Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-01-10
A NEW YEARS SERMON.
PREACHED BY DR. TALMAeE, SUN
DAY, JAN. 4, 1891.

DAY, JAN. a, 1891.
He Describes Forward Movcmcnt-The
Conflict Between Right and Wrong,
/ Christians Should Not Lose Courage,
but Should Press on to Victory.
BROOKLYN. Jan. 4.-Dr. Talmage's
New Years sermon is a ringing battle
cry to ministers and Christians every
where, calling upon them to join in a
combined charge on the intrenehments
of sin and Satan 1t made deep i'm;
preston on the vast crowds who heard
it in this city this morning, and at The
Christian Herald service tonight in
New York. The enthusiasm at tile lat
ter service was increased by the effect
i've MD rendered by large volunteer
choir which has been organized from
the audiences, who sung with volume
and fervor seldom equaled. After the
singing of the hymn commencing,
Come, Holy Spirit heavenly dove,
With oil thy q;ickening powers,
DR.. Tallnage preached the following
sermon from the text Luke xiv, 40,
''Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem un-
til we be endued with power from on
high"
For a few months, in the providence
of God, l have two pulpits one in Brook
Ign and the other in New York, and
through the kindness of the printing
press an ever widening opportunity.
To all such hearers and readers come
with all especial message. The time
has arrived for forward movement
such as the church and the world have
never seen. That there is need for
such religious movement is evident
from the fact that never since our
world was swung out among the planets
has there been such an organized and
determined effort to overthrow right
eousness and make the Ten Command
Inents obsolete and the whole Bible a
derision. Meanwhile alcoholism is tax
ing down its victims by the hundreds
of thousands, and the political parties
get down on their knees, practically
saying: 20 thou almighty ruin Jug we
bow down before thee. Give US the
offices. city. state and national. Oh,
give US the offices and we will worship
thee for ever and ever, Amen"
The Christian Sabbath meanwhile,
appointed for physical, mental and
spiritual rest is being secularized and
abolished. As if the bad publishing
houses of our own country had ex-
hausted their literary filth. the French
and Russian sewers have been invited
to pour their scurrility and moral slush
into the trough where our American.
swine are now wallowing. Meanwhile
there are enough houses of infalny in.
all our cities, open and unmolested of
the law, to invoke the omnipotents
wrath which buried Sodom under a.
deluge of birthstone. The pandemo-.
MAC world, think, has massed its
t52o lRHe and Sl.t they are this moment ply
church circles, social circles, political
circles and national circles. Apollyon
is in the saddle, and, riding at the head
of his myrmidons, would capture this
world for darkness and woe.
THE CHRISTIAN SIDE OF TIE FIGHT.
That is one side of the conflict now
raging. On the other side we have the
mostlnagni6cent gospel machinery that
the world ever saw or heaven ever in
vented. In the first place, there are in
this country more than so, 600 ministers
of religion, and, take them as a class,
more consecrated, holier, moro consist
ent, more self denying, more faithful
men never lived. I know them by the
thousands. have met them in every
city. l am told, not by them, but by
people outside our profession, people
engaged in Christian and reformatory
work, that the clergy of America are
at the head OF all good enterprises, and
whoever else fail they may be depend
ed on. The truth Of this is demonstrate
ed by the fact that when minister of
religion does fail. it is so exceptional
that the newspapers report it as some
thing startling, while hundred men
in other callings may go down without
the matter being considered as espe-
cially worth mentioning
In addition to their equipment in
moral character the clergy of this
country have all that the schools can
give. All archaeological, rhetorical,
scientific, scholastic, literary attain
ment. So much for the Christian min
istry of all denominations In the next
place, on our side of the conflict we
have the grandest churches Of all time,
and higher style of membership and
more of them, and host without NUM-
Der of splendid men and women who
are doing their best to have this world
purified, elevated, gospelized. But we
all feel that something is wanting.
Enough hearty songs have been sung
and enough earnest sermons preached
within the last six months to save all
the cities of America; and saving the
cities you. save the world, for they over
flow all the land either with their re-
Ggion or their infainy.
SOME STARTLING FACTS.
But look at some of the startling
facts. 1t is nearly nineteen hundred
wears since Jesus Christ came by the
way of Bethlehem caravansary to save
this world, yet the most of the world
has been no more touched by this most
stupendous fact of all eternity than If
on the first Christmas night the beasts
of the stall, amid the bleatings of their
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