Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-01-09

Gus Onslaught Against Sin and
Satan.-Why the World is Not NOW
| Christianized.-An Earnest Appeal
for Prayer.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, January 4.-Dr Tai
IMAGES New Years sermon is a ringing
battle-cry TO ministers and Christians
everywhere. calling upon them TO Join in
a combined charge on the entrenchments Of
of sin and Satan. 1t made deep impress
sion on the vast crowds who heard IL in
this city this morning and at the service
in New York tonight. The enthusiasm at
the latter service was increased by the
effective aid rendered by large volunteer
choir which has been organized from the
audiences, who sung with volume and
fervor seldom equalled. After the singing
of the hymn commencing,
Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove
With all thy quickening powers,-
Or. Talmage preached the following ser
mon from the text, Luke "a: 40: "Tarry
We in the city of Jerusalem until ye be
endued with power from on high"
For 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 printing press an ever
widening opportunity. To all such hearers
and readers | come with an especial mes
! sage The time has arrived for forward
movement such as the church and the
world have never seen. That there is need
for such "A religious movement is evident
| from the fact that never since our world
was rolled out among the planets has there
| beer such an organized and determined
effort 10 overthrow righteousness and make
the Ten Commandments obsolete and the
whole Bible derson. Meanwhile alco-
holsm is taking down its victims by the
hundreds of thousands, and the political
parties get down on their knees, practically
saying: 80 thou almighty Rum 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 exhausted their
literary filth, the French and Russian sew
ers have been invited to pour their sour
rility and immoral slush into the trough
where our Amer lean swine are now wal
lowing. Meanwhile, there are enough
houses Of infamy in all our cities, open and
unmolested of the law, TO invoke the ON
nipotent wrath which buried Sodom under
| deluge of birthstone. The pandemoniac
world, / think, has massed its troops and
they are this moment plying their batteries
upon family circles. 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.
That is one side Of the conflict now rag
J ing On the other side we have the most
magnificent Gospel machinery that the
world ever saw or heaven ever invented.
In the first place, in this country more than
eighty thousand ministers of religion and,
take them as a class, more consecrated,
| holier, more consistent, more self-denying.
more faithful men never lived. l know
them by the thousands. i have met them
in every city. / 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, who
ever else fail they may be depended on.
! The truth of this is demonstrated by the
a
fall, it is so exceptional that the news
papers report it as something startling.
while hundred men in other callings may
| go down without the matter being consid
cred as especially worth mentioning. In
addition TO their equipment in moral char
acter, the clergy of this country have all
that the schools can give. All archRolog-
! ical, rhetorical scientific scholastic.
| literary attainment. So much for the
] Christian ministry 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 number of
splendid men and women who are doing
their best 10 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 overflow all the land either with
their religion or their infamy.
But look at some of the startling facts.
1t is nearly nineteen hundred years 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
|
than IL on the first Christmas night the
beasts of the stall, amid the bleatings of
their own young, had not heard the bleat-
ing OF the Lamb that was TO be slain. Out
| of the eighteen hundred million of the hui
man race fourteen hundred million are
without God and without hope in the world.
the camel driver Of Arabia, Mahomet, with
his nine wives, having half as many disci-
pies as our blessed Christ; and more people
J are worshipping chunks of painted wood and
| carved stone than are worshipping the liv
ing and eternal God. Meanwhile, the most
of us who are engaged in Christian work
| j speak for myself as we'll as others-are
toiling up to our full capacity of body.
mind and soul, hanessed up TO the last
buckle, not able TO draw pound more
than we are drawing, or lift an ounce more
than we are lifting.
What is the matter? My text let's out
the secret. We all need more Of the power
from on high. Not muscular power, not
logical power, not scientific power, not
social power, not financial power, not