Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 April 1891 — SERMONS IN STONES. [ARTICLE]

SERMONS IN STONES.

Bocks Typical of Christ’s Presence. Meaning: of tbe Edifices Where HU Praises Are Sung—Salvation not Mere Worldly Reform—Dr. Talmage's Sermon. 1 y- . ' - -~ . . . ' Rev. Dr.' Talmage, for the first time, preached in his new Brooklyn tabernacle Sunday. The new church will seat 5,500 people and cost $500,000. Text: Joshua, IV, 6. After making a few preliminary remarks he said: ■ Blessed be God, He did not leave our church in the wilderness! We have been wandering about for a year and a half worshipping in the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, and Academy of Music, New York. And some thought we would never reach the promised land. Some said we had •better take this route and others that. Some said we had better go back, and some said there were sons of Anak in the way that would eat us up; and before the smoke had cleared away from the sky after our tabernacle had been consumed, people stood on the very site of the place and said: “This church will never again be built.” . We came down to the bank of Jordan; we looked off upon the waters. Some of the sympathy that was expressed turned out to be snow-water melted from the top of Lebanon. Some said: “You had better not go in; you will get your feet wet. ” But we waded in, pastor and people, further and further, and in some way, the Lord only knows how, we got through; and tonight I go all around about this great house, erected by your prayers, and sympathies, and sacrifices, and cry out in the words of my text: “What mean ye by these stones?” It is an outrage to build a house like this ..so vast, and so magnificent, unless there be some tremendous reason for

floing it; and so, my friends, I purBue you to-night with the question of toy text, and I demand of these trustees and these elders, and of all who have contributed in the building of this structure, “What mean ye by these stones?” But before I get vour answer to my question you point to the memorial wall at the pide of this pulpit, and you say to me: “Explain that unusual group of memorials. What mean you by those stones?” By permission of the people of my beloved charge I recently visited the Holy Land, and having in mind by day and night fluring toy absence this rising house of prayer, I bethought myself: “What can I do to make that place significant and glorious?” On. the morning of December 3 we were at the foot of the most sacred mountain of all the earth, Mt. Calvary, there is no more doubt of the locality than of Mt. Washington or Mt. Blanc. On the bluff of this mountain, tfhich is the exact shape of the human skull, and so called in the Bible •‘the place of a skull,” there is room tor three crosses. There I saw a Itone so suggestive I rolled it down the hill, and transported it. It is at the top of this wall, a white stone, With crimson veins running through It, the white typical of purity, the jrimson suggestive of the blood that paid the price of our redemption, we place it at the top of the memorial wall, for above all in this church for all time, in sermon, and song and prayer shall be the sacrifice of Mt. Calvary. Look at it. That stone Was one of the rocks rent at the crST eifixion. That heard the cry, “It is finished. ” Was any church on earth honored with such a memorial?

Beneath it are two tables of stone which I had brought from Mt. Sinai, where the law was given. Three eamels were three weeks crossing the desert to fetch them. When at Cairo, Egypt, I proposed to the Christian Arab that he bring one gtone from Mt. Sinai, he said: “We Can easier bring two rocks than one, for we must balance them on the back of the camel,” and I did not think until the day of. their arrival how much more suggestive would be the two, because the law was written pn the two tables of stone. These stones marked with the words “Mt.Binia,” felt the earthquake that shook Ihe mountains when the law was given . The lower stone of the wall is from Mars Hill, the place where Paul Itood when he preached that famous feermon on the brotherhood of the puman race, declaring “God hath |nade of one blood ail nations.” Since Lord Elgin took the famous btatuary from the Acropolis, the hili bdjoining Mars Hill, the Greek government makes it impossible to transport to other lands any Grecian antiquities, and armed soldiery guard hot only the 'Acropolis, but Mars Hill. That stone I obtained by special permission from the Queen of Greece, a most gracious and brilliant woman, who received us as though we had been old acquaintances, and through Mr. Tricoupis, the Prime Minister of Greece, and Mr. Snowpen, our American Minister Pl&tiir*’ botentiary, oue that suggestivhblett was sawed from the pulpit of rock on which Paul preached. Now ryou understand why we have marked it “The Gospel.” Long after my lips shall utter in this church their last message these lips of stone will itell of the Law, and the Sacrifice and the GospeL This day I present them fto this church and to all who shall gaze upon therq.j £E3»us you have my « answer to the question, “What mean ftrou by these stones?” v v * But you must, not divert me from 1 the question of the text as I first put jt. I have interpreted these four memorials on my right hand, but

there are hundreds of stones in these surrounding walls and underneath us, in the foundations and rising above us in the towers. The quarries of these and transatlantic countries at the call of crowbar and chisel have contributed toward this structure. “What mean ye by these.stones?” You mean among other things that they shall be an earthly residence for Christ. Christ did not have much of a home when he was here. Who and where is that child crying? It is Jesus, born in an outhouse.. Where, is that hard breathing? It is Jesus, asleep on a rock. Who is that in the back part of the fishing smack, with a sailor’s rough overcoat thrown over him? It is Jesus, the worn-out voyager. Oh, Jesus ! is it not time thou hadst a house? We give thee this. Thou didst give it to us first, but we S’ve it back to thee. It is too good r us, but not half good enough for thee. Oh! come in and take the best seat hem Walk up and down all these aisles. Speak through these organ-pipes. Throw thine arm over us in these arches. In the flame of these brackets of fire speak to us saying: “I am the light of the world.” Oh, King! make this thine audience-chamber. Here proclaim righteousness and make treaties. We clap our hands, we uncover our heads, we lift our ensigns, we cry with multitudinous acclamation until the place rings and the'heavens listen: “Oh, King! live forever.”

Is it not time that he who was born in a stranger’s house, and buried in a stranger’s grave should have an earthly house? Come in, O Jesus! not the corpse of a buried Christ, but a radiant, and triumphant Jesus, conqueror of earth, and heaven, and hell. Blessed be His glorious name forever! Again, if any one asks the question of the text: “What mean ye by these stones?” the reply is, we mean the communion of saints, Do you know that there is not a single denomination of Christians in Brooklyn that has not contributed something toward the building of this house? And if ever, standing in this place, there shall be a man who shall try by anything he says to stir up bitterness between different denominations of Christians, may his tongue falter and his cheek blanch, and his heart stop! My friends, if there is any church on earth where there is a mingling of all denominations, it is our church. I just wish that Joha Calvin and Arminius, if they were not too busy, would come out on the battlements and see us. Sometimes in our prayermeetings I have heard brethren use the phrases of a beautiful liturgy, and we know where they came from; and in the same prayer-meetings I have heard brethren make audible ejaculation, “Amen!” “Praise ye the Lord!” and we did not have to guess twice where they came from. When a man knocks at our church door, if he comes from a sect where they will not give him a certificate, we say, “Come in by confession of faith.” While Adoniram Judson the Baptist, and John Wesley the Methodiet, and John Knox, the glorious old Scotch Presbyterian, are shaking hands in heaven all churches on earth can afford to come into close communication. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”, Oh, my brethren, we have had enough of Big Bethel fights—the Fourteenth New York Regiment fighting the Fifteenth Massachu setts regiment. Now let all those who are for Christ and stand on the same side go shoulder to shoulder, and this church, instead of having a sprinkling of the divine blessing, go clear under the wave in one glorious immersion in the name of the Father,, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. I saw a little child, once, in its dying hour, put one arm around its father’s neck, and the other arm around its mother’s neck, and bring "theffrCtese dOwir to its dying lips, and give a last kiss. Oh, I said, those two persons will stand very near to each other always after such an interlocking. The dying Christ puts one arm around this" denomination of Christians, and the other arm around that denomination of Christians, and He brings them down to His dying lips, while He gives them his parting kiss. .“My peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto yov.” Still further you mean by these stones the salvation of the people. We did not build this church for mere worldly reforms, or for an educational institution, or a platform on which to read essays and philosophical disquisitions; but a place for the tremendous work of soul-saving. ()h, I had rather be the means in this church of having one soul prepared for a joyful eternity, than 5,000 souls prepared for mere worldly success. All churches are in two classes, all communities in two classes all the race in two classes —believers and unbelievers. To augment the number of one and subtract from the number of the other we built this church; and toward that supreme and eternal idea we dedicate all our sermons, all our songs, all our prayers, all our Sabbath hand-shakings. We want to throw defection into the \ enemy’s ranks. We want to make them either surrender unconditionally to Christ, or else fly in rout, scattering the way with canteens, blankets and knapsacks, We want to popularize the story of Christ. We would like to tell the story of His love here until men wonld feel that they had rather die than live another hour without His sympathy and love and mercy, We want to rouse up an enthusiasm for Him greater than was felt for Nathaniel Lyon when he rode along the ranks—greater than was exhibited for Wellington when he eame back from Waterloo —greater than was expressed for Napoleon when he stepped ashore from Elbs. We really believe in this place

Christ will enact the same scenes that! were enacted byHim when He landed in the Orient; and there will be such an opening of blind eyes and unstopping of deaf ears, and casting out of unclean spirits—such silencing be- j stormed Gennesarets as shall make | this house memorable five hundred i years after you and I are dead and ' forgotten. Oh, my friends, we want! but one revival in this chuach, that j beginning now and running on to / the day when the chisel of time, that brings down even St. Paul’s and the Pyramids, shall bring this house into the dust. **- •• I Oh, that this day of dedication might be the day of emancipation of all imprisoned souls. My friends, do not make the blunder of the ship car- 1 penters in Noah’s time, who helped j to build the ark; but did not get into 1 it. God forbid that you who have been so generous in building, this church should not get under its sav-; ing influence. “Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” Do you think a man is safe out of Christ? Not one day, not one hour, not one minute, not one seeond. Three or four years ago, you remember, a railroad broke down a bridge on the way to Albany, and after the catastrophe, they were looking around the timbers of the crushed bridge and fallen train, and found the conductor. He was dying, and j had only strength to say one thing, | and that was: “Hoist the flag for the next train. ” So there come to us tonight, from the eternal world, voices of God, voices of angels, voices of departed spirits, crying: “Lift the warning. Blow the trumphet, give the alarm. Hoist the flag for the next train.” Oh! that to-night my Lord Jesus, would sweep His arm around the 6 ’eat audience, and take you all to is holy heart. You will never see so good a time forpersonal consecration as now. “What mean ye by these stones?” We mean your redemption from sin, and death, and , hell, by the power of an omnipotent gospel.” Well, the Brooklyn tabernacle is built again. That was done this morning. To-night we dedicate ourselves. In the Episcopal and Methodist churches they have a railing around the altar, and the people come( and kneel down at that railing and get the sacramental blessing. Well,: my friends, it would take more than a night to gather you in circles around this altar. Then just bow where you/ are for the blessing. Aged men, this! is the last church that you will everj j dedicate. May the God who comforted ' Jacob the patriarch, and Paul the aged] \ make this house to you the gate of!. heaven; and when, in your old days, 1 , you put on your spectacles to read , the hymn of the Scripture lesson. ' may you get preparation for that. \ land where you shall no more see" through a glass darkly. May thej 1 warm sunshine of heaven thaw the' snow off your foreheads! Men in mid-life, do you know that' this is the place where you are going to get your fatigues rested, and your sorrows appeased, and your souls saved? Do you know that at this al-j tar your sons and daughters will take upon themselves the vows of the ' Christian, and from this place you ; will carry out, some of you, your precious dead? Between the baptismal font and the commuuion table, you will have some of the tenderest j of life’s experiences. God bless you, | old, and young and middle-aged. The | money you have given to this church to-day will be, I hope, the best financial investment you have-ever made. Your worldly investments may depend upon the«whims of the money market, or the honesty of business associates; but the money you have , given to the house of the Lord shall' yield you large percentage, and declare eternal dividends long after the noon-day sun shall have gone out like a spark from a smitten anvil and f all the stars are dead.