t no man, no woman, break the ranks! You are strong in the protection
of that great Shepherd who never resigns and who never grows old. "Lo! I
am with you always! Lo! I am with you always! Lo! I am with you
always!" seems to greet me this morning from every wall of this
sanctuary. I confidently expect to see Lafayette Avenue Church move
steadily forward with unbroken column led by the Captain of our
salvation. All eyes are upon you. The eye that never slumbers or sleeps
is watching over you. If you are all true to conscience, true to your
covenants, true to Christ, the future of this dear church may be as
glorious as its past. And when another thirty years have rolled away, it
may still be a strong tower of the truth on which the smile of God shall
rest like the light of the morning. By as much as you love me, I entreat
you not to sadden my life or break my heart by ever deserting these
walls, or letting the fire of devotion burn down on these sacred altars.

The hands of the clock warn me to close. This is one of the most trying
hours of my whole life. It is an hour when tears are only endurable by
being rainbowed with the memory of tender mercies and holy joys. When my
feet descend those steps to-day, this will no longer be my pulpit. I
surrender it back before God into your hands. One of my chiefest sorrows
is that I leave some of my beloved hearers out of Christ. Oh, you have
been faithfully warned here, and you have been lovingly invited here;
and once more, as though God did beseech you by me, I implore you in
Christ's name to be reconciled to God. This dear pulpit, whose teachings
are based on the Rock of Ages, will stand long after the lips that now
address you have turned to dust. It will be visible from the judgment
seat; and its witness will be that I determined to know not anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. To-day I write the last
page in the record of thirty bright, happy, Heaven-blessed years among
you. What is written is written. I shall fold up the book and lay it
away with all its many faults; and it will not lose its fragrance while
between its leaves are the pressed flowers of your love. When my closing
eyes shall look on that record for the last time, I hope to discover
there only one name--the name that is above every name, the name of Him
whose glory crowns this Eastern morn with radiant splendor, the name of
Jesus Christ, King of kings, and Lord of lords. And the last words I
u