The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-21

tip end Of the little finger marked with big
otry. And as it is said hat the exhumed
bricks of the walls of Babylon have on
them the letter n, standing for Nebuchad-
nezzar, declare to YOU that if we ever get
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 ! uttered in the old church on
Friday night, some of you may remember,
were "Hallelujak Amen"
The two words that utter now as most
expressive of my feelings in this our first
service after the baptism of fire, are Halle
lujahl Amen! "None Of these things move
me-"
We are kept in this mood by two or three
considerations. Toe first rs that God rules.
In what way the church took fire DO not
know. 1t has been cha g-d on tie light
nings Well, the Lord controls the light
nings. He managed them several thousands
of years before on electricians were born.
The Bible indicates that, though they flash
down the sky recklessly, God builds for
them road to travel.
In the psalms 1t is said: He made
way for the lightning and the thunder"
Ever since The time of Benjamin Franklin
the world has been trying to tame the
ightnings, and they seem TO be quite well
harnessed, but they occasionally kick over
the traces. But though 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 increased
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 to you,
but to whom you had never spoken-you
greeted them this week with smiles and
4. I'll IL II. -
gone" You did not want to seem to cry,
and SO you swept the sleeve near the corner
Of the eye, ard prete lded 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 tlat it is i'm
possible to sit for years around the same
church dreside 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 an pardoned and blessed aud
saved. You feel as if you are in @ same
boat, and you want TO glide up the same
harbor and want to disembark at the same
wharf
If you put gold and iron and lead and
zinc in sufficient heat, they will melt into a
conglOmerate mass; and | really feel that
last Sabbath's fire has fused us all, grosser
and. finer natures, into one. 1t seems as if
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. G and
father said, 81 expected from those affairs
TO be buried; and Of the children last
Sabbath cried, "Grandpl, that place was
next to our own house" Yea, we are sup
ported 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 he'll dashed
up against it from beneath. That fearful,
painful, tender, blessed cross still stands.
On 1t we hang all our hopes; beneath it we
put down oil our sins; in the light of it we
expect to make the rest of our pilgrim
age. Within sight of such a sacri-
flee, who can feel he has it hards In
the sight Of such a symbol, who can
be discouraged, however great the dark
ness that may come down upon hims Jesus
hvesl The loving, patient, sympathizing,
mighty Jesus! 1t 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, and that whole church was for
saken by the Lord when they went through
furnace about two hundred feet wide
Q Lord Jesusl shall we take out of thy
hand the flowers and the fruits, aud the
brightness and the joys, and then turn
away because thou dost give us one cup of
bit erness to drinkl o, no, Jesusi we will
drink it dry. But how it is changed!
Blessed Jesus, what hast thou put into
the cup to sweeten it? Why, it has become
the wine of heaven, and our souls grow
strong. | come nov, and place both of nv
feet deep down into the blackened ashes of
our consumed church, and | cry out with
an exhiaration that | never felt since the
day of my souls ema cipation, "Victory.
victory through our Lord Jesus Christi
Your harps, We tremblin saints,
Down from the willows take
Loud to the praise of love divine
Bid every string awake.
We are also REINFORCED by the catholicity
that have already referred to. We are in
the Academy to-day, not because we have
no other place to go. Last Sabbath MORN
ing at O'Clock we had but one church; now
we have about thirty, all at our disposal
Their pastors 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 baptize
in our baptisteries, and SIT on our anxious
seats" Obi if there be any larger
hearted ministers or larger hearted
churches anywhere than in BROOKLYN. tell
me where they are, that may go and see
them before i die. The millennium 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. l should like to have
seen two of the old-time bigots, with their
swords, fighting through that great fire on
Schermerhorn street last Sabbath. | 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 denom-
ination of christians. l thank God never
have been tempted to do it. cannot be a
sectarian. / have been told ought to be.
and ! have tried to be, but l have not
enough material in me to make such a
structure. Every time get the thing mos
done there comes a fire, or something else,
and all is gone The angels of God shake
out on this air, ''Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace, good will
toward men," do not know
but l see on the horizon the first
CLEAN of the morning which shall
unite all denominations in one organization.
distinguished only by the locality as in
apostolic times. 1t was then the Church of
Thyatira, and the Church of Thessalonica.
and the Church of Antioch, and the Church
of Laodicea. So do not know but that in