The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-04-13

my mind was on the sermon ! Wa about
20 preach, until some one rushed up and
told me that our church was going up in
the same kind OF a chariot that elijah took
from the banks of the Jordan. That Sun
day morning tragedy, with its wringing OF
hands and frozen tears on the cheeks OF
many thousands standing in the street,
and the crash that shook the earth, Is as
vivid as though IL were yesterday. But it
was not a perfect loss.
All were anxious TO do something, and
as on such occasions sensible people are
apt Co do unusual things, one Of the mem
beers, at the risk OF his life, rushed in
among the fallen walls, mounted the pulpit
and took n glass Of water from the table
and brought IL in safety TO the street SO
you see IL was not total loss. Within an
! hour from many churches came kind in
vitations 20 occupy their buildings, and
hanging against lamppost near the de-
stroyed building, before l2 o'clock that
morning, was board with the inscription.
1.-THE congregation of Brooklyn Taber-
nacle will worship tonight in Plymouth
church"
Mr.. Beecher made the opening prayer,
which was full OF commiseration for me
and my homeless flock, and | preached
! that night the sermon that intended 70
| preach that morning in my own church,
the text concerning the precious alabaster
| box broken at the feet of Christ, and sure
enough we had one very precious broken
that day. We were, as n church, obliter-
ated. But arise and build" said many
voices. Another architect took the amphi-
theatrical plan of n church, which in the
! first instance was necessarily somewhat
/ rude, and developed it into an elaborate
] plan that was Immediately adopted
DBL Al. =
expensive undertaking was the question
expensive not because Of any senseless
adornment proposed, but expensive be-
cause Of the immense size Of the building
needed to hold our congregation. 1t was
at that time when for years our entire
country was suffering, not from a financial
! panic, but from that long continued fnan-
cial depression which all business men re-
member, as the cloud hung heavy year
after year and commercial establishments
without number went down. Through
what struggles we passed the eternal God
and some brave souls today remember.
Many time would have gladly accepted
calls TO some other field, but / could not
leave the flock i'm the wilderness
At last, after, in the interregnum, hav-
/ ing worshiped in our beautiful Academy
of Music, on the morning of Feb. %, 1874,
/
conquered impossibilities and on the Sab
bath that always celebrates the resurrec-
tion, Dr. Byron Sunderland, chaplain of
! the United States senate, thrilled us
through and through with a dedicatory
sermon from Haggai ii, 8, "The glory of
this house shall be greater than that of
the former, saith the Lord of Hosts" The
/ corner stone of that building had been laid
| by the illustrious and now enthroned DIR.
Iren9us Prime. On the platform on dedl-
cation day sat, among others, DIR. Bowling
of the Baptist church, DR.. Crook of the
Methodist church, Mr.. Beecher of the Con
/ gregational church and DIR. French Of the
! Presbyterian church. Hosannahl Another
J S35, 900 was raised on that day.
The following Sunday 32S souls were re-
ceived into our communion, mostly on con-
fession of fash. At two other commun-
ions over 500 souls joined at each one.
At another mgatheriDg CPS souls entered
this communion, and many of those
/ gathered throngs have already entered
/ heaven that we expect TO feel at home
when we get there. My my! Won't we
! be glad 10 see them-the men and women
who stood by us in days that were dark
and days that were jubilantl Hosannahi
/ The work done in that church on Schermer-
/ horn street can never be undone.
What self sacrifices on the part Of many,
who gave almost till the blood camel
What hallelujahsl What victoriesl What
wedding marches played with full organl
What baptismsl What sacramento What
obsequiesl One of them on a snowy Sab
/ bath afternoon, when all Brooklyn seemed
TO sympathize, and my eldest son, bearing
my own name, lay beneath the pulpit in
/ the last sleep, and Florence Rice Knox
sang, and score of ministers on and
around the platform tried to interpret how
! il was best that one who had just come to
/ manhood, ana with brightest worldly
prospects, should be taken and we left
with heart that will not cease To ache
until we meet where tears never fall.
THE SECOND TABERNACLE.
That second tabernaclel What a stu
pendous remiuiscencel But, if the Peter
of my text had known what an undertake
/ ing it is TO build two tabernacles he would
J, not have proposed two 10 say nothing of
three. AS an anniversary sermon must
needs be somewhat autobiographical, let
me say have not been idle. During the
standing of those two tabernacles fifty-two
/ books, under many titles, made up
from my writings, were published. During
| that time also was permitted TO discuss
all the great questions of the day in all the
great cities of this continent, and in many
of them many times, besides preaching and
lecturing ninety-siX times in England.
Scotland and Ireland in ninety-four days
During all that time, as well as since, |
was engaged in editing religious news
paper, believing that such periodical was
capable of great usefulness, and | have
been a constant contributor to newspapers
and periodicals. Meanwhile all things had
/ become easy in the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
\ On Sabbath in October 1889, announced
! to my congregation that would in a few
4 weeks visit the Holy Land, and that the
officers of the church had consented To my
going, and the wish of lifetime was about
/ to be fulfilled. The next Sabbath morn
ing, about o'clock or just after midnight,
member of my household awakened me
/ by saying that there was a strange light in
/ the sky. A thunderstorm had left the air
/ full of electricity, and from horizon TO hor-
/ lion everything seemed to blaze. But that
did not disturb me, until an observation
taken from the cupola of my house declared
that the second Tabernacle was putting on
red wings.
| secuted the idea and turned over on the
/ pillow for another sleep, but a number of
4 excited voices called me to the roof, and l
went up and saw clearly defined in the
night the fiery catafalque of our second
Tabernacle. When l that 1 said to
my family: II think that ends my work in
Brooklyn. Surely the Lord will not cab a
minister to build three churches in one
city. The building of one church gener-