The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-04-20

ten centuries are not long for the Lord.
But why do you not quote the previous
sentence, which say that one day is with
the Lord as a thousand years? That il,
he could do the work of ten centuries in
tw~enty-four hours. The mightiest OBJ
stacle to Christian work is the impression
that the worlds evangelization is away
of.
What makes me think it can be done?
First, because God is ready. He needs no
long persuasion to do his work, for if He
is not willing that any should perish, He
is not willing that any of the people of
the mex decade shall perish; and the
whole Bible is a chime of bells ringing
out "come, come, come" and you need
not go round the earth to find out how
much He wants the world to come, but
just to walk around one stripped and bare
and ~leafiess tree with two branches, not
arched, but horizontal. But He is waiting,
as He said He would, for the cooperation
of the Church. When we are ready God
is ready. And He certainly has all the
weaponry ready to capture this world for
the truth, all the weapo of indness or
devastation.
If you continue to ask me why l think
that the world can be saved in the final
decade of the nineteenth century, | reply
because it is not n great undertaking, con-
sidering the number of workers that will
go at it. il once persuaded it can be lone.
We have sifted the five hundred million
Of workers down to four hundred million
and three hundred million and two hum
dred million and one hundred million and
to fifty million. l went to work to cipher
out how many souls that number could
bring to God in ten years IL each one
brou0ht n sOul eyarv year- and IL aach
soul so brought SHOULD bring another each
succeeding year. l found out, aided by IA
professor of mathematics, hat we did not
need any thing like such a number of
workers enlisted. You see it Is simply a
question of mathematics and in geoinet-
rical progression.
Do you tell me that God does not care
for mathematics Then you nave never
seen the Giants C~auseway, where God
shows His regard for the ~hexagonal in
whole ranges of rocky columns with six
sides and six angles. Then you have not
studied the geometry of n bees honey
comb with six sides n six angles. Then
you have not noticed what regard God
has for the square,; the altar of the an
Gent tabernacle, four square; the breast
plate four square; tho court of the temple
in Ezekiel's vision, four square; the New
oO oiO ihiu u louI SuuuTes UT you
have not noticed His regard for the circle
by making it His throne, ''sitting on the
circle of the EARTH" and fashioning sun
and moon and stars in a circle and send
ing our planetary system around other
systems in q circle. And as to
His regard for mathematical num-
bers, He makes the fourth book
in His Bible the Book of Numbers, and
numbers of the hosts of Israel and mum
bers the troops of Sennacherib, and num-
bers Solomon's hewers in the forest, and
numbers the spearmen, and numbers the
foOtmen, and numbers the converts at
Pentecost, and number the chariots of God
rolling d own the steps of Heaven.
Another reason why l know it can be
done Is that we may divide the work ND
among the denominations. God does not
ask any one denomination to do the work
or any dozen denominations. The work
can be divided up, not geographically, but
according to tho temperaments of the
human family. We can not say to one
denominations: "You take Persia" and
another, "You take China" and another,
You take India" because there are all
styles of temperaments in all nations.
And some denominations are especially
adapted to work with people of %sanguine
1891 t~aSAN Va ph'O ~ VihDOi tulcIU,
or bilious temperament. or nervous temper
ament, or Emphatic temperament. The
Episcopal Church will do its most effective
work with those who by taste prefer the
stately and ritualistic. The Methodist
Church will do its most effective work
among the emotional and demonstrative.
The Preshyterian Church will do its best
work 1niou< hose who like strong doc
<kI1@ H<f& <84 Rtately service softened by
81 8 <no1nination will have certain
81 people whom it will especially
{8et 30 let the work be divided up.
There are 100, 900 Christians Of the Presby-
t erian Church North and other hundreds
of thousands in the Presbyterian Church
South and all foreign Presbyterians, more
especially Scotch, English and Irish,
making, l guess, about 1000. 900 Presby-
terians; the Methodist Church is still
larger; the Church of England on both
sides the sea still larger; and many other
denominations as much if not more CON-
secrated than n 1 have mentioned.
Divide up the worlds evangelization
among these denominations after they are
persuaded it can DO lone before the nine
teenth century is dead and the last Hot
tentot, the last Turk, the last Japanese,
the last American, the last European, the
last African, will see the salvation of God
before he sees the opening gate of the
twentieth century.
Again, / feel the whole world can be
saved in the time specified, because we
have all manner of machinery requisite.
1t is not AS though we bad to build the
printing presses: they are all built and
running day and night, those printing
religious papers (925 of those religious
papers in this country, those printing
religious tracts and those printing relig-
ious books. And thousands of printing
presses now in the service of the devil
could be brought and set to work in the
service of God. Why was the printing
press invented? To turn out billheads and
circulars of patent medicines and to tell
the news which in three weeks will be Of
no Importance From the old Franklin
printing press on up to the Lord STAN
hopes press and the Washington press
and the Victory press to Hoes perfecting
printing press hat machine has been i'm.
proving for its best work and its final
work. namely, the publication of the glad
tiding of great joy which shall be to all
people. We have the presses, or we a
them before January l. when the
new decade is to begin, to put a Bible in
S.S 80 ~ WV W. "HN
Adam and Eve now living, and il such
person can not read we can have a col
p~orteur, an evangelist or missionary to
read to him or her.
But this brings me to the adjoining
thought; namely, we have the money tc
do the work. / mean the 0,000. 600 of
Christians have it. Aye, the 2,754, 900
Christians have it, and the dam which is
beginning to leak will soon break and
there will be rushing floods Of hundreds
and millions and billions of dollars in
holy contribution when you persuade the
wealthy men of the kingdom of God that
the speedy conversion of the world is a
possibility, and that Isaiah and Ezekiel
and Daniel and st. John will not stand in
the way of it, but help IL on. l have no
sympathy with this bombardment of rich
men. We would each be worth 80, 000, 900
il we could, and by hard persuasion might
perhaps be induced to take $l5, 000, 900.
Almost every paper / take tells of some
wealthy man who has endowed a college
or built a church or a hospital or a free
library and that thing Is going to multi
ply until the treasury of all our denomi-
nations and reformatory organizations
will be overwhelmed with munificence IL
we can persuade our men of wealth that
the worlds evangelization is possible and
that they may live to see it with their own
eyes.
Now, what can be an appropriate climax
to this century, which has heard the puff
OF the first steamer and the throb of the
first ~stethoscope and the click Of the first