Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-10-27

hundred thousand dollars we would
put them all in one great monu-
ment to the mercy Of God. Peo-
pie ask on all sides about what
we shall build. | 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.
| say to all Episcopalians, we shall
have in our services as heretofore at
Dun communion table portions of the
Liturgy. | say TO the Catholics we
shall have a cross over the pulpit and
probably on the tower. | say TO the
MethodlstS, We mean TO sing there like
the voices of mighty t~hunderings. |
say To all denominations. we mean 10
preach a religion as wide as heaven
and MS good as God. We have said
we had a total loss. But there was
one exception. The only things we
saved were the lverconmunion chal-
ices, for they happened TO be in an
other Building, aud ] take that fact rs
typical that We ~ TO be in commu-
Mon with all Christeudom. 'Ibelieve
IN the communion of saints!'
Think. if all the Brooklyn firemen
and all insurance companies should
search among those ruins on Scher.
merhorn street, they would not find a
splinter large us the tip end Of the lit
tie finger marked with bigotry. And
as il is said that the eNhumed bricks
of the walls of Babylon have on them
the letter n, standing for Nebuchad-
nezzar, | declare TO you that If we
ever get n new church the letter we
should like to have on every stone
aud every timber would be the letter
G, for that would stand both for Christ
and for Catholicity. The last two
words | uttered in the old church on
Friday night, some of you may re-
member, were "Halleluiah! Amenl"
The two words that / utter nov as
mostexpressive of my feelings in this
our first service after the Baptism of
Fire, are Hallelujah! Amen! None
Of these things move me-"
GOD RULEsl
We are kept in this mood by two or
three considerations. The first is, that
God rules. In what way the church
took fire ! do not know. 1t has been
charged on the ~lightnings. Well, the
Lord controls the lightnings. He
managed them several thousands of
years before our electricians were
born. The Bible indicates that, though
they flash down the sky recklessly,
God builds for them a road To travel.
In the Psalms il is said: He made
q way for the lightning and the thun-
der" Ever since the time of Benja-
min Franklin the world has been try
ing to tame the lightnings, and they
seem to be quite well harnessed, but
they occasionally kick over the traces.
But though we cannot master great
natural forces, God a and does, and
that God is our Father and best Friend,
and this thought gives us confidence.
We are also reinforced by the in
creased consolation that comes from
confraternity of sorrow. The people
who, during the last sixteen years,
sat ON the other side Of the aisle, whose
faces were familiar 10 you. but to
whom you had never spoken-you
greeted them this week with smiles
and tears as y6a said: "Well, the old
place is gone" You did not want 10
10 cry, 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 moth
ing the matter with your eyes; it
was your soul bubbling over. / tell
you that il is impossible TO sit for
years around the same church fireside
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, aud you want 10
glide up the same harbor and want 10
uisembark at the same wharf.
IL you put gold and iron and lead
and zinc III sufficient heat, they will
melt into a cOnElOmerate masS; and
really feel that last Sabba.h's fire has
fused us all, grosSer and finer natures,
into one. Ii seems as If We all had our
hands on a wire connected with an
electric battery; and when this church
sorrow started il thrilled through the
whole circle, and we all felt the shock.
The oldest man aud the youngest child
could join hands in this misfortune.
Grandfather said, Il expected from
those affairs TO be buried y 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.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
That is used to the fire. On the dark
day when Jesus died, the lightning
struck il from above, and the flames
of hell dashed up against it from be.
meath. That fearful, painful, tender,
blessed cross still stands. On il we
hang all our hopes; beneath it we put
down all our sins; in the light Of il
we expect 10 make the rest Of our pill.
grimage. Within sight of such a sac.
rifce, who can feel he has il hardl In
the sight Of such a symbol, who can
be discouraged, however great the
darkness that may come down upon
him2 Jesus lives The loving, pa,
tent, sympathizing, mighty Jesus
It 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, aud that a whole
church was forSaken by the Lord
when they went through a furnace
| about turn b,,ndea1 loot vida