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

through . struggle that no other church
In any Lard or any age has been called
% endure, and pray God that no ether
church may ever De called 10 endure,
VIZ, the building Of three tabernscles.
ask the friends Of the Brooklyn Tsber-
nacls 20 cut cat this sermon from the
nevskpsrs and put j. IN their pocket
books, SD that they can iHtelhgentiy
answer our fAlsihers. whether clerical
or lay.
And with these you may put that
other statemsnt, which recently went
through the country, and which saw IN
Detroit, which said that The Brooklyn
Tabernacle had hard financial strug-
gle because it had all along been paying
such enormous salaries 70 Us pastor, DR..
Talmage, when the fact Is that, after
our Last disaster and for two years, l
gave all my salary 70 tho church build
ing fund. and received % 900 less than
nothing. In other words, in addition 10
serving this church gratuitously for two
years, let il have 5000 for building
PURPOSES w ID IL tAl>ks t0aAa
not do rs justice and say that al our
financial struggle as church camo
Prom doing what Peter, III my text. alb
surdly proposed 10 do, but which, in
the inscrutable providence of God, We
were compelled 10 do-build three taber-
nacles.
Now, feel better that this is of my
mind The rest Of my sermon will be
spun out Of hossnnahs. l announce 10
you this day that We are at last, as
church, In smooth waters. Arrange
ments have been made by which our
financial difficulties are now fully and
satisfactorily adjusted. Our income
will exceed our outgo. and Brooklyn
Tabernacle viii be yours and belong to
you and your children after you, and
anything you SEQ contrary to this you
may put down to the confirmed habit
which some people have got of misrepre-
senting this church and they cannot stop.
When l came to Brooklyn came to a
mail church and big indebtedness.
We have now this, the largest Protestant
church in America. and financially as .
congregation we are worth. over and be-
yond all indebtedness, considerably moro
than $50. 600.
l 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
in our nostrils, and any hour we may DO
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 institu-
sions- Our best days are yet TO come;
our greatest revivals of religion and our
mightiest outpourings of the Holy
Ghost We have got through the Red
sea, and stand today on the other bank
clapping the cymbals of victory.
Do you wonder that last Sabbath
asked you in the midst of the service to
riso and sing with jubilant voice the
long meter Doxology:
Praise God from whom all blessings fow,
Praise him. al creatures here below,
Praise him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father. Son and Holy Ghost
Yes, twenty-three years have passed
since l came to live in Brooklyn, and
they have been to me eventful years. 1t
was FRUSTRATED church to which
came, church so fat down it could
drop no further. Through controversies
which it would be useless to rehearse it
was well nigh extinct, and for long
while it had been without pastor. But
nineteen members could be mustered to
sign q call for my coming. AS COM
mittee was putting that call before me
in an upper room in my house in Phila-
aelphia, there were two other committees
on similar errands from other churches
In other rooms, whom my wife was en-
PERTAINING and keeping apart from UNI
happy collision.
church to which came defed all the
laws of acoustics; the church had o
steeple that was the derision of the
town, and high box pulpit which shut
in the preacher as though he were dan
gerous TO be let loose. or it acted as q
barricade that was unnecessary to keep
back the people, for they were 50 few
that minister of ordinary muscle could
have kept back all who were there. Ny
first Sabbath in Brooklyn was sad day,
for did not realize how far the church
was down until then, and on the evening
Of that day my own brother, through
whose pocket | entered the ministry
died, and the tidings of his decease
reached me at 8 o'clock in tae evening,
and was to preach at half past 7.
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. It was
TO be a temporary structure, and, there
fore, We called it . tabernacle instead
Of q temple. What should be the style
of architecture was the immediate ques-
ton. had always thought that the
Amphitheatrical shape would be appro-
pirate for q church. Two distinguished
architects were employed. and after
much towering over designs, they an
nounced to us that such a building was
impossible for religious purposes. as it
woald not be churchly, and would sub
ject themselves and rs TO ruinous crit
cism; in other words, they were not
ready fog revolution in church archi-
I lecture.
+ Utterly disheartened as to my favorite
style Of architecture, said TO the trus-
teee, Build anything yos please and
must be satisfied" But one morning q
young architect appeared at my house
md asked IL we had yet selected plan
Cor our church. I said, mo. and what
we want We cannot get" What style