The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-27
TALMAGE'S TABERNACLE.
THE HANDSOME NEW EDIFICH
OPENED FoR SERVICES.


Three Imposing Dsdicatory Services
Held During the Day-The Total At
tendance Eatim tted a. 1900 ana
Thousands Turned Away-Text OF
the Sermon at N got.
NEW YoBK, April 26.-Rev. T. Dewitt
Talmnge's new tabernacls, located at the
corner OF Greea and Clinton avenues.
Brooklyn, one of tho finest locations
in the city, was opened 10 his con-
gregation and the public for the FIRST time
this morning. There were three inn
posing dedicatory services held during ths
day, and 5000 people crowded the big edi-
fee at each one. The building Is 300 feet
long by lis feet wide, and Is Romanesque In
style Of architecture. The church will scat
5000 persons and cost s45O, 900. During the
day nearly $4,000 was raised TO pay of
mechanics lien. A debt of S2OO,00 re-
IN aims.
A great union meeting, in which minis
ters Of all denominations Of Christians par
tcipated, was held in the afternoon. The
text Of the sermon tonight was: "Whai
mean ye by these stonesp Joshua iv., o.
The Jordan, like the Mississippi, has
bluffs on the one side and flats on the other
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 overfiows its banks. Then
il Is wide, deep, raging and !mpetuous. AZ
this season OF the year | hear the tramp Of
10000 armed men coming down TO cross the
river You say, why co they not go up
nearer the rise OF the river at the old camel
fordi Ahl my friends, 10 is because IL Is uot
safe to go around when the Lord tells us TO
go ahead. The Isrdelites had been going
around forty years. and they had enough
OF IL. L do not know how 1t Is with you, my
brethren, but have always got into trouble
when went around, but always got into
safety when went ahead.
There spreads out the Jordan, raging
torrent, much of 1t snow water just como
down from the mouptalnstop, and / sec
some of the Israelites shIvering at the idea
Of plunRing In, and one soldier says 10 his
cOmrade: Joseph, can you swimP And
another says: "If 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 ID Is no
time TO halt. The great host marches on,
Tho priests carrying the ark 60 ahead, the
people follow. | hear the tramp Of tho
great multitude. Tho priests have
now come within stones throw Of
no abatement Of the flood. Now they have
come within four or Ave feet Of the stream
but there is no abatement Of the food.
Bad prospect IL seems as If theSo Israel.
ties that crossed the desert are now going
to bo drowned in sight of Canaan. But
"ForwardW ia tho cry. The command
rings all along the line of the host. For.
vi No ka ba
one step Of the river. This time they lift
their feet from the solid ground, and puU
them down into tho 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, Tor hours,
halts and rears. The back waters. not be.
ing able TO flow over the passing Israelites,
pile wave on wave. until perhaps a a-bird
would find some difficulty in scaling tho
water cliff. Now the priests and all the
people have gone oyer on dry land. The
water on the left hand side by this time has
reached the sea and now that the miracu-
lous passage has been mede, stand back and
see the stupendous pile of waters leap.
God taxes his hand from that wall Of floods,
and like a hundred cataracts they plunge
and roar in thunderouB triumph to the sea.
How are they to celebrate this paksagei
Shall IL be with musici ] suppose the trum-
pet and cymbals we're all worn out before
this. Shall It be with banners wavingi
OF no; they are all faded and torn. Joshua
cries out: ~ will tell you how to celebrate
this: build monument here TO commem-
orate the event;n and every priest puts
heavy stone on his shoulder and marches
out and drops that stone in the divinely-ap-
pointed place. / see the pile growing In
hight, 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 fulhllment of the prophecy OF the
text: "What mean ye oy these stonesP'
Blessed be God, he did not leave our
church in the wilderness! We have been
wandering about for q year and half,
worshlping In the Academy of Music,
Brooklyn, and Academy Of Music, Now
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 20 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 consumed, people stood
on the very site of the place and
saidi "This church will never again
be built" We came down TO
the bank Of Jordan we looked or upon the
waters. Some Of the sympathy that was
expressed turned out to be snow-water
mel ed from the TOP OF Lebanon. Some
said: you had better not go in; you will
get your feet wet" But We waded in, pas
tor and people, farther and farther, and in
some way, the Lord only knows how, we got
through; and tonight 90 all round 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 stonesP 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
demand Of these trustees and of these eld-
ers and of all who have contributed in the
building OF this structure, "What mean ye
by these stonesp But before l get your
answer TO my question you point to the
memorial wall at the side Of this pulpit,
and say to me, Explain that unusual
group of memorials what mean you by
those stonesp By permission Of the people
| of nv beloved charge / recently visited the
Holy Lands, and having in mind by day and
night during my absence this rising house
of prayer. 1 bethought myself, "What
can do TO make that place significant aud
glorious On the morning OF Dec. We
were at the foot Of the most sacred noun
tain of all the earth, Mount Calvary. There
is no more doubt of the locality than that
Of Mount Washington or Mont Blanc. On
the bluff Of this mountain, which is the ex-
act shape Of human skull, and so called in