Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-09-21
THE GREAT BATTLE is OURS
CHRISTIANITY GOING AHEAD IN
SPITE OF RONBARDMENT.
The Ammunition of the Enemy Al
most SDent-Thc bible and Its Pre-
ccpts Stronger Than Ever and
SkepticiAm Less Bold.

SSRsS stronger nun LIVER uHu
SkepticiAm Less Bold.
Brooklyn. n. Y. Special Sunday
forenoon Rev. T. De Witt Talmagc
preached to Il throngad audience in the
Brooklyn tabernacle. The keynote of
the service was one Of slatlness. Many
of the audience had hcnn absent dur
ing the Summc" and had returned for
this service. Tho pastor commented on
passages of Scripture depicting the
morning of the worlds delivc"an,c. The
subject of the sermon was: THE Bat
tie Ours" the text being I. Kings M.
81: And the children Of Israel pitched
before them like two little tlocks If
kids.
With thirty three kings drunk in one
tent. this chapter opens. They We're
allies plotting for the overthrow of the
Lords Israel. You know that if 4
hon roar, Il flock of kids will shi yer
and huddlc together. One lion could
conquer Il thousand kids. The battle
opens. There are great multitude of
SyrlanS under Gen. Ben-hadad, strong
rs lions. The lsraelites are few and
weak like two little focks Of kids.
Who beat? The lions. Of course Oh,
no; the kids. For it all depends wheth-
er God is on the side of the lions or the
kids. After the battle 100000 Syrians
lay dead on the field, and $1,000 at
tempting to fly came along by great
wall which topplcd aud crushed them
to death
Wmcn was the stronger weapon, great
Goliath's sword or little David's sling?
David had five smooth stones from the
brook. He only used one in striking
down Goliath. He had surplus Of
ammunition; he had enough to take
down four more giants if they had ap-
peared i'll the way. 1t all depends upon
whether God is on the side of thc shep-
herd boy Oh the side Of the giant
There have been many in our lay
who have vcnturcd the opinion that
Christianity is falling back, and that
Ill fifty years it will be extinct. They
round their opinion on the assumed
fact that the Bible is not as much Of
a book as it used to be, and that por-
tons OF it are repulsive to the people
reply by asking. which one of the pub
fishing houses of New York, Philadel-
phia. Boston or Chicago is publishing
the Bible to-day with the omission of
4 single verse or chapter? Are not
our publishers intelligent mon: And
would they. contrary to their financial
interests. continue to publish the Bible
without the omission Of Il single chapter
or single verse if it were becoming
an unpopular book and the people did
not want it: If Harpcr's. or Appleton,
or Scribncr, or l.ippincott should pub
llsh Il Bible with the omission of one
chapter they would not sell ten copies
in ten years. The fact that throughout
ChrStendOm there are hundreds of
printing presses printing the word of
God without the omission of q chapter
or Il verse, proves that the Bible is
popular; and the fact that there are
more being printed in this decade than
in any other decade, proves that the
Bible is increasing i'll popularity.
| L go through the court rooms of the
country. Wherever 1 find Il Judges
bench or Il clerks desk find the Bible
BY what other book would they take
solemn oath? What is very apt to be
among the brides presents? The Bible.
w AA''c 10 WY dpl " DS put ILL tllc lIllllh
of the young man when he starts for
city life? The Bible. Voltaire predict
ed that the Bible during the nineteenth
century would become an obsolete book,
Well, we are pretty nearly through the
nineteenth century; the Bible is not
obsolete yet; there is not much prospect
OF its becoming obsolete; but have to
tell you that that room-the very room
i'll which Noltairc wrote that prediction
some time ago was crowded from
floor to ceiling with Bibles for Swift
zerland. Suppose the congress Of the
United States should pass a law that
no Bibles should be printed in the Unit
cd States. If there are 3O,OOO,OOO
grown men and women in the country
then there should be 3O,OOOOOO people
armed against such a law. But suppose
the congress of the United States
should pass Il law that Macaulay's His
tory. OF Charley Reads novels should
not be read-could you get half as large
an army, or the fourth as large an
army? In other words, there are, as
you know, and 1 know, thousand
men who would die for their Bibles,
where there are fifty men who would
die for any other book. The fact that
there are now more Bibles being print
ed than ever before, that publishers
find it a financial interest for them
to continue the publication Of the Bible,
proves that this book is still the most
popular book on the planet.
But our antagonists go on and say
that Christianity is falling back, in the
fact that intidelity is holder now and
more blatant than it ever was. I deny
the statement. Infdelity is not near
so bold now as it was in the days of
our fathers and grandfathers. There
were times in the country when men
who were openly and above-board in
fidei and antagonistic to Christianity
could be elected to high Office. Now
let some man wishing high position in
the state proclaim himself the foe Of
Christianity and an intidel how many
states Of the Union would he carry?
wv many counties! How many wards
in Brooklyn? Not one.
All! my friends, infidelity in this day
is not half so bold as it used to be-
If it comes now, it is apt to come IN
der the disguise Of rhetoric or fantastic
Sentimentality I know if man with