The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-11-06
THE BAPTISM OF FIRE.
Sermon by Rev. r. Dewitt Tai
mage, D. D.
He Discourses About the Destruction 0!
the Brooklyn Tabernacie-The Church
to be Rebuilt-What Fire Does
Toward Refining Men.

Dr.. Talmage chose as the subject Of
his recent sermon, ''The Baptism OF
Fire" taking as his text: Acts xx., "a.
s'None of these things move me-" He
said:
But, Paul. have you not enough afiic-
ton 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 jour
neys, given yourself to celibacy? Have
you not turned away from the magnifi.
cent worldly successes that would have
crowned your illaStrious genius? Have
You not endured the sharp and stingine
nouralgias. like thorn in the flesh?
Have you not been mobbed on the land,
and shipwrecked on the sea; the sanhe-
6rim against You. the Roman govern
ment against you, all the world and all
he'll against you?
What of that?" says Paul. None
of these things move me"' 1t YVES not
because he was a hard nature. Gcntlast
woman was never more easily moved in
to tears. lie could not even bear to see
anybody cry. for in the midst of his So r
mon when he saw some one weeping her
SobS aloud. What mean We TO weep and
break mine heart? Tor am ready not To
te bound donly but also to die at Jcrusa-
lem for the name of the Lord Jesus"
What then did Paul mean VIXEN he said.
''None Of these things move me-" lie
meant, Il will not be diverted from the
work to which have been called by any
and all the adversities and calamitieS.
I think this morning | express not
only my own feelings but that of every
man, woman and little child belonging
to Brooklyn Tabernacle, or that was
converted 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 I 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 moro conSonant
with my feelings to sit down among the
ruins ard weep at the words Of David:
''If forget thee, 0 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. be-
lieve that hundred thousand souls
were born there. They came from ali
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 altarS 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 il flames,
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
shat still cover some Of the fallen walls,
our affections are clambering all over
the ruins, and t could kiss the ashes
that mark the place where II once stood.
Why, now that think Of it. can not
think of it as an inanimate pile. but as
soul, a 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 entered Heaven,
I think Handel, and Haydn, and Mozart,
and MendelsSohn, and Beethoven were
to 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 cur 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 everlasting hap
piness of all the people whom we may
be able to meet. ''None of these things
move me. None of these things move
you"
When I looked out through the dismal
rain from the roof Of my house and saw
the church crumbling brick by brick and
timber by timber, said TO myself: Does
this mean that my work in Brooklyn is
ended? Does this terminate my aSso-
citation with this city, where l have
been more than twenty years, glad in
all its properties, and sad in all its
misfortunes? And 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 contributions, saying,
''Go forward"
I have made and now make appeal
to all Christendom to helpus. We want
all ChriStendom to help, and will ac
knowledge the receipt of every contribu-
ton, great or small, with my own hand.
We want to build larger and better. We
want it national church, in which peo-
pie Of all creeds and all nations may
fnd home. The contributions already
sent in make a small hearted church for
ever impossible. Would not l be a
sorry spectacle for angels and men if, in
church built by Israelites and Catho-
lies, as we'll as all the styles Of people
commonly called evangelical, should.
instead Of the banner of the Lord God
Almighty, raise 4 futtering rag OF small
sectarianism? If we had S3O0.C00, 900 we
would put them all in one great monu-
ment 70 the mercy Of God. People ask
on all sides about what we shall build.
/ answer, it all depends on the contribu-
tions sent in from here and from the
ends Of ths thze saESh; vi say now to all the
tistery. say to all Episcopalians, We
shall have in our services as heretofore
at our communion table portions of the
Liturgy. l say to the Catholics, we
shall have . cross over the pulpit and
probably on the tower: I say to the
MethodistS, we mean to sing there like
the voices of mighty thunderingS.
say to all denominations, we mean to
preach religion as wide as Heaven and
as good as GOD. We have said we had;
total loss But there was one cxcep.
ton The only things we saved We're
the silver communion chaliceS, for they
happened to be in another building,
and + took that fact as typical that we
are to DO in communion with all Christ
endom u believe in the communion
of saints"
think, if all the Brooklyn frenen
and all insurance companies should
search among those ruins on Schermer-
horn street, they would not ind 4
splinter large as the tip end OF tho little
finger marked with bigotry. And as II
is said that tho cXhun,cd bricks Of thr
walls of Babylon have on them the let
ter \, standing for ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
declare TO you that i we ever get 4 new
church the letter we should like TO have