Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-05-08

after two years they nave always
maintained a friendship and shown an
interest each in the work of the other.
There can be no doubt that the two
years spent with DR.. Chapman we're OF
great educational benefit to the aspir-
ing evangelist. DR.. Chapman was not
only a thorough Bible student but a
magnetic speaker and a good organ
izer; he had developed at that time
his peculiar capacity for doing a great
deal of work In a short space of time,
a capacity in which the student prob
ably outstripped the master In later
years but which at the time was q val
liable training.
Mr.. Sunday frequently refers to his
period with DR.. Chapman In his ad-
dresses and always in the spirit of the
greatest appreciation. DR.. Chapman,
then, as in later years, confined his
efforts largely to cities of considerable
magnitude. One episode to which Mr..
Sunday is fond of alluding has to do
with a campaign in Indianapolis. On
that occasion President Benjamin Har-
rison and his daughter were in the
audience and 1t became possible for
Mr.. Sunday to extend In person an
invitation to the president to occupy
a seat upon the platform. The argu-
ment which the young evangelist used
and which finally proved effectual was
that the spectacle Of a man SO gener-
ally known and SO generally revered
making a public confession of his adj
herence to religion and his faith In
the doctrine of the church, would have
a powerful influence upon those In the
audience who had never taken such a
stand. He regarded 1t as n of the
proudest moments of his life when
he was able to lead Mr.. Harrison to a
seat upon the platform.
With DR.. Chapman Mr.. Sunday got
frequent opportunities to test his ora
torical powers and to improve his
skill In the composition and handling
of his m
Although he has never said so, there
is a feeling that 1t was a desire on
his part to reach men who could not
be reached under the Chapman plan
that led Mr.. Sunday to embark in the
evangelistic work by himself and to
abandon the large cities. Anyhow,
this is what he did.
He went straight home to Iowa, the
state of his birth, and took up his
work in small towns. Places of 5000
and 1000 we're the cen of his very
earliest independent endeavors, and
through sheer lack of material, accord
ing to his own account, he was driven
from place to place at intervals of a
week or ten days. Il had half a dozen
sermons at that time," he says, land
when these had been used / had to
go on to the next place." During this
period Of his career tents were fire.
Quently employed because no audi
torium In these small places would
accommodate the crowds which from
the very first began to flock to his re-
vivals.
It was a little later that Mr.. Sunday
became associated with M. B. VIII
liams, an evangelist Of considerable
note in his day and in that part Of the
country. Mr.. Williams Is given credit
for being the father Of the tabernacle
idea, an idea which Mr.. Sunday has
perfected and improved, and brought
to a magnitude and degree of perfec'
ton of which its inventor never
dreamed.
Elgin, Ill, has the honor Of building
the first tabernacle. 1t would seat
1900 people and had a chorus Of 300.
It was dedicated in December, 1900
From this it will be seen that at the
outset Mr.. Sunday preserved the ratio
OF 1 to 10 between choir and audito-
rum. In the days when 10000 and
$4,000 capacity auditoriums became
actualities the choir had grown to
1000 and 1,200 members. The taber'
nacle idea originated in the early COS
and has been very generally adopted
by evangelists, particularly those op-
Grating in smaller communities or in
sparsely settled districts. It remained
for Mr.. Sunday, however, to demon
strate its utility under other condi.
lions such as Columbus, Toledo, South
Bend, Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburg
have amply demonstrated.
The architecture Of the tabernacle,
like its size, has been a development.
The prime requisite in every instance
is the best possible accommodation of
a large of humanity within the
range of a single speakers voice. To
this end lofty ceilings are abandoned
and low straight roofs are used. The
platform or speaking pulpit is pushed
as far as possible toward the center
of the auditorium. Necessity as much
as anything else gave rise to the ia
nous "saw-dust trail" Where thou
sands Of people are gathered together
even an occasional shutting of the feet
is a serious disturbance. No sort of
floor is ~noiseless, certainly none that
is in a temporary structure-therefore
the saw dust covering. This is abso.