on
| watch to note the advance OF an army
when the city was threatened Is not
| the modern church a place OF refuge
! and a watch tower? Ought tt not to
be made conspicuous? OF course II
costs more to make 1t so and to keep 1t
so but all such money Is we'll invested.
What Is paid Into the saloons OF this
city every year would build all the
churches in this city. In the days Of
old, when an enemy approached city.
and saw the watch tower. It was taken
| for granted that there was some one on
guard. When the churches In our cities
and towns are not on guard. as rule
there ISN'T anyone on guard. The
church has taken tho lead in every re-
form that has given an upward trend
Flo our eiviA1fion- Tho first speech
for civic righteousness that Mr.. Bryan
ever made was from a pulpit. And 1t
was from q pulpit that Mr.. Roosevelt
| made his firsts psech ON the same sub
| ject. The reason Is obvious-the church
was the only place that they could get
a hearing on that subject at that time.
The early watch-tower was place OF
4 ~Ioo
the influence Of the church can't resist
evil. he is hopeless subject. And
| they suggest also q place OF refuge; a
| refuge from sorrow and disappoint-
ment; refuge from exacting cares: from
the monotony OF this work-a-day-
| world; and in building our new house
Of worship We have tried to make It
10 attractive that some will be drawn
into It who otherwise would not have
come And we hope that within its
walls all the troubled people who
come will find refuge from worry and
strife and every other difficulty that
makes life bitter and hard to endure.
| And once more. the interior OF the
main audience room is designed to give
| the impression OF cross. In christian
thought the cross stands for burden
bearing. It cries out against the UNI
equal distribution Of community bur-
Sens And its stands for self II
any man would come after me let him
deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. It stands for sacrifice. Self
denial means the giving up OF that
which 1t would be very pleasant to
keep; sacrifice means the giving up OF
that which involves actual loss and
suffering. When the early christians
gave up their profitable callings to
preach the gospel. that was self-denial
But when they sold their property and
put in into christian work; when they
barred their backs to the lash and went
to prison and to death-that was sacri-
flee. And then the cross stands for
| love. Back of all burden-bearing and
self denial and sacrifice is love. And
| the work done by the membership OF
this church and the many good friends
who have aided US. is great work OF
Hove. Remove the laws and society will
fall apart like caslS without hoops
i,.love Is stronger iloop than