The Brookhaven leader., 1889-10-31


electricians were born. The Bible in-
dicates that though they fash down the
sky recklessly, God builds for them a
road to travel
In the Psalms IL Is said: "fie made a
way for the lightning and thunder"
Ever since the time OF BENJAMIN Frank
lin the world has been trying to tame the
lightnings, and they seem to be quite
we'll harnessed, but occasionally kick
over the traces. But though we can not
master great natural forces God can and
does, and that God Is our Father aud
best friend, and this thought gives us
confidence.
We are also re-enforced by tho in
creased consolation that comes from
confraternity of sorrow. The people who,
during the past sixteen years, sat on the
other side of tho aisle, whose faces we're
familiar to you, but to whom you had
never spoken-yOu greeted them this
week with smiles aud tears as you said:
Well the old place is gone" You did
not want to seem to 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
| nothing the matter with your eyes; twas
your soul bubbling over. l tell you that
ii is impossible to sit for years around
the same church Preside and not have
sympathies in common. Somehow you
feel that you would like those people on
the other side of the aisle, abou whom
you know but little, prospered and par
doned and blessed aud saved. You feel
as il you are in the same boat, and You
want to glide up the same harbor and
want to disombark at the same wharf.
IL you put gold, and iron, and lead, and
zinc in sufficient heat they will melt into
conglomerate mass; and l really feel
that last Sabbath's fir. has fused us all.
| grosser and finer natures, into one. 1t
seems as if we all hal 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. Grandfather said: II
| expected from these affairs to be buried;"
and one of the children last Sabbath
| cried: Grandpa that place was next to
| our own house" Yea, we are supported
and comforted in this time by the cross
| of Christ.
That is used to the fire. o n the dark
day when Jesus died, the lightning struck
| it from above, and the flames of hell
dashed up against it from meath. That
fearful, painful, tender, blessed cross
still stands. o N it we hang all our hopes;
| beneath ii We put down all our sins; in
| the light of it we expect TO make the rest
of our pilgrimage. Within sight Of such
"a sacrifice, who can feel he has it hard?
In the sight Oe such q symbol, who can
be discouraged, however great the dan k
ness that may come upon him: Jesus
livesl The loving, patient, sympathiz-
| ing, 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 fnrsaken by the Lord
| when they went through furnace about
two hundred feet wide.
o, Lord Jesus shall we take ont of Thy
hand the flowers aEd the fruits, and the
brightness and the joys, and then turn
away because Thou dost give US one cup
of bitterness to drink? Oh, no Jesus! we
will drink it dry. But how it Is changed!
Blessed Jesus, what hast Thou put into
the cup to sweeten il? Why, it has be-
come the wine Of Heaven, and our souls
grow strong. | come now, and place
both of my feet deep down into the black.
ened ashes of our consumed church, and
l cry out with an exhilaratiou that
never felt since the day of my SOUPS
emancipation: Victory victory through
| our Lord, Jesus Christ"
Your harps, yc 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
olicity that | have already referred to.
We are in the Academy to day, not be-
cause we have no other place to go. Last
Sabbath morning at niue O'Clock we had
but one church; now we have thirty, all
at our disposal. Their pastors and their
trustees say: "YOu may take our main
audience rooms, you may take our
lecture room, you may take our church
parlors, you may baptize in our bap-
tisterles and sit on our anxious seats"
Oh! if there be any larger hearted min
listers or larger hearted churches any,
where than in Brooklyn, tell me where
they are that l may go and see them be-
fore die. People keep wOnderin when
1t 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
Sa bbath. l am sure the swords would
have melted, and they who welded them
would have learned war no more.
l can never say word against any
other denomination of Christians. l
| thank God l never have been tempted to
do it. l can not be a sectarian. | have
been told / ought to be, and / have tried
to be, but have not enough material in
me to make such a structure. Every
time l get the thing most 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 on
earth peace, good will to men," do not
know but l see on the horizon the first
CLEAN of the morning which shall unite
| all denominations in one organic alton,
distinguished only by the locality as in
apostolic times. 1t was then the Church
| of Thyatira, and the Church of Thessa-
| lonica, and the Church OF Antioch, and
the Church of Laodicea. So | do not
know but that in the future history, and
not so far off either, it may be simply
distinction of locality, and not of creed,
as the Church of New York, the Church
of Brooklyn, the Church of Boston, the
Church of Charleston, the Church of
Madras, the Church OF Constantinople,
the Church of America.
My dear brethren, we can not afford
to be severely divided. Standing in front
of the great foes of our common Christi
anity, we want to pat on the whole armor
of God and march down in solid column.
shoulder to shoulder! one Commander
4,,i,