Page:The Gospel by Wireless - James Ebenezer Boon.djvu/27



A temporary wireless aerial constructed by means of clothes props on the roof of a London church last night received what was stated to be the first "broadcast" sermon. The Peckham Christian Union made the innovation, and the sermon of the President of the Union (Dr. J. Boon), spoken into a microphone at the Burdette Aerial Works at Blackheath, was received at Christ Church, McDermott Road, Peckham. The sermon could have been, and, from messages received after, was, in fact, heard by "listeners in" within a radius of 100 miles from Blackheath.

At Christ Church a three-valve receiving set was installed and fixed to a table in front of the pulpit rails, and the words were heard with remarkable clearness all over the building. The church was filled to overflowing, and points in the sermon, which was preached from John iii. 16, were emphasised with extraordinary clarity. In the phrase "I believe in the Bible from cover to cover," the preacher's expressiveness was conveyed, and when he dwelt on the great faith of Christianity in the fact of God, the fact of Christ, and the fact of the future life," it was also unmistakable.

Seen by a Press representative on his return from Blackheath, Dr. Boon was particularly gratified to hear of the success of the experiment. "It was not the same as preaching to a congregation," he remarked, but I have no doubt it has come to stay. It commands a wide field in which to spread the Gospel, and although it has yet to be perfected, I am convinced it will prove a valuable means of bringing the Gospel into the very homes of the people."—The Daily Telegraph.