COUNTING THE COST.

"For which of you intending to build a, tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying this man began to build and was not able to finish."

If for "tower" we read "church," we fear that many committees nowadays would have to confess that when intending to build they did not sit down first and count the cost whether they had sufficient to finish it. They have indeed been able to finish it, but only by incurring burdensome and oftentimes perilous indebtedness. Their neighbors, it is also true, do not mock them. On the contrary, they ordinarily sympathize and contribute to help them; but nevertheless, as the church struggles on under a load that they are ill able to bear, they too often feel that the very beauty and commodiousness of the edifice, in which at first they so rejoiced, supply the mockery.

The temptation to build "for the future" is very great. A congregation is growing rapidly; and if it continues to increase in like proportion, it will need within four or five years a building of double the size now required. Why not plan for that future?

Then churches of other denominations have attractive buildings, and it will be greatly to our disadvantage if we do not stand at least upon an equality with them. Again, one or two neighbors, who, although not members of the congregation, are interested in the progress of the town, will make unexpected contributions to the enterprise if a building of a certain size and expense is promised. It is very easy, too, to believe that additional subscriptions will certainly be forthcoming, or that at least upon the dedication day a large collection will make up the deficit.

No one who has ever been engaged in building has failed to experience these

temptations. The reasons for added outlay are in themselves good, but to yield to them without first sitting down and counting the cost is to arrange for inevitable disappointment and wearing anxiety. Far better to have the church small and plain, to omit the steeple, to decline the bell, to furnish with common chairs, and be able to say, "It is all paid for," than to have these adornments, so pleasant in themselves, and with them the haunting consciousness that they may cause the loss to the congregation of the building itself.

Very properly, and in entire accordance with the intent of the General Assembly in organizing the Board of Church Erection, a large proportion of the young churches in the new states and territories, in planning to build, include in their estimate of resources a certain amount to be granted by the Board. This, we say, is well; but it is not so well that in many instances they go forward and contract for the building before they have even consulted the Board, much less received from it a definite promise of the desired grant. The Board is always desirous to help, but not infrequently there are obstacles in the way which it is very difficult to remove, but of which the church, until it correspond with the Board, is entirely ignorant.

Thus it comes to pass too frequently that a church, taking for granted that it can at a moment's notice receive its grant, has gone on until the time has actually come for paying its workmen before it has communicated with the Board at all, and then finds, to its dismay, that it has still much to do to bring itself within the rules of the General Assembly. It may find then, to its surprise, that there is in its deed a reversionary clause, which effectually prevents its giving the required mortgage: it may learn that it has been counting upon a much larger sum than the Board is permitted to give to any one church: it may have been

132

ignorant of the fact that it must be able to complete the building without debt, or that no mortgage prior to that of the Board is permitted. Even if none of these difficulties arise, it may be disappointed that it cannot receive the money by return mail. The Board meets once in each month, so that in some instances the application must wait three weeks before it can be acted upon. Then it almost always requires two or three weeks more to have the proper legal instruments executed and recorded. In the meantime, creditors may be pressing, and much disappointment and anxiety be occasioned.

It seems hardly necessary to draw the moral suggested by these illustrations. The earlier a church, proposing to build, can come into communication with the Board the better; and as a part of the wise counting the cost and balancing it against the resources, a distinct understanding of just what will be the grant of the Board is a valuable, if not indispensable, element.

WASTEFUL ECONOMY.

To build a church at great expense and then, for the sake of saving an almost inappreciable percentage of its cost, or of giving a job to a favorite deacon whose scientific knowledge is inferior to his doctrinal soundness, compelling one fourth of the congregation to stay at home on cold Sundays, and rewarding the other three fourths for their zeal by giving them positive discomfort and possible pneumonia; to shut out from country and village churches the beauty of trees and skies and distant hilltops by horrible caricatures of adoring but distractedlooking saints, depicted in colored glass and lead; to profane Scripture texts by employing them for doubtfully decorative purposes in such fantastic typography that they might as well be Egyptian hieroglyphics or unmeaning arabesques; to set the preacher directly in front of a gorgeous light, or in line with the blue and green rays of a stained-glass window, and expect to catch the expression of his eyes or the play of his features; to take the air that has been stagnating in darkness for an indefinite period within the damp stone walls of a church, and, drawing it down into the cellar, send it back again by way of a red-hot cast-iron furnace, to choke an innocent and helpless con

[August,

gregation till they are unable to distinguish between conviction of sin and the oppression of foul air; to construct a resounding cavern in which a single human voice resounds and reverberates like the sound of a waterfall among the mountains or a "fog-bell on a rock-bound coast," call it an "auditorium," and say to the audience, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," if he can,-all these things are inexcusably stupid, not to say unchristian, but they must not be suffered to go unpunished until the building committees have learned to avoid them, and parish committees have learned to correct them, in the buildings that were constructed in the days of ignorance when such faults were winked at.-Parish Problems.

FLORENCE, ARIZONA.

Our readers will remember the appeal made last year for a manse at Florence, Arizona. They will be interested, we are sure, in the following extracts from a letter written by Mr. Whittemore describing the changes in that town which have followed the preaching of the gospel. After describing the general appearance of the place, he speaks of the wonderful results that followed upon the organization of a lodge of Good Templars. He goes on to say:

There is not a saloon in town of the twentyfive or more that is doing a paying business; only the hotel is paying expenses. When I came here I saw more drinking and gambling and Sabbath-breaking, and learned of more meanness, than I had ever known before. I came trembling, but the Lord had sent me. There had been efforts made by the Baptists and Methodists to organize a church, but they had given up in despair. This I did not know, however, until I had moved here and several months afterwards. I came here at my own charges to view the field, and spent Easter Sabbath a year ago the 1st of this month; stopped at the hotel and preached at the court-house at 11 A.M. and 7.30 P.M. At the close of the evening service several citizens came to me and said, "We want you to come here and live with us and organize a Presbyterian church and build a house of worship. Will you do it?" As I lay on my bed in the early morning asking the will of the Lord, the question came to me (from above), Will you come here and take this terribly hard field? I said, Yes, Lord, if it be thy will, and sweet peace came over my

1889.]

soul-inexpressibly sweet-so I said to those gentlemen, "Yes, I will come and build a church and parsonage." "When will you be here?" "By the 1st of June." I went back to Illinois, asked dismission from Rock River Presbytery, packed up goods, sold horse and buggy, etc., chartered a car, let my dear wife go and make probably her last visit to her aged parents in Madison county, N. Y., took our precious fifteen-year-old daughter and brought her to Coolidge, Kan., and left her with her married sister-our second daughter-and came on and should have arrived June 1, 1888, but was detained twenty-four hours at Dening, N. M., the train on the Southern Pacific Railroad having passed one hour before, so I reached here on the 2d.

Such a summer I never had passed. There was a time when I came near being drummed out of town, and "I was the song of the drunkards." But I shook hands with everybodydrunkards and saloon-men and children-and faced my enemies and would-be drummers and mobbers, and out of defeat, by God's good blessing, wrought victory, for which I thank God and take courage. Now my enemies that were come to church and respect me. The only house that I could get for my family was an adobe with four rooms and a hall, and only three rooms had a floor-the other two were dirt. For this house I pay $20 per month$240 per annum. Oh how we needed a parsonage! I went to the Lord with the matter, and then began to write to individuals and for the papers. Long and patiently I waited and prayed. My family joined me on the 27th of September, 1888. They were glad even to find the adobe so comfortable, but they have suffered from dust unaccountably, and would suffer from heat were it not for what I am about to tell you. In grief and almost desperation, after I had written to Rev. John Irwin, Assistant Secretary of our Church Erection Board, New York, and he had replied that the Board could not help me in building either a church edifice or parsonage until we had organized a church, I then wrote him freely and foolishly as an old copresbyter with whom I had been on intimate terms of fellowship. To my surprise, in the October number of THE CHURCH AT HOME AND ABROAD here was my letter published incognito by Dr. White.

November 5 I organized "The First Presby terian Church of Florence." The Lord began to answer prayer, until in February last I found that he had moved the hearts of a few men and many women (God bless them!), so

133

that with what Dr. White had received and what I had received personally I was assured of sufficient means to go forward and purchase lots and lumber.

When we get settled we will dedicate the parsonage to the Lord and reconsecrate ourselves to his service, and then we will sing the "long-metre doxology," and I will make a long and low bow to all our donors, from the man (or woman) who sent Dr. White $500, and told him to use all he needed for that parsonage, to the dear little girl who sent her twenty-five cents from Albany, N. Y., and will pass a unanimous vote of thanks to them all.

I am happier than king or peasant, and my heart praises the Lord with every beat when I consider how good he has been to us, and how he has brought me through so many dangers. But my heart is sometimes very sad when I see so many Mexicans, men, women and children, and some Chinamen, and the many Indians who are all heathen, and I can hardly speak a word to them. I can look love and loving kindness, and have won the hearts of many Mexicans by kindness to their dogs and children, of which some have an equal number of each!

Said I not truly that this is a foreign field on home mission soil? One needs much wisdom and patience and some courage on such a field, and most of all an unwavering faith in God, and never to be discouraged at any disappointments, for they are many. There is a Roman Catholic church and a French priest here of little influence with men; but our little church is the only white church in this county, which is over one hundred miles long by ninety broad! Hoping my lengthy letter will not weary you,

I am very sincerely yours,
ISAAC T. WHITTEMORE.

HOW ONE CHURCH DID IT.

The following letter from the pastor of a church in San Francisco is well worth reading. It abundantly proves that courage and perseverance bring their own reward:

You will recollect that your Board voted to Lebanon church, San Francisco, $1000, and that I wrote you that we had not yet completed our side of the bargain. The fact was one man had promised us $1000 if we could raise the rest. When I went to him and informed him

134

that the Board had voted us enough to pay off all indebtedness, he said that did not meet his views. He intended that it should all be raised here. So we had to go to work to raise money to claim either his offer or yours. Friends arose, and money too, from unexpected quarters, and enough was raised to claim that gentleman's offer and our church is paid for, and we will not have to call upon the Board for that generous and kind grant. We have a very nice church. It is a two-story building

[August,

with the basement unfinished. I do not know when we may undertake to finish the basement. If in this work we should ever have to call upon the Board of Church Erection for aid, it will be in the future and by a new application. I am very glad that we did not have to draw the $1000 from your treasury, there are so many places which need aid. Again thanking you, I am Yours fraternally,

Away out on the prairie,

In the fair Dakota land,

Where the sunshine beams so brightly

And the outlook is so grand;

'Mid quiet scenes of beauty

A Christian temple stands, Whose walls have been erected By willing hearts and hands.

It has no "storied arches"
Or nicely-frescoed walls,
No lofty marble columns
Or dimly-lighted halls;

No nicely-painted windows,

No chandeliers swung high; No lofty tower or steeple

Points upward to the sky.

But all is plain and simple,
The walls are built of sod,

And thither come the people
To meet and worship God.

'Mid scorching heat in summer
And wintry winds of strife,
They come, the hungry-hearted,
To hear the words of life.

When winter's winds are fiercest,

They keep the cold at bay
And warm their shivering bodies
With fire of twisted hay;*

While fires within the soul are fed,
In flames that do not falter,
With fuel laid by unseen hands
Upon an unseen altar.

God meets his chosen people here
In this his temple lowly,
And human hearts are made to feel
That every place is holy.

The Spirit from on high descends
Upon his glorious mission,
To work in unregen'rate hearts
Repentance and contrition.

And when the Judge shall reappear
In majesty and glory,

How many souls will love to tell
The plain and simple story--

How first they found the Lamb of God
And felt their sins forgiven,

Within this temple built of sod,

This very gate of heaven!

J. R. B. in Prairie Pioneer.

ENDORSED.

Even a stranger may claim to be trusted, if he brings the unreserved commendation of the best men. This Board accordingly claims to be trusted even by those who have no direct knowledge either of its members, its methods or its results. No Church ever made a movement that commanded a more complete consent of the minds that are entitled to lead opinion than has been given in our Church to this. In 1883 a unanimous Assembly established the Board. Every succeeding Assembly has given unreserved approval to its work. The names of the men who have severally reported such action are worth repeating. It will be seen that every one of them has had such relations to educational work as to give special weight to his utterances: Dr. John F. Hendy, Dr. Timothy G. Darling, Dr. Howard Crosby, Hon. John K. Ewing, Dr. H. D. Jenkins, Dr. Thomas S. Hastings. If there had been weakness in the cause or fault in its administration some of those men would have found it out.

When the Board had been nearly three years at work, namely, in March, 1886, the following declared by their written names that they considered the effort in which it was engaged to be "of the very highest importance to the extension and establishment of our Church, and to its most efficient service of Christ at home and abroad": Roswell D. Hitchcock, John Hall, W. Henry Green, James McCosh, Howard Crosby, F. F. Ellinwood and H. Kendall. A similar expression, equally emphatic and more extended, was made within the past few months over the name of Francis L. Patton. The recent printed appeal of the Board carries with it the hearty endorsement of five names which are at least as deserving of Presbyterian respect as any others in the five great cities which they represent. They are Joseph T. Smith, John Hall, Samuel J. Niccolls, Charles A. Dickey and S. I. McPherson. At the reception which the Presbyterians

of New York gave to the last General Assembly in the Metropolitan Opera House, Governor Beaver of Pennsylvania was moved to speak distinctly and with high commendation of the bearing of the work of this Board upon the coming century of our national development. The sermon by which the retiring Moderator, Dr. Thompson, gave pitch and breadth to the enthusiastic and harmonious session of the last Assembly, made an utterance concerning this Board which would have been emphatic if it had stood alone, but which the preacher thought worthy of being enforced with careful illustration and eloquent appeal. He said, "We closed the last century with a great advance. The organization of our Board of College Aid marks a long step forward." And to those who had ears to hear, that whole sacred oration, from its first thrilling word to its last, spoke more for the cause which this Board furthers than the best skill of that western alumnus could have put into terms. For the present, this bulk of testimony has culminated in those utterances of President Hastings before the Assembly to which we referred a month ago.

Meanwhile a substantial silent evidence of this Board's beneficent power is growing up in the Board's own office, from which passes out the tide of discriminated, welldirected aid; and to which comes in for every dollar so applied, the lien that roots the gift in the watchful, responsible tenure of the Church. This young Board's vault begins to show a file of documents that defines to a nicety the difference between college aid at random and by impulse, and college aid by system.

Now it is this well-attested, careful Board that announces to the men and women who read these lines cases of urgent need of which it knows in detail; and which promise for timely succor the same sort of return that has come to the large-hearted helpers of the colleges that are now established in strength and blessing the land.