The San Saba news. [volume] (San Saba, Tex.) 1873-1966, 1890-01-10

/ preached at the Brooklyn Academy OF lu-
! sic, his first sermon after the destruction OF
the Brooklyn Tabernacle by fire. His au-
dience was of vast size, and public interest
was extraordinary. The opening hymn was;
God moves IN a mysterious way
| His wonders to perform
He plants His footsteps In the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
DIR. Talmage's subject was "The Baptism
| of Fire, -" and he saidi
But, Paul, have you not enough affection
! to move YOU? Are YOU not an exile from
/ your native land? With the most genial and
/ loving nature, have you not, in order 10 be
! free for missionary journeys, given yourself
to celibacy2 Have you not turned away
! from the magnificent worldly SUD cesses that
| would have crowned your liustrious genius2
| Have you not endured the sharp and singing
neuralgias like a thorn in the tleshg Have
you not been mobbed on the land, and ship
wrecked on the sea: the sanhedrim against
| you the Roman Government against you, all
! the world and all hell against YOU?
"What Of thatN says Paul. None of
! these things move mer It was not because
/ he was a hard nature Gentlest woman was
never mora easily dissolved into tears. He
could not even bear to see anybody cry, for
| in the midst of his sermon when he saw some
! one weeping her sobs aloud, "Nhat mean We
to weep and to break mine heart? for l am
/ ready not to be bound only, but also to die at
! Jerusalem for the name of the Lord jesus
What then did Paul mean when he said,
| None of these things move mep He meant,
! Il will not be diverted from the work to
which have been called by any and all the
| adversities and calamitiesn
think this morning 1 express not only my
/ own feelings but that of every man, woman
! and little child belonging TO the Brooklyn
| Tabernacle, or that was converted there, or
comforted there, or blessed there, when I look
/ toward the blackened ruins of the dear and
consecrated spot and with an aroused faith
in loving God, cry out: None Of these
/ things move me.o
When l say that, I do not mean that we
| have no feeling about it. Instead of stand
ing here to-day in this brilliant auditorium
| it would be more consonant with my feelings
20 sit down among the ruins and weep at the
words of David: If l forget thee, o Jerusa-
lem, let my right hand forget her cunning
! Why, let me say to the strangers here to-day
| in explanation of the deep emotion of my
flock, we had there in that building sixteen
| years of religious revival. l believe that a
! hundred thousand souls were born there.
! They came from all parts Of the earth and
We shall never see them again until the books
/ are opened Why, sirsi our children were
| there baptized, and at those affairs our young
/ men and maidens took the marriage VOW,
and out Of those gates we carried our dead.
| When from the roof of my house last Sum
/ day morning at O'Clock l saw our church in
flames, I said: That is the last Of the build
/ ing from which we buried our Dc Witt on
1 that cold December day when it seemed
| all Brooklyn wept with my household
And it wsN just as hard for you to
| give up your Nved ones as for US to give
up ours Why, like the beautiful vines
that still cover some of the fallen walls,
| our affections are clambering all
/ over the ruins, and 1 could kiss the
ashes that mark the place where it
/ once stood Why nnF that 1 think of
! 1t, l cannot think u it as an inanimate
/ pile but rs a soul, a mighty soul, an
/ ndestructible soul l am sure that majestic
! organ had soul, for we have often heard it
/ speak aud sing and shout and wall, and when
the soul of that organ entered heaven l think
! Handel, and Haydn, and Mozart and Men
| delssohn, and Beethoven were at the gates TO
welcome it. So do not use the words Of my
text in heartless way, but in the sense that
we must not and viii not be diverted from
| our work by the appalling disasters which
! have befallen Us. We will not turn aside one
| inch from our determination TO do all We can
| for the present and everlasting happiness of
/ all the people whom we may be able to meet.
None of these things move me. None of
| these things move you"
When looked out through the dismal rain
from the roof Of my house and saw the
church crumbling brick by brick and timber
! by timber, l said 70 myself: docs this mean
that my work in Brooklyn is ended? Does
this terminate my association with this city,
/ where have been more than twenty years
glad in all It's properties, and sad in all its
/ mlsfOrtunesF And q still small voice came
to me, a voice that is no longer still or small
but most emphatic and commanding through
pressure Of hand, and newspaper column, and
telegram and letter, and Contributions say
ing: ''Go forwardr
have made aud now make appeal 70 all
/ Christendom to help us. We want all Chris
tendon to help, and l VIII acknowledge the
receipt Of every contribution, great or small,
with my own hand We want to build
larger and better. We want it national
church, in which people of all creeds and all
/ nations may find home. The contributions
already sent in make a small hearted church
forever impossible. Would not l be a sorry
spectacle for angels and men if, in a church
built by Israelites and Catholics, as well as
all the styles Of people commonly called evan
I gelical, / should, instead Of the banner of the
Lord God Almighty, raise luttering ragOf
small sectarianism? If we had three hundred
thousand dollars we would put them all in
one great mOnumerH to the mercy Of God.
People ask ON all SIS about what We shall
build / answer, it all depends on the contri-
buttons sent in from here and from the ends
OF the eart1. say now to all the Baptists,
that we shall haven it a baptistery. say TO
all Episcopalians, we shall have in our services
| as heretofore at our communion table por-
tons of the Liturgy. l say to the Catholics
we shall have a cross over the pulpit and
| probably on the tower. 1 say TO the Metho-
dists, we mean to sing there like the voices
of mighty thunderings. 1 say to all denomi-
nations, we mean TO preach a religion as
wide as heaven and as good as Sod. We
nave said We had total loss. Butthere was
one exception. The only things we saved
! were the silver communion chalices for The
! happened to be in another building and
take that fact as typical that we are to be
in communion with all Christendom. Il be-
heve in the communion of saintsn
think, if all the Brooklyn firemen and all
insurance companies should search among
those ruins on Schermerhorn street, they
would not find splinter 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 Nebuchadnezzar, l declare to
you that If we ever get new church the let
ter we should like to have on every stone
and every timber would be the letter
c, for that would stand both for Christ and
Catholicity. The last two words / uttered in
the old church on Friday night, some of you
may remember, were "Hallelujahl Amenp
The two words that utter now as most
expressive of my feelings in this our first SER
vice after the Baptism of Fire are Halle
luJah! Ameni None Of these things move
men
We are kept in this mood by two or three
COnAlQerallonS- Inc flrSt Is that tod rules.
In what way the church took fire l do not
know. 1t has been charged on the light
nlngs. Well the Lord controls the light
nIngs. He managed them several thousands
OF years before our electricians were born.
The Bible indicates that, though they fash
down the sky recklessly, God builds for them
road to travel
In tie Psalms it is said: HE made way
for the lightning and thunder" Ever since
the time of Benjamin Franklin the world has
been trying to tame the hghtnings, and they
seem 10 be quite well harnessed but they
occasionally kick over the traces. But
though we cannos 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 fraternity of
sorrow. The people who, during the last six
teen years, sat on the other side of the aisle,
whose faces were familiar to you, but to
whom you lad never spoken-you greeted
them this week with smiles and taars as you
said: "Well, the old place is gone.n 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. Ali there was moth
ing the matter with your eyes; it
was your soul 5ubbling over tell you that
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