News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-04-25
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR TALMAGEs
STERLING DISCOURSES
Subject; Rounding up the Century"
TEXT: Amen; Ane,uta.n Revelations

Text: Amen; AllelHia."- Revelations
xix, f.
The Nineteenth century is departing. At
Ter 1t has taken few more steps, if each
year be step, it win be gone into the eterni-
ties. In short time we shall be in the last
decade of this century, which fact makes the
soieInnest book outside the Bible the al
man3c, and the most suggestive and the
most tremendous piece of machinery in all
the earth the clock. The last decade of this
century upon which we shall soon enter will
be the grandest mightieSt and most
decisive decade in all the chronologieS. am
glad It Is not to come Immediately, for we
need by new baptism of the Holy Ghost to
prepare for it. That last ten wears of the
Nineteenth century, may we all live to see
them! Does any one say that this division
OF time Is arbitrary? Oh, no: in other ages
the divisions of time may have been erbi-
trary, but our years date from Christ. Does
any one say that the grouping of ten together
Is an arrangement arbitrary? Oh, no; next
TO the figure seven ten is with God favorite
number. Abraham dwelt ten years in
Caaaan Ten righteous men would have
saved SodOm. In the ancient tabernacle were
ten curtains, their pillars ten and their sock
cts ten. In the ancient temple were ten Law
er'S and ten candleStickS and ten tables and a
molten sea of ten cubits. And the command
ments written on the granite of Mount
Sinai were ten, and the kingdom of God was
hkened to ten virgins, and ten men should lay
hold of him that was a jew, and the reward
of the greatly faithful Is that they shall reign
over ten cities and in the effort to take the
census of the New Jerusalem the number ten
swings around the thousands, crying " ten
thousands times ten thousands So l come
20 look toward the closing ten years of the
Nineteenth century with an intensity of in
terest l can hardly describe.
have also noticed that the favorite time
IN IN many OF the centuries for great events was
FlNra faNF~- Il
America TO be discovered. it must be in the
last decade of the Fifteenth century namely,
l4S2. Was free constitutional government to
be well established in America, the last years
of the Eighteenth century must achieve it.
Were three cities to be submerged by one
pitch OF scoria, Herculaneum and Strabi@
and PomDeii in the latter part of the First
century must go under The Fourth CEN
fury closed with the most agitating ecclesi-
astlcal war OF history Urban the Sixth
against Clement the Seventh. Alfred the
Treat closes the Ninth century and Edward
sounding deeds. The Sixteenth century closed
with the establishment of religious in
dependence in the United Netherlands. Ave
- most every century has had its peroration
0I oFertowering achievements. As the clos
ING years of the centuries seem a favorite
uine Tor great scenes of emancipation or dis
sStef, and as the number ten seems a favor
tie number in the Scriptures written by di-
VINE direction, and as we are soon to enter
upon the last ten years of the Nineteenth CEN
fury, what does the world propose? What
docs the church Of Christ propose? What do
retoTmerS propose? l know not; but now in
the presence of this consecrated assembly l
propose that we make ready, get all our bat
terleS planted and all our plans well laid in
what remains of this decade. and then in the
last decade of the Nineteenth century march
up and take this round world for God.
7 CIV T g.
milllon Christians now alive. But as many
Oh them VAL not have enough heart for the
york let lis copy Gideon and as he had thirty
.wo thousand men in his army to fight the
mldIanltes but many of them were not made
81 the right stuff aud he promulgated mill
taTy order saying: "Whosoever is fearful
and afraid let him return and depart early
from Gliead, and twenty-five thousand
we're afraid of getting hurt and went
home and only ten thousand We're left and
Sod told them that even this reduced number
was too large a number, for thev might think
hey had triumphed Independent of divine
help and 50 the number must be still further
reduced and only those should be kept in the
-anks VINO in passing the river should be so
n haste for victory over their enemies that
though very thirsty, they would without
Stopping a second Just SCOOP up the water
N the palm of their right hand and
scoop up the water in the palm of their
eft hand, and only three hundred men did
that and those three hundred men with the
battle shout: THE sword of the Lord and of
Gideon, scattered the MidianiteS like leaves
n an equinox, so out of the five hundred mil
ion nominal Christians of to-day let all I'M
believers and towards go home and get out
Of the way. And suppose we have only four
hundred million left, suppose only two hun
ared million left, suppose only one hundred
million LEFT, yea suppose We only have fifty
raAlAcnleft, with them we will undertake the
divine crusade and each one Just scooping up
palm full of the river of Gods mercy in one
hand and palm full of the river of Gods
strength in the other, let us with the cry,
The sword of the Lord and Gideon the
sword of the Lord and of John Knox, the
sword of the Lord and of Matthew Simpson,
the sword of the Lord and of Bishop Nell
vai2e, the sword of the Lord and of Adoniram
Judson, the sword of the Lord and of Martin
Luther, go into the last decade of the Nine
teenth century.
Is it audaciOus for me TO propose it? Oh.
40; a captive servant in the kitchen. of
Naanlan told the commander-in-chief where
he could get rid of the blotches of his awful
leprosy and his complexion became as fair as
q babes. And didn't Christ in order to take
the ophthalmia out of the ewes of the blind
man use 4 mixture of spittle and dust I? And
who showed Butcher short cut for his army,
so that instead of the regular road by which
he would have come up too late, he came up
in time to save Waterloo and Europe?
Was it not an unknown lad who perhaps
could not write his own nameY And so /,
who am less than the least of all saints
propose short cut TO victory and am willing
to be the expectoration on some blind eye
and tell some of the brigadier generals of the
Lord of host how this leprosied world may in
the final decade of the Nineteenth century
nave Its flesh come again as the flesh of
little child
Is there anything in prophecy to hinder
this speedy consummation? No. Some one
begins to quote from Daniel about ''time,
times and half time" and takes from Re
velation the seven trumpets blowing them all
at once in my ear. But with utmost rever-
ence l take up all the prophecies and hold
them toward heaven and say God never
has and never will stop consecrated
effort and holy determination and
magnificent resolve, and that if
the church OF God win rise up to its
full work it can make Daniels time
twenty years and his half time ten years
Neither Isaiah, nor Ezekiel, nor Micah,
nor Malachi, nor Jeremiah, nor any
of the major OF minor prophets will hinder
us a second. Suppose the Bible had an
nounced the millennium to begin the year
1899, that would be no hindranoe In
one sense God never changes His mind,
being the same yesterday, to-day and for
ever. But in another sense He does change
dis mind and times without number
every day, and that is when hlS people pray.
Didn't Re change His mind about Nineveh?
By Gods command Jonah, at the top of his
voice, while standing on the steps of the mer-
chants exchange and the palatial residences
Of that city, cried out: yet forty days aud
thrown IN forty days? No. The people gave
up their sins and cried for mercy, and though
Jonah got mad because his whole course Of
sermons had been spoiled and went into dis
graceful pouting, we have the record so
sublime ] cannot read it without feeling
nervous chill running through me. God
saw their works that they turned from their
evil way and God repented of the evil that
lie had said He would do unto them, and He
did it not" God is z father, and some of us
noE That That peS5n aad some sn tw ne T gbh19
deserved it. the little darling has put her
arms around our neck and expresses such
sorrow and such promises of doing better
that her tears landed on the lips of Our
kiss. and we held her half hour after on our
knee and would as soon think of slapping an
angel in the face as of even striking her with
the weight of our little finger. God is u
father, and while He has promised this world
scourgings, though they were to be for a
thousand years or FIVE thousand years, He
would. if the world repented, substitute beile-
d1ctlon ana dIv1ne cares. God changed
His mind ABOUT Sodom six times He had
determined on its destruction. Abraham
asked Him if He would not spare it if fifty
people were found there; and, mar
rowing down the number, if forty-five people
were found there; if forty people; if thirty
people; II twenty people; If ten people were
found there. And each of the six times the
Lord answered yes. Oh, why didn't Abra-
ham go on just two steps further and say if
five be found there and if one be found there,
for then for the sake Of Lot, its one good
citizen, I think SodOm would have
been spared. Eight times does the Bible say
that God repented when He had promised
punishmeuts and withheld the stroke Was
it a slip of PauIs pen when he spoke of Gods
cutting short the work IN righteousness No,
Pauls pen never slipped. There is nothing
no Of TO