News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-04-30

they are all mistaken. | think the
millennial church will be a composite
church; and just as you may take the
best parts of five or six tunes, and I'M
der the skillful hands of a Handel, Mo
Fart or Beethoven entwine them into
one grand and overpowering symphony,
so, l suppose, in the latter days of the
world, God will take the best parts of
all denominations of Christians and
weave them into one great ecclesiastical
harmony, broad as the earth and
high as the heavens, and that will be the
church of the future. Or, as mosaic is
made up Of jasper and agate and many
precious stones cemented together
mosaic a thousand feet square in ST.
Marks, or mosaic hoisted in colossal
seraphim in ST. Sophia-so l suppose
God will make, after awhile, one great
blending of all creeds, and all faiths,
and all Christian sentiments, the anne
thyst, and the jasper, and the chal
cedony of all different experiences and
belief, cemented side by side in the
great mosaic Of the ages; and while
the nations look upon the columns
and architraves of that stupendous
church of the future, and cry out,
''What mean We by these stonesYe
there shall be innumerable voices to
respond, I'VE mean the Lord God
omnipotent regneth."
Still further you mean by these stones
the salvation of the people. We did
not build this church for mere worldly
reforms, or for an educational institu-
ton, or as platform on which to read
essays and philosophical disquisitions,
but place for the tremendous work of
soul saving. Oh, had rather be the
means in this church of having one
soul prepared for joyful eternity
! than five thousand souls prepared for
mere worldly success All churches
are in two classes, all communities in
two classes, all the race in two classes
believers and unbelievers.
To augment the number of the one
and substract from the number of the
other we built this church; and toward
| that supreme and eternal idea we dedi-
|
our prayers, all our Sabbath hand
shakings. We want to throw detection
into the enemy's ranks. We want to
make them either surrender uncon-
ditionally to Christ or else fly in rout,
scattering the way with canteens, blan-
kets and kLapsacks. We want to
popularize Christ. We would like to
tell the story of his love here until men
would feel that they had rather die
than live another hour without his SYM
pathy and love and mercy. We want
to rouse up an enthusiasm for him
greater than was felt for Nathaniel
Lyon when he rode along the ranks;
greater than was exhibited for Yelling
ton when he came back from Waterloo;
greater than was expressed for Ma
poleon when he stepped ashore from
Elba.
We really believe in this place Christ
will enact the same scenes that were
enacted by him when he landed in the
orient; and there will be such an open
ing of blind eyes, and unstopping Of
deaf ears, and casting out of uncleanl
spirits such silencing bestormed Gen@'
nesarets as shall make this house mem
orable five hundred years after you and
| | are dead and forgotten. Oh, my
| friends, we want but one revival in
this church, that beginning now and
running on to the day when the chisel
of time, that brings down even st.
Paul and the Pyramids, shall bring
this house into the dust
''HoIsT THE FLAG FOR THE NEXT
~ TRAIN"
Oh, that this day of dedication might
be the day of emancipation of all i'm
prisoned souls My friends, do not
make the blunder of the ship carpen-
tiers in Noah's time, who helped to build
the ark; but did not get into it. God
I forbid that-you who have been so gem
I erUus m UunuIng Unls cnurcn, should
not get under its saving influence.
Come thou and all thy house into the
ark" Do you think q man is safe out
of Christ? Not one day, not one hour,
not one minute, not one second.
Three or four years ago, you remem-
Der. rail train broke down a bridge
on the way to Albany, and after the
catastrophe they were looking around
among the tiInbers of the crushed
bridge and the fallen train, and found
the conductor. He was dying, and had
only strength to say one thing, and
that was, Hoist the flag for the next
train" So there come to US tonight,
from the eternal word, voices of God,
voices of angels voices of departed
spirits, crying: Lift the warning Blow
the trumpet, give the alarm. Hoist the
flag for the next train.
Oh, that tonight my Lord Jesus
would sweep his arm around this great
audience and take you all to his holy
heart. You will never see so good a
time for personal conservation as now.
''What mean we by these stonesY' We
mean your redemption from sin and
death and hell by the power of an ON
nipotent Gospel
Well, the Brooklyn Tabernacle is
erected again. We came here tonight
not to dedicate it. That was done this
morning. Tonight we dedicate our
selves. In the Episcopal and Meth
odist churches they have railing
around the altar, and the people come
and kneel down at that railing and get
the sacramental blessing. Well, my
friends, it would take more than a night
to gather you in circles around this
altar. Then just bow where you are
for the blessing. Aged men, this is the
last church that you will ever dedicate
May the God who comforted Jacob the
Patriarch and Paul the aged make
this house to you the gate of heaven;
and when, in your old days, you put
on your spectacles to read the hymn or
the Scripture lesson, may you get prep
aration for that land where you shall
no more see through q glass darkly
May the warm sunshine of heaven thaw
the snow off your foreheads!
Men in midlife, do you know that
this is the place where you are going to
get your fatigues rested, and your sor-
rows appeased, and your souls saved?
Do you know that at this altar your
sons and daughters will take upon
themselves the VOWS of the Christian,
and from this place you will carry out,
some of you, your precious dead? Be
tween this baptisnal font and this com
muniOn table you will have some of |
the tenderest of life's experiences. God
bless you, old and young and middle
aged. The money you have given to
this church today will be- l hope, the
best financial investment you have ever