Connecticut western news., 1891-04-29
SERMONS IN THE STONES.
pR. TALMAGE'S CONGREGATION DEDI- GATES THE NEW TABERNACLE.

Suggestive Lessons Drawn from Their Ex-
 perience in Building-An Denomina-
 Congregation Is Composite.
 BROOKLYN, April 26.-Sermon of Rev. T. De Witt Talmage in the new Brooklyn Tabernacle, on Clinton ave nue, this evening, the building having been dedicated in the morning at 10 80. 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 ye by these stonesT' Joshua iv, 6).
 The Jordan, like the Mississippi, has bluffs on the one side and flats on the other Here and there sycamore shadows it. Here and there a willow dips into it. It was only a little over waist deep in December as I waded through it, but in the months of April and May the snows on Mount Lebanon thaw and flow down into the valley, and then the Jordan overhows it's 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. l do not know how it is with you, my brethren, but I have always got into trouble when I went around, but al ways got into safety when I 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 shiver- ing at the idea of plunging in, and one soldier says to his comrade, Joseph, can you swim2" And another says, "If we get across this stream we will get there with wet clothes and with dam- 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. I hear the tramp of the great multitude. The priests have now come within stone's 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 prospectl It seems as if these Israelites that crossed the desert are now going to be drowned in sight of Canaan. But Forward! l" is the cry. The command rings all along the line of the host ''Forwardl r 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 seabird would find some difficulty in scaling 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. sage2 Shall it be with music2 I SUD- 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: "I 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 fulfillment of the prophecy of the text, "What mean ye by these stones2" WITHOUT THE LORD BUILDING IS VAIN.
 Blessed be God, he did not leave our church in the wildernessl We have been wandering about for a 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 o1 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 h..l better not go in; you will get OUT feet wet" i.ut we waded in. pastor and people. farther and far tl~@r. and in some way, the Lord only