The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-12-26
THE BAPTISM OF FIRE.
Sermon by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage on the Recent Fire.
The Children of the Tabernacle Will Not
Sit Supinely Down, But VIII, God
Willing, Rear a New and Grand
er Place of Worship.

The following discourse was delivered
by Rev. T. Dewitt TaImage in the Brook
lyu Academy of Music, the burning Of the
Tabernacle being the inspiration. His
text was:
None OF these things move me.-Acts Xxx, "a.
But, Paul, have you not enough I'd ic-
ton to move you? Are you not an exile
from your native land? With the most
genial and loving nature, have you not
in order to be free for missionary jour-
neys, given yourself to celibacy? Have
you not turned away from the magnif-
cent worldly successes that would have
crowned your illustrious genius? Have
you not endured the sharp and singing
neuralgias, like a thorn in the fesh2
Have you not been mobbed on the land
and shipwrecked on the sea, the sauhe-
drim against you, the Roman Govern
ment against you, all the world and all
hell against you?
"What of that?" says Paul. 'tNone of
these things move me-" 1t was not be-
cause he was hard nature. Gentlest
woman was never more easily dissolved
into tears. He could not even bear to
see any body cry. for in the midst of his
sermon, when he saw some one weeping
her sobs aloud: "What mean we to weep
and to break mine heart? For l am
ready not to be bound only, but also to
die at Jerusalem for the name of the
Lord Jesus" What then did Paul mean
when he said: ''None of these things
move me? He meant: 81 will not be
diverted from the work to which have
been called by any and all the ADVERSE
ties and calamities."
think this morning 1 express not only
my own feelings, but that of every man.
woman and little child belonging to
Brooklyn Tabernacle, or that was con-
verified there, or comforted there, or
blessed there, when / look toward the
biackened ruins of the dear and conse.
Grated spot and with an aroused faith in
loving God, cry out: None of these
things move me-"
When say that do not mean that we
have no feeling about it. Instead of
standing 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 l forget thee, o Jerusalem, 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 in that building
sixteen years of religious revival. l be-
lieve that a 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, sirsi our children were
there baptized, and at those affairs our
young men and maidens took the mar
Tiage VOW, and out of those gates we car.
ried our dead. When from the roof of
my house last Sunday morning at three
O'Clock l saw our church in flames, 1
said: ''That is the last of the building
from which we buried our Dewitt on
that cold December day, when if seemed
all Brooklyn wept with my household"
And it was just as hard for you to give
up your loved ones as for us to give up
ours. Why, like the beautiful vines that
still cover some of thewalls, our affections
are clambering all over the ruins, and I
could kiss the ashes that mark the place
where it once stood. Why, now that /
think OF it, l can not think of it as an in I.
animate pile, but as soul, mighty
soul, an indestructible soul. / am sure
that majestic organ had a soul. for we
have often heard it speak and sing and
"NAAt SAN WhSA b11O SOu1 VI ludb organ en- .
tered Heaven think Handel and HAYDN
ana Mozart and Mendelssohn and Beeth-
oven were at the gates to welcome It. So
do not use the words of my text in a
heartless way, but in the sense that we
must not and viii not be diverted from
our work by the appalling disasters which
nave berallen us. We will not turn
aside one inch from our determination
to do all we can for the present and ever.
lasting 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, I said to myself:
docs this mean that my work in Brook
lyn is endedS 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 misfort-
unesp And still, small voice came to
me, voice that is no longer still or
small, but most emphatic and command
ing, through pressure of hand and news.
paper column, and telegram, and letter.
and contribution saying: "Go forward"
have made and l now make appeal to
all Christendom to help US. We want all
Christendom to help, and will acknowI-
edge the receipt of every contribution.
great or small, with my own hand. We
want to build larger and better. We
want 1t national church, in which peo.
pie OF all creeds and all nations NAV And
home. The contributions already sent
In make small hearted church forever
impossible. Would not l be a sorry
spectacle for angels and men if. in a
church built by Israelites and Catholics.
as well as all the styles of people COM
monty called evangelical, 1 should, m
stead of the banner of the Lord God AL
mighty, raise fiuttering rag of small
sectarianism? If We had three hundred
thousand dollars we would put them all
IN one great monument to the mercy of
God.
People ask on all sides about what we
shall build. I answer, it all depends on
the contributions sent in from here and
from the ends of the earth. saw no,v m
all the Baptists, that we shall have in II
baptistry. l say to all Episcopalians
we shall have in our services, as hereto
lore at our communion table, portions of
the Liturgy. | say to the Catholics. we
shall have a cross over the pulpit and
probably on the tower. 1 saw to tha
Msthodists, We mean to sing there like
the 70 ices of mighty thunderinos To-