Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-03-21
GLORIOUS GROWTH
oev DR.. TkLMAGE SHOWS HOW
CHRISTIANITY MOVES FORWARD.

Eloquent Pastor
PpooTryN. March 19.-In the Taber-
nocle today Rev. DR.. Talmage preached
most eloquent and characteristically
,i,,orous sermon in refutation of the oft
,anewcd assertion of the enemies of reli-
,ion that Christianity is retrograding
ondfbe Biblo losing its hold upon the
hearts and Consciences of men. The sub
ioct of the discourse Gs announced was
%From Conquest to Conquest" the text
bairq taken from Amos tx, 10, "Behold
tbe days come, saith the Lord, that the
nIowman 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
swarthv husbandman swinging the sickle
in the thick grain almost feels the breath
Of the horses on his shoulders, the horses
Mtched to the plow preparing for a new
crop Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that the plowman shall overtake
fine reaper" When is thatP 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 disgusted
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 know that man and camel
passed along our tent last night? know
it by the footprints in the sand. And you
want to know how know whether there
is any God? Look at that sunset. Is that
the footstep of MANI" And by the same
process you and | have come to under
stand that this book is the footstep of a
God.
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, a man
of vast learning and of great accuracy,
not a clergyman, but an attorney as
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
tury, 500, 900 Christians; in the second
century, 2. .O00, 900 Christians; in the third
century, 5000, 900 Christians; in the
fourth century, 10,0OO,O0O Christians; in
the fifth century, 100000 Christians;
in the sixth century, 20,OOO,OOO Chris
tians; in the seventh century, 24,000,-
600 Christians; in the eighth CEN
tury, 30 900, 900 Christians; in the
ninth century, 40,000,000 Christians;
in the tenth century, 50000,00 Chris
tians; in the eleventh century, 100000 ,OOO
Christians; in the twelfth century, go
900, 900 Christians; in the thirteenth cen
fury, 70. 900, 900 Christians; in the four
teenth century, SOO00,000 Christians; in
the fifteenth century, 100, 100000 Chris
tians; in the sixteenth century, 10000,
600 Christians; in the seventeenth cen
turv, 1876 900 900 Christians; in the eight
eenth century, 200,000,000 Christians
a decadence, as you observe, in only one
century and more than made up in thu
following centuries, while it is the usua
computation that there will be, whel
the record of the nineteenth century
made up. at least 300 900 600 Christians
Poor Christianity! What pityit ha
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 a few weeks
the year 1881 2, 500, 900 copies of the Nev
Testament distributed. Why, the cart
is like an old castle with 20 gates and
park of artillery ready to thunder dow
every gate. Lay aside all Chrlstendol
and see how heathendOm is being SUI
rounded and honeycombed and attacke
by this all conquering gospel. AT I'd
beginning of this century there wer
only 15O missionaries; now there are 20
600 missionaries and native helpers an
evangelists. At the beginning OF TN
century there were only $4,000 heathe
converts; now there are 100000 COZ
verts from heathendom.
There is not a seacoast on the plane
but the battery of the gospel is plante
aud ready to march on-north, soutl
east, west. You all know that the CHI
work of an army is to plant the batterie
1t may take many days to plant the Da
teries, and they may do all their work
10 minutes These batteries are belr
planted all along the seacoasts and IN a
nations. 1t may take a good while
plant them, and they may do all the
work in one day. They will. Natlo'
are to be born in one day. But Ju
come back to Christendom and recogni
the fact that during the last 10 years
many people have connected themselv
with evangelical churches as connect
themselves with the churches in the nj
5O years of this century.
A GLORIOUS BOOK.
So Christianity is falling back and I
Bible, they say, is becoming an obsole
book. go into a court, and whereVel
ind judges bench or clerks desk