The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-01-25
The Sunday Sermon at BROOKLYN
Tabernacle on The Looking
Glass of the Gospel"
The Mirror Rejecting Mankind's
Deeds on Earth Whether for
Good or for Evil.
The LAYER which IL Swallowed the Right
asd the Wrong OF Motive and
Actfon-The Light of
Divine Law.

BROOKLYN. Jan ia few days ago Dr.
Talmage received, on his ffty-third birth
day, testimonial through the Brooklyn
Magazine containing over q hundred con-
gratulatory letters from distinguished peo-
pie. such as Secretary Frelinghuysen, from
the Department OF State; Dr. Prime, of New
York, d.. Storrs, Henry Ward Beecher,
John G. Whittier, Generals Hancock and
w. T. Sherman. Senators Sherman and Col
quit, Lord Butler, of Dublin; Martin Far
quar- Upper, Emma Abbott, and Others.
DIR. Tai mage has asked the press to convey
his hearty thanks for their kindness. Philip
Phillips says In his letter: Arriving at
New leland, the first literature that met my
eyes IS entered q large bookstore in Auck-
land, was DIR. Talmage's Sermons, a penny
each Even in the nethermost land, Aus
tralia, the Southern Cross and other leading
papers OF the colonies are telling of saliva
ton a. delivered in the Brooklyn Tapern-
acle." John X. Porter, the great jurist,
writes: mo one else can send through an
audience like him the magnetic thrill which
penetrates the heart like lightning. He
reaches with every sentence the popular in
telligence, heart and conscience. Full as
appreciate the more boundless field DR.. Tai
mage commands in his own grander pro-
fession, can not refrain from thinking
what . mastery he would have over
courts and juries, IL it had happened to
him to belong to ours" An Eng
li0h correspondent in the same collection
says: Seven papers in London here pro-
duce DR.. Tslmsges sermons ca ch week. and
through these alone does he obtain an audi
ence of more than SOC, 900 readers, one of
these papers alone having o circulati OF
over 5000. In Scotland three or four pa
pers publish his sermons regularly, and in
Ireland, throughout which country he is
uni, ersally beloved and respected, even q
larger number of periodicals produce his
discourses to their readers. 1t must also be
remembered that these periodicals. while
they circulate of course more extensively
throughout Great Britain, have thousands
ofregular readers In all the British provin-
ces, such British Guiana, New Zealand
and Australia. At all the bookstores In Lon
don, Liverpool and the large cities of Great
Britain his sermons are always for sale and
ind many purchasers, one publisher In Lon
don informing me that be sold more than
$4,000 copies of DR.. Talmage's bound SER
mons annually. In Ireland his sermons are
read more extensively than those of any
living preacher and the jourp ais having the
largest circulation are in every case those
that give space to the publication of his dis
courses"
THE SUBJECT OF DR.. TALMAGE's SERMON
to-day was: 1.-The Looking glass of the Cos
pei"
The opening hymn was:
There is a fountain filed with blood
Drawn from ImmanuePs veins"
The text was Exodus, xxxviii, s.:
1t of brass. of the looking glasses Of the women
assembling.
We often hear, said DIR. Talmage about
the gospel in John, the gospel in Luke, and
the gospel in Matthew, but there is just as
surely gospel of Moses, and a gospel of
Jeremiah, and a gospel OF David. In other
words, Christ is as certainly to be found In
the Old Testament as in the New. When
the Israelites were marching through the
wilderness they carried their church with
them. They called it the Tabernacle. 1t
vas pitched tent, very costly, very beauti-
full The framework was made of forty eight
boards of acacia wood, set In sockets of sill
yer. The curtains of the place were purple
and scarlet and blue and fine linen, and
were hung with most artistic loops. The
candle stick of that Tabernacle had shaft and
branch and bowl Of sold gold. and the fig
ures OF cherubim that stood there had wings
OF gold, and there were lamps OF gold and
shutters OF gold and tongs of gold and rings
OF gold; SO that skepticism has sometimes
asked: Where did all that precious ma
terial come from2" 1t is not my place to
furnish the precious stones; 1t is only to tell
that they were there.
wish now. more especially, to speak of
the laver that was built in the midst of that
ancient tabernacle. 1t was a great basin,
from which the priests washed their hands
and feet. The wa ter came down from the
basin IN spouts, and passed away after
cleansing This laver or basin was made
ont of the looking glasses { 4 the women who
had frequented the tabernacle, and who
had made these their contribution to the
furniture These looking glasses were not
made of glass, but they were brszen. The
brass was of . very superior quality, and
polished until il reflected easily he features
of those who looked into IT, So that this
lsver of looking glasses spoken of in my
text did double work-it not only furnished
the water in which the pris SITS washed them
selves, but il also, in its shining. polished
surface, pointed out the spots OF pollution on
the face which needed sblution. Now, my
Christian friends. as everything in that an
cient tabernacle was suggestive of religious
truth, and for the most part positively sy m
boiical Of truth. shall take that laver OF
looking glasses spoken of ia the text rs all
suggestive OF the gospel, which first shows
us our sins a. in mirror, and then washes
them away by divine abluticn.
Oh, happy day. happy day,
when Jesus washed my sins away.
THE ONLY TRUE MIRROR
have to say that this 10 the only looking
alas in which . man can see himself a. be
10 There are some mirrors that fatter the
features and make voc look better than YOU
oRo. Then there are other miqfon that dis.