The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1889-09-19
THE SUNRISE" "
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage's Return
to His Brooklyn Flock.
His Opening Discourse One Full Of Prom
ises of Good ThIngs-An Era Of Ca
lamlties to be Succeeded by
Joys without Number.

Il OOyb
The Brooklyn pastor returned to his
Hock filed with enthusiasm born OF his
Western tour. His opening discourse
was on the subject of "The Sunrise" his
text being:
The day is at hand. d.-Romans, Kill, 12.
| Back from the mountains and the sea-
side, and the springs, and the farm
| house, your cheek bronzed and your
spirits lighted, / hail you home again
| with the words of Gehazi to the Shunam-
mite: SIS it we'll with thee? Is it well
| with thy husband? Is it well with the
| cbild" On some faces 1 see the mark
OF recent grief, but all along the track OF
tears l see the story OF resurrection and
reunion, when all tears are done; the
| dsep plowing of the keel, followed by the
fash of the phosphorescence.
Now that have asked you in regard TO
your welfare, you naturally ask how
am. Very well, thank you Whether 1t
was the bracing air Of the Colorado
mountains, twelve thousand feet above
the level of the sea, or the tonic atmos-
phere of the Pacific coast, or bath in
the surf of Long Island beach, or wheth-
or 1t is the JOY of standing IN this great
| group Of warm hearted friends, or
| whether it is a new appreciation OF the
goodness OF God, l can not tell. l simply
| know am grandly and gloriously and
| inexpressibly happy. 1t was said that
John Moffat, the great Methodist preach.
| or, occasionally got fast in his sermon,
| and to extricate himself would cry:
"Hallelujahw l am in no such predica-
ment to day, but am full of the same
rhaps odic ejaculation. Starting out this
morning on a new ecclesiastical year, l
want to give you the keynote of my
next twelve months ministry. want to
set it to the tune OF Antioch. Ariel and
| Coronation. Some time ago we had
new stop put in this organ-a new
trumpet stop-and l want to put new
trumpet stop into my sermons.
In all our Christian work you and
want more of the element of gladness.
That man has no right to say that Christ
never laughed. Do you suppose that He
was glum at the wedding in Cana of GAL
lice? Do you suppose that Christ was
unresponsive when the children clam
bered over His knee and shoulder at His
own invitation? Do you suppose the
evangelist meant nothing when he said
| of Christ: "He rejoiced in spirit" Do
| you believe that the divine Christ who
/ pours all tho water over the rocks at
| Vernal falls, Yosemite, does not believe
| in the sparkle and gallop and tumultu-
| Gus Joy and rushing raptures OF human
| life? l believe not only that the morning
! laughs, and that the mountains laugh,
| and that the seas laugh, and shat the
| cascades laugh, but that Christ laughed.
| Moreover, take laugh and a tear into
an alembic, and assay them, and test
| them, and analyze them, and you Will
often find as much Of the pure gold OF re-
| ligion in a laugh as IN tear. Deep
spiritual JOY always shows itself in facial
| illumination. John Wesley said he was
sure of good religious impression being
| produced because of what he calls the
| great laughter he saw among the people.
| Goddess merriment is bias phemy any
where, but expression OF Christian JOY
| is appropriate everywhere.
Moreover, the outlook of the world
ought to stir us to gladness. Astrono-
| mers recently disturbed many people by
| telling them that there is danger of stel-
| lar collision. We have been told through
| the papers by these astronomers that
| there are worlds coming very near to-
| gether, and that we shall have plaques,
| and wars, and tumults, and perhaps the
| worlds destruction. Do not be scared.
| If you have ever stood at railroad GEN.
| ter, where ten, or twenty, or thirty rail
| tracks cross each other, and seen
| that by the movement of the
switch by one or two inches the train
shoots this way and that without collid-
| ing, then you may understand how fifty
worlds may come within an inch OF dis
| aster, and that inch be as good as
| million miles. If a human switch tender
| can shoot the trains this way and that
without harm, can not the Hand that for
| thousands of years has upheld the uni
verse keep our little world out of harms
way? Christian geologists tell us that
| this world was millions Of years in build
| ing. Well. now, do not think God would
take millions Of years to build house
which was to last only six thousand
years. There is nothing in the world or
| outside the world, terrestrial or astro-
nomical, to excite dismay. l wish that
some stout Gospel breeze might scatter
all the malaria of human foreboding. The
| sun rose this morning at about half-p past
FIVE O'Clock, and think that is just about
| the hour in the worlds history. "The
| day is at hand"
The first ray of the dawn I see in the
gradual substitution of diplomatic skill
| for human butchery. Within the last
| twenty five years there have been inter-
national differences which would have
brought q shock of arms in any other
day, but which were peacefully adjusted,
the pen taking the place Of the sword.
That Alabama question in any other
| age Of the world would have caused war
between the United States and England.
How was it settled? By men-of-war of
| the Narrows, or off the Mersey? By the
| Gulf stream of the ocean crossed by a
| gulf stream of human blood? By the
| pathway of nations incarnadined? No.
| A few wise men go into quiet room at
| Geneva, talk the matter over and tele-
| graph to Washington and to London:
"All settled" Peace. Peace. England
pays 10 the United States the amount
awarded-pays really more than she
ought to have paid. But STILL all that
Alabama broil is settled-settled forever.
| Arbitration instead of battle.
| We in this country might better have
settled our sectional difficulties by arbi-
tration than by the thrust of the sword.
Philanthropy said to the North:
"Pay down a certain amount Of money
for the purchase Of the slaves, and let all
these born after a certain time be born
/ free"
Philanthrophy at the same time said
to the South: "You sell the slaves, and
get rid of this great National contest and
| trouble"
Tbs North replied: 81 won't pay q
cent?
The South replied: al won't sell.1