The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-10-07
DIR. l5,if :. TALMAGES SERMON.
BLAsPHEMY DRUNKENNESS AND I'M
PURITIEs OF our CITIES.

PURlTIES OF our CITIES.
A Battle Cry for the Church of GOd-Put
the Liquor Trafac-Immorality in the
City of Churches.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, Oct 3.-The opening
hymn at the Tabernacle this morning begins:
Arm of the Lord, awakei awake
Put on thy strength, the nations shake.
Having expounded the account Of Pauls
conversion as given in Acts xxi, the Rev.
t. De Witt Talmage, D. D., took for his text
Psalms xviii, 1: s'Let God arise let His enc
mics be scattered; )" from which he preached
the following sermon:
A procession was formed to carry the Ark
or sacred box which, though only three feet
nine inches in height and depth, was the
symbol of Gods presence. As tho leaders
of the procession lifted this o1namented and
brilliant box by two golden poles run through
9our golden rings, and started for Mount
Zion, all tine people chanted the battle hymn
of my text: "Let God arise, let His enemies
be scattered
The Cameronians of Scotland, outraged by
James /, who forced upon them religious
forms that were offensive, and by the ter
rible persecution of Dlummond, Dalziel and
Turner and by the oppressive laws of Charles
and Charles II, were driven to proclaim
war against tyrants and went forth to fight
for religious liberty; and the mountain
heather became red with carnage, and at
Boutwell, bridge and Airds moss and Drum
clog the battle hymn and the battle shout of
those glorious old Scotchmen was the text 1
have chosen: "Let God arise, let His enemies
be scattered" -saa
What a whirlwind of power was Oliver
Cromwell, and how with his soldiers name,
'the Ironsides," he went from victory to vic
toryl Opposing armies melted as he looked
at them He dismissed parliament as easily
as sehoolmaster at school He pointed his
finger at Berkeley castle, and it was taken.
He ordered Lord Hopton, the general to dis
mount and he dismounted. See Cromwell
marching on with his army, and hear the
battle cry of ethe IroAsides,n loud as storm
and solemn as a death knell, standards reel
ing before it, and cavalry horses going back
on their launches, and armies flying at
Marston moor, at Wincepy field, at Naseby,
at Bridgewater and Dartmouth-"Let God
arise, let His enemies be scattered"
So you see my text is not like compl-
mentary and tasseled sword that you some
times see hung up in parlor, a sword that
was never in battle, and only to be used on
general training day; but more like some
weapon carefully hung up in your home, tell
ing its story of Chepultepec, Cerro Gordo, and
Chelubusco. and Thatcher's run, and Malvern
hill, for my text hangs in the Scripture arm
cry, telling of the holy wars Of 5000 years in
which it had been carried, but as keen and
mighty as when David first unsheathed it, II
seems to me what in the church of God, and
in all styles of reformatory work, we most
need now is a battle cry. We raise our little
standard and put ON it the name of some man
who only few years ago began tq liye, and
In a few years will cease to live. We go into
contest against the armies of iniquity depend
ing too much on human agencies. We use for
q battle cry the name Of some brave Chris
tian reformer, but after while that pefarHer
dies, or gets old, or loses his courage, and then
we take another battle cry, and this time per-
haps we put the name of some one who plays
Arnold and sells out TO the enemy. What we
want for battle cry Is tho name of some
leader who will never betray us, aad viii
never surrender, and will never die.
All respect have for brave men and wo-
men, but if we are going to get the victory
all along the line we must put God first We
must take the hint of the Gideonites, who
wiped out the Bedouin Arabs, commonly
called Midianites These Gideonites had
glorious leader in Gideon, but what was the
battle cry with which they flung their enc
mics into the worst defeat into which any
army was ever tumblsd? 1t was "The sword
Of the Lord and of Gideon" Put God first,
whoever you put second. II the army Of the
American revolution are to free America, it
must be 'ithe sword of the Lord and of Wash
Ington." If the Germans want to win the
day at Sedan, it must be 'the sword of the
Lord and Vpn MoItke." Waterloo was
won for the English because not only
the armed men at the front but the wor-
shippers in the cathedrals at the reaV were
crying, "The sword of the Lord and Wei
lington." The Methodists have gone in tri-
umph across nation after nation with the cry,
"The sword OF tho Lord and of Wesley
The Presbyterians have gone from victory to
victory with the cry, "The sword of the Lord
and of John knox, The Baptists have con-
quered millions after millions for Christ with
the cry, @The sword of the Lord and of judi
SON." The American Episcopalians have won
their mighty way with the cry, "The sword
of the Lord and of Bishop AcIlvaine." The
victory is to those who put God first. But as
we want battle cry suited to all sects of re-
ligionists, and to all lands, nominate as the
battle cry of Christendom in the approaching
Armageddon the words of my text, sounded
before the ark as it was carried to Mount
Zion: "Let God arise, Let His enemies be scat
tered"
As far as our finite mind can judge, it
seems about time for God to rise. Does it not
seem to you that the denominations of this
earth have gone far enough? Was there ever
a time when sin was so defianti Were there
ever before so many fists lifted toward God,
telling Him to come on IL He dare? Look at
the blasphemy abroad! What towering pro-
fanityl Would it be possible for any one to
calculate the numbers of times that the name
of Almighty God, and of Jesus Christ, are
every day taken irreverently on the lips So
common has blssphemy become that the pub
lie mind, and public ear, have got used to it,
and o blasphemer goes up and down this
country in bis lectures defying the plain law
against blasphemy, and there is not a mayor
in America that has backbone enough TO in
tel-fere with him save one, and that the mayor
of Toronto. Profane swearing is as much
forbidden by the law as theft, or arson, or
yet who executes it! Profanity Is
worse than theft, or arson, or murder, Tor
these crimes are attacks on bumanity-that
is an attack on God.
This country is pre-eminent for biasphemy.
A man travelling in Russia was supposed to
be a clergyman. "Why do you take me to
be q aclergymanp said the man. "Oh," said
the Russian, "aIl other Americans 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
l met the funeral procession of a man who,
two DAYS before, had fallen under a flash OF |
lightning while boasting, after 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 |
living, but helpless iaValid under the same
flash. On the road from MaFgato to Rams |
gate, England, you may find a rough monu- |
mont with the inscription: "a boy was struck |
dead here while in the act of swearing.
Years ego IN a Pittsburg prison two men
were talking about the Bible and Christianity
and ono of them, Thompson by name, ap |