It is now called to meet a great emergency.

For the first time in twenty-eight years this church is subjected to a severe strain.
During all these years you had very smooth sailing.

You have never been crippled by debt; you have never been distracted with quarrels, and you have never been without a pastor in your pulpit or your homes when you needed him.

And I suppose no church in Brooklyn has ever been subjected to less strain than this one.

Now you are called upon to face a new condition of things, perhaps a new danger--certainly a new duty.