Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-05-02
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
Subject. .erhe New Tabernacle"
Text: aWhat mean ys by these stonesT'

Subject: "The New Tabernacle."
TEXT: "What mean ye by these stonesf'
Joshua w.. 8.
The Jordan, like the Mississippi, has bluffs
on the one side and fats on the other. Here
and there a sycamore shadows it. Here and
there willow dips into it. 1t was only q
little over waist oeepin December as waded
through it but in the months Of April and
May the SHOWS on Mount Lebanon thaw and
fow down into the valley, and then the Jor-
dan overhows its banks. Then it is wide,
deep, raging and impetuous. At this season
of the year hear the tramp of forty thou
sand armed men coming down to cross the
river. You say, why do they not go up
nearer the rise of the river at the old camel
fords All my friends, it is because it is not
safe to go around when the Lord tells US to
go ahead. The Israelites had been going
around forty years. and they had enough OF
it. do not know how it is with you, my
brethren, but have always got into trouble
when / went around, but always got into
safety when went ahead.
There spreads out the Jordan a raging
torrent, much of it snow water just come
down from the mountain top; and see some
of the Israelites shivering at the idea of
plunging in, and one soldier says to his COM
rade, Joseph can you swim" And another
says "lf we get across the stream we Will
| get there with wet clothes and with damaged
! armor and the Canaanites will slash us to
pieces with their swords before we get up thu
other bank" But it is no time to halt. The
| great host marches on.
The priests carrying the ark go ahead, the
people follow. | hear the tramp of the great
/ multitude. The priests have now come with
in a stones throw of the water. Yet still
fe, t,1f,. - fbarr
have come within four OF five feet of the
] stream; but there is no abatement Of the
food. Bad prospect 1t seems as il theSe
Israeiites that crossed the desert are now go
| ing to-be drowned in sight of Canaan. But
| Forward" is the cry. The command rings
| all along the line of the host. "Forwardw
| Now the priests have come within one step
| of the river This time they lift their feet
| from the solid ground and put them down
into the raging stream. No sooner are their
| feet there than Jordan flies.
On the right hand God piles up a great
mountain of floods; on the left the water
/ flows off toward the sea. The great river for
4 hours halts and rsars. The back waters,
I not being able to flow over the passing Is
raelites, pile wave on wave until perhaps
sea bird would find some difficulty in scaling
| the water cliff. Nov the priests and all the
| people have gone over on dry land. The
water on the left hand side by this time has
reached the sea; and now that the miracu-
lous passage has been made, stand back and
see this stupendous pile of waters leap. God
| takes His hand from that walls of floods and
| like a hundred cataracts they plunge and
| roar in thunderou5 triumph to the sea.
How are they to celebrate this passages
| Shall it be with music9 | suppose the trum-
pets and cymbals were all worn out before
this. Shall it be with banners waving? Oh,
no; they are all faded and torn. Joshua
| ALL 20 Lob,
! this-build monument here to commence
I rate the event." and every priest puts
heavy stone on his shoulder and marches out
and drops that stone in the divinely ep-
pointed place. l see the pile growing in
height, in breadth, in significance; and, in
/ after years. men went by that spot and saw
! this monument, and cried out one to another,
in fulfllment Of the prophecy OF the text,
/ "What meant We by these stonesF
] Blessed be God, He did not leave our church
/ In the wilderness! We have been wandering
about for year and a half worshiping in
the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, ana the
| Academy Of Music, New York. And some
thought we would never reach the promised
land. Some said we had better take this
route and others that. Some said we had
better go back, and some said there were
! sons of AraS in the way that would eat US
up, and before the smoke had cleared away
| from the sky after our tabernacle had been
cons med, people stood on the very site of
| the place and said: "This church will never
again be built" WE came down to the bank
| Of Jordan; we looked off upon the waters.
| Some of the sympathy that was expressed
/ turned out to be snow water melted from the
! top of Lebanon. Some said You had bet.
ter net go in; you will get your feet wet"
But we waded ill., pastor and people, farther
and farther, and in some way, the Lord only
! knows how, we got through; and tonight |
] oil arO,tnd ob OI,t this house prpCfp1
| by your prayers aud sympathies and sacri-
| fees, and cry out in the words of my text:
"What mean We by these stonesT
1t is an outrage to build house like this,
! so vast and so magnificent, unless there be
/ some tremendous reasons for doing it; ana
so, my friends, | pursue you tonight with
the question of my text, and demand OF
I these trustees and of these elders and Of all
who have contributed in the building of this
structure, "What mean We by these stones%
| But before get your answer to my question
| you interrupt me and point to the memorial
wall at the side of this pulpit and say, "Ex-
plain that unusual group of memorials.
What mean you by those stones? By per-
mission of the people of my beloved charge
| recently visited the Holy Lands, and having
in mind by day and night during my alb
sence this rising house of PRAYER, betaought
I myself, What can l do TO make that plaza
significant and glorious"
! On tie morning of December the Sd we
were at the foot of the most sacred mount
ain of all the earth, Mount Calvary. There.
is no more doubt of the locality than of
| Mount Washington or Mount Blanc. On the
I bluff of this mountain which is the shaps of
the human skull, and so called in the Bible,
| 1.-THE place of the skull, there Is room for
three crosses. There | saw stone SO sug-
| gestive / rolled it down the hill and trans
| ported it. 1t is at the top of this wall,
| white stone, with crimson veins running
through 1.-THE white typical of purity the
| crimson suggestive of the blood that paid
! the price of our redemption. We place it at
| the top of the memorial wall, for above all
| in this church for all time in sermon and
song and prayer, shall be the sacrafice Of
Mount Cavalry. Look at it. That stone was
one Of the rocks rent at the crucifixion. That
/ heard the cry. at is finished" Was ever
I any church on earth honored with such
memorial?
Beneath it are two tables of stone which
| had brought from Mount Sinai where the
law was given. Three camels were three
| weeks crossing the desert to fetch them.
When at Cairo, Egypt, 1 proposed to the
Christian Arab that he bring one stone from
l Mount Sinai, he said, I'VE can easier bring
| two rocks than one, for one must balance
them on the back of the camel" and l did
not think until the day OF their arrival how
| much more suggestive would be the two, be-
stone. Those stones marked with the words
mount Sinai" felt the earthquake that shook
| the mountains when the law was given. The
| lower stone of the wall is from Mars Hill, the
| place where Paul stood when he preached
that famous sermon on the brotherhood of
the human race, declaring God hath made
Of one blood all nations"
Since Lord Elgin took the famous statuary
| from the Acropolis the hill adjoining Mars
Hill, the Greek Government makes it impos-
sible to transport to other lands any antiq-
uities, and armed soldiers guard not only
the Acropolis, but Mars Hill. That stone I
obtained by special permission from the
Queen of Greece a most gracious and bril-
liant woman, who received us as though we
had been old acquaintance, and through
Mr.. Tricoupis, the Prime Minister of Greece,
and Mr.. Snowden, our American Minister
Plenipotentiary, and DR.. Manatt, our Amer
lean Consul, that suggestive tablet was
sawed from the pulpit of rock on which
Paul preached. Now you understand why
we have marked it The Gospel" Long af-
fer my lips shall utter in this church theiI
last messcge these lips of stone will tell OF
the Law, and the Sacrifice, and the Gospel
This day | present them to the church and
to all who shall gaze upon them. Thus YOU
have ray answer to the question w bat
mean you by these stones?"
But you cannot divert me from the cues
ton of the text as first put it. | have in
terpreted these four memorials on my right
hand, but there are hundreds of stones in
these surrounding walls and underneath us.
in the foundations, and rising above US in
the towers. The quarries OF this and trans
atlantic countries at the call of crowbar and
chisel have contri buted toward this structure
What mean We by these stones?'