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

DRooKLYN, October 20-The Rev. T. De
D Witt Talmage, D D., preached at the
Academy of Music this morning, his
first sermon after the destruction of the
Brooklyn Tabernacle by fire. His audience
was of vast size, and public interest was ex-
traordinary. The opening hymns was:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm
DIR. Talmage's subject was "Ths Baptism
of Fire. and he took as his text Acts Xxx,
"a. None of these things move me." He
said:
But, Paul, have you not enough affection
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 your
self to celibacy? Have you not turned away
from the magnificent worldly successes that
would have crowned your ilustr'ous genius?
Have you not endured the sharp and sting
ing peuralgias, Ike thorn il the flesh?
Have you not been mo5bed or the land,
and shipwrecked on the sea; the sanhedrim
against you, the Roman gOvernn eBt against
you, all the world and all Fell against
your
"What of that?' says Paul. ''None of
these things move me!' 1t was not because
he was hard nature. Gentlest woman was
never more easily dissolved into tears. He
could not even bear to see anybudy cry, for
in the midst of his sermon, when he saw
some one weeping her sobs aloud. "What
mean We to weep and to break mine heart :?
for am ready not to be bound only, but
also to die at Jerusalem for the name of
the Lord Jesus" What, then, did Paul
| mean when he said: "None of these things
move me-" He meant, 81 will not be
diverted from the work to which l have
been called by any and all the adversities
and calamities.
think this morning I express not only
my own feelings but thatof eve'y man, wo-
man and little child belonging 10 Brooklyn
Tabernacle, or that was converted there, or
comforted there, or blessed there, when l
look toward the blackened ruins of the de ar
and consecrated spot and with an aroused
faiGh in a loving God, cry ou', 'Nune of
these things move me-"
| When / say that l do not can that we
have no feeling about it. Instead of stand
lag here to-day in this brilliant auditorium,
it would be more consonant si'h my feel
ings to sit down among the ruirs and weep
in the words of David: eff forget thee, o
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her
cunning" Why, let me say t he strang-
ers here to- day in explanation CT the deep
emo ion of my flock, we had there in that
building sixteen years of religious revival
l believe that hundred thousaBd souls
were born there. They came from all parts
of the earth, and We shall never see them
again until the books are opet ed. Why,
sirs! our children we're there baptized, and
at those altars our young men and maidens
took the marriage vow, and out of those
gates we carried our dead. When from The
roof of my house last Sunday morning at 8
o'clock saw our church in flames, said /:
''That is the last of the building frnm which
we buried onr De Witt on the cold Decem
Der day when it seemed all Brooklyn wept
with my household" And it vas Just as
hard for you to give up your loved ones as
for us to give up ours. Why, like beautiful
vines that still cover some OF the fallen
walls, our affections are clambering all over
the ruins, and l could kiss the ashes that
mark the place where it once stood. Why,
now that think Of 1t, 1 cannot think of it
as an inanimate pile, but as soul, mighty
soul, an indestructible soul. am sure that
majestic organ had soul, for we have often
heard it speak, and sing, and shout, and
wall, and when the soul of that organ enter
ed heaven think Handel, and Haydn. and
Mozart, and Mendelessohp, and Beethoven
were at the gates to welcome it. So do
not use the words of my text in a heartless
way, but in the sense that we must not and
will not be diverted from our work by the
appalling disas,e ers which have befallen us.
We will not turn aside one inch from our
determination to do all we can for the pres
ent and everlasting happiness OF all the peo-