Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-29
,sprc1A1 rrIreRAM 10 THE DISPATCH,

ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DrsPATcH.i
BROOKLYN, October 2S.-To-day took
place the breaking ground ceremony for the
new Brooklyn Tabernacle on Clinton street,
one of the most beautiful streets in America.
Crowds gathered in and around the yard
where the ceremony was observed, and neigh
boring pastors took part in the services The
Rev. 7. De Witt Talmage, D. D., made the
following address:
That begins right which begins with God.
That begins wrong which begins without Him.
From first cut of spade till last ring of trowel.
from deepest foundation stone to highest PIN
nacle, from this hour when standing under the
cloudy rafters, and amid the illumined walls of
Coos first temple-the world, to the hour when
the people shall gather for dedication service
under the roof of the new Brooklyn Taber-
nacle. we want to put all under the Divine di-
rection. 'In the beginning" says the opening
passage of the best of books, as though to i'm
press all ages that we ought to look well to the
Genesis of every important work.
TO ASK A MIRACLE.
In the beginning of life, in thetbeginning of
families, in the beginning of nations, in the be-
ginning of churches. They who wait until the
corner stone of church is laid, wait until the
church architecture is fixed, and the designs
are determined and the employees engaged, and
to ask God to decide things then would be
20 ask miracle. That may be the reason
why so many auditoriums are a defiance of
acoustics, and so many buildings are cold and
unsympaIhetc.
AS we break the ground to-day for new
church let me state what this church will
stand for. Evangelism, liberty of conscience,
Christian patriotism, charity, righteousness
toward God and honesty toward man. May it
be great place for the cure of heartaches
May its windows look into the next world as
well as this May all the children baptized
here become the sons and daughters of the
Lord Almighty! May all the marital oaths
taken at these altars be kept until death does
them part May there be a revival of pure re-
ligion here which shall roll on without inter-
ruption until Christ descends through the
wide-opening heavens May the Lord God of
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and Joshua
and Paul, and John Knox and John Wesley
and Hugh Latimer and Bishop McIlvaine take
possession of this ground and all that. shall be
built upon it!
We have but one regret in breaking ground
on this spot, and that is that this grand and
beautiful tree on my left must be cut down to
make room. The tree seems sad and its leaves
are little tremulous, and there are voices
within US which become recitative, saying:
"Woodman, spare that treer'
A KINGDOM OF TREES.
What America greatly needs to-day is not
more trees cut down, but more trees planted.
He who needessly slays tree is an assassin.
The kingdom of God is to be q kingdom of
trees: Instead of the thorn shall come up the
fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up
the myrtle tree" And ''all the trees of the
wood are to clap their hands," And in Revela-
tion the angel cries out: "Hurt not the treesp
There must be some good reason for laying the
ak TO the root OF such pillared glory, or it
would not be done at all. But perhaps we may
atone for the deed by putting here what Isaiah
calls "The trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord"
And now proceed to the ceremony of break
ing ground for new house of God. (Here a
spade was handed by an elder of the church to
DR.. Talmage, whowlth turn of the spade re-
moved portion of the sod.) In the name Of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghostl The work is begun. Now let the build
ing risei Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
from everlasting to everlasting, and let the
whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and
Amenl