The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1889-11-07
The BAPTISM OF FIRE."
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY DIR.
TALMAGE.
His First Sermon After the Destruc-
tiOn by Fire of the Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

10vCA ndClCs
TEXT None Of these things nsooe me. -
| Acts Xxx, "a.
The Rev. T. dc Witt Talmage, D.
D., preached at the Brooklyn Acade-
my of Music, his first sermon after the
destruction of the Brooklyn Taberna-
Gle 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 perform.
He plants His footsteps in the sea.
And rides upon the storm.
DR.. Talmage's subject was "The
Baptism of Fire." and he said:
But, Paul, have you not enough af-
Fiction to move you2 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
missionery journeys, given yourself 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
sanhedrim against you, the Roman
Government against you, all the world
and all hell against you?
"What Of that?" says Paul. sNone
of these things move me!' 1t was
not because his 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 he saw some
one weeping her sobs aloud, "What
mean ye to weep and to break mine
hearth 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,
g 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 l express not
only my own feelings but that OF every
man, woman and little child belong
ing to the Brooklyn Tabernacle, or
that was converted there, or comforted
there, or blessed there, when l look
toward the blackened ruins OF the
dear and consecrated spot and with
an aroused faith in loving God, cry
out: "None of these things move me. "
When l say that, do not mean
that we have no feeling about it. In
stead 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 forget thee,
O, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget
her cunning" Why, let me say to
the strangers here to-day in explana
ton of the deep emotion of my 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
again until the books are opened.
Why, sirs. our children were 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 3 O'Clock
saw our church in flames, l said
"That is the last of the building from
which we buried our DE Witt on that
,, cold December day when it 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 faller
walls, our affections are clambering al
over the ruins, and l could kiss ths
, ashes that mark the place where i
once stood. Why, now that l thinl
of it, l cannot think of it as an inani
mate pile, but as soul, a mighty soul
: an indestructible soul. l am sure tina
majestic organ had soul, for we hav'
often heard it speak and sing ane
/. shout and wall, and when the soul o
tha, organ entered Heaven l thinl
Handel, and Haydn, and Mozart, ant
Mendelssohn, and Beethoven were a
the gates to welcome it. So / do no
q use the words of my text in heartles
). way, but in the sense that we mus
r not and will not be diverted from ou
work by the appalling disasters whicl
have befallen US. We will not turl
aside one inch from our determination
:, to do all we can for the present AM
It everlasting happiness of all the peopl'
d whom we may be able to meet. "Non
of these things move me. None G
these things move you" =
g When l looked out through the dis
NAL rain from the roof of my hous
/. and saw the church crumbling bricl
q by brick and timber by timber, sal
to myself: "Does this mean that m
work in Brooklyn is ended? Doe