Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-05-05
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SIN
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "a BRooKLYN PAsroRArE."

lEAT: ana TOunu uOOut tne throne t0er
four and tl0enty seats, and upon the seat
sdtC four and ttCenty eiderSn-RevelatioI
iv.. I.
This text choose chiefly for the numerali
10 mentions-namely, four aud twenty. Tha
was the number of elders seated around tn,
throne Of God, but that is the number oi
years seated around my Brooklyn ministry
and every pulpit is throne Of blessing on
blasting throne OF good or evil And TO
day in this my twenty-fourth anniversary
sermon "A years come and sit around me
and they speak out in a "reminiscences oi
| gladness and tears. Twenty.four years age
arrived in this city to shepherd such flock
as might come, and that day l carried In or
my arms the infant son who in two weeks
from TO day will help ordain to the gospel
ministry, hoping that he will be preaching
: long alter my poor work is done
We have received into our membership
over 5000 souls, but they, think, are only a
small portion of the mu!titudes who, com-
ing from all parts of the earth, have in our
house OF God been blessed and saved.
Although we have as church raised 81, 100, =
| COO Tor religious purposes, yet we are in the
! strange position of not knowing whether
in two or three months We shall have any
church at oil, and with audiences Of 5000 or
! 1000 people CROWDED into this room and the
! adjoining rooms we are confronted with
the question whether | shall 60 on with my
work here or go to some other field. What
an awful necessity that we should have
been Obliged to build three immense
| churches, two of them destroyei by fire.
a Misrepresentation is abroad that the
financial exigency OF this church is past.
! Through journalistic and personal friends a
breathing spell has been afforded us, but be-
! fore us yot are financial obligations which
| must promptly he met, or speedily this house
/ OF God will 20 into worldly uses and become
theater or concert hall The $4,000
raised cannot cancel a floating debt of
sl4O, COO Through the kinlness Of those to
whom we are indebted So, 900 would set us
| forever free. | am glad TO say that the case
| Is not hopeless. We are daily in receipt OF
touching evidences OF practical sympathy
| from all classes OF the community and from
/ all sections OF the country, and it was but
! yesterday that by my own hand | sent for
{ contributions gratefully rec ved nearly 81
, Acknowledgements east west, north and
/ south.
Our trust is in the Lord who divided the
Red Sea AMI male the mountains skip like
! lambs" With this paragraph dismiss the
! financial subject and return 10 the spiritual.
This morning the greatness of Gods kind
ness obliterates everythn :, and If | wanted
to build groan | do not know in what for
| est would hew the timber, or from what
! quarry | would dig the foundation stone, or
who would construct for me an organ with
tremelo for the only stop And so this
morning occupy nv time in building one
great, massive, high, deep, broai, heaven
| piercing halleluiah. In the review of ths
last "A years think it may b. useful to
! consider some OF the characteristics OF q
| Brooklyn pastorate.
In the first place | remark that n Brook
| lyn pastorate ls always diificuit pastoratn.
No city under the sun has grauder array
of pulpit talJnt than Brooklyn. The Metho-
dist the Baptist, the Conyre .ntonalist, the
! EpiscopalinnS oil the denominations send
their brightest lights hsre. He who stands
in any pulpit in Brooklyn preaching NAV
know that he stands within fifteen minutes
walk OF sermons which Saurin, ami a
Bourdalone, and IA John VI. Mason and "a
George Whitetield would not be ashamed OF.
No city under the sun where a poor sermon
is such drug on th1 market.
For forty years Brooklya has been sur
charged with homiletlcs, an electricity OF
eloquencc that struck every time it flashed
from the old pupits which quakcd with the
powers OF Bethune, and Cox, and a
Spencer, an Spear, aud Vintou, aud
Farley, AMI Beecner, not mentioning the
! magnificent men now manning the Brooklyn
/ puiplts. SO during all thu time there has
been something TO appeal to every maus
taste aud TO Gratity every mans preference.
Now let me say to all ministers OF the
gospel who are ambitious for a Brooklyn
pulpit that 1t Is always Il difficult pastorate
II a man shall come and stand before any
audience in almost any church in BROOKLYN
he will tni before him men who have heard
the mightiest themes discussed in the
mightiest way. You will have before you,
II you fail in an argument, fl ty logcanS in
| figet. II you make slip in the use OF a
commercial figure OF speech, there will be
500 merchants who will notice it. IL you
throw out an anchor or furl sail In the
wrong way, there will be ship captains right
of who will wonder II you are as ignorant
OF theology az you are OF navigation! So
1t will be place OF hard study. II you
are going to maintain yourself, you will
find Brooklyn paStorate difficult pas.
torate.
remark still further, Brooklyn pasto-
rate is always n conspicuous pastorate The
printing press OF the country has no Z reater
force than on the seacolst. Every pulpit
word, good or bad, wise or ignorant, kind
or mean, is watched. The reportorial corps
Of these cities is an organized army. Many
OF them have collegiate education and large
culture and they are able to weigh grafton
or address or sermon. IL you say silly
thing, you will never hear the end Of 1t, and
II you say wise thing it will go into per-
petual multiplication. There Is no need of
decrying that fact Men whose influences
has been built by the printing press spend
the rest of their lives in denouncing news
papers. The newspaper is the pulpit on the
wing. More preaching done on Monday
than on Sunday. The omnvorous, all eyed
printing press is ever vigiant.
Besides that, Brooklyn pastorate is
always conspicuous in the fact that every
hnl lr hnra Rrnoklyn ia Naw Vnrk
In its better mood. Strangers have not seen
New York until they have seen Brooklyn.
The East River Is the chasm IN which our
merchants drop their cares, and their
anxietes. and their business troubles, and
by the time they have greeted their families
IN the home circle they have forgotten all
about Wall street and Broadway and the
shambles. II they commit business sins In
New York during the day, they come over
to Brooklyn to repent of them.
Everybody comes here. Stand at the
bridge entrance or at the ferry gates on
Sabbath morning at 10 o'clock, or Sabbath
evening at o'clock and you see north,
south, east west-Europe, Asia, Africa,
New Zealand, Australia-c to Brook
lyn to spend the Sabbath, or part OF it in the
persons of their OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES OF
them fresh from the sea. They have just
landed, and they want to seek the house OF
GO1 DuDilCly 10 JDunk luo LJlu lOI Luei
deliverance from cyclones and fog banks of
Newfoundland. Every song sung, every
prayer offered, every sermon preached in
New York and Brooklyn and all along this
sea coast in some shape goes all round
the world. A Brooklyn pastorate is al
the greatest altitude OF conspicuty.
Again remark that a Brooklyn pastorate
Is characterized by brevity. l bethink my
self of but three ministers OF the gospel now
preaching here who were preaching when |
came to Brooklyn. Most OF the pulpits
around me have changed seven or eight
times since my arrival.
Sometimes the pastorato has been brief
for one reason and sometimes for another
reason. Sometimes the ministers of the gos,
pei have been too good for this world, and
heaven has transplante1 them. Sometimes
they changed places by the decree of their
denomination. Sometimes they came with
great blare of trumpets, proposing to carry
everything before them, and got extin
- teti taH