Flowers Galore! At Morrison Park

What a beautiful time at Morrison Park! Bob and Edie Bell have spent so much time, digging , planting and preparing all the wonderful gardens at Morrison Park. All these glorious flowers came from their own gardens, which is just down the road from the park. I hope everyone will take time to drive by and get a peek at all the wonderful things , God and the Bells have provided for our pleasure. God bless Bob and Edie Bell, and praise God for his wonderful world, and all those precious caring people who have helped breath life back into Morrison Park.  

America's Greatest Preacher! Henry Clay Morrison

   My grandmother had a saying, that “every crow thinks theirs is the blackest.”  Well, we know a lot of preachers have come and gone over the years with many attaining great followings, and seemingly some great accomplishments.  While the scriptures teach us we cannot judge another man’s servant, we will however make no apologies for the amount of praise we bestow upon our favorite preacher of Morrison Park, the great Henry Clay Morrison. Morrison became a famed preacher in a day long before radio and television. He gained his fame through reputation, hard work, spiritual preaching, writing, and simply following the direction that God set forth for him. It was through the popular Pentecostal Herald that he published and edited for 54 years, that his written word went out across the nation and the world. Morrison was in constant demand preaching in the finest and most elaborate churches, to the most simple and crude dwellings that could be crafted for an accommodation in the many Holiness camp grounds scattered across the country. Morrison would at times be invited into the finest of homes or have the finest hotels or rooms provided for him, only then to move along for the next revival and perhaps spend two weeks in a cramped tent or primitive cabin, often times with only a dirt floor, and a nail driven into a stud or support beam for a place to hang his clothes. The only and most important thing to Morrison was to obey God’s directive and preach his word.  We are told Morrison’s preaching was simply amazing. Newspapers across the country reported his coming, praised his text and the glorious results that were accomplished through his efforts in the Lord’s work. Morrison’s preaching resulted in great convictions and wonderful testimonies of salvation.  It must have been such a blessing to sit in his presence and hear his delivery of God’s message. Many called Morrison a modern day prophet comparing him to the great ones of old. Some folks, of course, didn’t like Morrison. Some ministers argued with his beliefs, and others spouted out complaints and charges that explicitly rang forth with human jealousy and contempt, but these never took anything away from the Christian nation’s strong opinion. The greatest helping of praise however that seemed to fall upon the efforts of Morrison was that of the great William Jennings Bryan.

   William Jennings Bryan, hailed as the greatest orator of his era, said that “Henry Clay Morrison was the greatest pulpit orator on the American Continent.” Bryan was a leading American politician from the 1890’s until his death in 1925. He was the democratic presidential candidate on three occasions, 1896, 1900, and 1908. Bryan was a two term member of the House of Representatives from Nebraska. He also served as US Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson. A devout Christian, with his deep demanding voice and wide travels Bryan was one of the best known orators and lecturers of his time. Because of his special connection with the common people, he earned the title “the Great Commoner.” The actual connector that linked Bryan to Morrison is unknown to me: however it is probable that Bryan’s and Morrison’s link to Glasgow was a factor. James Bryan moved to Glasgow and built a home in 1854. That home still sits on West Washington Street under reconstruction at the present time. It stands at the corner of Washington and Jefferson Streets. William Jennings Bryan, a member of the same family was a visitor to the home each time he traveled to Glasgow. Bryan came to Glasgow on October 9, 1897 and spoke to several thousand residents from the Court House grounds. (Shown in the photo below)

     Eleven years later, the August 28, 1908 Glasgow paper, reported how Rev. H.C. Morrison spoke on the present political conditions, Monday night last at the court house here. The reporter described his address as a most unanswerable and terrific arraignment of the Republican Party. For over two hours he held his audience of a thousand people spell-bound under the charm of his eloquence, the force of his logic and the lighting play of his sarcasm and invective.

   Morrison, in support of his friend William Jennings Bryan, spoke out on what he saw as the problems and the evils of the present day. Morrison was most disturbed at the idea of the election of a president (William Howard Taft), who did not believe in the divinity of Christ. Morrison wrote in a July 17^th Pentecostal Herald editorial, “Think of the United States with a President who does not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God, but looks upon our immaculate savior as a common bastard and a low cunning imposter. What must Mr. Taft’s feelings be towards our civilization, which is so permeated and interwoven with the religion of Jesus Christ?” The Glasgow newspaper, referred to the address by Morrison at the courthouse as being, “the greatest exposition of political truth that ever fell from the ministerial lips in Glasgow, and was a veritable thunderbolt among the republicans. It was a magnificent discourse by a magnificent man.”

   On June 3, 1958, Dr. Edward L.R. Elson, Pastor of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. addressed the students of Asbury College on Alumni Day, saying,”here in those days was the inimitable Henry Clay Morrison, aristocratic in temperament, autocratic in rulership, compassionate and tender in human dealing ... and the last of the old silver tonged orators that used to grace the American platform. Do not some of you recall the day when Dr. Morrison spent some thirty minutes introducing the Honorable William Jennings Bryan, who then spoke for an hour and a quarter, and then when it was all over the real debate for the next week was ”who was the greatest orator- the introducer or the speaker?” And those of us who were here knew who the greater orator was.”  Even though Bryan was held in great regard within the Presbyterian Church from which Eldon hailed, there was little doubt Morrison was the greater speaker of the two.

In 1924, Christian Century Magazine named Henry Clay Morrison one of the 25 greatest preachers in America.

   Many a hype, legend and myth have propelled some people to a great state of esteem with much less evidence or substance than we feel is offered here, so we offer for your consideration, that we are at Barren County Kentucky and Morrison Park, the proud home of America’s Greatest Preacher! The Great Henry Clay Morrison!               

 William Jennings Bryan (left) and Henry Clay Morrison at Asbury College