Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1915-12-24
TABERNACLE MEETINGS CLOSE
Audience of 1000 Attends Final Servce-Great Outpour-
ing of Goodwill Offering of $1,000 for Chapman and
Alexander-Party Leaves Town

erly affection and goodwill occurred in
the tabernacle Tuesday night at the last
of the series of evangelistic meetings by
Rev. j. Wilbur Chapman, d. D., and
Charles NJ. Alexander, choir leader, and
their assistants. An audience of 1000
persons, probably the largest that ever
attended religious service in Brattle-
boro with the exception of the Sunday
services in the tabernacle the past few
weeks, was present and Joined heartily
in the spirit of the meeting, and there
was everywhere manifest sense of
closer and firmer fellowship and a feel.
ing of keen regret that the time had
come for the meetings to close and for
the members of the evangelistic party
to leave.
From the opening service on the even
ing of Nov 26 until the end the people
who attended the meetings, which in
cluded a large proportion of the commu-
nifty, became more and more impressed
with the fact that the evangelists
were men of large calibre, whose mis-
sion was to preach Christ living and
able to save. Throughout the meetings
no utterances were made except with
the highest motives, the sermons were
wholly devoid of impoltic statements,
but rang with the sincerity of a man
of broad vision and high and noble
ideals. Hundreds placed their lives in
to the Divine keeping and many more
hundreds felt deepening of their spir
itual lives and higher sense of duty
and obligation.
From the first it was realized that
the town was small for movement of
this extent, which required the cree
ton of building especially for the
meetings, but those who came and saw
the high plane on which the services
were conducted supported the move
ment literally and gave not only about
$4,000 for the local expenses but also
81, 200 as a freewill compensation for
the evangelists, who are said to spend
each year in benevolent and philan-
thropic work more than their income
from evangelistic campaigns. DR.. Chap
man and Mr.. Alexander feel that Brat
tleboro accomplished the unde taking
in very efficient manner.
Mr. Alexander started the song ser
vice by calling for hymns that had
been of special help to different per-
sons, and among those requested were
Shine and Casting All Your Care, by
Henry Barraclough. Jesus Passed
Through Jericho, Back to Ny Father
and Home, Ivory Palaces, Dwelling in
Beulah Land. At the close of one of
the selections Arthur L. Maynard,
chairman of the music committee, step
ped to the platform and said he wished
to have part in the program. Then
he expressed the sentiment toward Mr..
Alexander that had grown up among
the choir members, and in their behalf
presented Mr.. Alexander three five-dol.
lar gold pieces with the suggestion that
he might use the money in Testament
league or hymn book work When the
applause had subsidized Mr.. Alexander
expressed his appreciation and said the
gift would be used as suggested.
After prayer by Rev. E. s. Hewitt
and the Beulah Land hymn, in which
the ministers sang verse and Mr..
Brown verse as solo, DR.. Chapman
called the ushers forward. They sang
the chorus of the hymn and then DR..
Chapman said he did not know when
there had been better corps of ush-
ers at any of the Chapman Alexander
meetings in the past eight years. Men
tioning the head usher, DR.. Moves, he
urged that the ushers keep together,
attend different church services to.
gether and take part in the singing
and speaking He called Mr.. Hawlcy
and his corps of personal workers for
ward and said the hearts of the evan
gelists were full of gratitude for what
they had done. "You have been our
right hands and our left hands and
have done your work extraordinarily
we'll he said, and he urged that they
continue their personal work. The mem
bers of the general, executive and
other committees were called to the
front. DR.. Chapman expressed deep
thanks to them, whose cooperation had
not been exceeded anywhere. He thank
ed the local newspapers for their help,
Mr., Gilbert for the spirit in which the
reports were written, the choir for its
unusually excellent singing, Mr.. Reed
for his conscientious service as care
taker Of the tabernacle, which he said
was especially easy for him to speak in,
and the ministers for their unfailing
support of every suggestion made by
him and Mr. Alexander. He said the
giving up of church services affected
the church revenues, especially the in
come Of the Salvation Army, whose
"olh he ehuorseu, urging lts euPPoit'
Rev. George +. Tomkinson expressed
his delight because of the fellowship
of the ministers, the workers, those
who had accepted Christ, and the mem
bers of the evangelistic party, men
tioning each enc of the party individu-
ally. George l.. Durham said that hun
dreds had learned to love the taberna-
Gle, and he regretted that it was to be
torn down. He thought the presence OF
1000 persons was a great tribute to
the spiritual power of the evangelists.
He announced the Offering. Henry Bond
spoke very appreciatively of the work