The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-01-21
POWER FROM ON HIGH.
The Time Rife for q Great Relig-
ious Awakening.
nent Apparent on Every side-Ths
Great Revivals Of 1881 and 1857

Evidences Of tho Need Of Forward Move
nent Apparent on Every side-Ths
Great Revivals Of 1881 and 1857
DIR. Talmage preached the following
sermon last Sunday from the text, Luke
xiv, 40: "Tarry We in the city Of Jeru-
salem until We be endued with power
from on high"
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 widening opportunity.
To all such hearers and readers l come
with an especial message. The time
has arrived for forward movement,
such as the church and the world have
never seen. That there is a need for
such religious movement is evident
from the fact that never since the world
was swung out among the planets has
there been such an organized and de-
termined effort to overthrow righteous
ness and make the Ten Commandments
obsolete and the whole Bible derision.
Meanwhile alcoholism 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 be-
fore thee. Give us the Offices, city, State
and national Oh, give us the offices
and we will enshrine thee forever and
ever, Amen" The Christian Sabbath
meanwhile, appointed for physical men
tai and spiritual rest, is being seculariz-
ed and abolished. AS if the bad pub
fishing 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 wallowing. Meanwhile,
there are enough houses of infamy in
all our cities, open and unmolested OF
the law, to invoke the Omnipotent wrath
which buried Sodom under deluge of
birthstone. The pandemoniac world, l
think, has massed it's troops, and they
ART this moment plying their batteries
upon family circles, church circles, So
cial circles, political circles and nation
al 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. On the other side we have the
most magnificent gospel machinery that
the world ever saw or Heaven ever in
vented. In the first place, in this coun-
try more than $4,000 ministers of re-
ligion, and, take them as class, more
consecrated, holier, more consistent,
more self-denying, more faithful men
never lived. know them by the thou
sands. 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 whoever else
fail, they may be depended on. The
truth of this is demonstrated by the
fact that when minister does fail, it is
SO exceptional that the newspapers re-
port it as something startling, while a
hundred men in other callings may go
down without the matter being con-
sidered 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
archaeological, 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 high
err style of membership, and more Of
them, and o host without number of
splendid men and women, who are do
ing their best to have this world puri-
fed, elevated, gospelized But we all
feel that something is wanting. Enough
hearty songs have been sung, and
enough 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 1000 years since
Jesus Christ came by the way of Beth
iehem caravansary to save this world,
yet the most of the world has been no
more touched by this most stupenduous
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 1,S00,-
100000 of the human race !, 400, 900, 900
are without God and without hope in
the world, the camel-driver of Arabia,
Mohammed, with his nine wives, hav-
ing 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
of us who are engaged in Christian
work! speak for myself as well as
others-are toiling up to our full capac-
ity of body, mird and soul, harressed
mp 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 lets out
the secret. We all need more of the
power from on high. Not muscular
power, not logical power, no, scientific
: power, not social power, not financial
: power. not brain power, but power from
/. O high. With tive could accomplish
. m. re in one week than without it in a
hun drcd years. And l am going to get
it a, in answer to prayer, earnest and
long continued, God will grant it me,
His unworthy servant. Men and women