The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-06-20
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Gradual Rounding Up OF the
Nineteenth Century.
The Golden Opportunities of the Present
are Ours; the Future We May Not,
Count Upon Unless We Make
Preparation for 1t.

Amen: NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. xix, T.
The nineteenth century is departing.
After it has taken a few more steps, If
each year be a step, it will be gone into
the eternities In a short time we shall
be in the last decade of this century,
which fact makes the solmnest book out
side the Bible the almanac, 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, win be the grandest, might
est and most decisive decade in all
the chronologles. 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 years of the nineteenth
century-may we all live to see them!
Does any one say that this di-
vision of time is arbitrary? Oh,
no; in other ages the divisions
of time may have been arbitrary, but our
years date from Christ. Does any one
say that the groupings of ten together is
an arrangement arbitrary? Oh, no; next
to the figure seven, ten is with God IA
vorite number. Abraham dwelt ten years
In Canaan. Ten righteous men would
have saved Sodom. In the ancient taber-
nacle there were ten curtains, their pill
lars ten and their sockets ten. In the
ancient temple were ten LAYERS and ten
candle sticks and ten tables and molten
sea of ten cubits. And the command
nents written on the granite of Mount
Sinai were ten, and the Kingdom of God
was 1ikcned to ten virgins, and ten men
should lay hold Of him that was Jew,
and the reward Of the greatly faithful is
that they should reign over ten cities, and
in the effort to take the census of the New
Jerusalem the number ten swings round
the thousands, crying: ''ten thousand
times ten thousand" So come to look
toward the closing ten years of the nine
teenth century with an intensity of inter-
est can hardly describe.
have also noticed that the favorite
time in many of the centuries for great
events was the closing fragment of the
century. Is America to be discovered, it
must be in the last decade of the fifteenth
century, namely, 1892. Was free consti-
tutional government to be well estab-
lished in America, the last years of the
eighteenth century must achieve it. Were
three cities to be submerged by one pitch
of scori@, Herculaneum and Strabie and
Pompeii in the latter part of the first cent
ury must go under. The fourth century
closed with the most agitating ecclesias
teal war of history. Urban the Sixth
against Clement the Seventh. Alfred the
Great closes the ninth century and Ed
ward Ironsides the eleventh century with
their resounding deeds. The six
teenth century closed with the es-
adjustment of religious inde-
pendence in the United Netherlands.
Aye. almost every century has had its
peroration of overtowering achieve
ments. As the closing years of the cent
uries seem q favorite time for great
scenes of emancipation or disaster, and
as the number ten seems a favorite num-
Der il the Scriptures, written by Divine
direction, and as we are soon to enter
upon the last ten years of the nineteenth
century, what does the world propose?
What does the Church of God proposed
What do reformers propose? l know
not; but now in the presence of this con-
Eecrated assembly, 1 propose that we
make ready, get all our batteries planted
and all our plans well laid in what re-
mains Of this decade, and then in the last
decade of the nineteenth century marcel
up and take this rough world for God.
When / say we, mean the five hundred
million Christians now alive. But, as
many or them will not have enough hear
for the work, let us copy Gideon, and al
he had thirty-two thousand men in his
army to fight the Midianites, but many Of
them were not made of the right stuff
and he promulgated a military order
saying: whatsoever is fearful anC
afraid let him return and depart early
from Gilead," and twenty-five Thousand
were afraid of getting hurt and Wen
home, and only ten thousand were left
and God told them that even this reduced
number was too large number, for the
might think they had triumphed indie
pendent of Divine help, and so the mum
Der must be still further reduced, anC
only those should be kept in the rank!
who in passing the river should be so IL
haste for victory over their enemies that
though very thirsty, they would withou
stopping a second just scoop up the watel
in the palm Of their right hand and SCOOP
up the water in the palm of their lief
hand, and only three hundred men did that
and those three hundred men, Will
the battle shout, 1.-THE sword O.
the Lord and of Gideon" scattered
the Mechanics like leaves in al
equinox so out of five hundred millior
nominal Christians of to-day let all I'M
believers and towards go home and ge
out OF the way. And suppose we hav,
four hundred million left, suppose onl,
two hundred million left, suppose one hun
dred million left, yea, suppose we hav.
only fifty million left, with them we vii
undertake the Divine crusade, and eacl
one just scooping up palm full of tn,
river of Gods mercy in one hand and
palm full of Gods strength in the other
let us with the cry, THE sword Of tn,
Lord aud Of Gideon" the sword of tn,
Lord and of John Knox, the sword of th,
Lord and of Matthew Simpson, the swort
of the Lord and of Bishop McIlvaine, the
sword Of the Lord and of Adoniram Jud.
SON, the sword of the Lord and of Martir
Luth er, 90 into the last crusade of thu
nineteenth century.
Suppose the Bible had announced tbs
millennium to begin the year 1889, tina
would be no hinderance. In one sens,
God never changes His mind. being til,
same yesterday, to-day and forever. Blu
in another sense He does change His mint
and times without number every day, ans
that is when His people pray. Didn't H,
change His mind about Nineveh? B,
Gods command Jonah, at the top of hi
voice, while standing on the steps of tn,