News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-04-30
SERMONS IN THE STONES.
DR.. TALMAGE'S CONGREGATION DEDl-
GATES THE NEW TABERNACLE.


Suggestive Lessons Drawn from Their Ex-
perience in BuiIding-AH Denomina-
tions Contributed Something and the
Congregation Is Composite.
BROOKLYN, April 26.-Sermon of
Rev. L. De Witt Talmage in the new
Brooklyn Tabernacle, on Clinton ave-
nue., this evening, the building having
been dedicated in the morning at 10 30.
A great union meeting, in which clergy
men of all denominations of Christians
participated, was held in the after
noon. Six thousand persons were pres
ent at each of the services and many
thousands were turned away. Text,
''What mean We by these stones"
Joshua iv, g..
The Jordan, like the Mississippi, has
bluffs on the one side and flats on the
other Here and there a sycamore
shadows it. Here and there 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 overflows its
banks. Then it is wide, deep, raging
and impetuous. At this season of the
year hear the tramp of forty thou
sand 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 ford2 Ahl my friends,
it is 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.
/ do not know how it is with you, my
brethren, but l have always got into
trouble when | went around, but al
ways got into safety when l went
ahead.
THE COLD AND RUSHING JORDAN.
There spreads out the Jordan, a rag
ing torrent, much of it snow water just
come down from the mountain top;
and see some of the Israelites SILVER
ing at the idea of plunging in and one
soldier says to his coinrade, Joseph,
can you swim?" And another says, eff
we get across this stream we will get
there with wet clothes and with dam
aged armor, and the Canaanites 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. 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 Forward - is
the cry. The command rings 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 them down into the raging stream.
No sooner are their feet there than
Jordan flies
On the right hand God piles up a
great mountain of floods, on the left
the water flows off toward 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 seabird
would szlhEIC-G4Iey ssC-e.KLIIss
the water cliff. Now the priest and
all the people have gone over on dry
land. The water on the left hand side
by this time has reached the sea, and
now that the miraculous passage has
been made, stand back and see this
stupendous pile of waters leap. God
takes his hand from that wall of floods,
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 trumpet and cymbals were all
worn out before this Shall it be with
banners waving2 Oh! no; they are all
faded and torn. Joshua cries out: II
will tell you how TO celebrate this:
build a monument here to commemo-
rate the event." and every priest puts a
heavy stone on his shoulder and
marches out and drops that stone in
the divinely appointed place I see
the pile growing in height, in breadth,
in significance; and in after years
men went by that spot and saw this
monument, and cried out one to an
other, in fulfilIment of the prophecy of
the text, what mean We by these
stonesW
WITHOUT THE LORD BUILDING IS VAIN.
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 Mu-
sic, Brooklyn, and the Academy of Mu-
sic, 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 sons 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 Jor-
dan; we looked off upon the waters.
Some of the sympathy that was ex-
pressed turned out to be snow water
melted from the top of Lebanon. Some
said, You had better not go in; you
viii get your feet wet" But we waded
in, pastor and people, farther and far
ther, and in some way, the Lord only
knows how, we got through; and to-
night l 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
ye by these stones|
1t 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
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, Explain 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
7 opdc opJ bax,iYo, ;y, mind byv dow oo5