Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-10-30

pie whom we may be able to meet "Non
of these things move me. None of thest
things move you"
When I looked out through the disma
rain from the roof of my house and saw th
church crumbling brick by brick and tim
Der by timber, / said to myself: Does thi
mean that my work in Brooklyn in ended
Does this terminate my association with thi
city, where l have been more than twent.
years glad in all its prosperities, and sad il
| all its misfortunes? And a still small voict
came to me, a voice that is no longer still
or small but most emphatic and command
ing, through pressure Of hand, and newspa
per column, and telegram, and letter and
contributions, saying: "Go forwardp'
have made and now make appeal tt
all Christendom to help US. We want all
lChristendom to help, and will acknowl
edge the receipt of every contribution, grea'
or small, with my own hand. We want tc
build larger and better. We want it ma
tional church, in which all people of al
creeds and all nations may find home The
contributions already sent in make a small
hearted church impossible. Would not be
a sorry spectacle for angels and men if, in a
church built by Israelites and Catholics, as
we'll as all the styles of people commonly
called evangelical / should instend of rails
ing the banner of the Lord God Almighty
raise fiuttering rag of small sectsrianism?
If we had three hundred thousand dollars
we would put them all in one great monu-
ment to the mercy of God. People ask on
all sides about what we shall build. l an.
swer, it all depends on the contributions
sent in from here and from the ends of the
earth l say now to all the Baptists, that
we shall have in it baptistery. l say to
all Episcopalians, we shall have in our ser
vices as heretofore at our communion table
portions of the Liturgy. say to the Cath
clics, we shall have cross over the pulpit
and probably on the tower. say to the
Methodists, We mean to sing there like the
voice of mighty thunderings. say to all
| denominations, we mean to preach a relig-
ion as wide as heaven and as good as God.
We have said we had total loss. But
there was one exception. The only things
we saved were the silver communion chal-
ices, for they happened to be in another
building, and take that fact as typical that
we are to be in communion with all Chris
tendon. 81 believe in the communion OF
saintsp'
l think if all the Brooklyn fremen and
all insurance companies should search
| among those ruins on Schermerhorn street
they would not find a splinter large as the
| tip end of the little finger marked with
bigotry. And as it is said that the exhum-
ed bricks of the walls of Babylon have on
them the letter N, standing for Nebuchad-
| nezZ4r, declare to you that if we ever get
new church the letter we should like to
have on every stone and every timber would
bs the letter G, for that would stand both
for Christ and for Cathoicity. The last
1 80 81
Friday night, some of you may remember,
were 'Hallelujah! Amenp'
The two words that l utter now as most
expressive of my feelings in this our first
service after the Baptism of Fire, are Halle
luiahl Amen! "None of these things move
me-"
| We are kept in this mood by two or three
considerations. The first is, that God rules
In VI hat way the church took fire 1 do not
know. 1t has been charged on the light
| nings. Well, the Lord controls the light
nings He managed them several thousands
of years before our electricians were born.
The Bible indicates that, though they flash
down the sky recklessly. God builds for
them road to travel.
| In the Psalms it is said: "He made way
for the lightnings aud the thunder. Ever
since the time of Benjamin Franklin the
world has been trying to tame the light
nings, and they seem to be quite well har.
nessed, but they occasionally kick over the
traces But though we cannot master great
natural forces, God can and does, and that
God is our Father and best Friend, aud
this thought gives us confidence.
| We are also reinforced by the increased
consolation that comes from confraternity
of sorrow. The people who, during the last
sixteen years, sat on the other side of the
aisle, whose faces we're familiar to you, but
to whom you had never spoken-you greet
ed them this week With smiles and teaIs as
you said: swell, the old place is gone. u
You did not want to seem to cry, and so
you swept the sleeve near the corner of the
eye, aud pretended it was the sharp wind
made your eyes weak. Ah! there was moth
ing the matter with your eyes; it was your
soul bubbling over. l tell you that it il
impossible TO sit for years around the same
chnrch freside and not have sympathies IN
common. Somehow you feel that yot
would like those people on the other side O
the aisle. about whom you know but little
prospered and pardoned and blessed anc
saved. You feel as if you are IN the SAINT
boat, and you want to glide up the same
har bor and want to disen bark at the samt
wharf.
| If you put gold and iron and lead ant
zinc in sufficient heat, they will melt into {
conclomerate mass; and 4 really feel tina
last Sabbath's fire has fused us all, grossel
and finer natures, into one. 1t seems as j
we all had our hands on wire connected
with an electric battery; and when th
church sorrow started it thrilled through
the whole circle, and we all felt the shock
The oldest man and the youngest chilt
could join hands in this misfortune. Grand
father said, 81 expected from those altar
to be buried;" and one of the children las
Sabbath cried, "Grandpa, that place wa
next to our own house." Yea, we are sup
ported and confident in this time by tn,
cross of Christ.
That is used to the fire. On the darl
day when Jesus died, the lightning strucf
| it from above, and the flames of hell dash
ed up against it from beneath. That tear
fol, painful, tender, blessed cross still
stands. On it we hang all our hopes
beneath it we put down all our sins; IN th
light of il we expect to make the rest o
our pilgrimage. Within sight of such
sacrifice, who can feel ho has it bard? Il
the sight of such a symbol who can be dis
couraged, however great the darkness tina
NAV come down upon him? Jesus lives
Jesus 1t shall not be told on earth. or il
hell, or in heaven, that three Hebrew chill
dren had the Son of God beside them in tn
fire, and that whole church was forsakel
by the Lord when they went thr )ugh
fu, mace about two hundred feet wide.
o, Lord Jesus! shall we take out of Th,
hand the flowers and the fruits, and tn
brightness and the joys, and then turl
away because Thou dost give us one cup o
bitterness to drink? Oh, no, Jesus! W
will drink it dry. But how it is changed
Blessed Jesus, what hast Thou put int
the cup to sweeten it? Why, it has becom
the wine of heaven, and our souls grow
strong. come now, and place both of m,
feet deep down into the blackened ashes o
our consumed church, and I cry out witt
, an exhilaration that l never felt since tn
day of my SOULS emancipation. "Victory
victory! through our Lord Jesus ChristP'
Your harps, ye trembling saints.
Down from the willows take,