Year: 1876




MARCY AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH.
REoPENING OF THE cHuEcH-szRMoN BIZ REV.


REUBEN JEfFERY, D.. D.


Al the Marcy avenue Baptist church, Brooklyn yes
terday morning, there very large attendance,
the special interest resting the fact the
opening service in the cdice which has been widened
forty feet and greatly improved. The platform was
tastefuy decorated with flowers and the OF the
edihce gave evidence that the OF joy
After tho accustomed singing reading and prayer by
Rev. Dr. Patton, tho pastor, Rev. Reuben Jencry,
D. d., preached sermon keeping with the OCCASION
taking his text from the seventeenth OF the
tieh psalm-"And let the beauty Of the Lord God
bc upon us, and establish thou the work OF hands
upon us; yea the work Of our hands, establish thou
it" The text, ne claimed, was prayer for tho per-
manent prosperity Of the work which had been done
aid OF the service OF God Cody work WAS he felt,
peculiarly well displayed in the successful efforts TO-
ward the building up OF churches to be devoted
to HIS service Among Christian people there was
always joyful interest attached TO the erection
largement Of church edince. and tho same was true
oil the people OF more distant times IL recognized
important portion OF Gods work, even the
dividing ana scattering OF the Jews, Christs Coming
earth and the succeeding building up OF His Church.
II also part OF Gods work to have work TOR
His glory; and though the enterprise by which
buuDgs we're erected to the service and glory Of God
was ss IL seemed 10 bc. the enterprise OF man. they
erected by Gods desire and for His SERVICE and
were. through as His instrument His work for the
good OF mankind Therefore II that OF old they


prayed He would establish the work OF their hands
upon them and let the beauty OF the Lord their God DO
upon them. And therefore It that in lode
those who built and arged structures for the
o God prayed AS prayed the servants OF God IN the
olden time 1t was Tor that reason that he had con
sidercd tho he hao CHOSEN peculiarly
appropriate TO the OCCASION OF the opening
oil their greatly enlarged cddce. he did not
iesl that the snargemen. ol Inc oSa'ng ,ase
for rejoicing. IL was the object they had IN view in
tho enlargement, and the interest the enargcment
evinccd in the OF God winch furnished ihe ripe
feelings of JOY David had rejoiced when
the people who dweit in houses OF cedar while God
worshipped IN tents, determined that thereafter
He should ue worsnlppcd Ia structurcs more costly
and beautiful than their own. SO, too when Nehemiah
spoke for and reoiced in the work OF rebuilding the
walls OF Jerusalem. II was natural that such men
should rejoice any cxhb bton OF interest the part
OF the people In the bunding up OF edinces Tor the
the Marcy avenue congregation should take unusual
interest IN the enlargement OF their modest
edihce, believing as they must that II had
been done Tor the advancement OF the work
Of the Lord among the people OF the locality IN which
they lived. therefore, was il that they that day
had met 10 rejoice and pray God establish the work
more closely would discover two other points Of inter-
est They would have their work ''appear to them"
in the fruit oi blessings from God. so they Of the
Marcy avenue building, not feeling that thcy could
rest satisfied with what they had done already, were
asking simply that their work might .appear them"
in blessings which would enable them to feel that
what had been done already was only as foundation
stone Tor what would be done In the future.
The preacher then reIerrcd ieelingy TO what
had been done in the past from the small
beginning three years ago, and said he felt
that there was hope, even strong promise,
OF grealcr progress in the future. At the
there had gathered in small, unpromisng room only
forty-Ave men and women who were wiling organ
for sustaining church. Since then the memper-
ship had increased, until It more than 500.
and the attendance OF those not members vastly
creased Then the attendance at their meetings for
prayer, ana the results apparent from their holding
had ever been most cheering And even in addition
that they had established Sunday school, in which
they might we'll have PRIDE Then, too, they had
whstandng the early unpleasantness which had been
occasloned TO them, grown up and strengthened,
without having at any time felt that
there tho slightest breach in the
entire harmony which from the first had prevailed
among them. These cheering facts enable hun and
them to, in all earnestncss, ask God TO continue 10
them the spirit with which they had been AMI
mated from the beginning. In conclusion, he stated
that by slight effort they could II they choose
lieve tae church enterprise from any possibility OF
fnancisl embarrassment Notwithstanding the dulness
OF the times He followed Immediately by one
of the trustees who read the statistics of the enter
prise, sho wing that only some $3 500 needed now
TO relieve their work OF all immediate money concern.
subscription was then gathered and the proceedings
rne I'D