Dodge City times., 1889-11-07

The Rev. T. De Witt Talmage preached
at the Academy of Music his frA sermon
after the destruction of the Brooklyn
Tabernacle by fire. His audience was OK
vast size, and public interest was extra
ordinary. The opening hymn was:
God moves in q mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps In the sea-
And rides upon the storm
Dr.. Talmage's subject was THE Bap-
tism Of Fire." and he took as his text
Acts x, "a. None of these things move
me-" He said:
But, Paul, have you not enough Attic.
tion 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 journeys,
given yourself to celibacy? Have you
not turned away from the magnificent
worldly successes that would have
crowned your illustrious genius? Have
you not endured the sharp and singing
neuralgias, like a thorn in the flesh!
Have you not been mobbed on the land,
and shipwrecked on the sea; the sanhe-
drim against you, the Roman govern
ment against you, all the world and all
hell against you?
What of that?" says Paul. None Of
these things novel" 1t was not because
he was a hard nature. Gentlest woman
was never more easily dissolved into
tears. He could not even bear to see
anybody cry, for in the midst of his ser
mon when he saw seme enc weeping
her sobs aloud, -Whst mean ye to weep
and to break mine heart? for I am ready,
not to be bound only, but also to die at
Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Je-
sus." What then did Paul mean when
he said None of these things move me?"
He meant, Il will not divert from the
work to which have been called by any
and all the adversities and calamities. !"
think this morning l express not
only my own feelings but that of every
man, woman. and little child belonging
to Brooklyn Tabernacle, or that was
converted there, or comforted there, or
blessed there, when look toward the
blac kened ruins of the dear and conse-
Grated spot and with an aroused faith in
a 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
ruins and weep at the words of David:
IF 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 be-
lieve that q hundred thousand souls
we're born there. They came from all
parts of the earth and we shall never see
them again until the books are opened.
Why, sirs! our children were there bap-
tized, and at those affairs our young men
and maideEs took the marriage vow, and
out of those gates We carried our dead.
When from the roof of my house last
Sunday morning at o'clock saw our
church in flames, said: THAT is the last
of the building 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 to give up ours. Why, like the beau
tiful vines that still cover some of the
fallen walls, our affections are Chamber
ing all over the ruins, and could kiss
the ashes that mark the place where it
once stood. Why, now that think of
il. cannot think of it as an inanimate
pile. but as a soul, a mighty soul, an in
destructible soul. am sure that maies-
tic organ had a soul, for we have often
heard it speak and sing and shout and
vail, and when the soul of that organ
entered Heaven I think Handel, and
Haydn, and Mozart, and Mendelssohn,
and Beethoven were at the gates to well
come it. So do not use the words Of
my text in q 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 the
present and everlasting happiness of all
meet. None of these things move me.
None of these things move you" Go
forward"
Whet I looked out through the dis
NAL rain from the roof of my house and
saw tho church crumbling brick by brick
and timber by timber. I said to myself:
Does this mean that my work in Brook
lyn is ended? Does this terminate my
association with this city, where have
been more than twenty years glad in all
its prosperities, and sad in all its mis-
fortunes? 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
new spaper column. and telegram and
letter contributions. saying: Go for
ward!"
have made and I now make appeal to
all Christendom to help us. We want
all Christendom to help, and I will ac-
knowledge the receipt Of every contri-
button, great or small, with my own
hand. We want to build larger and
better. We want it a national church,
in which people of all creeds and all
nations may find home. The c0ntri-
buttons already sent in make o small
hearted church forever impossible.
Would not I be q sorry spectacle for
angels and men if, in q church built by
Isralites and Catholics, as we'll as all
the styles Of people commonly called
evangelical, should, instead of the
banner of the Lord God Almighty, raise
a huttering Aag of small sectarianism?
If We had three hundred thousand dol
lars We would put them all in one great
monument to the mercy of God. Peo-
pie ask on all sides about what We shall
build. answer, it all depends on the
from the ends of the earth. say now
to all the Baptists, that We shall have
in it baptistery. 1 say to all Episco-
palians, We shall have in our services as
heretofore Mt our communion table por.
tions of the Liturgy. l say to the Cath
olics We shall have q cross over the pull
pit and probably on the tower. I say to
the Methodists, We mean to sing there
like the voices of mighty thunderings.
Isay to all denominations, We mean to
preach a religion as wide as Heaven and
as good as God. We have said We had
a total loss. But there was one excep-
tion. The only things We saved we're
the silver communion chalices, forthey
happened to be in another building, and
I take that fact as typical that We are to
be in communion with all lChristendom.
I believe in the communion of saints!'
Think. if all the Brooklyn fremen
and all the insurance companies should
search among those ruins on Schermer-
horn street, they would not find .
splinter large as the tip end OF the lit
Il E~- un~~Iol -skk AID