Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-09-16
CHRISTIAN WARFARE.
DR.. Talmage on the March of Chris.
tianity.
The Ammunition OF tho Enemy Almost
Spent-The Bible and It's Pre-
cepts stronger than Ever
Before.

In late sermon at Brooklyn Rev. T.
De Witt Talmage took for his subject:
1.-THE Battle Ours" the text being /.
Kings, XXX, 81: Sand the children OF
Israel pitched before them like two lit
tie flocks of kids" DIR. Talmage said:
With thirty-three kings drunk in one
tent, this chapter opens. They were
allies plotting for the overthrow Of the
Lords Israel. You know that If lion
roar,'a flock of kids will shiver and
.huddle together. One lion could con-
.quer Thousand kids The battle
opens. There are great multitude of
Syrians under Gen. Ben-hadad, strong
rs lions. The Israelites are few and
weak, like two little fiocks 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 100, 900 Syrians
lay dead on the field, and $1,000 at
tempting to fly came along by u great
wall which toppled and crushed them
to death.
There have been many in our day
who have ventured the opinion that
Christianity is falling back, and that
in fifty years it will be extinct They
found their opinion on the assumed
fact that the Bible is not as much OF a
book as it used to be, and that portions
of it are repulsive to the people. / re-
ply 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 II
single verse or chapter? Are not our
publishers intelligent men? And would
they, contrary to their financial inter-
ests, continue to publish the Bible
without the omission of a single chap
ter or n single verse if it were
becoming an unpopular book, and the
people did not want it?
l go through the court rooms of the
country. Wherever l find a judges
bench or a clerks desk l find the Bible.
BY what other book would they take
solemn oath? What is very apt to be
among the brides presents? The Bible.
What is very apt to be put in the trunk
of the young man who starts for city
life? The Bible. Voltaire predicted
that the Bible during the nineteenth
century would become an obsolete
book. Well, we are pretty near 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
II s,.a
that prediction-some time ago was
crowded from floor to ceiling with Bibles
for Switzerland. The fact that there
are now more Bibles being printed than
ever before, that publishers find it n
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" say those who are antagonis-
tic, christianity is falling back, from
the fact that the church is not as much
respected as it used to be, and is not as
influential" reply to that with the
statistic that one ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Methodist church-according to a sta
tistic given me by one of their bishops,
dedicates on an average n new church
every day in the year. Three hundred
and sixty-five new churches in one de-
nomination in a year, and over 1000
new churches built every year in this
country. Does this look as though the
church were failing in its power, and
were becoming worn-out institution?
Men may caricature the church and
call 1t a collection of hypocrites; but
when their children are swept off with
the diptheria, for whom do they send?
To the postmaster, to the attorney-gen-
eral, to the alderman, or to the pastors
of the churches? And If there be not
room for the obsequies in the private
house, what building do they solicit?
The academy of music, the hotel, pub
lie hall, court house? No; the churches.
And if they want music on the sad oc-
.casion, do they select the Marsellaise
HYMN, or "God Save the Queen" or our
own grand national air? No; they want
the old hymn with which we sang their
old Christian mother to sleep; they want
the Sunday school hymn that their
little girl sang the last Sabbath after
noon she was out before she was seized
with the awful sickness that broke faith
.er's heart and mothers heart. Oh, you
know as well as dol shall not dwell
ON it any longer-the church OF God,
instead of being WORKOUT institution,
stands nearer the sympathies of the peo-
pie than it ever did, and eclipses all
other institutions
But our antagonists go on and say
that Christianity is falling back, in the
fact that infdelity is holder now and
more blatant than it ever was. deny
the statement Infdelity is not near
so bold now as 1t was in the days OF
our fathers and grandfathers There
were times in this country when men
who were openly and above-board in
fidel and antagonistic to Christianity
could he elected to high Office. Now