Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-04-04

turs, not . persecution, nef an ssssuit.
during al these t~enFy three years eut
turned oot fox cur advantage. and ought
| not 70 besieye that .'stl Valngs work 70
gether for goodss Ros2EnaAl
Another lesson ! have learned during
these twenry-three years Is that II l. lot
necessary 10 preach error OF pick flaws IL
the old Blbls IN order 70 gel an audience:
the old BOOK without any h1ing up l.
good enough for me. aud higher crit
cisn, sc II is called, means lower reh-
gion- Higher criticism Is another form
Of inheeiigs, and It's disciples VIII be
heve less and less, until many Ct them
VIII land In Nowhere. and become the
worshipers of Al eternal What IA it!'
The most Of these higher critics seem
10 be seeking notoFiety by pitching into
the B,ble. Ii Is such q brave thing 10
strike your grandmother. The old Cos
pei put IN modern phrase, and without
any Of the convcnt,onaiities and adapted
10 al the wants and woes Of humanity.
have found the mightisst magnet. and
We have never lacked an audience.
Next to the blessing Of my own family
account the blasxing that l have al
ways had . great multitude Of people 70
preach TO. That old Gospel have
preached 10 you these twenty-throe
years Of my Brooklyn pas,orafe. and
that old Gospel viii preach Till | die,
and charge my son. who Is on the way
TO the ministry, 10 preach il after me,
for remember Pauls thuaderbelt, II
any man preach any other Gospel, let
him be accursed." And now. as / stand
here on my twenty third anniversary.
see two audiences. The one is made up
of al those who have worshiped with
us in the past, but have been translated
10 higher realms.
What groups of children-too fair and
too sweet and too lovely for earth, and
the Lord took them, but they seem pres
ent today. The Group has gone out Of
the swollen throat. and the pallor from
the cheek, and they have on them the
health and radiance of heaven. Hail,
groups of glorifed children. How glad
! am to have you come back TO us today.
And here sit thoee aged ones who de-
parted this life leaving an awful va
cancy in home and church. Where arc
your stats. and where are your gray
locks, and where your stooping shout
ders, We blessed old folks? "Oa." they
say, I've are all young again. and the
bath in the river from under the throne
has made Us agile and bounding. In
the place from which we come they use
no stats, but sceptes." Hail. fathers
and mothers in Israeli How glad we
are to have you come back TO greet us.
But the other audience see in imagi-
nation is made up of all those TO whom
we have had opportunity as church,
directly or indirectly. of presenting the
Gospel. Yea, all my parishes seem TO
come back today. The people Of my
first charge in Belleville, N. j. The peo-
pie Of my second charge in Syracuse,
N. Y. The people Of my third charge
in Philadelphia. And the people Of all
these three Brooklyn Tabernacles. Look
at them, and all those whom through
the printing press we have invited TO
God and heaven now seeming to sit in
galleries above galleries-fifty galleries,
a hundred galleries, a thousand galleries
high.
greet them oil in your name and in
Christ's name, all whom | have con-
fronted from my first sermon in my
first village charge. where my lips
trembled and my knees knocked to-
gether from alright, speaking from the
text, Jeremiah j. 6. ''Ah, Lord God, be-
hold cannot speak, for am child~
until the sermon | preach today from
Luke tx, %, Lot US make three taber-
nacles," those Of the past and the pres
emit. all gather in imagination if not in
reality. all of Us grateful to God for past
mercies. all Of Us sorry for nisimproved
opportunities, all hopeful for eternal
ractures, and while the visible and the
Invisible audiences Of the present and
The past comuingle, give out to he
sung by those who are here today. and
to be sung by thoss VINO shall read Of
this scene of re,niniscence and congratu-
lation. that hymn which has been roll
ing on since Isaac Watts started it one
hundred and fifty years ago:
Cur God our help IN ages past,
Our hope for year. 10 come.
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
nd o.rr eternal borne