The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-06-22
THOSE THREE FIRES,
DR.. TALMAGE DISCUSSES THE BURN
ING OF THE TABERNACLES.

They Are MySterfes Which He Will Wait
to Have Solved In the Great Beyond-Ths
First Stage In the Great Preachers Trir
Around the World.
At half past 8 O'Clock on the night Of
May IA, 1894, l descended the front
steps of my home in Brooklyn. The SEN
sation of leaving for journey around
the world is not all made up of bright
anticipation. The miles to be travelled
are SO numerous the seas to be crossed
are SO treacherous, the peradventures
are so many, that the solemnities out
number the expectations. My family
accompany me to the railway train.
Will we all meet again? The climatic
changes, the ships, the shoals, the hur-
ricanes, the bridges, the cars the cpl
denies, the possibilities, hinder any
positiveness of prophecy. I come down
the front steps of my home. Will l ever
again ascend them? The remarks made
by Hon. William NJ Evarts few even
ings before at the public reception-on
the conclusion of my twentyfifth year
of Brooklyn pastorate-though uttered
in Righteousness, We're consolatory He
said, 'Dr. Talmage ought to realize
that if he goes around the world he will
come out at the same place from which
he started" May the God who holds
the winds in one fist and the ocean in
the hollow Of the other hand protect US!
l leave home while the timbers of
our destroyed church are still smoking.
Three great churches have been con-
sumed Why this series of huge calami-
ties know not. Had not made all the
arrangements for departure and been as
sured by the trustees of my church that
they would take all the responsibilities
upon themselves, would have post
poned my intended tour or adjourned it
forever but all whom l have consulted
tell me now is the time to go, and my
face is toward the setting sun.
Six times before this have crossed
the American continent, and / have
seen the sun rise from the golden cradle
of the eastern sky and seen him buried
beneath the pomp of the western hori-
zon. Three girths have been put around
the American continent-the Northern
Pacific, the Union Pacific and the
Southern Pacific. All these girths have
been frightened, and the buckles are
moving ever and anon until the CONT
nent is less and less in circumference.
When l first crossed it, it took fully
seven days. Instead of the elegant din
ing cars of today. we stopped at restau-
rants with table covers Undesirable,
for they had on them layers of other
strata of breakfasts insulting in appear
ance The first time l ever saw Judge |
Field of the United States supreme
court was at one of these tables on the
Rocky mountains Like myself, he had
from the Union Pacific |
train. We sat opposite each other. The |
different courses of food were put upon
the table, but his appetite and mine de-
clined everything presented. Our eyes
met, and we burst into a guffaw of |
laughter that was the introduction of
friendship that has been valuable to me
ever since. A smile as well as tear |
may open chapter of hearty acquaint-
What is the meaning of the three |
fires? AS leave, people in many lands |
are discussing the question, for tele-
grams from across the Atlantic as we'll |
as from many parts of this country show |
that the fiery news had leaped every |
whittier. Three vast structures dedicat- |
ed to God and the work of trying to
make the world better gone down, and
all this within few years. They were |
well built as to permanence and dura- |
bility. All the talk about these build |
ings as mere firetraps is the usual cant,
for there is as much secular cant as re-
ligious cant. Have you heard in the |
last 40 years of any church, or any hall,
or any theater which, after destruction,
was not called firetrap? That charge
always makes lively opening for any
description of a fire.
There have been no better structures,
secular or religious, put up in the last
90 years than the three Brooklyn Taber-
nacles, and the modes of egress from
them SO ample that the thousands of
worshipers assembled in any of them
could be put safely ON the street inside
OI uVe minutes. me IaCU Is UQdU UneT6 is
nothing in this world incombustible
When the great Chicago and Boston fires
took place, they burned up stones and
iron. The human race will go on build
ing inconsumable churches, and incon-
;umable banks, and inconsumable store
houses, and inconsumable cities, and
hen all will be consumed in the worlds
asst fire
Builders who had large experience
md established reputation pronounced
he Brooklyn Tabernacles perfect struc-
;ures. But what is the meaning of the
hree fires? There may be hundred diff
erent lessons learned by hundred diff
erent people, and legitimate lessons.
As for myself, l adjourn the most of the
meaning to the next world We will
earn there in two minutes more than
We can find out here in 80 years With
hat anticipation, mysteries do not often
)other me
One reason for these consecutive dis
Isters may be that the patience Of the {
,est people in the world, the members
# the Brooklyn Tabernacle, was to be {
,erfected Purified by fire" Mighty