The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1891-05-02
OPEN AGAIN.
DR.. Tahmage Discourses in His New
Tabernacle.
The Story of the Crossing of the Jordan
Lessons Taught by tho Destruction
and Rebuilding of the
Church.

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 overflows its banks.
Then 1t is wide, deep, raging and inn
petuous. At this season of the year l
hear the tramp of 40, 900 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, it is because 1t is not
safe to go around when the Lord tells
us to go ahead. The Israelites had been
going around for forty years, and they
had enough of it. do not know how
it is with you, my brethren, but 1 have
always got into trouble when l went
around, but always got into safety when
l went ahead.
There spreads out the Jordan, a rag
ing torrent, much of it snow water just
come down from the mountain top; and
l see some of the Israelites 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 C~anaanites will
slash us to pieces with their swords be-
fore 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. Ihear
the tramp of the great multitude.
The priests have now come within q
stones throw of the water. Yet still
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 flood. Bad prospects!
1t seems as II these Israelites 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-
wardr' 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 tine 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 asea bird would find
some difficulty in scaling the water
cliff. Now the priests and all the peo-
pie have gone over on dry land. The
water on the left hand side by this
time had reached the sea; and now that
the miraculous passage has been made,
stand back and see this stupendous pile
of waters leap. God takes the hand
from that wall of floods and like n hun
dred c~ataracts they plunge anI roar in
t~hunderous triumph to h sea.
How are they to celebrate this pas
sagep Shall it be with music? l sup
pose the trumpet and cymbals were all
worn out before this. Shall it be with
banners waving? o. no; they are all
faded and torn. Joshua cries out: 81
will tell You how to celebrate this:
Build a monument here to commem-
crate the event." and every priest puts
a heavy stone on his shoulder and
marches out and drops that stone In the
divinely appointed place. l see the pile
growing in height, in breadth, in sig
nificance, and in after years men went
by that spot and saw the monument and
cried 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 wilderness! We have
been wandering about for a year and a
half worshiping in the Academy of
Music, Brooklyn, and 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 had better go back, and some said
there were IONS of Anak in the way
that would eat us up; and before the
smoke had cleared away from the sky
after our tabernacle had been con.
sumed, 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 sympa'
thy that was expressed turned out to
be snow water melted from the top OF
Lebanon. Some said: ''You had better
not go in; you will get your feet wet. y
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 al
around about this great house, erected
by your prayers, and sympathies, anG
sacrifices, and cry out in the words Of
my text: "What mean we by these
stones?" 1t is an outrage to build q
house like this, SO vast and so magnifi
cent, unless there be some tremendous
reason for doing 1t; and SO, my friends
l pursue you tonight with the question
of my text, and / demand of these
trustees and of these elders and Of al
who have contributed in the building
of this structure, 'NWhat mean We by
these stones?' But before l get you
answer to my question you point to the
memorial wall at the side of this pulpit
aud say to me. Explain that unusua
group of memorials. What mean 20,
by those stones?" BY permission of the
people of my beloved charge | recently
visited the Holy lands, and having il
mind by day and night during my alb
sence this rising house of prayer, / be
thought myself, what can / do to maxi
that place significant and glorious?"
On the morning of December 8 W,
were at the foot of the most sacret
mountain of all the earth, Mount Ca
vary. There is no more doubt of tn
locality than of Mount Washington o
Mount Blanc. On the bluff of thi
mountain which is the exact shape G
the human skull, and SO called in tn
Bible ''the place of a SKULL" there
room for three crosses. There l saw
stone SO suggestive that / rolled itdowi
the hill and transported 1t. 1t is a. tn
top of this wall, a white stone wit
crimson veins running through it, th
white typical of purity, the crimso
suggestive of the blood that paid tn
price of our redemption. We place
at the top of the memorial wall, 10
above all in this church for all time, /
sermon and song and prayer shall b
the sacrifice of Mount Calvary. Loo
at it. That stone was one of h rock
rent at the cruci6xion. That heard tn
cry, 1T is finished" Was any churcI
OH earth honored with such q memorial
Beneath it are two tables OF ston
which / had brought from Mount Sina
where the law was given. Thre
camels were three weeks crossing tn
desert to fetch them. When at Cairo
ESyPUtl proposed TO the Cnrlstlan ARA
that he bring one stone from Noun
Sinai, he said, 1--WE can easier bring tw'
rocks than one, for we must balanc'
them on the back of the camel" and
did not think until the day of their ar
rival how much more suggestive woul'
be the two because the law was writer
on two tables of stones. Those tw,
stones marked with the words "Moun
Sinai" felt the earthquake that shoot
the mnnntnina ruhan tla laIu traa eriuon