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THE SPRINGS CABIN AT LOWELL.
[Illustration: THE LOWELL CHURCH RUINS.]
THE LOWELL CHURCH RUINS.
Of these popular movements toward the Congregational way, that at Lowell
is a typical illustration. Some of the colored people near this little
hamlet desired to build for themselves a church. With infinite pains and
self-denial and labor they gathered the material for a small, wooden
building and put up the frame with their own hands. Being refused the
official encouragement they felt they had a right to expect from their own
denomination, they began to consider the whole question of church
relations and polity, and made up their minds to become a free church.
They held their services in the cabin depicted in the accompanying
illustration, and sought to push forward the completion of their little
and rude church building. A furious storm blew the frame down. With sore
hearts they piled up the lumber neatly around the foundation frame and
felt that they must give up their cherished hope of having a church
edifice. Having learned of the Congregational way, which superimposes no
centralized church government over the people and seeks to aid the poor
rather than to oppress them, they organized themselves into a
Congregational church, and were recognized in our fellowship by a council.
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