Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-01-16
REV. DR.. TaIMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT, "A RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
IN 1891"

tsntA ye Be sndued tvith poieer from on
haA'-Luks xiv, 20.
For . few months in the providence or
Tod l 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 message.
The time has arrived for q forward move
ment such as the church and the world have
never seen. That there is need for such
religious movement Is evident from che fact
that never since our world was swung out
among the planets has there been such an
organized and determined effort 10 over
throw Righteousness and make the Ten
Commandments obsolete and the whole Bible
derision. Meanwhile alcoholism is taking
down its victims by the hundreds OF thou,
sands and the political parties get down ON
their knees, practically saying: 20 thou al
mighty rum jug We bow down before thee
Give us the oftices--city, State and national.
Oh, give MS the offices, and we will worship
thee for ever and ever; Amen
The Christian Sabbath meanwhile, ap-
pointed for physical, mental and spiritual
rest, Is being secularized and abolished. As
II the bad publishing houses OF our own coun-
try had exhausted their literary filth, the
French and Russian sewers have been invited
10 pour their scurrilitY and moral slush into
the trough where our American swine are
now wallowing. Meanwhile there are enough
houses Of infamy In all our cities, open and
unmolested of the law. TO invoke the omnipo-
tent wrath which buried Sodom under a de-
luge Of birthstone. The pandemoniac world,
think, has massed its troops, and they arc
at this momcnt 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 raging.
Tn the other side we have the most magnih-
cent gospel machinery that the world ever
saw or heaven ever invented. In the first
place there are in this country more than
eighty thousand ministers Of religion and,
take them as class, more conSecrated,
holer, more consistent, more self denying,
more faithful men never lived. l know them
by the thousands. have met them in every
city. am told not by them, but by people
outside Of our profess, on, people engagediu
Christian and reformatory work, that tho
clergy OF America are at the head OF all good
enterprises, aud whoever else fail they may
be depended on. The truth Of this is demon
strated by the fact that when a minister OK
religion does fall It is 50 exceptional that the
newspapers report II as something startling,
while hundred men in other callings may
go down without the matter being considered
as especially worth mentioning
In addition to their equipment in moral
character the clergy Of this country have all
that the schools can give. All Archaeology
cal 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
8randest churches of all time and higher
style OF membership and more of them, and
host without number Of splendid men and
who IN ipipo THAR hast 60 ox-
world purified, elevated, gospeliEed. 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 Amer
lea, 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 by this most stupendous fact Of
all eternity than IL on the first Christmas
night the beasts Of the stall, amid the bleat-
ings Of their own young, had not heard the
beating Of the Lamb that was to be slain.
Out Of the eighteen hundred million Of the
human 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 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. Meanwhile, the most OK
us who are engaged in Christian work.
speak for myself as well as others-are toll.
ing up to our full capacity of body, mind and
soul, harnessed up TO the last buckle, not
able to draw O pound more than we are
drawing or lift an ounce more than we are
lifting
What Is the matteri My text lets out the
secret. We all need moro Of the power from
on high. Not muscular power, not logical
power, not scientific power, not social power,
not financial power, not brain power, but
power from on high With it we could ac-
complish moro in one week than without it
in hundred years. And am going to get
1t, II In answer TO prayer, earnest and long
continued, God will grant 1t to me, His I'M
worthy 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 intelects
never had touch OF IL, and many Of the less
than ordinary intellects have been surcharged
with It, And every man and woman on earth
has right to aspire to it. right to pray for
1t, and. properly persistent will obtain It.
Power from on the level IL a gooi thing,
such power as may give you, or you may
give me, by encouraging words and actions.
Power from on the level when we stand by
each other in any Christian undertaking.
Power from on the level when other pulpits
are in accord with ours. Power from on the
level when the religious and secular press
forward our Christian undertakings But
power from on the level IL not sufficient
Power from on high is what we need to take
possession of us. Power straight from God.
Supernatural power, omnipotent power, all
conquer4pg power. Not more than one out
OF Thousand OF the ministers has il con-
tlnuously. Not more than one out of ten
thousand Christians has it all the time. Given
IN abundance, these last ten years of the
nineteenth century would accomplish more
Tor Goo, and the church, and the world than
the previous ninety years of this century.
few men and women in each age of the
world have possessed It,. Caroline Fry, the
immortal Quakeress, had it, and three hun.
dred Of the depraved and suffering of New.
gate prison, under her exhortation repented
and believed. Jonathan Edwards had It, and
Northampton meeting house heard the out.
burst OF religious emotion as he spake of
Righteousness and judgment to come. Samuel
Budget, the Christian merchant, had IT, and
his Denefactions showered the world John
Newton had 1t. Bishop Latimer had it, lisa.
bella Graham had it. Andrew Fuller had it,
The great evangelists Daniel Baker and DR..
Nettleton and Truman Osborn and Charles
q. Finney had It. In my boyhood saw Tru.
man Osborn rise to preach in the village
church at Somerville, N. j., and before he
had given out his text or uttered a word
people in the audience sobbed aloud with re-
ligious emotion. 1t was tho power from on
high. All in greater or less degree may have
it. Once get II and nothing can stand before
you. Satan goes down. Caricature goes
down. lnfdelity goes down. Worldiness
goes down All opposition goes down
Several times in the history OF the church
and the world has this power from on high
been demonstrated. In the seventeenth