The Red Cloud chief., 1891-05-08
OPEN AGAIN.
Or. Talmage Discourses In His New
Tabernacle.
b Story of the Crossing OF the Jordan
Lessons Taught by the Destruction
and Rebuilding OF the
Church..

Upon the dedication Of his new taber-
naele at Brooklyn DIR. Talmage preached
10 a great union meeting from the text:
What We by these stones?,
Joshua, iv- G. The pastor said:
The Jordan, like the Mississippi, has
bluffs on the one side and flats on the
other. Here and there a
shadows it Here and there a willow
dips into it. 1t was only a little over
waist deep in December when I waded
through il, but in the months of April
and May the SHOWS OF Mount Lebanon
thaw and flow down into the valley.
and then the Jordan overfiows its banks.
Then it is wide, deep, raging and i'm
petuous. At this season Of the year I
hear the tramp of 40, 900 armed men
coming down to cross the river. You
say, why do they not 90 up nearer the
rise OF the river at the old camel ford?
All, my friends, il is because il is not
safe 10 90 around when the Lord tells
us To go ahead. The ~Israelites had been
going around for forty years, and thew
had enough of it do not know how
il 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 rag
ing torrent, much of IL snow water lust
come down from the mountain top; and
j see some 4 the lsraelitcs shivering at
the idea of plunging in, and one old
soldier says to his comrade, Joseph,
can you swim" And another says: "If
we get across this stream we will get
there with wet clothes and with dam
aged armor, and the ~Canaanites will
slash us to pieces with their swords be-
fore We get up the other bank" But il
is no time TO halt The great host
marches on. The priests carrying the
ark go ahead, the people follow. Ihear
the tramp of the great multitude.
The priests have now come within a
stones throw of the water. Yet still
there is no abatement of the food.
Now they nave come within four or
five feet Of the stream, but there is no
abatement OF the food. Bad prospects.
II seems as il these Israelitcs that
crossed the desert are now going to be
drowned in sight of Canaan- But 'for-
ward" IS the cry. The command rings
all along the line Of the host ''For-
ward" 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 the Jordan flies On the
right hand God piles up a great noun.
tain of floods; on the left the waters
flow off toward the sea The great
river, for hours, halts and rears. The
back waters, not being able TO flow
over the passing lsraelites, pile wave on
wave until perhaps a sea bird would find
some difficulty in scaling the water
cliff. Now the priests and all the pco-
pie have gone over IN dry land. The
water on the left hand side 10y this
time had reached the sea; and now that
the miraculous passage has beer made,
stand back and see this stupendous pile
of waters leap. God takes the hand
from that wall of floods and like a hun
drcd cataracts they plunge and oar in
thunderous triumph To the sea.
How are they TO celebrate this pas
sage? Shall il be with music? / sup
pose the trumpet and cymbals were all
worn out before this. Shall il be with
banners waving? o, no: they are all
faded and torn. Joshua cries out: ~
will tell you how To celebrate this:
Build n monument here IN commem-
crate the event" and every priest puts
n heavy stone on his shoulder and
marches ont and drops that stone in the
divincly appointed place. see the pile
growing i'm height, in breadth, in sig
nificance, and in after years men went
by that spot and saw the monument and
cried one to another, in fulfillment of
the prophecy of the text: What NEAR
We 10y these s~toncs?"
Blcssed be God, he did not leave our
church in the wilderness. We have
been wandering about for n year and a
half wo~rshiping in the Academy OF
Music, brooklyn, and the Academy OF
Music, New York. And some though,
VIC would never reach the promised
land. Some said we had better take
this route, and others that. Some said
we had better 70 back, and some said
there were sons of Anak in the way
lllIl Ntafa Nbt VI tIs iA'. 'NheA VIZ
smoke had cleared away from the sky
after our tabernacle had been con-
sumcd. people stood on the very site OF
the place and said: This church will
never again he built" We came down
10 the bank of Jordan: we looked of
upon the waters Some of the sympa-
thy that was expressed turned out Il
he snow water melted from the top OF
Lebanon. Some said: You had better
not go in you will get your feet wet"
But we waded in, pastor and people,
further and further, and in some
WAY, the Lord only knows how,
we got through; and tonight ! go all
around about this great house, erected
by your rayers and sympathies, and
sacrifices, and cry out in the words of
nv text: What mean We by these
stoncs?" IL is an outrage 10 build a
house like this. so vast and so magnifi-
cent, unless there be some tremendous
reason for doing it: and so. my friends,
j pursue Won tonight with the question
of nv text, and | demand of 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 70 my question you point to the
memorial wall at the side of this pulpit
and say 10 me, Explain that unusual
group of memorials What mean you
bv those stones" by permission Of the
people of INV beloved charge recently
visited the Holy lands, and having in
mind By day and night during my alb
sence this rising house of prayer. be-
thought myself. What a do 10 make
that place significant and glorious?"
ON the morning Of December 5 we
were at the foot of the most sacred
mountain Of all the earth, Mount Cal
vary. There is no more doubt of the
locality than of Mount Washington or
Mount Blanc On the bluff G this
mountain which is the exact shape OF
the human skull, and so called in the
Bible 'the place of a skull" there is
room for three crosses There | saw a
stone so suggestive that ! rolled itdown
49, hill auS .rausnorfad it II is at the