The Iola register., 1891-01-16
TIME FOR ACTION.
DR.. Talmage Urges Grand Amer
lean Revival
The Enemy's Forces Being Massed and the
Christian Army Must Prepare For the
Great Confiict-An Appeal to
Ministers.

at Brooklyn Rev. 7. Dewitt TalmagS
took his text from Luke xiv. 49:" Tarry
ye in the city OF Jerusalem until We bt
endued with power from on high" He
said:
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 print
ing press an ever widening opportunity
To'all such hearers and readers | come
with an especial message The time
has arrived for a forward movement
such as the church and world have never
seen. That there is need for such a
religious movement is evident from the
fact that never, since our world has swung
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 derision. Meanwhile al
coholism is taking down its victims by
the hundreds of thousands and the
political parties get down on their
knees, practically saying: so, thou
almighty Rum jug, we botv down be-
fore thee. Give US the offices. city.
State and National. o. give us the of
fees and we viii 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 wallowing.
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 deluge of birthstone.
The pandemoniac 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 at the head of his
squadrons 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 Cos
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 class, more consecrated,
holier, more consistent, more self-deny-
ing, more faithful men never lived. l
Know them by the thousands. | have
met them in every city. l am told,
not by them. but by people out
side 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 a minister of re-
hgion falls, it is 50 exceptional that the
newspapers report it as something
startling, while hundred men in other
eallings 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 host without number of splendid
men and women who are doing their
u
gospelized. But We all feel that some
thing is wanting.
But look at some of the startling
facts. It is nearly 1000 years since
Jesus Christ came by the way of Beth
lehem 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 own young
had not heard the bleating OF the Lamb
that was to De slain Out of the 1,sO0,- |
00O, 900 of the human race, LOO. 900, 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 |
ont it in 100 years. And l am going to |
get it, if in answer to prayer, earnest |
and long continued, God will grant it to |
NE, 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 touch Of it. and many of the
less than ordinary intellects have been
sureharged with It.
But power from on the level is not
sufficient Power from on high Is what
we need to take possession of us Power
straight from God Supernatural power,
omnipotent power, all conquering
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 years OF the nineteenth century
would accomplish more for God and
the church and the world than the previ-
Gus ninety years of this century. A few
men and women in each age of the
world have possessed il. Caroline Fry,
the immortal QuakeresS. had it. and 800
of the depraved and suffering of New
gate prison under her exhortation re-
pented and believed. Jonathan
Edwards had it, Samuel Rudgett
the Christian merchant, had It
and his benefactions Showered
the world John Newton hadit. BiSh-