Milford chronicle., 1889-11-01
NEV TABERNACLE
DR.. Talmage Breaks Ground
for His Third Church.
IT Is TO BE ON CLINTON STREET.

Now on the Border. It VIII Soon BE in
the Center Of Brooklyn-A Brief, Beau
tifuI Address-LessOns Of the Occasion.
Growth of Gods Work.
BROOKLYN, Oct 2s.-Today took place the
breaking ground ceremony for the new
BROOKLYN Tabernacle, on Clinton street, one
Of the most beautiful streets in America.
Crowds gathered in and around the yard
where the ceremony was observed, and neigh
boring pastors took part in the services The
Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. 2, made the
following address:
DIR. TALMAGE SPEAKS
That begins right which begins with God.
That begins wrong which begins without
Him From first cut Of spade till last ring
of trowel, from deepest foundation stone to
highest pinnacle, from this hour when stand
ing under the cloudy rafters, and amid the
nlumined walls of Gods first temple-the
world, TO the hour when the people shall
gather for dedication service under the roof
Of the new Brooklyn Tabernacle we want to
put all under the Divine direction. I'm the
beginning says the opening passage Of the
best Of books, as though to impress all ages
that we ought to look well to the genesis Of
every important work.
In the beginning Of life, in the beginning
Of families in the beginning of nations, in
the beginning Of churches They who wait
until the corner stone of a church is laid,
wait until the church architecture is fixed,
and the designs are determined and the en-
ployes engaged, and to ask God to decide
things then would be to ask a miracle. That
may be the reason why so many auditoriums
are a defiance of acoustics, and 50 many
buildings are cold and unsympathetic
God could not answer the belated prayers
and make the church what it ought to be
without demolition of all that had been done.
It is useless to ask the Lord to make the
church a blessing TO the people, if already
lack Of ventilation has decreed Rsphyxia, and
disturbing echoes are waiting in the new cor
ridors ready to spring out upon sermon and
psalm, and the modes Of ingress aud egress
are IA provocation In the beginning, and
while yet no architectural plans are adopted,
snd no craftsmen are engaged, and all is Yet
undetermined, let US implore divine guidance
THE TABERNACLE MOVES on.
BROOKLYN Tabernacle now moves on. Like
the Israelites of old, we are led by pillar Of
fire by night, and remember that pillar CON
Quoted them to the Promised Land. We put
our church here because it is as near as we
can get to the center Of our congregation
We were central when we planted our for
mer church where il was, but Brooklyn has
moved on and moved up and moved out, and
so great and grand are the prospects Of our
beloved city that the church now on the ut
most city limits will after a while be far this
side Of the center, and the tides Of our mu-
nicipal life will meet the incoming tides Of
the ocean.
We also plant our new church here be-
cause it is a street of gardens and umbrage-
Gus trees The only time that God is repre-
sented as walking on earth at all, he is said
to have walked ''in the garden In the cool Of
the day. The world started with a garden
and will close with a garden. All up and
down the Bible the church IS compared to a
garden. In the garden Of Gethsemane Christ
wept, and he appeared to Mary Magdalene
in the costume Of a gardener, and our Lords
tomb was in the garden OF Joseph Arlmathea.
What more appropriate place could we find
for our church than a street Of gardensl
WHAT THE CHURCH WILL sI.AND FOR.
As we break the ground today for new
church let me state what this church will
stand for: Evangelism, liberty Of conscience,
Christian patriotism, charity, Righteousness
toward God and honesty toward man. May
it be great place for the cure of heartachesl
May its windows look into the next world as
well as this May all the children baptized
here become the sons and daughters Of the
Lord Almighty May all the marital oaths
taken at these altars be kept until death does
them partl May there be a revival Of pure
religion here which shall roll ON without in
terruption until Christ descends through the
wide opening heavensl May the Lord God
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and
Joshua, and Paul, and John Knox and John
Wesley and Hugh Latimer and Bishop Nc
Ilvane take possession Of this ground and all
that shall be built upon It'll
We have but one regret in breaking ground
on this spot, and that is, that this grand and
beautiful tree on my left must be cut down
TO make room. The tree seems sad and its
leaves are a little tremulous, and there are
voices within us which become recitative,
saying: "WoodmRn, spare that treew What
1 America greatly needs today is not more
trees cut down, but more trees planted. He
who needlessly slays a tree is an assassin.
The kingdom Of God is 20 be kingdom Of
trees: "Instead Of the thorn shall come up
the fir tree, and instead Of the brier shall
come up the myrtle tree And ''all the trees
Of the wood are to clap their hands" And
in Revelation the angel cries out: "Hurt not
the tressp There must he some good reason
for laying the ak to the root Of such a pill
Jared glory, or it would not be done at all.
But perhaps we may atone for the deed by
putting here what Isaiah calls ''The trees Of
righteousness, the planting Of the Lord"
THE GROUND BROKEN.
( And now / proceed to the ceremony OF
breaking ground for new House Of God.
/ Here a spade was handed by an elder Of the
church to Dr. Talmagc, who with a turn Of
the spade removed portion Of the sod.l In
the name Of the Father and Of the Son and
of the Holy Ghostl The work is begun. Now
let the building risel Blessed be the Lord
( God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting,
and let the whole earth be filed with His
.lory. Amen and Amen
Against the Isnics.