antislavery
struggle; Hunter and Turner served as chaplains in the Union Army; and
Payne, Wayman, Shorter and Turner became bishops of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church.

The career of Bishop Payne is widely known, but some incidents in his
pastorate deserve emphasis. Under a prevailing law he had to secure a
bond of one thousand dollars before he could remain in the District of
Columbia and officiate as a minister. The building being without pews
and the people too poor to buy them, Payne, who had learned the trade
of a carpenter, bought tools, threw off his coat, and, with the aid of
the society furnishing the lumber, in a few weeks seated the basement
of the church. The first Negro ministers' union in Washington was
organized by Bishop Payne, the other two members being John F. Cook of
the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church and Levi Collins of Wesley
Zion.

It was during the Civil War, however, that the influence of Israel was
at its maximum. Then it was that the intellectual genius, the fiery
pulpit orator, the daring and unique Henry McNeal Turner, was not only
a conspicuous preacher but preeminent as a national character. These
were stirring times. All eyes were on Washington. Israel Church played
a leading part in the drama. Here the members of Congress, prominent
among whom at the time were Benjamin F. Wade, Thaddeus Stevens and
Henry Wilson, addressed the Negro citizens on the dominant issues of
the day, buoying them up in the midst of their darkness and gloom. At
this time the Israel Lyceum was an institution not unlike the Bethel
Literary Association of thirty years later, that drew the most
intellectual men to listen to lectures, participate in discussions,
and read dissertations on timely topics.[6]

In reckoning the influence[7] of this church the individuals whose
place was in the pew must not be forgotten. The minister passes from
church to church; the layman remains. In hurried review there comes to
mind Alethea Tanner, who rescued the church when it was about to be
sold at auction. There were George Bell and Enoch Ambush, who operated
in this church basement a large school which was maintained for
thirty-two years. Honorable mention belongs here also to Rev. William
Nichols whom, because of his high ideals, Bishop Payne, in his
_History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1816 to 1856_,
classed as "a man of more than ordinary intelligence firmly opposed to
the extravagent zeal an