Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-04-15

religious awakening. Hosannahl Ten mil
lion years in heaven will have no power to
dim my memory Of the glorious times we
had in the first Tabernacle, which. because
| Of its invasion of thu usual style of church
architecture, was called by some "Talmage's
Hippodro ne. b. others, Church of the
Holy Circus" and by other mirthful nomen-
| clature. But it was n building perfect for
acoustics, and stood long enough 10 have its
| imitation in all the large cities of America
and TO completely revolutoniz3 church arch-
lecture. People saw that it was thu conf
mon sense waYof seating an audience.
Instead OF putting them in an angular
church, where olch one chiefly saw the back
part Of somebody elses head, the audience
were arranged in semicircle, so that they
! could see one another's facAs, AMI the audi
torium was a great family circle seated
around a fireplace, which was the pulpit. 1t
was an iron structure, and we supposed fire.
| proof, but tho insurance companies looked
| at it, and after we had gone too far to stop
in its construction they declined to insure it
! except for a mere nothing, declaring that,
| being of iron, il the inhammable material
| between the sheets OF iron took fire no engine
| hose could play upon IL. And they were
right. During those days we educated and
sent out from a lay college un Ter our charge
some twelve hundred young men and
| women, many OF them becoming evangelists
and many Of them becoming regularly Or
dained preachers and l meet them in all
parts of the lani tolliug nightly for Col.
One Sunday morning in December, lSI2
| the thermometer nearly down to zero | was
ON my way 10 church. There was an excite
| ment in the street AMI muci smoke in the
air. Fire engines dnshel past. But my
! min was on thS sermon | was about TO
| preach, until some one rushed uo 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 Sunday morn
| ing tragedy, with its wiring in OF handl and
frozen tears on the chs of many thou
sands standing in the street, an the crash
that shook the earth, is as vivid as though
| it were yesterday. But it was not perfect
! loss
All are anxious to do something, and as
! on such occasions sensible people are apt 10
! do unusual things one Of the members, at
the RISK OF his life rushed in among the
fallen walls, mOuntaI the pulpit and took q
glass o. water from the table AMI brought it
in safety TO the street. 50 you see it was
not a total loss. Within au hour from
many churches came kind invitations to &C.
cupy their buildings, AMI hanging against n
lamppost near the destroyed building, be-
fore l. O'Clock that morning, was board
with the inscription, The congregation OF
Brooklyn Taoernacie will worship tonight
IN Plymouth Church.
Mr.. Beecher made the opening prayer
which was full Of comm iseration for me and
my homeless hJck, and Ipreached that night
the ser non that intended to preach that
morning in my own church, this text con.
cerning tho precious a,aAaster box broken
at the feet OF Christ, and sure enough we
had one very precious brOsen that day. We
were, Us a church, obiiterat,d But arise
and buhd, said mapy voices. Another
architect took the amphithoGtrical plan OF q
church, which in the first instance was nee
e>sar.ly somewhat ruie aui developsl 1t
into an elaborate pan that was Immediately
adopted.
But how TO raise the money for such an
expensive uniertlkiag was the question
expensive not because Of any ssnseess
alornment proposed, but expensive becaus,
of the immense sl.s OF the building needed
u 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 continue financial depression
which all business men remember, aO the
cloud hung heavy year after year and com.
mercial establishments without mum Der went
down. Through what stru ygies we passe
the eternal Col aud some brave souls to-day
remember. MANY time woull | have glad
ly accepted calls to some other field,
but | could not leave tn, locS in the wilder
neSs.
At last, after, in the interfagnlm, hlvin ,
wor. .hipel in our beautiful Academy OF
Music, on the morning OF February -, 1871,
the anniversary of ths Washington who con.
quered impossibilitieS AMI on the Sabbath
that always celebrates the resurrection, DR..
Byron Sunderland, Chaplain OF the Unite |
States Senate thrilled US through an
through with dedcatory sermon from
iaggat H., o. Tho slory of this house
shall be greater than that Of the former
.a1 a T e
OF that building had been laid by the illus.
trious and now entAronei DE-. Ireneus
Prime. On the platform on dedication day
sat, among others Dr.. DowlinC of the Blp-
tist Church. DR.. Crook, OF the Methodist
Church, Mr.. Beecher OF the ConEreg gational
Church, and DR.. French. of the Presbyterian
Church. Hosannah! Another S35, 90 was
raised on that day.
The following Sun lay 32S souls we're re
ceived into ou. communion, mostly on
confession OF faith. At two other conmu-
mons over 500 souls jonel at each one. AZ
another ingathering o2S souls entered this
communion. and SO many OF those gathered
throngs have already entered heaven that
we expect to feel at home when we get there
NV mvl Won't we be glad to sea them
tho men and women who stood by us in days
that were dark AMI days that were iubilant
Hosannah! The work doas in that cAurct
on Schermerhorn street can never bl
unlone.
What self sacrifices on the part of many
who gave almost till the blood came! Wha'
halleluiahsl What victories! What wei
ding marches played with full organ Wha
baptisms What sacramento What Dose
auiesl One OF them on snowy Sabbath
afternoon, when all Brooklyn sesmei b
sympathize, AMI my eldest SON. bearing M,
own name, lay beneath tho pulpit in the las
sleep, aud Forencs Rics Knox sang and
score of ministers OH and around the plat
form tried TO interpret how it was best tha
one who had Just como to manhood, au
with brightest worldly prospects, should b
taken and we left with heart that will no
ceass TO ache until we meet where tear
| never fall.
That second TabernAcel What stupen
dous reminscence! But, ii tho Peter of m
text had known what an undertaking it is Z
build two tabernacles h3 woul1 not hav
proposed two, to say nothing of three.
An anniversary sermon must needs be some
what photographed. let mo say hav
not been idle. During the standing of thos
two Tabernacles ffty-two books, under q
many titles, made up from my writing
were published. During that Tins also wa
permitted TO discuss all the great questions {
the day in all the great cities OF this cont
nent, and in many of them many times, bt
. sides preaching and lecturing ninety-si
= times In England, Scotland and Ireland
] ninety-four days.
During all that time as we'll as since,
| was engaged in editing a religious news
paper, believing that such periodical wa
. capable of great usefulness, aud have bee
y constant contributor TO newspapers au
g periodicals. Meanwhile all things had b
t come easy in the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
/ a Sabbath in October, 1882 | announced I
my congregation that would In fe
o weeks visit the Holy Land, and that tho of
$ GERS of the church bad consented to my &
, ing and the wish OF life to me was abol
e to be fulfilled. The next Sabbath mornn
4 about 3 o'clock, or just after midnight,
g member of my household awakened me
e saying that there was strange light in Il