Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-11-02

TO all the Baptfsts, thai We snail nave
in it a Baptistry. i say TO all Episco-
palians, we shall have our communion
table portions Of the Liturgy. l say to
the Catholics, we shall have a cross owe
the pulpit and probably on the tower.
/ say to the Methodists, we mean to
sing there like the voices OF mighty
t~hunderings. l say to all denominations,
we mean to preach a religion as wide as
heaven and as good as God. We have
said We had q total loss. But there was
one exception. The only things we
saved were the silver communion chal-
ices, for they happened TO be in another
building, and / take that fact as typical
that we are TO be in communion with all
Christendom. 81 believe in the COM
manion Of saintsl"
think, IL all the Brooklyn fremen
and all insurance companies should
search among those ruins on Scher-
merhorn street, they would not find a
splinter as large as the tip end Of the
little finger marked with bigotry. And
as 1t Is said that the exhumed bricks
of the walls OF Babylon have on them
the letter n, standing for Nebuchad-
nezzar, / declare TO you that IL we
ever get a new church the letter we
should like to have on every stone and
every timber would be the letter c, for
that would stand both for Christ and for
Catholicity. The last two words | ut
tered in the old church on Friday night,
some OF you may remember, were Hal
leiuiah! Amen"
The two words that I utter nov as
most expressive of my feelings in this
our first service after the baptism OF
fire, are Hallelujahl Amenl 'None Of
these things move me-"
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 l~ightnings. He man
aged them several thousands Of years
before Il 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 it is said: ''He made
a way for the lightning and tho thun-
der" Ever since the time OF Benjamin
Franklin the world has been trying TO
tame the l~ightnings, and they seem TO
be quite well ~harnessed, but they oc-
c~asionally kick over the traces. Rut
thoGsn we cannot master great natural
forces, God can 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 con
fraternity Of sorrow. The people who,
during the last sixteen years, sat on the
other side Of the aisle, whose faces were
familiar TO you, but to whom you had
never spoken-you greeted them thi;
week with smiles and tears as you said
"Well the old place Is gone" You did
not want t seem TO cry, n so yor
swept the sleeve near the corner OF the
eye, and pretended 1t was the sharl
wind made your eyes weak. All! there
was nothing the matter with your eyes
it was your soul bubbling over. l tel
you that 1t is impossible to sit for year,
around the church Preside and not have
sympathies in Somehow yoI
feel that you would like these people oil
the other side OF the aisle, about whom
you know but little, prospered and par
doned and blessed and saved. You fee,
as IL you are in the same boat, and yol
want to glide up the same harbor an,
want to disembark at the same wharf.
II you put gold and iron and lead and
zinc In sufficient heat, they will mel
into q conglomerate mass; and really
feel that last Sabbath's fire has fused u:
all, grosser and finer natures, into one
1t seems as IL we all had our hands on
wire connected with an electric battery
and when this church sorrow started i
thrilled through the whole circle, and
we all felt the shock. The oldest mar
and the youngest child could join hand:
In this misfortune. Grandfather said
~ expected from those affairs to bt
buried" and one OF the children last
Sabbath cried. Grandpa, that place wa:
next to our W house" Yea, we art
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 Ii from above. ard the flame:
Of hell dashed up against it from be
meath. That fearful, painful tender,
blessed cross still stands. On 1t We
hang all our hopes; beneath 1t we put
down ali our sins; In tho light OF IL we
expect 10 make the rest of our pilgrim
age. Within sight Of such a sacrifice
who can feel no has 1t hard? In the
sight OF such a symbol, who can be dis
couraged, however great the darkness:
that may come down upon him? Jesu:
lives! The loving, patient, sympathiz
ing, mighty Jesusl 1t shall not be told
on earth, or in hell, or in heaven, thai
three Hebrew children had the Son o.
God beside them in tho fire, and that
whole church was forsaken by the LORD
when they went through a furnace about
two hundred feet wide.
o Lord Jesus! shall we take out o.
thy hand the flowers and the fruits, and
the brightness and the joys, and ther
turn away because thou dost give us one
cup of bitterness to drink? Oh, no
/ Jesus! wo will drink IL dry. But how
IL Ia changed blessed Jesus, what hast
thou put into tho cup to sweeten 1t!
! Why, It has become the wine of heaven,
and our souls grow strong. i come now
and place both of my feet deep dowr
into the blackened ashes of our con
sumed church, and / cry out with an ex
filtration that I never felt since the day
of my souls emancipation, "sictory
yictoryl 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 re-enforced by the Cath,
49,