The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-11-07


fused us all, grosser and finer natures,
into one. 1t seems as if we all had
our hands on wire connected with
an electric bate ery; 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:
"I 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.
That is used to the fire. On tie
dark day when Jesus died, the light
ming struck it from above, and the
flames of hell dashed up against it
from beneath. That fearful, painful,
tender, blessed cross still stands. On
it we hang all our hopes ; beneath 1t
we put down all our sins; in the light
of it we expect to make our pilgrim
age. Within sight of such sacrifice,
who can feel he has it hard? In the
sight of such symbol, who can be
discouraged, however great the dark
ness that may come down upon him ?
Jesus lives The loving, patient, SYM
pathizing, 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 whole church was
torsaken by the Lord when they went
through a furnace about two hundred
feet wide.
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 drink
Oh, no, Jesus we will drink it dry.
But how it is changed! Blessed Jesus,
what hast Thou put into the cup to
sweeten it? Why it has become the
wine of Heaven, and our souls grow
strong. l come now, and place both
of my feet down into the blackened
ashes of our consumed church, and l
cry out with an exhilaration that l
never felt since the day of my souls
emancipation. Victory! victory!
through our Lord Jesus Christ!''
Your harps, ye trembling saints
Down from the willows take,
Loud to the praise OF love divine
Bid every string awake.
We are also REINFORCED by the Cath
ollcity that have already referred to:
We are in the Academy to-day, not
because 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
may 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 Oh! if there be
| any larger hearted ministers or larger
! hearted churches anywhere than in
Brooklyn, tell me where they are, that
l may go and see them before / 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, fighting through that great fire
| on Schermerhorn street last Sabbath.
/ am sure the swords would have melt
ed, and they who welded them have
learned war no more. | can never
say word against any other denomi-
nation of Christians l thank God l
never have been tempted to do it. l
connot be a sectarian. | have been
told | ought to be, and l have tried to
be, but have not enough material in
me to make such a structure. Every
time 1 get the thing most done, there
comes fire,or something else, and all
is gone. The angels of God shake out
on this air, F." Glory to God in the high
est, and on earth peace, good will
towards men," 1 do not know but
see on the horizon the first gleam Of
the morning which snail unite all de-
nominations in one organization, dis
tingushed only by the locality as in
apostolic times. 1twas then the Church
of Thayatira, and the Church of Thes-
salonica, and the Church Of Antioch,
and the Church of Laodicea. So | dc
not know but that in the future history
and not far off either,it may be simply
a distinction of locality, and not o.
creed, as the Church of New York, the
Church of Brooklyn, the Church o
Boston, the Church of Charleston, the
Church of Madras, the Church of Con
stantinoble, the Church of America.
My dear brethren, we cannot afford
to be severely divided. Standing in
front of the great foes of our common
Christianity, we want to put on the
whole armor of God and march dowr
in solid column, shoulder to shoulder
one commander one triumph
The trumpet gives martial strain
| o Israel grid thee for the fight,
Arise, the combat to maintain
Arise. and put thy foes to flight.
| We also feel reinforced by the though
that we are on the way to a Heavel
that can never burn down. Fires ma,