The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-05-13
| REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINES SUN
: DAY SERMON.
! Subject: "The New Tabernacle"
| TEXT: "Whut mean ye by these stones'
Joshua iv.. 6.

TEXT: "What mean ye BY these stonesF
Joshua iv.. 6.
+ 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 deep in Decemberas waded
through it. but in ths months of April and
May the SHOWS on Mount Lebanon thaw and
dow down into the valley, and then the Jor'
dan overhows its banks. Then it IS vide,
deep raging and impetuous. At this season
Of the year hear the tramp Of forty thou
sand armed men coming down to cross tne
river. You say, why do they not go up
nearer the rise of the river at the old camel
ford? All my friends, it is because it IS NOT
safe to 60 around when the Lord tells us 70
20 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 nto
safety when went ahead.
: There spreads out the Jordan, raging
torrent, much of it snow water Just come
down from the mountain top; and see some
of the Israelites shivering at the idea or
plunging in, and one soldier says to his COM
rade, "Joseph, can you swimS' And another
says: III we get across the stream we Will
get there with wet clothes aud with damaged
srnor. and the Cenaanites will slash US to
pieces with their swords before we get up the
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 stones throw of the water; YET sun
there is no abatement of the food. Now they
have come within four or five feet OF the
stream; but there is no abatement of the
food. Bad prospect It seems as II these
; Iraelites that crossed the desert are now go
ing to be drowned in sight Of Canaan: But
s'Forwardi" is the cry. The command ringa
all along the line Of the host. Forward"
Now the priests have come within one step
Of the river. This time they lift their feet
from the solid ground and put the down
into the raging stream. No sooner are tneu
feet there than Jordan flies.
On the right hand God piles up great
mountain Of floods; on the left the water
flows OFF toward the sea. The great river fol
hours halts and rears. The back waters
not being able to flow over the passing Is
raelites, pile wave on wave until perhaps a
sea bird would find some difficulty In scaling
the water cliff. Now the priests and all tha
people have gone over on dry. land. The
water on the left hand side by this time hal
reached the sea; and now that the mlracu
lous passage has been made, stand back and
see this stupendous pile of waters leap, Zoo
takes His hand from that walls OF Hoods, and
like a hundred cataracts they plunge and
roar in thunderous triumph to the sea.
How are they to celebrate this passage'
Shall it be with musicf I suppose the trum
pets and cymbals were all worn out before
this. Shall it be with banners wavingS Oh
no; they are all faded and torn. Joshua
cries out, II will tell you how to celebrate
this-build monument here to commemo
rate the event." and every priest puts
heavy stone on his shoulder and marches Out
and drops that stone in the divinely ap
pointed place. I see the pile growing IN
height, in breadth, in significance; and, II
latter 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 ye by these stonesT'
( Blessed be God, He did not leave our church
In the wilderness! We have been wandering
about for year and a half worshsping 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 hac
better 60 back, and some said there were
sons of Arak in the way that would eat u.
up, anu DelOro Tue SIlOhe LOU Clcdl So d"oJ
efrom the sky after our tabernacle had beer
cons smed, people stood on the very sit, oi
the place and said: This church will nevG
again be built" We came down to the bank
Of Jordan; we looked of upon tho waters
Some of the sympnthy that was expressed
turned out to be snow water melted from the
top of Lebanon. Some said: "You had bet
ter not 60 in; you will get your feet wet"
But we waded in, pastor and people, farther
and farther, and in some way, the Lord only
knows how, we got through; and tonight I!
go all around about this great house, erected
| BY your prayers and sympathies and sacrl'
fees, and cry out in the words OF my text:
"What mean ye by these stones"
= It is an outrage to build house like this,
so vast and 50 magnificent, unless there be
some tremendous reasons for doing 1t; and
80, my friends pursue you tonight with
the question Of my text, and demand or
these trustees and of these elders and Of all
who have contributed in the building OF this
structure, ''What mean ye 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, Eek
plain that unusual group of memorials,
What mean you by those stonesp BY per.
mission of the people Of my beloved charge l
recently visited the Holy Lands, and having
In mind by day and night during my alb
sence this rising house Of prayer, lbethought
myself, What can do to make that place
significant and gloriousp
On the morning of December the Sd we
were at the foot or 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
bluff Of this mountain, which Is the shape OF
the human skull, and so called in the Bible,
s'The place Of the skull" there Is room for
three crosses. There I saw a stone 50 sug.
gestive rolled it down the hill and trans
ported it. It is at the top Of this wall,
white stone, with crimson veins running
through title 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 crucihxion. That
heard the cry, ut is finished" Was ever
any church on earth honored with such
memorial?
Beneath it are two tables Of stone which
I had brought from Mount Sinai where tbs
law was given. Three camels were three
weeks crossing the desert to fetch them.
When at Cairo, Egypt, I proposed to the
Christian Arab that he bring one stone from
Mount Sinai, he said, I'VE can easier Drln2
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-
cause the law was written on two tablets of
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.