The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-10-14

Pew. 7. Dewitt Talnage, In q recent SER
mon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, made
determined onslaught on the prevailing
vices Of the time, taking for his text:
l.; God az se, let bis enemies be scattered
-Psalms xviii J.
You VII observe nv tsxt Is not like q
Complimentary and tasseled sword that
you sometimes see hung up in parlor, q
sword that was never in battle and onlv to
be used On general training day, hut more
like some weapon carefully hung up in
your home, telling is story OF Chapulte-
Pee, Cerro Gordo and Cherubusco, and
Hstcher's Run, and Malvern Hill: for my
text hangs in the Scr p ure armOry, telling
OF the holy wars Of 1909 years in which 1t
has been carried, but as keen and mighty
as when David first unsheathed IT, 1t
seems to me what in the Church Of God,
and in all styles Of reformstory work, we
most need now. is a battle cry. We raise
our little ST. ndard and put on II the name
Of some man who only few years ago
bSgan u live, and in q few years will
cease 70 live. We 20 into contests against
the armies OF iuiqnty, depending 100
much on human agencies. We use for
tattle cry tie name Of some brave Chris
tian reformer. but after a while that re-
former dies, or gets cid, or loses his cour-
age, and then we take another battle cry,
and this time perhaps we put the name Of
some one who plays Arnold AMI sells out
n the enemy. What We want for battle
cry is the name Of some leader who will
never Js'ray Us, and viii never surrender,
and viii never die.
All respec; have l for brave men and
women, hut II we are going 10 get the vic
tory all along the line we must put God
first. We must take the hint Of the Gid
eonite-, who wiped on. the Bedoun Arabs,
commonly called Aiitanites. These Gid
@'uites had a glorious leader in Gideon,
but What was the battle-cry with which
they flung ID cir enem Is into the worst de.
Feat into which any army was ever tum-
5lsi; 1t was:
The sword u the Lord and Of Gideon
Put Col first, whoever you pu. second.
II the army Of the American Revolution Is
70 free America, i, must Re:
The sword ofthe Lord and Of Waship gton.
L the GermEns want 70 win the day at
Sedan, il must he:
The sword If the Lord and Won Moltke.
Waterloo vas won for the English be-
caEr not only the armed men at the front
but The worshpers in the cathe1raIs at the
rear were crying:
Tie sword Of the Lord auI Wellington
The Methodists have gone in triumph
across nation after nation with the cry:
The sword Of the Lord and Of Wesley
The Presbyterians have gone from VIC
tory 70 victory with the cry:
The sword Of the LORD and Of John Knox.
The Baptsts have conquered millions
after millions for Christ with the cry:
TIL sword OF the Lord and o. jordan
The Americans EpiscopaIians have won
their mighty way with the cry:
The sword Of the Lord and Of Bishop Nc.
uvaile.
The victory is 70 those who put God
first But as We want battle-cry suited
to all sects Of reiigionists, and to allIands.
/ nominate as the hattle-cry Of Christen-
dom in the approaching Armageddon the
words of my text, sounded before the ark
as il was carried t. Mount Zion:
Let God arise, let his enemies De scat.
tered.
As far as our finite mind can Judge. it
seems about time for God to rise. Does il
not seem to you that the denominations Of
this earth have gone far enou.h: Was
there ever time when sin was 50 defiant:
ere there ever before 50 many fists lifted
toward God, telling him to come on if he
dare: Look at the blasphcmy abroad!
What towering profanity! Would il be
possible for any one to calculate the num-
Der Of times that the name OF Almighty
God, and Of. Jesus Christ, are every day
taken irreFerent.y on the lips? So com
mon has asphemy become that the pub
lie mind, and public ear, have got used to
It. and blasphemeT goes up and down
this country in his lectures defying the
plain law against blasphemy, and there is
not mayor in America that has back
bone enough to interfere with him save
one, and that the mayor Of Toronto. Pro- /
fame swearing is as much forbidden by the I.
law as THEFT, or arson, or murder; yet who
executes it, Profanity is worse than
theft, or arson, or murder, for these
crimes are attacks on humanity-that is
an attack on God.
This country is pre-eminent for bias
phemy. man travelling in Russia was
supposed to be a clergyman.
why do you take me 10 be a clergy
MANI" said The man.
"Oh," said the Russian, "all other Amer.
leans swear"
The crime is multiplying in intensity.
God very often shows what He thinks of
it, but for the most part the fatality is
hushed up. A few summers ago among
the Adirondacks I'met the funeral process
sion of a man who, two days before, had
fallen under fash of lightning while
boasting. after a Sunday of work in the
fields, that he had cheated God out Of one
day anyhow; and the man who worked
with him on the same Sabbath is still liv-
ing, but helpless invalid under the same
fash. On the road from Margate to Rams
gate, England, you may find rough mon
ument with the inscription:
A boy was struck dead here while fin the
art of swearing.
Years ago in a Pittsburgh prison two
men were talking about the Bible and
Christianity, and one of them, Thompson
by name, applied to Jesus Christ a very
low and villainous epithet, and as he was
uttering il he fell. A physician was called,
but no help could be given. After lying a
day with distended pupils and palsied
tongue, he passed out of this world. In a
cemetery in Sullivan County, in this State,
are eight healstones in a line and all
alike, and there are the factsl In 1861
diphtheria ragged in the village, and a
physician was remarkably successful In