Democratic messenger., 1894-03-24

REV DR. TsLMAGE SHOWS HOW
CHRIST, aNllY MOVES FORWARD.

Good to Live by aud Gon-oling to H..
By An Encouraging Di,cours. by III.
EIoquent Pastor.
BRooKLYS. March II. In the Taber
nacle today Rev. Dr. Talnage preache,
"A most eloquent and characteristicall,
vigorous sermon III rcfutation of the of
renewed assertion of the enemies of reli
gion that Christianity is rctrogradine
and the Bible losing its hold upon III,
hearts and conscienccs of men. The sub
ject of the discourse a. announced WA,
From Conquest to Conquest. the text
being taken from Amos iX, l3. "Beholt
the days come. saith the Lord. that tn,
plowman shall overtake the reaper"
Picture of a tropical cline with IA sea
son So prosperous that the harvest reach
es clear over 10 the planting time. and tn,
swarthy hushandman swinging the sickl,
in the thick grain almost feels the breatl
of the horses on his shoulders. the horses
hitched 10 the plow preparing for Il new
crop. Behold III. days come. saith the
Lord. that the plowman shall overtak,
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
Shes Feat the opposite of that is true.
In Arab tstlila xras l..aIip,r Er.n,.l
infidel across "A desert. and ever and anon
the Arab guide would get down in the
sand and pray Ia the Lord. Ii disgusted
the French infidel. and after awhile as
the Arab got up from one of his prayers
the infidel said, How do you know ther.
is any God:" and the Arab guide said
'How do | know that a man and camel
passed along our tent last night: know
it by the footprints i'll the sand. And you
want io know how know whether there
is any God: Look at that sunset. Is that
the footstep Of u man." And 10y the same
process You and have come To under
stand that this book is the footstep of a
God.
HEALTHY GROWTH.
is last years almanac. Let us see
whether the church of God is i'll Bull
Run retreat. muskets, cantccns and hav-
ersacks strewing all the way. The great
English historian, Sharon Turner, "A man
Of vast learning and of great accuracy,
not II clergy man. but an attorney as
well as Il historian. gives this oycrwhclm.
ing statistic III regard 10 Christianity and
/ regard 10 the number of Christians in
the different centuries: In the first cen
tury 500 900 Christians; in the second
century, 1000. 900 Christians; in the third
century, 5,O0O.000 Christians; in the
fourth century, 10,000. 900 Christians; in
the fifth century, 1900. 900 Christians;
i'll the sixth century, 20.OO0.000 Chris
tians; in the seventh century, 2i,000..
OOO Christians; i'll the eighth cen
tury, 30,O00.0O0 Christians; in the
ninth century, 4O,OOO.000 Christians;
in the tenth century, 50,O0O,O0O Chris
tians: in the eleventh century. 10000, ,0O0
Christians; in the twelfth century, 81,
OOO,O Christians; i'll the thirteenth cen
tury, 1000 900 Christians; in the four
teenth century. $4,000, 900 Christians; III
the fifteenth century, 100, ,O00. 900 Chris.
tians: III the sixteenth century, l25. .00O.-
900 Christians: III the seventeenth cen
tury. l55, ,000. 900 Christians; in the eight.
eenth century, 200. .00O. 900 Christians
IA decadence. as you observe, i'll only one
century and more than made up in the
following centuries, while il is the usual
computation that there will be, when
the record of the nineteenth century i,
made up. at least 3O0, 900. 900 Christians
Poor Christianity! What "a pity it has
no friends, How lonesome il must be
Who will take it out of the poorhouse:
Poor Christianity. Three hundred mil
lions in one century. In few weeks oi
the year 1881 1900. 900 copies Of the New
Testament distributed. Why. the earti
is like an old castle with 20 gates and q
park of artillery ready to thunder down
every gate. Lay aside all Christendon
and see how heathendom is being sur.
rounded and honeycombed and attacked
by this all conqnering gospel. At the
beginning of this century there were
only $50 missionaries: now there are %,
900 missionaries and native helpers and
evangelists. At the beginning of thi.
century there We're only $4,000 heather
converts; now there are l,150 900 con
verts from heathendom.
There Is not a 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 chiel
work Of AN army is toplant the batteries
1t may take many days 10 plant the bat
teries, and they may do all their work il
10 minutes. These batteries are being
planted all along the seacoasts and in al
nations. IL may take "a good while I,
plant them, and they may do all theil
work in one day. They will Nation.
are To be born III one day. But JUS
come back to Christendom and recogniz,
the fact that during the last 10 years "A,
many people have connected themselve.
with evangelical churches as connected
themselves with the churches in the frs
90 years of this century.
GLORIOUS BOOK
So Christianity is falling back, and tn,
Bible. they say, is becoming an obsolet,
book. =, INTO Il court, and wherever
find judg'-'s bench "r clerks desk
find a Bible. Upon what book coul,
there be uttered the solemnity of al
oath: What book Is apt 10 he put i'll tn,
trunk of the Young man as he leaves fo
city life: The Bible. What shall fin,
III nine Out of every ten homes in Brook
lyn. The Bible. ln nine uut of everN
ten homes in Christcndum: The Bible
Voltaire wrote the prophecy that In,
Bible III the nineteenth century woul,
become extinct. The century is nearl,
gone, and as there have been more Bible
published in the latter part Of the cen
tury than i'll the former part of the cen
tury do You think the Bible will become
extinct in the next six wears: