The Red Cloud chief., 1891-01-16
r
d. Tal1nago. UIUee a0rand Amer.
icon Revival
The Eoeny's Fsrces Deiag Nassea anA II
Christian Army Asse Prepare Fer sAe
Great CeoaASt-An Appeal 70
4lnlgters

In his first sermon Of the New Yea,
ut Brooklyn Rev. T. Dewitt Talmagv
took his text from Luke xiv. 49," Tarry
We in the city OF Jerusalem until We b
cndued with power from on high" HI
said:
For a few months, in the providence
OF God. ] have two pulpits, one in
Brooklyn and the other in New York
and through the kindness of the print
ing press an ever widening opportunity,
To all such hearers and readers I come
with an especial message. The time
has arrived for q forward movement
snch as the church and world have neye,
seen. That there is q need for such Z
religious movement is evident from the
factthatnever, since our world hasswuna
out among the planets, has there been
such an organized and determined effort
tooverthrow righteousness and make the
Ten Commandments obsolete and the
whole Bible a derision. Meanwhile al.
coholism is taking down its victims by
the hundreds Of thousands and the
political parties get down on thei.
knees. practically saying: 20, thou
almighty Rum jug, we bow down be
fore thee. Give us the Offices. city,
State and National. q, give us the Of
fees and we will worship thee forever
and ever. Amen" The Christian Sab
bath meanwhile. appointed for physical,
mental and spiritual rest. is being secu-
larized and abolished. As If the bad
publishing houses of our own country
had exhausted 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 w~allowing.
Meanwhile there are enough houses Of
infamy in all our cities, open and un-
molested Of the law, TO invoke the ON
nipotent wrath which buried SOdom
under a deluge of birthstone.
The ~pandemonisc world, / think, has
massed its troops and they are this mo-
ment plying their batteries upon family
circles, church circles, political circles
and national circles. ApOllyon is in the
saddle and riding ut the head Of his
%squadrons would capture this world for
oAi 0tu WV. udt II III SlOC "a
the conflict now raging. On the Otl.er
side we have the most magnificent Hos-
pei machinery that the world ever saw or
Heaven ever invented. In the first place,
in this country are more than eighty
Thousand ministers of religion, and,
take them as a class, more cOnsecrated,
holier, more consistent. more ~self-deny-
ing, more faithful men never lived.
know them by the thousands. I nave
met them in every city. l nm told,
not by them, but by people out
ride u 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 Ike dcpended
on. The truth of this is demonstrated
by the fact that when a minister Of re-
ligion falls, it is 50 exceptional that the
newspapers report it as something
startling. while q hundred men in other
callings may go down without the mat
ter being considered as especially worth
mentioning. In the next place on our
side of the conflict we have the grand
est churches of all time and higher
style of membership. and more of them,
and a host without number Of splendid
men and women who are doing their
best to nave this world purified. elevated,
gospelized. But we all feel that some
thing is wanting.
But look at some of the startling
facts. 1t is nearly 1900 years since
Jesus Christ came by the way of Beth
lehem c~aravansary to ave this world.
vet the most of the world has been no
more touched by this most s~tupendous
fact of all eternity than if on the first
Christmas night the beasts of the stall
amid the bleatings of their own young |
had not heard the bleating of the Lamb
that was to be slain. Out of the l,SO0,-
OOO, 900 of the human race, 1,4OO, 600, 900 |
are without God and without hope in
the world. the camel driver of Arabia,
Mahomet, with his nine wives. having |
half as many disciples As our blessed
Christ, and more people are worshiping
chunks of painted wood and carved
stone than are worshiping the living
and eternal God.
What is the matter? NV text lets out
the secret. We all need more Of the
power from on high. Not muscular
power. not logical power, not scientific
al power, not social power, not finan-
cial power. not brain power, but power
from on high. With it We could ac-
complish more in one week than with
out il in 100 years. And l am going to
get it, If in answer to prayer, earnest
and long continued, God will grant it To
me. His unworthy servant Men and
women who know how TO pray, when
you pray for yourself, pray for me that
/ may be endued with power from on
high. ] would rather have it than all
the diamond fields Of Golconda, and all
the pearls Of the sea and all the gold of
the mountains. Many of the mightiest
never had q touch Of ii. and many Of the
less than ordinary intellects have been
surcharged with il.
But power from on the level is not
sufficient. Power from or high is what
we need to take possession Of us. Power
straight from God. Supernatural power,
omnipotent power, all c~onquering
power. No more than one out of .
thousand of the ministers have it con-
tinuously. Not more than one out of
ten thousand Christians have it all the
time. Given in abundance these last
ten wears of the nineteenth century
would accomplish more for God and
the church and the world than the previ-
u ninety years of this century. A few
men and women in each age Of the
world have possessed it. Caroline Fry,
the immortal Quakeress, hsd it, and 800
of the depraved and suffering OF New
gate prison under her exhortation re-
pented and believed. Jonathan
Edwards had it, Samuel Budgett
the Christian merchant, had it
and his benefactions showered
the world. John Newton hadi it. Bish-
op Latimer had it: isabella Graham
had it. Andrew Fuller had it The
great evangeli<ts. Daniel Baker ana
Doctor Nettleton and Truman Osborn
and Charles 4. Finney had it. In my
boyhood I saw Truman Osborn rise to
preach in the village church at Somer-