Chicago was in one room, a committee from Brooklyn in another room of my
house, and a committee from my Philadelphia church in another room. My
wife [B] passed from room to room entertaining them to keep the three
committees from meeting. It would have been unpleasant for them to meet.

[B] _In 1863, Dr. Talmage married his second wife, Miss
Susan C. Whittemore, of Greenport, N.Y. They had five
children: May, Edith, Frank, Maud, and Daisy._

At this point my Syracuse remembrance of perplexity returned, and I
resolved to stay in Philadelphia unless God made it very plain that I
was to go and where I was to go. An engagement to speak that night in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, took me to the depot. I got on the train, my
mind full of the arguments of the three committees, and all a
bewilderment. I stretched myself out upon the seats for a sound sleep,
saying, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Make it plain to me when I
wake up." When I awoke I was entering Harrisburg, and as plainly as
though the voice had been audible God said to me, "Go to Brooklyn." I
went, and never have doubted that I did right to go. It is always best
to stay where you are until God gives you marching orders, and then move
on.

I succeeded the Rev. J.E. Rockwell in the Brooklyn Church, who resigned
only a month or so before I accepted the call. Mr. Charles Cravat
Converse, LL.D., an elder of the Church, presented the call to me, being
appointed to do so by the Board of Trustees and the Session, after I had
been unanimously elected by the congregation at a special meeting for
that purpose held on February 16, 1869. The salary fixed was $7,000,
payable monthly.