Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-09-13
RELIGIOUS ADVANCE.
REV Or. TALMAeE breaches A SER
MON OF HOPE.

HIS Text, The Hattie Ours'-COurage Hi
Watchword-More Unity In Religion
Than In scienee-The Great Trial o
Past Centuries.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 10.-This forenoon
Rev. T. De Wit Talmage preached to q
thronged audience in the Brooklyn Tab.
ernacle. The keynote of the service was
one of gladness. Many of the audience
had been absent during the summer and
had returned for this service. The pas
tor commenced on passages of Scripture
depicting the morning of the worlds de-
liveranee. The subject of the sermon
was, The Battle Ours,p the, text being
/ Kings TX, 81, "Apd the children of
Israel pitched before them like two little
flocks of kids III
With 33 kings drunk in one tent this
chapter opens. They were allies plot
ting for the overthrow of the Lords Is
rael. You know that If a lion roar flock
of kids will shiver and huddle together.
One lion would conquer Thousand kids.
The battle opens. There are great
multitude of Syrians under General
Ben-hadad, strong as lions. The Israel
ties are few and weak, like two little
hocks of kids. Who beat2 The lions, of
course Oh, no; the kids, for it all de-
pends whether God is on the side of the
lions or the kids. After the battle 1OO,-
600 Syrians lay dead on the field, and
$1,000, attempting to fly, came along by
a great wall, which toppled and crushed
them to death
Which was the stronger weapon
great Goliath's sword or little David's
slingP David had five smooth stones
from the brook. He only used one in
striking down Goliath. He had sur
plus of ammunition. He had enough to
take down four more giants if they had
appeared in the way. 1t all depends
upon whether God is on the side of the
shepherd boy or on the side of the giant.
THE PUBLISHERS AND RELIGION.
There have been many in our day who
have ventured the opinion that Christi
anity is falling back, and that in so years
it will be extinct They found their
opinion ON the assumed fact that the BIZ
BILE is not as much of book as it used to
be. and that portions of it are repulsive
to the people. reply by asking, Which
one of the publishing houses of New
York, Philadelphia, Boston or Chicago
is publishing the Bible today with the
omission of a single verse or chapter2
Are not our publishers intelligen:,men2
And would they contrary to their fnan-
cial interests continue to publish the BIZ
BILE without the omission of single chap
ter or single verse if it were becoming
an unpopular book and the people did
not want itp
If Harpers or Appleton or Scribner
or Lippincott should publish q Bible
with the omission of one chapter, they
would not sell 10 copies in 10 years. The
fact that throughout Christendom there
are hundreds of printing presses print
ing the word of God without the omis-
sion of chapter or verse proves that
the Bible is popular, and the fact that
there are more being printed in this dec
ade than any other decade proves that
the Bible is increasing in popularity.
l go through the courtrooms of the
country. Wherever l find judges bench
or a clerks desk find the bible. By
what other book would they take solemn
oath? What is very apt to be among the
brides presentsp The Bible. What is
very apt to be put in the trunk of the
young man when he starts for city life2
The Bible. Voltaire predicted that the
Bible during the nineteenth century
would become an obsolete book. Well,
we are pretty nearly through the nine
teenth century. The Bible is not obso-
lete yet. There is not much prospect of
its becoming obsolete, but have to tell
you that that room-the very room in
which Voltaire wrote that prediction
some time ago was crowded from floor
to ceiling with Bibles for Switzerland
Suppose the congress of the United States
should pass a law that no Bibles should
be printed in the United States.
If there are 30. 900, 900 grown men and
women in the country, then there would
be 80, ,O00, 900 people armed against such
law. But suppose the congress of the
United States should pass law that
Macaulay's history or Charles Reade's
novels should not be read-could you get
half as large an army or the fourth as
ldTBo Ill dIulJg III OIucI WOAuS, thCAO
are. as you know and | know, thou
sand men who would die for their Bibles
where there are so men who would die
for any other book. The fact that there
are now more Bibles being printed than
ever before. that publishers find it
financial interest for them to continue
the Bible. proves that this book is still
the most popular book ON the planet.
SOURCE OF COMFORT.
But. say those who are antagonistic,
christianity is falling back from the
fact that the church is not as much re-
spected as it used to be and is not as in
fuential." reply to that with the sta
tistic that one denomination--the Meth
odist church-according TO statistic
given me by one of their bishops, dedi-
Gates on an average new church every |
day of the year. Three hundred and
sixty-five new churches in one denomi-
nation in a year and over thousand
new churches built every year IN this
country. Does that look as though the |
church were failing in its power and