Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-11-01

Mails OF Babylon have on them tho Lot
Sel y, standing for NebuchadnezzarS +
ose!ale TO You that If we ever get new
onurch the letter we should like to have
ta ~ ~. Every stone and every timber would
b be me re letter G, for that would stand
1"". Tor Christ and for Catholicity. The
a l'.S. Two words I uttered in the old
,non on Friday night, some of YOU
Amen!" AA"iieluJan!
The two words that I utter now 90
most expressive of nv FEELINGS in this
our G,e hrst service after the BAPTISM If
IRE, are Hallelujah! Amen! None of
these things move me-"
IN the Psalms it is said: HE made n
way Tor the lightning and the thunder"
Ever since the time of BENJAMIN Frank.
i I'm the world has been trying to tame the
llgntnlngs, and they seem to be ouite
Wen harnessed. but they occasionally
KICK over the traces. But though We
cannot master great natural forces. God
Gun ana does, and that God is our
rather and best Friend, and this thonoht
gives us confidence.
we are also reinforced by the in
creased consolation that comes from
c9nfraternlty of sorrow. The people
VINO, durlngthe last sixteen wears. sat
on the other side of the aisle. whose
faces are familiar to you, but to whom
you had never spoken-you greeted
them this week with smiles and tears as
you said: We'll, the old place is gone. !"
You did not want to seem to CIV. and
SO you swept the sleeve near the corner
OF the eye. and pretended it was the
sharp wind made your eyes weak. All!
there was nothing the matter with your
eyes; it was your soul bubbling over. I
tell you it was impossible to sit for
years around the same church tireside
and not have sympathies in common.
Somehow you feel that you would like
those people on the other side of the
aisle, about whom you know but little,
prospered and pardoned and blessed
and saved. You feel as if you are in
the same boat, and you want to glide up
the same harbor and want to disembark
ut the same wharf.
If you put gold and iron and lead and
zinc in sufficient heat, they will melt
into conglomerate mass; and really
feel that last Sabbaths fire has fused us
all, grosser and finer natures, into one.
1t seems as ii we all had our hands on a
wire connected with an electric battery:
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
Il expected from those affairs 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 the dark
day when Jesus died. the lightning
struck it from above, and the flames of
hell dashed up against it from beneath.
cross still stands. On it we hang
all our hopes; beneath it we put
down all our sins; in the light of it
we expect to make the rest of our pill
grimage. Within sight of such q sacri-
flee, who can feel he has it hard? In
the sight of such o symbol, who can be
discouraged, however great the dark
ness that may come down upon him?
Jesus lives! The living, patient, sym
pathizing, mighty Jesus! 1t shall not
be told on earth, or i'll hell, or in Heaven,
that three Hebrew children had the son
| of God beside them in the fire, and that
a whole church was forsaken by the
Lord when they went through furnace
about two hundred feet wide.
o 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 has
| Thou put in the cup to sweeten it?
| Why, it has become the wine of Heaven,
and our souls grow strong. 1 come now,
and place both of my feet deep down
| into the blackened ashes of our con
sumed church, and Cry out with on ex-
| liberation that I never felt since the
day of my souls emancipation. Vic
tory! victory! through our Lord Jesus
Christi"
! Your harps we trembling saints,
Down from the willows take,
Loud to the praise OF love divine
Bid every string awake.
| We are also re- inforced by the Cath
olicity that have already referred to.
We are in the Academy to- day, not be-
cause we have no other place to go.
Last Sabbath morning at 8 o'clock we
had but one church: now we have about
thirty, all at our disposal. Their pas
tors 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 baptizo i'll
our baptiste1ies, and sit on our anxious
seats. On, II Lnefe DC any larger
hearted minister or larger hearted
churches anywhere than in Brooklyn,
tell me where they are, that 1 may GO
and see them before die. The millen.
ium 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 Schermerho
street last Sabbath. 1 am sure the
swords would have melted, and they
who welded them would have learned
war no more. can never say word
against any other denomination OF
Christians. thank God I never have
been tempted to do it. I cannot be q
sectarian. have been told ought to
be, and have tried to be, but have not
enough material in me to make such a
structure. Every time l get the thing
most done, there comes fire or some-
thing else, and all is gone. The angels
of God shake out on this air, Glory to
i God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good will toward men," do not know
but see on the horizon the first CLEAN
of the morning which shall unite all
denominations in one organization, dis
| 4;,,,;,hod ONLY, nv the locnlity rs in