The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-10-31
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Weekly Discourse of the Great
brooklyn Preacher.
Subject; "The Esap'i.Hh of
Fire"

TEXT "None of these thia0s more pie."-.
Acts Xxx, 81.
The Rev. II. De Witt Talmage, ID. d.
preached at the Brooklyn Academy of Mu
sic, his first sermon after tho destruction OF
the Brooklyn Tabernacle by fire. His au.
dience was OF vast size, and public interest
was extraordinary. The opening hymn was,
God moves in mysterious way
His wonders 70 perform,
He plants His footsteps In the sea,
And rides upon the Storm
DIR. Talmage's subject was "The BAPTISM
Of Fire. and he said;
But, Paul, have you not enough afilction
TO move your Are you not an exile from
your native land? With the most genial and
loving nature, have you not, in order 60 be
free for missionary journeys, given yourself
to celibacyi Have you not turned away
from the magnificent worldly successes that
would have crowned your Industrious geniusP
Have you not endured the sharp and singing
neuralgias like a thorn in the flesh? Have
| you not been mobbed on the land, and ship
wrecked on the sea; the sanhedrm against
you, the Roman Government against you all
| the world and all hell against YOU?
"What of that% says Paul 'None of
| these things move mew 1t was not because
he was hard nature. Gentest woman was
never more easily dissolved into tears. He
could not even bear to SEQ anybody cry. for
one weeping her sobs aloud, "What mean We
to weep and to break mine heart? for | am
ready not to be bound only, but also to die at
| Jerusalem for the name Of the Lord Jesus.n
What then did Paul mean when he said,
| None Of these things move mesn Homeant
II will not be diverted from the work to
| which have been called by any and all the
Universities and calamities.h
think this morning l express not only my
| own feelings but that of every man, woman
| and little child belonging to the Brooklyn
| Tabernacle, or that was converted there, or
comforted there, or blessed there, when lool,
toward the blackened ruins of the dear and
consecrated spot and with an aroused faith
in a loving God, cry out: None Of these
things move me-"
When l say that, do not mean that we
| have no feeling about it. Instead of stand
ing here to-day in this brilliant auditorium,
it would be more consonant with my feelings
to sit down among the ruins and weep at the
words of David: "If forget thee, 0 Jerusa-
lem, let my right hand forget her cunning"
Why let me say to the strangers here to-day
in explanation of the deep emotion of my
| flock, we had there i'll that building sixteen
years of religious revival. l believe that n
hundred thousand souls were born there.
They came from all parts of the earth and
we shall never see them again until the books
are opened Why, sirsl our children were
there baptized and at those affairs our young
men and maidens took the marriage vow,
| and out of those gates we carried our dead
| When from the roof of my house last Sum
day morning at o'clock saw our church in
flames, / said: That is the last OF the build
ing from which we buried our De Witt on
that cold December day when it seemed
all Brooklyn wept with my household
And it was just as hard for you TO
| give up your loved ones as for us 20 give
up ours. Why, like the beautiful vines
that still cover some of the fallen walls,
| our affections are clamberng all
over the ruins, and l could kiss the
ashes that mark the place where it
it, l cannot think of it as an inanmate
| pile, but as soul, mighty SOUL an
indestructible soul. am sure that majestic
organ had soul, for we have often heard it
speak and sing and shout and wall, and when
the soul OF that organ entered heaven | think
Handel, and Haydn, and Mozart, and Men
delssohn, and Beethoven were at the gates to
welcome it. So do not use the words of my
text in heartless way, but in the sense that
we must not and will not be diverted from
our work by the appalling disasters which
., have befallen us. We will not turn aside one
inch from our determination to do all we can
for thepresent and everlasting happiness of
all the people whom we may be able to meet.
None of these things move ME. None of
these things move you"
When looked out through the dismal rain
from the roof of my house and saw the
church crumbling brick by brick and timber
by timber, l said to myself: "Does this mean
that my work in Brooklyn is ended? Does
this terminate my association with this city,
] where have been more than twenty years
glad in all its properties, and sad in all its
misfortunes% And a still small voice came
to me, voice that is no longer still or small
but most emphatic and commanding through
pressure of hand, and newspaper column, and
telegram and letter, and contributions say
ing; go forwardr'
l have made and now make appeal to all
Christendom to help us. We want all Chris.
tendon to help, and will acknowledge the
receipt of every contribution, great or small,
with my own hand We want to build
larger and better. We want it national
church, in which people of all creeds and all
nations may find home. The contribution:
already sent in make small hearted church
forever impossible Would not l be a sorry
spectacle for angels and men if, in church
built by Israeltes and Catholics, as well a.
all the styles of people commonly called evan
gelical, should instead of the banner OF thu
Lord God Almighty, raise fluttering rag o
small sectarianism? If we had three hundred
thousand dollars we would put them all il
one great monument to the mercy of God
People ask on all sides about what we shal
build. | answer it all depends on the contri
buttons sent in from here and from the end
of the earth. l say now to all the Baptists
that we shall havein it baptistery. | say t,
all Episcopalians, we shall have in our service
as heretofore at our communion table por
tions of the Liturgy. l say to the Catholic
we shall have a cross over the pulpit AM
probably on the tower. l say to the Metho-
dists, we mean to sing there like the voice
of mighty thunderngs. | say to all denomi
nations, we mean to preach a religion a
wide as heaven and as good as God. W.
have said we had total loss But there wa.
one exception. The only things we saved
were the silver communion chalices, for they
happened to be in another building, and
take that fact as typical that we are to b.
in communion with all Christeudom Il be
lieve in the communion of santsr
l think, if all the Brooklyn fremen and al
insurance companies should search among
those ruins on Schermerhorn street. they
would not find splinter large as the tip enc
of the little finger marked with bgotry. Ant
as it is said that the exhumed bricks of til,
walls OF Babylon have on them the letter n
standing for Northumberland, l declare Il
you that if we ever get new church the let
ter we should like to have on every ston,
and every timber would be the letter
G., for that would stand both for Christ ant
Catholicity. The last two words uttered il
the old church on Friday night, some of yo,
|
The two words that l utter now as mos
expressive of my feelings in this our first ser
vice after the Baptism of Fire, are Halle
lujah! Amen! None Of these things NOV,
me-"
/ We are kept in this mood by two or tire,
considerations. Tho first is, that God rules
In what way the church took fire l do no
know. 1t has been charged ON the light
J nings. Well, the Lord controls the light
| nings. He managed them several thousand
Of years before our electricians were born
The Bible indicates that, though they nasl
down the sky recklessly, God builds for then
q road to travel.
In the Psalms it is said: He made way
for the lightning and thunder" Ever since
the time of Benjamin Franklin the world ha
8 been trying to tame the lghtnings, and they
seem to be quite well harnessed, but the
, occasionally kick over the traces. Blu
though we cannot master great natura
forces, God can and does, and that God i
{ our Father and best Friend, and this though
gives us confidence
We are also reinforced by the increase,
) consolation that comes from fraternity o
sorrow. The people who, during the last six
: teen years. sat on the other side of the aisle