e a cable, signed by Count Bobrinsky,
saying:--"Heartfelt congratulations from remembering friends."

Messages from Senator John Sherman, from Governor McKinley (before he
became President), from Mr. Gladstone, from Rev. Joseph Parker, and
among others from London, the following cable, which I shall always
prize among the greatest testimonials of the broad Gospel purpose in
England--

"Cordial congratulations; grateful acknowledgment of splendid
services in ministry during last twenty-five years. Warm wishes for
future prosperity.

"(Signed)
ARCHDEACON OF LONDON,
CANON WILBERFORCE.
THOMAS DAVIDSON.
PROFESSOR SIMPSON.
JOHN LOBB.
BISHOP OF LONDON."

Appreciation, good cheer, encouragement swept around and about me, as I
was to start on what Dr. Gregg described as "A walk among the people of
my congregation" around the world.

The following Sunday, May 13, 1894, just after the morning service, the
Tabernacle was burned to the ground.

THE SEVENTEENTH MILESTONE

1895-1898

Among the mysteries that are in every man's life, more or less
influencing his course, is the mystery of disaster that comes upon him
noiselessly, suddenly, horribly. The destruction of the New Tabernacle
by a fire which started in the organ loft was one of these mysteries
that will never be revealed this side of eternity. The destruction of
any church, no matter how large or how popular, does not destroy our
faith in God. Great as the disaster had been, much greater was the mercy
of Divine mystery that prevented a worse calamity in the loss of human
life. The fire was discovered just after the morning service, and
everyone had left the building but myself, Mrs. Talmage, the organist,
and one or two personal friends. We were standing in the centre aisle of
the church when a puff of smoke suddenly came out of the space behind
the organ. In less than fifteen minutes from that discovery the huge
pipe organ was a raging furnace, and I personally narrowly escaped the
falling debris by the rear door of my church study. The flags and
decoration which had been put up for the jubilee celebration had not
been moved, and they whetted the appetite of the flames. It was all
significant to me of one thing chiefly, that at some points of my life
I had been given no choice. At these places of surprise in my life there
was never any doubt about what I had to do. God's way is very clear and
visible when the D