The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-10-24

OF the walls OF Babylon have ON them
the letter N, standing for Nebuchad.
nezzar, / declare to you that If we
ever get new church the letter we
should like to have on every stone
and every timber would be the letter
9, for that would stand both for Christ
and for Catholicity. The last two
words / uttered in the old church on
Friday night, some OF you may re-
member, were 'Halleluj jahi Amenp
The two words that / utter now as
most expressive of my feelings in this
our first service after the Baptism Of
Fire, are Hallelujahl Amenl "None
OF these things move me-"
GOD RULEsl
We are kept in this mood by two or
three considerations. The first is, that
God rules In what way the church
took fire / do not know. It has been
charged ON the lightnings, Well, the
Lord controls the lightnings. He
managed them several thousands of
years before our electricians were
born. The Bible indicates that, though
they fash down the sky reckless1y,
God builds for them a road to travel.
In the Psalms it is said: He made
way for the lightning and the thun-
der" Ever since the time of Benja-
min Franklin tho world has been try
ing to tame the lightnings, and they
seem 10 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 in
creased 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
greeted them this week with smiles
and tears as you said: "WeIl, 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. All! there was moth
ing the matter with your eyes; 1t
was your soul bubbling over. tell
you that it is impossible to sit for
years around the same church fireside
and not have sympathies 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 pardoned and
blessed and saved You feel as if you
are in the same boat, and you want to
glide up the same harbor and want to
disembark at the same wharf.
If you put gold and iron and lead
and zinc IN sufficient heat, they will
melt into n conglomerate mass; and |
really feel that last Sabbath's 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 join hands in this misfortune.
Grandfather said, Il expected from
those altars to be buried :" and one of
the children last Sabbath cried,
Grandpa, that place was next to our
| own house" Yea, we are supported
and confident in this time by the cross
of Christ
THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
That is used to the fire On the dark
day when Jesus died, the lightning
struck 1t from above, and the flames
of hell dashed up against it from be-
meath. That fearful, painful, 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 expect to make the rest of our pill
grimage. Within sight of such a sac
rifice, who can feel he has it hardl In
the sight of such a symbol, who can
be discouraged, however great the
darkness that may come down upon
himi Jesus livesi The loving, pa
tient, sympathixing, mighty jesus
1t shall not be told ON earth, or in
hell, or in heaven, that three Hebrew
children had the Son of God beside
them in the fire, and that a whole
church was forsaken by ths Lord
when they went through 3 furnace
about two hundred feet wide.
0 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 bitterness to drinki Oh,
no, Jesus we will drink 1t dry. But
how it is changed Blessed Jesus,
what has thou put into the cup to
sweeten it2 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 black
ened ashes of our consumed church,
and cry out with an exhilaration that
never felt since the day Of my souls
emancipation, Victory! victoryi
through our Lord Jesus Christi"
Your hAres. ye trembling saints
| Down from the willows take,
Loud to tbs praise Of love divine
| Bid every string awake.
THE KINDNESS OF MINDS.
We are also REINFORCED by the cath
olicity that have already referred to.
We are in the Academy today, not be-
cause we have no other place to go.
/ Last Sabbath morning at 9 o'clock we
had but one church; now we have
about thirty, all at our disposal. Their
pastors and their trustees say: You
NAV take our main 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" Ohl if there be any larger
hearted ministers or larger heart
ed churches anywhere than in
Brooklyn, tell me where they are,
that / may go and see them be
fore | die. The millennium has
come. People 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.
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. l am
sure the swords would have melted,
and they who welded them would
have learned war no more. l can
never say a word against any other
denomination of Chrytians. thank
God l never have b< pn tempted TO dc
it | cannot be q sectarian. / have
been told ought to be, and / have
tried to be, but have not enough ma
terial in me to make such a struct
ure Every time l get the thing most
done, there comes fire, or something
else, and all is gone. The angels o.
God shake out on this air, GLORY K
peace, good will toward men" / dt
not know but see on the horizon th'
first gleam OF the morning which shal
unite all denominations in one organi
zation, distinguished only by the local
ity as in apostolic times. II was thei
the Church Of Thyatira, and th'
Church Of Thcssaionica, and tn,
Church of Antioch, and the Church
,, OF Iaodicea. So / do not know bu
. that in the future history, and not ta
, | off either IL NAV be. ximDly n distluc