The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-04-28
.HWENTY-F -FOUR YEARS
DR.. TAlMAGE'S ELOQUENT ANNlVER-
SARY SERMON.


anniversary sermon. Subject, "A Brook
Ign Passionate" The occasion was an
unusually interesting one, and the great
audience was visibly impressed during
the services. Over the pulpit In flowers
were the figures 1850" and "1S93." The
text was Revelation iv, 4, Sand round
about the throne were four and twenty
seats, and upon the seats saw four and
twenty elders"
This text | choose chiefly for the nu-
merals it mentions-namely, four and
twenty. That was the number of elders
seated around the throne of God, but
that is the, number of years seated
around my Brooklyn ministry, and ev-
cry pulpit is throne of blessing or blast
ing, throne of good or evil. And today
in this my twenty anniversary
sermon "a years come and sit around
me, and they speak out In "Reminiscences
of gladness and tears. Twenty-four
years ago arrived in this city to shep-
herd such flock as might come, and
that day carried in on my arms the in
FAINT son who in two weeks from today !
will help ordain to the gospel ministry,
hoping that he will be preaching long
after my poor work is done.
MARVELLOUS WORK.
We have received into our membership
over 5000 souls, but they, think, are
only small portion of the multitudes
who, coming from all parts of the earth,
havei in our house of God been blessed and
saved. Although we have as church
raised 81, 100, 900 for religious purposes,
yet we are in the strange position of not
knowing whether in two or three months
we shall have any church at all, and with
audiences of 5000 or 1000 people crowd
ed into this room and the adjoining
rooms we are confronted with the ques-
ton whether shall so 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 destroyed by fire.
a nsisGppre'ension is abroad. that the
financial erigency Of this church is past.
Through journalistic and personal
friends a breathing spell has been afford
ed as, but before as get are financial Oh
legations achich must promptly be met, or
speedily THIS house of God aciH go into
Uorldly uses and become theater or a
concert hall. The $4,000 raised cannot
cancel a floating debt Of $4,000.
Through the kindness Of those to arhom
ace are indebted $50 900 acould set us for
euer free. lam glad to sag that the case
is not hopeless. We are daily in receipt
of touching evidences Of practical synlpa-
thy from all classes of the community and
from all sections of the country, and ii
acas but yesterday that By my o,rn hand /
sent for contributions gratefully receiged
nearly so Acknowledgements east, aoest,
north and south
Our trust is in the Lord who divided
the Red sea and "made the mountains
skip like lambs" With this paragraph ]
dismiss the financial subject and return
to the spiritual. This morning t,le great
ness of Gods kindness obliterates every
thing, and if | wanted to build groan
do not know in what forest I would
hew the timber, or from what quarry
would dig the foundation stone, or who
would construct for me an organ with a
tremolo for the only stop. And so this
morning occupy my time in building
one great, massive, high, deep, broad,
heaven piercing halleluiah. In the re-
view of the last "a years I think it may
be useful to consider some of the char.
acteristics of Brooklyn pastorate
DEMANDS OF A BROOKLYN PAsTORATE.
In the first place l remark that q
Brooklyn pastorate is always difficult
! passionate. No ely under the sun has a
grander array Of pulpit talent than
Brooklyn. The Methodists, the Bap-
fists. the Congregationalists, the Epis.
copalians, all the denominations send
their brightest lights here. He who
stands in any pulpit in Prooklyn preach.
ing may know that he stands within II
minutes walk of sermons which Sau
rim, and Bourdaloue, and John M
Mason, and George Whitefeld would
not be ashamed of. No city under the
sun where poor sermon is such drug
on tho market.
For forty years Brooklyn has been sur
charged with homiletics, an electricity
of eloquence that struck every time il
flashed from the old pulpits which
quaked with the powers of Bethune
and Cox, and a Spencer, and Spear
and Vinton, and a Farley, and Beech
er, not mentioning the names of the mag
nifcent men now manning the Brooklyn
pulpits. So during all the time there
has been something to appeal to every
mans taste and to crafty every man!
preference.
| Now, let me say to all ministers of thu
! gospel who are ambitious for Brooklyn
pulpit that it is always a difficult pas
torate. If a man shall come and stant
before any audience in almost any church
in Brooklyn, he will find before him mer
who have heard the mightiest themes
discussed in the mightiest way. Yor
will have before you, if you fail in an ar
| gument, so logicians in fidget. If yor
make slip in the use of a commercial
figure of speech, there will be 500 mer
chants who will notice it. If you throw
out an anchor or furl o sail in the wrong
way, there will be ship captains right of
who will wonder if you are as ignoran
of theology as you are of navigation! 81
it will be place of hard study. If 20,
are going to maintain yourself, you will
find a Brooklyn pastorate difficult pas
torate.
THOSE TALENTED JOURNALISTS.
remark still further, Brooklyn pas
torate is always conspicuous pastorate
The printing press of the country has nj
greater force than that on the seacoast
Every pulpit word, good or bad, wise O.
ignorant, kind or mean, is watched. Tn
reportorial corps of these cities is an or
ganized army. Many of them have col
lesiate education and large culture, an
they are able to weigh Grafton or addres
or sermon. If you say silly thing, yol
will never hear the end of it, and if yo'
say wise thing it will go into perpetua
multiplication. There is no need of de
crying that fact. Men whose infuenc
has been built by the printing pres
spend the rest of their lives in denounc
ing newspapers. The newspaper is tn
pulpit ON the wing. More preaching don
| owl tla,