The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1891-07-02
THE NEW TABERNACLE.
Discourse by Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage on It's Dedication.
A Temple Made with Hands TOR the In
dwelling of Christ and for House
of Worship for His People of
Ali Denominations.

brooklyn tabernacle before large
union meeting on the evening of the day
of its dedication. His text was:
What mean ye by these stones?-Joshua,
w.,
The Jordan, like the Mississippi, has
bluffs on the one side and flats on the
other. Here aud there a sycamore
shadows it. Here and there a willow
dips into it. 1t was only little over
waist deep in December as | waded
through it, but in the months of April
and May the SHOWS on Mount Lebanon
thaw and flow down into the valley,
and then the Jordan overfows its
banks. Then it is wide, deep, raging and
impetuous At this season of the year I
hear the tramp of forty thousand 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
ford? All! my friends, 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. Go not know how it is
with you, my brethren, but have al
ways got into trouble when l went
around, but always got into safety when
/ went ahead.
There spreads out the Jordan, rag
ing 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 comrade: "Joseph, can you
swim?" And another says: eff we get
across this 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 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. I hear 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 flood. Now they
have come within four or five feet of the
stream; but there is no abatement of
the flood. Bad prospect! 1t seems as if
these Israelites that crossed the desert
are now going to be drowned in sight
of Canaan. But 'ForwardE' is the
cry. The command rings all along the
AAAO VI OAAC AOob NOW BuG
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
great mountain of floods; on the left,
the water flows off towards the sea.
The great river, for hours, halts and
rears. The back waters, not being
able to flow over the passing Israelites,
pile wave on wave, until perhaps a sea-
bird would find some difficulty in seal
ing the water cliff. Now the priests
and all the people have all gone over
on dry land. The water on the left
hand side by this time has reached the
sea; and now that the miraculous pass
age has been made, stand back and see
this stupendous pile of waters leap.
; God takes His hand from that wall of
foods, and like a hundred cataracts
they plunge and roar in thunderous
triumph to the Sea.
How are they to celebrate this pas
sage? Shall it be with music? / sup
pose the trumpets and cymbals were all
worn out before this. Shall it be with
banners waving? Oh! no; they are all
faded and torn. Joshua cries out: 81
will tell you how to celebrate this:
Build monument here to commemo-
rate this event." and every priest puts a
heavy stone on his shoulder, and
marches out and drops that stcue in the
divinelY-appointed place. see the pile
growing in height. in breadth, in sig
nificance; and, in after years. men
went by that spot and saw this monu-
ment, and cried out one to another, in
fulfillment of the prophecy of the text:
What mean We by these stones?"
Blessed be God, He did not leave our
church in the wildernessl We have been
wandering about for year and a half
worshiping in the Academy of Music,
Brooklyn, and Academy of Music,
New York. And some thought we
would never reach the promised land
Some said we had better take thisroute
and others that. Some said we had
better go back, and some said there
were sons Anak in the way that would
eat us up, and before the smoke had
cleard away from the sky after our
Tabernacle had been consumed, 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 better not &C. in; you viii 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 l go all
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
stones?" It is an outrage to build a
house like this so vast and so magnifi-
cent 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
II