The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-03-23
"a GLORIOUS GROWTH
REV. DR.. TALMAGE SHOWS HOW
CHRISTIANITY MOVES FORWARD.


Some Sturdy Blows at NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Good to Live by and Consoling to Die
By-An Encouraging Discourse by the
Eloquent Pastor.
BROOKLYN, March 1S.-In the Taber.
nacle today Rev. DR.. Talmage preached
a most eloquent and characteristically
vigorous sermon in refutation of the oft
renewed assertion of the enemies of reli.
gion that Christianity is retrograding
and the Bible losing its hold upon the
hearts and consciences of men. The sub.
ject of the discourse as announced was
"From Conquest to Conquest" the text
being taken from Amos tx, 13, "Behold
the days come, saith the Lord, that the
plowman shall overtake the reaper"
Picture of tropical cline, with sea-
son so prosperous that the harvest reach.
es clear over to the planting time, and the
swarthy husbandman swinging the sickle
in the thick grain almost feels the breath
of the horses on his shoulders, the horses
hitched to the plow preparing for new
crop. "Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that the plowman shall overtake
the reaper" When is that? That is now.
That is this day, when hardly have you
done reaping one harvest before the plow
man is getting ready for another.
know that many declare that Chris
tianity has collapsed; that the Bible is an
obsolete book; that the Christian church
is on the retreat. will here and now
show that the opposite of that is true.
An Arab guide was leading French
infdel across a desert, and ever and anon
the Arab guide would get down in the
sand and pray to the Lord. 1t Disguised
the French infdel, and after awhile as
the Arab got up from one of his prayers
the infidel said, "How do you know there
is any God?" and the Arab guide said;
How do I know that a man and a camel
passed along our tent last night? know
1t by the footprints in the sand. And you
want to know how I know whether there
is any God? Look at that sunset. Is that
the footstep of MANI" And by the same
process you and I have come to under
stand that this book is the footstep of a
God.
A HEALTHY GROWTH.
But now let us see whether the Bible
is last years almanac. Let us see
whether the church of God is in Bull
Run retreat, muskets, canteens and hav-
ersacks strewing all the way. The great
English historian, Sharon Turner, man
of vast learning and of great accuracy,
oil hut ~
well as historian, gives this overwhelm-
ing statistic in regard to Christianity and
in regard to the number of Christians in
the different centuries: In the first CEN
fury, 100000 Christians; in the second
century, 100000 Christians; in the third
century, 100000 Christians; in the
fourth century, 100000 Christians; in
the fifth century, 100000 Christians;
in the sixth century, 20,000,000 Chris
tians; in the seventh century, 24,OO0,-
900 Christians; in the eighth CEN
fury, 30,OOO,0OO Christians; in the
ninth century, 100000 Christians;
in the tenth century, 100000 Chris
tians; in the eleventh century, 10000, 900
Christians; in the twelfth century, 3d.
100000 Christians; in the thirteenth CEN
fury, 100000 Christians; in the four
tenth century, 100000 Christians; in
the fifteenth century, 100,0 ZOO, 900 Chris
tians; in the sixteenth century, 125, 000,-
600 Christians; in the seventeenth CEN
fury, 155, 100000 Christians; in the eight
zenith century, 200, 900 Christians
a decadence, as you observe, in only one
century and more than made up in the |
following centuries, while it is the usual |
computation that there will be, when |
the record of the nineteenth century is
made up, at least 100000, 900 Christians.
Poor Christianity! What pity it has
no friends! How lonesome it must be!
Who will take it out of the poorhouse?
Poor Christianity! Three hundred mil |
lions in one century. In few weeks of |
the year 1881 100000 copies of the New |
Testament distributed. Why, the earth |
is like an old castle with 20 gates and a |
park of artillery ready to thunder down |
every gate. Lay aside all Christendom
and see how heathendom is being sur
rounded and honeycombed and attacked |
by this all conquering gospel. At the |
beginning of this century there We're
only $50 missionaries; now there are 25,- |
900 missionaries and native helpers and |
evangelists. At the beginning of this
century there were only $4,000 heather
converts; now there are 1,750, 900 con-
verts from heathendom.
There is not seacoast on the planet |
but the battery Of the gospel is planted
and ready to march on-north, south,
east, west. You all know that the chief |
work of an army is to plant the batteries.
1t may take many days to plant the bat
teries, and they may do all their work in
10 minutes. These batteries are being
planted all along the seacoasts and In all
nations. It may take a good while to
plant them, and they may do all their
work in one day. They will. Nations
are to be born in one day. But just |
come back to Christendom and recognize
the fact that during the last 10 years as
many people have connected themselves
with evangelical churches as connected
themselves with the churches in the first