Dr. John Wesley Hill

              DR. JOHN WESLEY HILL.



THE successful pastor of such a church as the Metropolitan Temple or 
The Church of the Open Door,
 as it is sometimes called—located in the business section of New York City, must be a man not only of strong and unusual personality but one who understands men of all occupations.  He must be a man of insight, a man of conviction, and a man of action.  In Dr. Hill we find the embodiment of all these traits, and in addition, the eloquence of earnestness.




No one can hear this big-souled man without recognizing the fact that he is a man among men—he is the lawyer's counselor, the business man's advisor, and the poor man's friend.




So deeply interested is Dr. Hill in all lines of activity which concern the nation's welfare that his church during the week has become a forum for the discussion of public questions by thinking people.




Here the politician, the reformer, the educator, and even the actor is given the right to express his views.  
What business has a preacher out of politics?
  is Dr. Hill's invariable response to the question so often heard, 
What business has a preacher in politics?




He is a minister who practices what he preaches.  So successful was he on the stump during the McKinley and Roosevelt campaigns that President Taft invited Dr. Hill, both by letter and telegram, to accompany him on his Western campaign and speak each day from the same car with him.




The picture on page three shows Dr. Hill driving home a political argument.




Dr. Hill's reputation as an orator is international.  During the summer of 1909 he occupied the pulpit of the Marylebone Church in London, where his success was instantaneous and phenomenal.



Figure

Dr. Hill preaching from Marylebone Pulpit in London




DR. HILL IN LONDON

The Rev. John Wesley Hill, Indorsed by Taft, to Aid a Mission There.


London, July 30, '09.  Special Cable to the Chicago Daily News.



The Rev. John Wesley Hill of the Metropolitan Temple, New York, friend and campaigner for Taft, Roosevelt, and McKinley, his arrived in London to undertake two months of evangelistic labor in the Marylebone Presbyterian Church.  Dr. Hill comes with an especially strong personal letter from President Taft commending him to the American Ambassador, the Consul General in London, and other influential Americans in this city.  Ambassador Reid will entertain the clergyman at luncheon and introduce him to number of well-known people, and everything possible will be done to launch the Marylebone mission under favorable auspicies[sicauspices].


President Taft, as a matter of course, is deeply interested in all religious and moral effort,
 said Dr. Hill to The Daily News correspondent to-day.  
He believes in virility and determination in these matters as well as in what are sometimes regarded as more practical things.  He is well disposed to the idea not only of exchanging professors but of exchanging preachers as promoters of international good - will.  This accounts for his friendly and helpful interest in my summer's work in London.




The days of war and barbarism ought to be over.  The sight of sane and civilized men bickering and snarling like beasts puzzles as much as it depresses the lover of his kind.  The main part of my purpose is to speak with such power as I possess for the old but ever new and ever vital principles of the gospel.  Incidentally, however, I want to do some good if I can as a missionary of civility and sympathy between nations.



London, Aug. 21, 1909.  Special Cable to New York Herald.


The Rev. Dr. John Wesley Hill is proving a great success in his occupancy of the pulpit of Marylebone Presbyterian Church, London.  If curiosity to hear an American preacher whose reputation as an orator had preceded him and to see a Methodist clergyman in a Presbyterian pulpit had anything to do with the large congregation which crowded the church on his first appearance, Dr. Wesley Hill very soon made his power felt.  The church is always crowded, people coming from all parts of London to hear him, a most remarkable and exceptional thing in the summer time.  Indeed, it has not been known in Marylebone since the famous Dr. Lorimer was there.  Dr. Hill is in a class of his own.  While there are perhaps men among the English clergy who possesses what Shakespeare termed a 
pretty wit
, humor is far from being a characteristic of theirs.  That Dr. Hill is a humorist as well as a superb orator is perhaps one explanation of the great popularity he has gained here.


Rev. Dr. John Wesley Hill of New York was the speaker at the Whitfield Tabernacle Men's Meeting, last Sunday afternoon.  The address throughout was full of impassioned eloquence, while at the same time it was characterized by rugged and practical common sense.  The meeting can never be forgotten by those who were present.  —Sunday School Chronicle and Christian Outlook, London.



London, Aug. 12, Special to New York Times.


Dr. Hill began his ministry in this city this morning, preaching to a congregation that filled the large auditorium of the Marylebone Presbyterian Church to overflowing.  His introductory remarks touched upon the intimate relationship existing between Great Britain and the United States.  Among other things, he said, 
The Anglo-Saxon integrity is stronger than greed for land, and the Anglo-Saxon moral sense is the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night which is directing the forces of civilization.  I see more in this federation of the English speaking people than the movement of our Dreadnought police on the seas and the barking of our dogs of war.



A virile and striking preacher and a leader of international reputation is the Rev. Dr. John Wesley Hill, of New York City, who is now commanding sympathetic interest as a visitor of impressive personality and who has awakened throughout London deep regard by reason of his remarkable pulpit ability.  He recrosses the Atlantic to take up his work at the Metropolitan Temple with renewed energy and with the assurance of a multitude of new friends in the Old Country, that they will always be glad to give him a warm welcome back to these shores.—


The Christian, London, September 2.



With an extraordinary training in the school of varied experience, and with a record of successes in all his noble activities in the service of the church, public morals, exalted citizenship, and disinterested patriotism, the pastor of the Metropolitan Temple, New York City, is one of the forces to which that city looks for the promotion of civic righteousness and the betterment of the millions of inhabitants within its borders.  His preaching has attracted wide-spread attention, and has resulted in the strengthening of the Kingdom of God in our midst.  One characteristic that reveals itself quickly to the observer is his sense of humor.  He is a strong man and a serious one, who goes breast forward against the foes of the Kingdom of God, but his sense of humor is ever with him, and sparkles, not only in his private conversation, but in his pulpit and platform efforts.—


The Methodist Times, London.



The success of Dr. Hill in filling the Metropolitan Temple Sunday after Sunday is easily understood, in view of the great success he has met in London, especially during this holiday period.—


The Christian World, London.