The Brookhaven leader., 1889-10-31
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Burning OF the Tabernacle
Furnishes q Theme.
The Calamity Not without It. Lessons
The Catholicity of the Church OF
Christ ExempIifed - Another
Structure to be Reared.

Music in Brooklyn, taking the recent
burning of the Tabernacle as the basis
for his sermon. His text was:
None OF these things move me.-Acts xx, "a.
But, Paul, have you not enough a "a ic-
tion to move you? Arc 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 jour-
neys. given yourself TO celibacy? Have
you not turned away from the magnifi-
cent worldly successes that would have
crowned your illustricus geniusr Have
you not endured the sharp and singing
neuralgias, like a thorn in the hesbf
Have you not been mobbed on the land
aud 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 move me-" 1t was not be-
cause he was hard nature. Gentlest
woman was never more easily dissolved
into tears. He could not even bear to
see any body cry, for in the midst OF his
sermon, when he saw some one weeping
her sobs aloud: "What mean &c to weep
and to break mine heart? For l 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: II will not be
diverted from the work to which have
been called by any and all the ADVERSE
ties and calamities."
think this morning | express not only
my own feelings, but that of every man,
woman aud little child belonging to
Brooklyn Tabernacle, or that was con-
verified there, or comforted there, or
blessed there, when l look toward the
blackened ruins of the dear and conse-
Grated spot and with an aroused faith in
q loving God, cry out: None Of these
things move me-"
When l 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
with my feelings to sit down among the
ruins and weep at the words of David:
"If l 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. l be-
lieve that a hundred thousand souls
were 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 baptized, and at those affairs our
young men and maidens took the mar
riage vow, and out of those gates we car
ried our dead. When from the roof Of
my house last Sunday morning at three
O'Clock | saw our church i'll flames,
said: That is tho last of the building
from which we buried our Dewitt on
that cold December day, when ii 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 beautiful vines that
still cover some of the walls, our affections
are clambering all over the ruins, and I
could kiss the ashes that mark the place
where il once stood. Why, now that
think of it, can not think OF it as an in =
animate pile, but as a SOUL mighty
soul, an indestructible soul. l am sure
that majestic organ had a SOUL for we
have often heard it speak and sing and
wall, and when the soul of that organ en- =
tered Heaven think Handel and Haydn
and Mozart and Mendelssohn and Beeth.
oven we're at the gates to welcome it. So
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 ever
lasting happiness of all the people whom
we may be able to meet. None of these
things move me. None Of these things
move YOU"
When | looked out through the dismal
rain from the roof Of my house and saw
the church crumbling brick by brick and
timber by timber, l said to myself:
docs 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 properties and SAD in all its misfort-
unes" And a 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 news =
paper column, and telegram, and letter,
and contribution saying: go forward!"
! have made and | now make appeal to
all Christendom to help Us. We want all
Christendom to help, and will acknowI-
edge the receipt of every contribution,
great or small, with my own hand. We
want to build larger and better. We
want it a national church, in which peo-
pie OF all creeds and all nations may find
a home. The contributions already sent
in make a small hearted church fore, or
impossible, Would not l be q sorry
spectacle for angels and men if, in a
church built by Israelites and Catholics.
as well as all the styles of people COM
monty called evangelical, 1 should, in
stead of the banner of the Lord God AL
mighty, raise futtering rag of small
sectarianism? If we had three hundred
thousand dollars we would put them all
IN one great monument to the mercy of
God.
People ask on all sides about what we
shall build. l answer, it all depends on
the contributions sent in from here and
from the ends of the earth. say now to
all the Baptists, that we shall have in it a
baptistry. / say to all Episcopalians
we shall have in our services, as hereto
fore at our communion table, portions of
the Liturgy. ! say to the Catholics, we
shall have cross over the pulpit and
probably on the tower. / say to the
Methodists, We mean to sing there like
the voices of mighty thunderings. say
10 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 exception. The
only things we saved were the silver
co mmuuion chalices, for they happened
to be in another building, and take that
fact as typical that we are to be in COM
munion with all Christendom. 81 be-
lieve in the communion of saintsp'
l think If all the Brooklyn fremen and