Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-04-07

books, so that they can intelllgently an
swer our falsiferS, whether clerical or
| lay.
| And with these you may put that Other
statement, which recently went through
| the country, and which saw in Detroit,
which said that the Brooklyn Taberna-
| Gle had hard financial struggle because
it had all along been paying such enor-
nous salaries to its pastor, DR.. Ialmage,
when the fact is that, after our last dis
aster and for two years. gave all my
/ salary to the church building fund, and
L received Sc, 900 less than nothing. In
other words, in addition to serving this
church gratuitously for two years, let
it have S., 900 for building purposes.
Why is it that people could notdo justice
and say that all our financial struggle as
a church came from doing what Peter,
in my text, absurdly proposed to do, but
which, in the inscrutable providence OF
God, we were compelled TO do-bulld
three tabernacles.
Now, feel better that this is Off my
mind. The rest of my sermon will be
| spun out of hoSannahS. l announce to
| you this day that we are at last, as a
! church, in smooth waters Arrange
ments have been made by which our
i financial difficulties are now fully and
satisfactorily adjusted. Our income will
| exceed our Outgo, and Brooklyn Iaber-
nacle will be yours and belong to you
| and your children after you, and any
thing you see contrary to this you may
| put down to the confirmed habit which
some people have got for misrepresent
ing this church and they cannot stop.
| When 1 came to Brooklyn | came to a
nj, IND tn6
We have now this, the largest Protest
ant chlrch in America, and financially
as congregation we are worth, over
and beyond all Indebtedness, considera-
bly, more than $150,Oo0.
| have preached here twenty-three
years, and | expect, if my life and health
are continued. to preach here twenty
| three years longer, although we will all
| do we'll to remember that our breath is
| in our nostrils, and any hour we may be
called to give an account of our stew
ardship All we ask for the future is
that you do your best, contributing all
| you can to the support OF our instltu-
TONS Our best days are yet to Gomez;
our greatest revivalS of religion and our
| mightiest outpouringS of the Holy Ghost
We have got through the Red Sea, and
stand to-day on the other bank clapping
the cymbals of victory.
Do you wonder that last Sabbath
asked you in the midst OF the service to
rise and sing with jubilant voice the
| long meter DoXology:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
| Praise Him, all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father Son, and Holy Ghost.
Yes, twenty-three years have passed
| cip T fn
| they have been to me eventful years. 1t
was a Frustrated church to which [
came, church so fiat down it could
| drop no further. Through controversies
which it would be useless to rehearse it
was we'll nigh extinct, and for long
| while it had been without a pastor. But
| nineteen members could be mustered to
| sign call for my coming. AS a COM
! mittee was putting that call before me
| in an upper room in my house in Phila-
delphia, there were two other commit
| tees on similar errands from other
| churches in other rooms, whom my wife
| was entertaining and keeping apart from
| unhappy collision.
The auditorium of the Brooklyn
| church to which l came defed all the
laws of acoustics; the church had a
steeple that was the dersion of the town,
! and a high box pulpit which shut in the
preacher as though he were dangerous
to be let loose or it acted as barricade
that was unnecessary to keep back TIE
people, for they were so few that min
lister of ordinary muscle could have kept
back all who were there. My first Sab
bath in Brooklyn was sad day, for 1
did not realize how far the church was
down until then, and on the evening of
that day my own brother, through
whose pocket l entered the ministry,
died, and the tidings OF his decease
reached me at o'clock in the evening,
and was to preach at half past z.
But from that day the blessing of God
was on us, and in three months we began
the enlargement of the building. Before
the close of that year we resolved to
construct the first Tabernacle.
BY the help of God and the indomit-
able and unparalleled energy of our trus-
tees (here and there one Of them present
to-day, but the most in better world }
we got the building ready for consec-
Grafton, and on Sept. 25, 1870, morning
held, and in the afternoon the children
with sweet and muttudinous voices
consecrated the place to God. Twenty
thousand dollars were raised to pay a
floating debt. In the morning old DR..
Stephen FL. Tying, the glory of the Eps-
copal Church and the Chrysostom of the
American pulpit, preached sermon
which fingered in it's gracious effects as
long as the building stood. He read
enough out of the Episcopal prayer book
to keep himself from being reprimanded
by his bishop for preaching at nom
Episcopal service, and we, although be-
longing to another denomination, re-
sponded with heartiness. as though we
were used to the liturgy 'sGood Lord. de-
liver us!''
During the short time we occupied
that building we had constant down
pour of religious awakening. Hosannah!
One Sunday morning in December,
1872, the thermometer nearly down to
zero, was on my way to church. There
was an excitement in the street and
much smoke in the air. Fire engines
dashed past. But my mind was on the
sermon I was about to preach, until some