The leader., 1889-10-26

~ e oAcePGion. Inc only things we saved
were the silver communion chalices for thev
happened to be in another building. and
LAX! CaKe Inat TACT as typical that we are to be
IN communion with all Christendom, II be.
neVe In the communion of saintsp
thlnk, If all the Brooklyn fremen and all
insurance companies should search among
UnoSe ruins on Schermerhorn street they
would not find a splinter large as the tip end
OF the little finger marked with bigotry, And
as 1t is said that the exhumed bricks of the
walls or Babylon have on them the letter N,
standing for Nebuchadnezzar, declare to
you tnat II we ever get new church the let
Ter we should like to have on every stone
and every timber would be the letter
7, Tor that would stand both for Christ and
Cathonclty. The last two words uttered in
the Old church on Friday night some of you
may remember, were "Hallelujah! Amen r'
The two words that 1 utter now as most
expressive OF my feelings in this our first SER
wee after the Baptism of Fire, are Halle
luJah! 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 WhaG way the church took fire I do not
Know. 1t has been charged on the light
nings. Well, the Lord controls the light
nlngS. he managed them several thousands
/ OF years before our electricians were born
The Bible indicates that, though they flash
down the sky reckiessly, God builds for them
In the Psalms it is said: ''He made a way
Tor the lightning and thunder" Ever since
| the time OF Benjamin Franklin the world has
been trying to tame the ightnings and they
seem to be quite well harnessed, 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 and this thought
! gives us confidence.
We are also reinforced by the increased
! consolation that comes from fraternity of
sorrow. The people who, during the last six
teen years, sat on the other side of the aisle,
! whose faces were familiar to you, but to
whom you had never spoken-you greeted
them this week with smiles and tears as you
said: well, the old place is gone" You
did not want to seem to cry, and so you swept
the sleeve near the corner Of the eye, and
pretended it was the sharp wind made
your eyes weak. Ahl there was moth
ing the matter with your ewes: it
was your soul bubbling over. tell you that
! it is impossible to sit for years around the
same church freside and not have sympa-
thies in common. Somehow you feel that
YOU would like those people on the other side
of the aisle, about whom you know but little,
prospered and parloned and blessed and
saved. You feel as if you were in the same
boat, and you want to glide up the same har-
| Dor and want to disembark at the same
wharf.
If you put gold and iron and lead and
! zinc III sufficient heat, they will melt into a
conglomerate mass; and l really feel that
/ last Sabbaths fire has fused us all, grosser
and finer natures into one. 1t seems as if
we all had our hands on wire connected
with an electric battery; and when this
church sorrow started it thrilled through the
whole circle, and we all felt the shock. The
oldest man and the youngest child could ioin
hands in this misfortune. Grandfather said:
.L11f - l.
and one of the children last Sabbath cried:
Grandpa, that place was next to our own
house, Yea, we are supported and con-
/ fdent in this time by the cross of Christ.
That is used to the fire. On the dark day
! when Jesus died, the lightning struck it from
above, and the flames of hell dashed up
! against it from beneath. That fearful, pain
| full, tender, blessed cross still stands On it
we hang all our hopes; beneath it we put
/ down all our sins; in the light of it we ex-
! pect to make the rest of our pilgrimage
Within sight of such a sacrifice who can feel
| he has it hard? In the sight of such sym
/ Dol, who can be discouraged, however great
| the darkness that may come down upon him?
Jesus lives! The loving, patient, sympathiz-
/ ing, mighty Jesus! 1t shall not be told on
earth, or in hell, or in heaven, that three He
brew children had the Son Of God beside
! them in the fire, and that whole church was
/ forsaken by the Lord when they went
through furnace about two hundred feet
wide
| o Lord Jesus! shall we take out of Thy
hand the flowers and the fruits and the
brightness and the joys, and then turn away
because Thou dost give us one cup of bitter
ness to drink? Oh, no, Jesus! we will drink
it dry. But how it is changed! Blessed Je-
sus, what has Thou put into the cup to
| Sweetenit? Why, it has become the wine of
heaven, and our souls grow strong. I come
now, and place both of my feet deep down
.into the blackened ashes of our consumed
/ church, and l cry out with an exhilaration
! that | never felt since the day of my souls
/ emancipation, "Victoryl victory! through
! our Lord Jesus Christw
Your harps, We trembling saints,
Down from the willows take
Loud to the praise OF love divine
Bid every string awake.
! We are also REINFORCED by the Cath
/ olicity that have already referred to- We
are in the Academy to-day, not because
! we have no other place to go. Last Sab
( bath morning at 8 o'clock we had but one
church; now we have about thirty, all at
our disposal. Their pastors and their
audience rooms, you may take our lecture
rooms, you may take our church parlors, you
may baptize in our baptisteries, and sit on
! our anxious seats" Oh! if there be any
| larger hearted ministers or larger hearted
churches anywhere than in Brooklyn, tell me
where they are, that | may go and see them
before die. The millennium has come. Peo-
pie keep wondering when it is coming. 1t
has come. The lion and the lamb lie down
together, and the tiger eats straw like an OK.
I should like to have seen two of the
old time bigots with their swords, fight
ing through that great fire on Scher-
merhorn street last Sabbath. I am
sure the swords would have melted, and they
who welded them have learned war nomore.
l can never say word against any other de
nomination of Christians. 1 thank God l
nevar have been tempted to do it. I cannot
be sectarian. have been told ought to