Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-04-27

| hnOW5 nOWs Wb EOb biiAOhBhi eAhN w
night ! go around about this great
house, erected by your prayers and
sympathies and sacrifices, and cry out
In the words of my text, "What mean
We by these stonesW
It is an outrage to build house like
this, SO vast and SO magnificent, unless
there be some tremendous reasons for
doing it; and so, my friends, pursue
you tonight with the question of my
text, and l demand Of these trustees
and Of these elders and of all who have
contributed in the building of this
structure, What mean ye by these
stonesT 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, Explain that
unusual group of memorials, What
mean you by those stonesT' 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 absence this rising
house of prayer, bethought myself,
''What can do to make that place
significant and glorious"
On the morning of December the
Sd we were at the foot of the most
sacred mountain of all the earth, Mount
Calvary. There is no more doubt OF
the locality than of Mount Washington
or Mont Blanc On the bluff of 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 q
stone so suggestive rolled it down the
hill and transported it, 1t Is at the top
of this wall, white stone with Grim
son veins running through 1.-THE white
typical of purity, the crimson sugges-
tive 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 sacri-
flee of Mount Calvary Look at it.
That stone was one of the rocks rent at
the cruci6xion That heard the cry,
''It is finished" Was ever any church
on earth honored with such memo
rial2
MOUNT SINAI AND MARS HILL.
Beneath it are two tables of stone
which l 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, / proposed to the Christian
Arab that he bring one stone from
Mount Sinai, he said, 1--WE can easier
bring two rocks than one, for one must
balance them on the back of the
camel" and / did not think until the
day of their arrival how much more
suggestive would be the two, because
the law was written on two tables of
stone Those stones marked with the
words "Mount Sinai' felt the earth
quake 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 brother
hood of the human race, declaring,
"God hath made of one blood all ma
tions. Since Lord Elgin took the
famous statuary from the Acropolis,
the hill adjoining Mars Hill, the Greek
government makes it impossible to
transport to other lands any antiquities,
and armed soldiery guard not only the
Acropolis but Mars Hill.
That stone l obtained by special per
mission from the Queen of Greece, a
most gracious and brilliant 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 minis
ter plenipotentiary, and DIR, Manatt,
our American consul, that suggestive
tablet was sawed from the pulpit of
rock on which Paul preached Now
you understand why we have marked
II "The Gospel" Long after my lips
shall utter in this church their last mes
sage, these lips of stone will tell of the
law and the sacrifice and the gospel
This day ] present them to this church
and TO all who shall gaze upon them.
Thus you have my answer to the ques-
ton, what mean you by these stonesp
But you cannot divert me from the
question OF the text as l first put it. I
have interpreted these four memorials
ON my right hand, but there are hun
dreds Of stones in these surrounding
walls and underneath us, In tho founda-
tions and rising above us, in the
towers. The quarries Of this and trans
countries, at the call of crowbar
and chisel, have contributed toward this
structure, What mean ye by these
stonesf
You mean among other things that
they shall be an earthly residence for
Christ, Christ did not have much OF
home when he was here. Who and
where Is that child cryingl IL is Jesus,
born in an outhouse. Where is that
hard breathingl IL Is Jesus, asleep on
a rock. Who is that In the back part
Of the fishing smack, with a sailors
rough oyercoat thrown over himl Ii
Is Jesus tho worn out yoyaga-. o Je-
susl is Il not time that thou hadst
housel We give thee this. Thou didst
give il to us FIRST, but we give it back
to thee. Ii Is too good for us, but not
half good enough for thee.
Oh, come in. and take the best seat
here. Walk up and down all these
aisles. Speak throughthese organ pipes,
Throw thine arm over as in these