The City of Churches

General

Thousands of Sunday School Children
Have a Day's Outing

Rivalry at the Bridge Dock

The Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church and the Baptist Temple
Schools Left Almost Simultaneously, Hanson Place M.E. Church Children
Took Trains to Long Beach. An Eastern District Excursion.

The cool breezes that were blowing this morning did not in the least lessen the number of people who had decided to go on several excursion parties that left the city today. Two very large parties sailed from the bridge deck at 9:30 o'clock. They were the Sunday schools of the Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church and the Baptist Temple, at Third avenue and Schermerhorn street. The excursion steamers Grand Republic and General Slocum were chartered to carry the excursionists, and when the steamers cut loose from the dock they were crowded with a happy, joyous lot of young people and a good number of the parents, friends and Sunday school superintendents and teacher. The excursionists began to arrive fully one hour before the time appointed for the departure of the steamers, and committeemen from the different churches were stationed at the entrance to the dock selling tickets for the respective organizations. The men of the Tompkins Avenue Church wore bright yellow badges and those representing the Baptist Temple had blue badges pinned to their coats; and there was much friendly and amusing rivalry between them as they announced that tickets were for sale for the separate excursions. There was, however, no delay in getting away from the dock. Exactly at 9:30 o'clock sharp, the time set for the boats to sail, the last warning whistle blew. The Tompkins Avenue Sunday School was the first to get away, as the Grand Republic which had been chartered by them, was on the outside. The members of the Baptist Temple Church, on board the General Slocum, cheered them and gave them a parting salute as they moved off. It did not take long for the General Slocum to follow her sister boat out into the stream, and in a few ........

The Grand Republic, it was estimated, had on board about 2,000 people. The Tompkins Avenue excursionists went to Empire Grove, on the Hudson River, about forty-five miles up. Therre was no prepated programme for the amusement of the excursionists on the way up, but a band of music enlivened the trip with popular airs. For the grove a series of games and contest were arranged, including a 50 yard dash, a bicycle race, broad jump and a baseball game. A.W. Webster and the Rev. Dr. MMeredith, will keep a watchful eye on their flocks. It is expected that the steamer will arrive at the bridge dock on its return trip at 7 o'clock.

On the General Slocum there were nearly 2,300 excursionists from the Baptist Temple. their destination was Locust Grove, on the sound. A feature of this excursion party was that all the Sunday school children were carried free of charge, and only the adult members of the congregation were taxed for the trip. The music was furnished by the Baptist Temple Guards, of seventeen pieces, with Professor E.M. Bowman, the organist of the church, as the leader. There was also a piano on board,. On the return trip patriotic songs and hymns will be sung by the entire party. To assist in this a number of hymns and songs were printed in the programmes distributed. A number of events have also been arranged to be run off at the grove, and the only thing that is likely to mar the day's pleasure will be cool breezes on the homeward trip. Nearly all the excusionists prepared for this and carried overcoats and wraps along.

Another excursion to leave this borough this afternoon at 2 o'clock the sixth annual excursion of the Maltese Encampment No. 27, Knights of St. John and Malta, and the young people of the several churches of the Eastern District sailed on the iron steamboat Cygnus. The steamer was chartered to go to Boynton Beach, but on account of the mines in the harbor, the boat will not round Staten Island, but will take a sail up the Hudson River instead. The organizations, beside the knights to take part in the trip were the Young People's Association of Christ Church, Rivington League of the First Free Baptist Church, Young People's Society of the Christian Endeavor Society of the New England ......

Publication: Brooklyn Eagle; Date: January 18,1898

Preachers of Old Brooklyn

Some Reminiscences of the Days of
Storrs, Beecher, Cox, Spencer and Bethune

To the Editor of the Brooklyn Eagle:

Will you kindly grant the hospitality of your columns to an old Brooklyn boy now in exile, for the revival of a few ecclesiastical memories? My recollections of Brooklyn go back over three score years to the period when I was a Sunday school scholar in the Wallabout, and among the memorabilia of a now remote past the ecclesiastical ones overtops all others. It is given to few cities to have so many "eminent ecclesiastical personalities: as had Brooklyn half a century ago. In fame's treacherous caprices it has come to pass that even the names of these distinguished men are scarcely known to the present generation. It is not at all impossible that they had dreams of earthly immortality, as all public men are apt to have. But the epitaph over the grave of poor Keats in Rome might be inscribed with equal truty over their mortal relics, "Here lie men whose names were written in water.: Mayhap the spirits of the great departed which compose this vanished constituency will assembly on the farther shore of the dividing river (call it Jordan or Styx as you will), and give me a vote of thanks for even this feeble attempt to rescue their names from oblivion.

I believe that of the old time ecclesiastical worthies, who rose to eminence in their generation half a century gone, only a single one survives in the person of the venerable pastor emeritux of the Church of the Pilgrims. Probably no man could write so rich an interesting a volune of Brooklyn memorabilia as he. Half a century ago, when he had occupied his pulpit but two or three years, he had taken rank among the foremost pulpit rhetoricians of the country, a distinction which has ever since been conceded to him. It is a curious coincidence that both he and the first pastor of Plymouth Church were introduced to the public as men of extraordinary oratorical gits on the platform of the old Broadway Tabernacle during the period of those great religious festivals known as the May Anniversaries. I was present on both occasions, a reverent and surprised listener.

The address of the youthful pastor of the Church of the Pilgrims was before the American Bible Society, and such magnificent periods in exaltation of the sacred book of Christendom were probably never heard before or sine. The address was in no sense argumentative. Small need of argument in those anti-Briggs days, when everybody in the assembly believed in plenary inspiration and the blasphemies of the "higher criticism" had never been heard of. Never will I forget the splendid imagery with which the young divine pictured the Bible as a giant gentleman from New Orleans was sitting beside him who declared that he considered he was abundantly repaid for the journey in New York in the privilege of listening to that magnificent address of the young pastor of the Church of the Pilgrims.

The prophesies of that memorable hour have been abundantly fulfilled in a professional career distinguished for scholarship, unswerving loyalty to traditional faith and eminent service in the interest of popular culture. The venerable pastor emeritus of the Church of the Pilgrims had many competitors in the domains of learning and oratorical resource in the days of this youth, but for affluent rhetorical material in pulpit equipment he stood, and still stands, almost alone among his contemporaries.

With these inadequate words of tribute to the only surviving member of a distinguished circle, let me pass now to speak in reverent commemoration of a few old time Brooklyn preachers whose names and deeds deserve an abiding place in the roll of honor. Of this procession of departed worthies probably none had a more pronounced individuality than Dr. Samuel H. Cox, for many years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church (new school). As I remember this remarkable man in my boyhood he occupied the pulpit of a rather commonplace brick conventicle standing on the site of the Plymouth Church of to-day. The organization calling itself the First Presbyterian Church now occupies the massive brown stone structure on Henry street, near Clark. It shoud, perhaps, be explained that there was another organization calling itself the "First Presbyterian Church,: of which the Rev. Dr. Jacobus was pastor. This belonged to the "old school" branch of the denomination, which claimed to be, and probably was, more loyal to the "faith once delivered to the saints" than the seceders of the "new school." This is not the place to tell the long story of an ancient ecclesiastical quarrel which divided the Presbyterian body in twain and introduced a colossal scandal into the cause of religion. Let the unsavory details of this quarrel be buried in the graves of the combatants.

Moody Speaks of Prayer

Evangelist Tells a Vast Assemblage the Way to Get God's Help

The Elements of Worship

Man Needs to Adore, Confess, Restore and Forgive --
Country Needs a Joyful Church

Classon Avenue Presbyterian Church , corner of Monroe street, was crowded to the doors, many stood up against the walls and every available chair was put into use last night to accommodate the people who desired to hear Dwight L. Moody, the evangelist. The Rev. Joseph Dunn Burrell, pastor, had charge and the choir of the church furnished music. The Rev. Dr. David Gregg, chairman of the Presbytery committee, and the Rev. Dr. John P. Carson, secretary had seats upon the platform and took part in the services. The meeting was opened with the singing of the hymn, "Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove," and prayer by Mr. Burrell. Dr. Carson announced that Mr. Moody would speak at the Ainslie Street Presbyterian Church this afternoon and at the Throop Avenue Presbyterian Church this evenign, at which time it will be made known whether Mr. Moody will be able to stay longer in Brooklyn or not. Dr. Carson also announced a special prayer meeting that was held in the Throop Avenue Church this morning beginning at 6:30 o'clock and continuing until 8, and said that a prayer meeting would be held at 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon in the Reformed Church on the Heights and at 4 o'clock in the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church.

When another hymn had been sung Mr. Moody asked all to join in silent prayer, which he followed with an earnest petition for a blessing on the meeting. "Before I speak," he said, "I want those nearest to them to open all the windows and turn out the gas, so that the air will be pure and people will not get drowsy and go to sleep or faint. If any one faint, just carry them out into the air and don't bring any water to them and make confusion. I spoke this afternoon on 'Prayer,' and I want to continue the subject this evening. I will read a portion of the eleventh chapter of Luke, beginning with the fifth verse."

Mr. Moody then pointed out what he considered the elements of prayer, first adoration, then the confessing of sin. "Many people wonder," he said, "why they do not get an answer to their prayers. It is because they have some cursed sin hidden away. You can't expect any blessing if you do not confess and give up every sin. Another element of prayer is restitution. You must right everything you have done and restore that which belongs to anybody else. Then another element is forgiveness. If you do not forgive you cannot pray. Perhaps some of you will not pray to-night, because there is somebody you cannot forgive. If you are not willing to forgive you will not be forgiven.

"Still another element of prayer is unity. A church divided cannot pray. If you are separated there will be no power in the prayer meeting. You must have the spirit of brotherly love. Why, it is easy to pray for one another. That will ill out all bitterness and you must kill it out if you wnat God to bless you and your church. Then there is praise, thanksgiving. I do not mean praise by hired singers, you must do it yourself. If you expect to get much from God be happy over what you do get. Give a fervent, hearty 'Bless the Lord,' not a hollow unmeaning one. Smile on people, for a smile begets a smile. A frown begets a frown. Let one member of a family snarl and the whole family will snarl. Life is an echo; yes it is. Be cheerful, bright full of thanksgiving, that is the kind of a Christian to be. Get off of Grumble street. Some of you live on Grumble street. I know you do; you look it. Be full of thanksgiving. That God for your blessings.

"What this country needs is a joyful church, a thanksgiving church. If you just stop to think how many prayers God has answered for you, you ought to be thankful. Have faith when you pray and believe that you are going to get an answer. You won't get 'yes' to everything you ask for, for God often has something better for you. I once heard of a boy who asked his father for the razor he was shaving with; the boy wanted to play with it. Lots of people pray for razors and of course they do not get them. It is no sign that God does not love because He does not answer all our prayers. Paul prayed three times to have the thorn taken out of his flesh. I do not know what that thorn was and I do not want to know. Some say it was sore eyes, because Paul had an anamnesis. Some say he had a scolding wife. I never knew that he was married. He prayed three times, and Paul was the prince of prayer, but God did not take away the thorn, but gave him grace to bear it, and he thanked God for the thorn in order that he might serve Christ. Don't whine because you have a thorn. As parents we do not give our children all they ask. My boy wanted a bicycle and he took text out of one of my sermons and patched up an argument why he should have the bicycle. It was a good argument. He got the bicycle, but I was not obliged to give it to him. God is not obliged to give us all that we pray for. He knows exactly what is best for us."

Mr. Moody told of an experience in Chicago, when he was president, secretary, treasurer, janitor and all there was of the Young Men's Christian Association, how he won a rough man, when he met on the street corner, to Christ; spoke of a woman in England who first told him it was none of his business when he asked her if she were a Christian, and afterward became a most efficient Christian worker, and urged all to never cease to pray, to live a life of constant prayer. He also told of his experiences with soldiers at Nashville, during the wave of letters from mothers urging them to become Christians, and said htat when there was a lack of prayer everything languished, and made an earnest appeal to his bearers to make their petitions known, petition being one of the most vital elements of prayer. "If you want to have a blessing before this meeting closes you can have it. Just bow your head and fervently say, 'Lord helpe me..' Every saint and every sinner wants His help. You can have salvation just now for the asking. This very minute help will come. Bow your heads and ask for it."

"Just as I am" was sung and Dr. Gregg pronounced the benediction.

Mr. Moody addressed another large meeting yesterday afternoon in the South Third Street Presbyterian Church. All of the seats in both the body and the gallery of the church were occupied and many persons stood throughout the service. The Rev. Dr. Gregg, pastor of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, presided and made a short address before Mr. Moody was introduced. Mr. Moody's discourse was in his usual vein. "Prayer" was his general subject and he took as his text. "No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."

Mr. Moody said that prayer is ineffectual unless the supplicant is in the proper mood. He told about a Chicago woman who was greatly concerned about her soul and sent for him to have him come and pray with her. But when she came to the clause about "forgiving those who have trespassed against her" she balked, and said there was one woman whom she never would forgive, and that if that woman was going to heaven she didn't want to go there. This, Mr. Moody said, illustrates the spirit in which some people pray, and he protested that prayer under such circumstances was futile. He went on to say that this particular woman brooded so much over his wrong, real or fancied, done her by the other woman that she finally became insane and was sent to a madhouse, and he said he believed there were lots of people in insane asylums for this very same reason.

"I know," he continued, "that I must keep bitterness out of my heart if I want to have sweetness in my life. People say it isn't safe to act on impulses. I don't believe that; I believe that every good impulse comes right straight from heaven. If you have been harboring a grudge against anybody, go right to him or her and have it cleared away. Don't eat or during or sleep or do anything else until you have done this. Love those who don't love you, who hate you and slander you and lie about you. Have you got that spirit. Some of you haven't, I know. There's Mrs. Brown who says she won't come to church because the minister's wife didn't speak to her on the street the other day. There is altogether too much of this foolishness

Publication: Brooklyn Eagle; Date: October 26, 1899

Thoughts of Brooklyn

Some of Our New Ministers Tell Their Impressions

Rev. Mr. Farrar Reverses the Order and Gives Philadelphia
the Title of City of Churches and Brooklyn the Title of
City of Brotherly Love -- Viewed in Various Ways

Every new comer to a country, city, town, or village is sure to be plied with questions innumerable as to how he has been impressed by the place. No Englishment, for instahce, comes to America it is safe to say, who is not asked by every fresh acquaintaince he makes on this side of the pond what he thinks of our country, an explanation of which fact has been offered on the theory that Englishmen formulate such amusing opinions of us that we never tire of hearing them. But this does not explain the reason why we ask the similar question of our own countrymen coming to sojourn among us from other states or cities. May it not be that in propounding the alarmingly original query we do so largely as a means of starting conversation? Nevertheless it is interesting and often of great value to know what they think of us.

Holding this opinon a reporter for the Eagle sought interviews with some of our most recently settled ministers to discover for publication what were their impressions of Brooklyn. The Rev. Dr. John Coleman Adams, formerly of Chicago, the successor of the Rev. Dr. Almon Gunnison in All Souls' Universalist church in the eastern district, who removed to Brooklyn last September and is now comfortably settled at 110 Ross street, had this to say:

"I think the first thing which impresses the new comer to Brooklyn is its bad streets, its monstrous architecture and its immense spread of territory. Then as one becomes familiar with the geography of the city he finds many lovely quarters, neighborhoods which are attractive and homelike with an air of permanence and comfort very grateful to the mind. Again, one is impressed with the fact that the city seems ot have as little concentration in it religious and social forces as its geographical lines. It is a little difficult for the stranger to put his hand upon those public and social lines which reach the public and social centers.

The Rev. Arthur H. Goodenough is one of the few Methodist ministers who began work in this city at the conclusion of the annual conference which was held in the Summerfield church. He was assigned by that conference to the Nostrand avenue church, the second largest of the denomination in this city. Mr. Goodenough is an energetic and observant man, and has probably explored Brooklyn in its many aspects as diligently as any other of his confreres. This was what he said in reply to the reporter's query regarding his impressions:

"To say what has impressed me most in coming to Brooklyn is not an easy thing to do. The first thing that impressed me was the horrible condition of many of the streets. To drive through some of our streets is enough to shake the life out of me. Is it because of the penuriousness of the citizens, or the unfaithfulness of the officials that it is so? But perhaps a minister ought not to notice such things. I am impressed and delighted with the excellent educational facilities offered to our youth by the city. The Polytechnic, Packer, the Adelphi and the Central grammar school for girls are institutions any city in any country might be proud of. Then our public schools are equal to the best in the country. No more important work is being well done is a matter for congratulation and thankfulness. Now there is another side to this question not so pleasing. The schools educate but half the child. The child is a religious being and must have a religious education. Without it the results will be disastrous. This work is committed to the church and we fear that the churches of Brooklyn, as well as those of most other cities, are not keeping pace with the secular schools. Our friends in the church of Rome set us a good example. We should do well to follow it. In this city of churches too many of our children are slipping out of our grasp and are becoming irreligious and growing up disbelievers. We can't afford to permit this. I wish something could be done to stir every Protestant church in this thing. Brooklyn is a great religious center. Most of the representative preachers are here. We are a churchgoing people. Brooklyn is the religious metropolis of the country. What is preached, I believe, in Brooklyn affects the continent. The theology of Henry Ward Beecher is preached in more pulpits to-day that ever before. The Young Men's Christian Association is doing some excellent work. The Bedford branch, I see, has six hundred members although organized only a few months.

The Rev. Harlan G. Mendenhall, of the Greene avenue Presbyterian church, was active in Western fields before he undertook his present charge in this city last fall. It was natural therefore that his impressions were tinged by the conditions and methods that prevailed in his former localities. The gist of the interview with Mr. Mendenhall was somewhat as follows:

"I have been very much interested in the aggressive character of Christian work in our churches. Not only to agencies outside of the church interest themselves, as elsewhere, in the suffering and afflicted, but the church itself has societies without number that also look after the poor and the unchurched." There is so much enthusiasm displayed that it makes a Westerner feel quite at home. Never have I seen the young people more alive in Christian activities, nor have I ever seen them accomplish so much work. I have noticed that as a preparation for this men and women read their religious papers as they do secular journals to and from their places of business on the surface and elevated cars. On the other hand it is a constant surprise to me that the saloon is allowed to invade the residence portions of the city. It is found everywhere in Brooklyn, and no district, no matter how valuable the residences or how lowly the tenement, escapes its shadows. Minneapolis has her saloon limits as she has her fire limits, and as a result the saloon is crowded into the business districts. I think there is much less drinking in the West than in the East. Coming from a prohibition state these facts are very noticeable."

The pastor of the First Reformed church, on Prospect heights, the Rev. James M. Farrar, had apparently been doing a great deal of thinking yet no two of them are alike in any one particular. Their individuality is the measure of the universality. I think the same reason accounts for the intimate association in this city of pulpit and press. The press revolves as a sounding cylinder behind the pulpits of this city, and the world hears what is said. The press finds in the pulpit news items of interest. The pulpit has full confidence in the press. She is always certain of a clean sheet washed and ironed every morning. Back of the combined power of pulpit and press we find a cause that is operating through them. In all the world there is no such place for the church to demonstrate her power become world wide, world embracing and world saving as in the twin sisters of Brooklyn and New York. New York is the world condensed. It does not contain simply representatives of all nations, but it has large colonies from every nation. New York is gathering the nations and accumulating the wealth of the world. Providence will some day use these to evangelize the nations of the earth. Providence is making Brooklyn the center of christian power, and is leading her to the increased power of unity. A large number of the strong pulpits are occupied by men who were educated in another church, and some of the pastors have been in pulpits of different denominations. The churches are thus nearer together to-day then they suspect. One bridge has united the two cities, two bridges will combine them and three will make them one. The wealth of New York is even now largely consecrated to good works, and when the two cities are made one, the church will be one, with the wealth at her disposal and the world at her door. The accomplishment of this end is the cause back of and working through the pulpit of to-day. I have an impression, however, that the weakness of the Brooklyn pulpits is their strength. I have an impression, however, that the weakness of the Brooklyn pulpits is in their strength. A large number of the profaming Christians of this city are massed in a few churches. The world expects great men to have large congregations, and an unconscious conformity to this idea may tempt the church to either disregard city mission work, or to make their chapels feeders for the main church. Bees do not send out a few pioneers to lodge near to a good clover field where they can make honey and bring it home to the old hive. They swarm, and found among their parents' waste papers. The masses are waiting for us. If we build them churches they will not ask us to wait for them. We do not have to go to the suburbs to find unchurched masses. We should make this city preeminently the city of churches and then organize for home and foreign mission work -- work that is within twenty minutes' ride from our door. Thousands of dollars are sent from our bank vaults to carry on evangelistics work in Italy, while for the little Italy in our city, we give the ash barrel from the cellar vault. Providence has done much for the churches of Brooklyn, and He has brought the world to her door. The center of God's operation for evangelizing the world has been transferred from Palestine to America. The exodus was in 1492 B.C. and the discovery of America was in 1492 A.D., and in America the history of the promised land is being repeated, enlarged and verified. From Palestine God sent his servants to evangelize the nations, and to America God is sending the nations to be evangelized. Brooklyn and New York give us the condensed map of the great evangelistic work."

Emmanuel church in Baltimore lost an energetic and capable man when the Hanson place Baptist church in this city secured the services last November of the Rev. A.C. Dixon. He is pleasantly domiciled on Clermont avenue and had this to say about the new city of his abode:

"The quiet of Brooklyn as a home has greatly impressed me. I expected to have to getused to the rattle and roar of things, but, on the contrary, the street on which I live is almost as quiet, unsually, as the country. It is a very attractive feature. Unlike New York, Brooklyn has homes. I have been also impressed with the splendid types of Christians I have met. Religion with them is a lfe and they are not willing to sit still and enjoy themselves while others go to the ball. There could have been no heartier co-operation than I have received from the Hanson place Baptist church in every purpose and plan for doing good. In a large city like this there are of course many cranks and I have my share. I am rather fond of cranks. It is cranks on the steam engines that drive our trains and carry on our commerce, but the n some cranks are so crooked that they can hardly turn. There is no proper place for them. Of this kind, however, I have met only one or two. Brooklyn is a good place to live and the finest field for Christian work in the world."

Publication: Brooklyn Eagle; Date: April 19, 1891