The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-04-23
AT HE TABERNACLE.
CHAR 5TERlsTlC AND ELOQUENT
SERMON BY REV. Or. TALMAGE.

He Takes Fpr His Subject From Conquest
to Conauest-Is Christianity Retrograd-
ing aud the bible Losing Its Hoid9-An
Encouraging Discourse.
BRooKtYN. March iS--In the Tabernacle
today Rev. DIR. Talmage preached a most
eloquent and Enthusiastically vigorous
sermon in rpfutation Of the oft renewed as
sertion ofthe enemies of religion that Chris
tianity is retrograding and the Bible losing .
its hold upon the hearts and consciences Of .
men. The subject of the discourse IA an /.
nounced was, From Conquest to Con /.
quest, the text being taken from Amos tx, /.
10. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, |
that the plowman shall overtake the reap
er"
Picture Of a tropical cline with a season
so prost erous that the harvest reaches clear
over to he planting Time and the swarthy
husban man swinging the sickle In the
tb ok { rain almost feels the breath Of the
horses n his shoulders, the horses htched
TO the ow preparing for new crop. BE
held, Il days come, saith the Lord, that
the pic vman shall overtake the reaper
When that2 That is now. That is this
day wi n hardly have you done reaping
one hal est before the plowman is getting
ready r another.
know that many declare that Christian
fly has 'ollapseM that the Bible is an obso-
lete boo <; thatVne Christian church is on
the ret ,at. | will here and now show that
the OPP site of that is true
An ab guide was leading French in
fdel across n desert, and ever and anon the
Arab Guide would get down in the sand
and pray to the Lord. 1t Disguised the
French infdcl. and after awhile as the
Arab got up from one Of his prayers the in
fdel said How do you know there is any
Godw and the Arab guide said: How do
l know that man and "A camel passed
along our tent last night l know 1t 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 a manu- And by the same
process you and have come to understand
that this book is the footstep of a God
GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY.
But now let us see whether the Bible is a
last years almanac. Let us see whether the
church of God is in Bull Run retreat,
muskets, canteens and haversacks strewing
all the way. The great English historian,
sharon Turner, man of vast learning and
of great accuracy, not n Clergyman, but an
attorney as well rs historian, gives this
overwhelming statistic in regard to Chris
tianity and in regard to the number Of
Christians in the different centuries: In the
first century, 100000 Christians; in the sec
ond 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, 2O,OOOOOO Christians; in tn,
seventh century, 100000 Christians; il
the eighth century, 100000 Christians
in the ninth century, 100000 Christians
In the tenth century. 500 600 Christians; il
the eleventh century, 100000 600 Christians
in the twelfth century, 10000 200 Christians
in the thirteenth century, 100000 Chris
tians; in the fourteenth century, $4,000
600 Christians; in the fifteenth century
1OOOOOUOO Christians; in the sixteenth cen
fury, 125 100000 Christians; in the seven
teenth century, 155, 600 Christians;i in thu
eighteenth century, 200,0O0,00O Christians
"a decHdenCe, as you observe, in only on,
century and more than made up in the fol
lowing centuries while it is the usual com
putation that there will be, when the rec
ord of the nineteenth century is made up
at least 800, OOO,0 600 Christians.
Poor Christianity! What pity it ha
no friendsl How lonesome it must be
Who will take it out of the poorhouse
Poor Christianity! Three hundred million
in one century. Ir. a few weeks of the yea
1881 ., 500, 600 copies of the New Testamer
distributed. Why, the earth is like an oil
castle with 90 gates and park of artiller
ready to thunder down every gate. La
aside all Christendom and see how heather
dom is being surrounded and honeycombe
and attacked by this all conquerng gospe
At the beginning of this century ther
were OF " $50 missionaries. Now there ar
$1,000 7 issionaries and native helpers an
evange SITS At the beginning of this Gel
fury tn revere only 500 0heathen convert!
Now Il re are 100000 converts from he's
thendo,l l.
Their is not a seacoasU on the planet BIT
the bat cry of the gospel is planted an
ready I march on, north, south, east, ives
You al know that the chief work of a
army l. to plant the batteries. 1t may tai
many days to plant the batteries, and the
may do all their work in 10 minutes. The
batteries are being planted all along ii
seacoasts and in all nations. 1t may take
good while to plant them, and they may {
all their work in one day. They will n
tions are to be born in "A day. But just con
back to Christendom and recognize the ia
that during the last 10 years as many pc
pie have connected themselves with eva
gelical churches as connected themselv
with the churches in the first 30 years
this century.
A POPULAR BOOK.
So Christianity is falling back, and Il
Bible, they say, is becoming an obsole
book. | go into a court, and wherever
find a judges bench or Il clerks desk fiji
Bible. Upon what book could there
uttered the solemnity Of an oathi VIII
book is apt to be put in the trunk of I
Young man as he leaves for city lifeS 7
.hnn H,,1 f,, ,f,,a
every ten homes in Brooklyn The Bib
In nine out OF every ten homes in Christie
domf The Bible Voltaire wrote the prof.
ecy that the Bible in the nineteenth cent
nv would become extinct. The century
nearly gone, and as there have been mt
Bibles published in the latter part of
century than in the former part of the c.
tury do you think the Bible will beco
extinct in the next six years.
/ have to tell you that the room in VIII
Voltaire wrote that prophecy not long 1
was crowded from floor to ceiling with
bles from Switzerland. Suppose the C
gress of the United States should pas
law that there should be no more Bill
printed in America and no more Bib
read. If there are 600 grown peo
in the United States, there would be Z
900, 900 people in an army to put down 81
a law and defend their right to read the
BILE. But suppose the congress of the Uni
States should make a law against the re
ing or the publication of any other DO
how many people would go out in sue
crusader Could you get 40, 100000 peopl
go out and risk their lives in defens'
Shakespeares tragedies, or GladstoI
tracts, or Macauley's History of Englan
You know that there are thousand L
who would die in defense of this b.
I, lar, =
would die in defense of any other be
You try to insult my common sense by
ing me the Bible is fading out from
world 1t is the most popular book of
century. How do l know it? ! know
just as | know in regard to other boo