Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-21
A TALMAGE APPEAL.
BroOklyn's Orator Asks Hebrews,
Catholics and Everybody
TO BUILD HIN Al NATIONAL CHURCH
No Greed or BigOtry to be Admitted to the
Tabernacle of 80.
THE BAPTISM OF FIRE Is HIS TEXT
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATcE.i


De 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 eXtraordi-
nary. The Opening hymn was:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to performs;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
Ana rides upon the storm.
DR.. Talmage's subject was ''The Baptism of
Fire" and he took as his text Acts *, "a,
"None of these things move me-" He said:
But, Paul, have you not enough af1iction
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 illustrious
genius? Have you not endured the sharp
and stinging neuralgias. like a thorn in the
flesh? Have you not been mobbed on the
land and shipwrecked on the sea; the san
hedrim against you, the Roman Govern
ment against you, all the world and ali hell
against you?
what of that?" says Paul None of
these things move me!' 1t was not because
be was a hard nature. GentleSt woman was
never more easily dissolved into tears. He
could not even bear to see anybody cry, for
in the midst of his sermon when be saw
someone weeping her sobs aloud, "What
= mean We to weep and TO break mine heart?
for 1 am ready not to be bound only, but
l. L. e. Tho IF
Lord Jesus"
JUST LIKE PAUL.
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 / have been called by any
and all the adverSities and calamities"
think this morning | express not only
my own feelings but those of every man,
woman and little child belonging to Brook
lyn Tabernacle, or that was converted there,
or comforted there, or blessed there, when
look toward the blackened ruins of the dear
and consecrated spot and with an aroused
faith in a loving God, cry out: None of
these things move me"
When 1 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 nv feelings
to sit down among the ruins and weep at the
words of David: eff / forget thee, o Jeru-
salem, let my right hand lorget her cum
ming" Why, let me say TO the strangers
here to-day in explanation of the deep
emotion OF nv flock, we had there
in that building sixteen years of
religious revival. believe that a
hundred thousand souls were born there
They came from all parts of the earth, and
we shall never see them again uutil the
books are opened. Why, sirsl our children
were there baptized, and at those affairs our
young men and maidens took the marriage
vow, and out of those gates we carried our
dead. When, from the roof Of nv house
last Sunday morning at o'clock, l saw our
church in flames, said: 'That is the last
of the building from which we buried our
De Witt on that cold December dav when
it seemed all Brooklyn wept with our house.
hold"
ONE COMMON SORROW.
And it was just as hard for you to give up
your loved ones as it was for us to give up
ours. WHY, like the 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 it, l cannot think of it as
an inanimate pile, but as a soul, mighty
soul, an indestructible soul. l 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 entered |
heaven 1 think Handel and Haydn and |
Mozart and Mendelssohn and Beethoven
were at the gates to welcome it. So 1 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 bv the ap- |
palling disasters 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 |
people whom we may be able to meet. |
None of these things move me. None of |
these things move you"
When 1 looked out through the dismal
rain from the roof of nv house and saw the |
church crumbling brick bv brick and tim
Der by timber, said to myself: Does this
mean that my work in BROOKLYN is ended?
Does this terminate nv association with this
city, where [ have been more than 20 years
glad in all its prosperities and sad in all its
misfortunes? Aud still small voice came to
me, voice that is no longer still or small,
but most emphatic and commanding,
through pressure of hand, and newspaper
column, and telegram and letter, and con-
trlbutions, saying: go forwardI''
TO BE A NATIONAL EDIFICE.
have made and now make appeal to all
Christendom to help us. We want all
Christendom to help, and 1 will acknowl-
edge the receipt of every contribution, great
or small, with my own hand. We want to
build larger and better. We want it a ma
tional church, in which people of all creeds
and all nations may find a home. The con-
tributions already sent in make a small
hearted church forever impossible. Would
not l be a sorry spectacle for angels and men
il, in a church built by Israelites and Catho-
lies, as well as all the styles of people CON-
monty called evangelical, | should, in
stead of the banner of the Lord God
Almighty, raise a futtering rag of
small sectarianism? If we had $500, 900 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 baptistery. 1 say to all Episco-
palians, we shall have in our services as
heretofore at our communion table portions
Of the Liturgy. L say to the Catholics, we |
shall have a cross over the pulpit and prob
ably on the tower. / say to the Methodists,
we mean to sing there like the voices of
mighty thunderings. say to all denom1na-
lions, we mean 10 preach religion as wide
as heaven and as good as God. We have
said we had total loss. But there was one
exception. The only things we saved were
the silver communion chalices, for thev
happened to be in another building, and / |
lake that fact as typical that we are to be in
with all Christendom. 81 be-
ieve in the communion of sainIsl'
NOT A SPLINTER OF BIGoTRY.