Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-03-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME nv THE
WASHINGTON Preacher.
subject. "Ameriea for God"

TIKI. "And beheld another beast eomins
mp out Of the earth, and he had two horns
ike a lamb and he spake as a dragon"
Revelation xiii, n.
IsAmeriea mentioned In the Bibl-3 Learned
and consegrated men who have studied the
inspired books % Daniel and Revelation
more than have and understand them b7ttrr
agree IN saving that the leopard mentioned
In the Bible meant Grecia. and the beer
meant Medo-Per-ia. ami the lion meant
Babylon, and the beast % the text coming up
out OF the earth, with two horns like lamb
and the voice o. q dragon. means our
country, because among other reasons IL
seemed 10 come up out Of the earth when
Columbus discovered Il. and il has been for
the most part at peace like a lamb unless As
saulted 10y foreign Zoe, in watch case It has
two horns strong and sharp and the voice
OF dragon loud 20 make all Nations he1r
the roar OF its Indignation. Is IL reasonable
10 suppose that God would leave ont from
the prophecies of His book this whole west
ern hemisphere? No, no, II heheld anoth-
er beast coming mp out of the earth, aud he
had two horns like lamb, and he sPaSe as
a dragon"
Germany for scholarship. Eagland for
manufactures, France for manners, Egypt
Tor antiquities, Italy for pictures. but Amer
lea for God.
start with the cheering thought that the
most popular book on earth today il the
Bible, the most popular institution on eartn
to-day is the church, aud the most popular
name on earth to-day Jesus. Right from
this audience hundreds OF men and women
would, II need be, march ont and die for
Him.
Am too confident in saying. America
for GOd?' Ii the Lord will help me. will
show the strength and extent of the long
line OF tOrtresSe5 TO lee taken and give YOU
my reasons for saving it can be done and
will be done. Let us decide, in this battle
for God, whether we are at Bull Run OF at
Gettysburg. There is "a Fourth Of Julyish
way Of Dragging about this country. ant the
most tired and plucked bird that ever flew
through the heavens is the American eagle,
50 much so that Mr.. Gladstone said to me
facetiOusly at HGwarden, II hear that the
fish in your American lakes are so large that
when one Of them is taken out the entire
lake is perceptibly lowered. " aud at a dinner
given in Paris an American offered for
sentiment, Here is to the United States
bounded on the north by the aurora borealls,
on the south by the procession Of the equi-
noXes, on the east by primeval cnaos and on
the west by the day OF judgment" The ell
feet Of such grandiloquence Is to discreiit
the real facts, which are SO tremendous they
need no garnishing. The worst thing to do
in any campaign, military or religious, is to
underestimate an enemy, and will have no
part in such attempt al belittlement
This land 10 be taken for Col, according
to Hasse', the statistician. has 14,2l9, 9G7
square miles, a width and length that none
but the Omniscient can appreciate. Four
Europes put together and capable Of holding
and feeding, MS II will hold and feed. accord
ing to Atkinson, the stalistician, IL the world
continues in existence and does not run afoul
of some other world or get consumed by the
fires already burning in the cellars Of the
planet-capable, | say, of holding and feed
ing more than 1000, 900 600 inhabitants. For
you must remember il must DO held for God
as well as taken for God, and the last 500,
900, 900 inhabitants must not be allowed 10
swamp the religion OF the first 800 600 900
Not much use in taking the fortress If We
cannot hold IL. 1t must ba held until the
archangeps trumpet bids living and dead
arise from this laundering planet.
You must remember IL Is only about
O'Clock in the morning Of our Nations life
Great cities are to fash and roar amOnl
what are called the bad Lands Of the Da
kotas and the great Columbian plains o
Washington State, and that on which we put
our schoolboy fingers on the map and spelled
out as the Great American desert" is
through systematic and concentrating irri
CATION, to bloom like Chatsworth Park an,
be mede more productive than those regions
dependent upon uncertain and spasmodj
rainfall. All those regions, as we'll as al
those regions already cultivated, 10 be in
habited! That was sublime thing said b,
Henry Clay while crossing the Alleghan,
Mountains, and he was waiting for the stag
horses to be rested, as he stood on a rock
arms folded, looking of into the valley, ant
some one said to him, 'Mr. Clay, what ar
you thinking Rbout?' He replied, Il an
listening to the oncoming tramp Of the fu
ture generation Of America"
Have you laid our home missionary schem
on such an in1nitude of scaey II the wor
of bringing one soul to God is so great. cal
1000. 900 900 be captured? In this country
already planted and to be overcome. pagan
ism has built its altar to Brahma and tn
Chinese are already burning incense in thei
temples, and Mohammedanism, drunk il
other days with the red wine ofhuman bloc
at Lucknow and Cawnpur and now fires
from the diabolism IN Armenia, is irving I
get foothold here, and from the minare,s q
: her mosques will yet humble her blasphe
mics, saying. God is great, and Mohamme
Is His prophet" Then there are tho waste
muititudes with no religion at ALL The
worship no God they live with no consola
ton, and they die with no hope No star {
peace points down to the mangcr in whic
they are born, and no prayer is uttered owe
the grave into which they sink. Then ther
fs alcoholism, its piled up demijohns an
beer barrels and hogsheads Of fiery death.
barricade high and long as the Alleghenit
and Rockies and Sierra Nevadas, pourin
forth day and night their ammunition {
wretchedness and woe When Germa
wants to take drink, he takes beer Whe
an Englishman wants TO take a drink,
takes ale. When Scotchman wants to tax
, n drink. he takes whisky, But when a
| American wants to take drink hetakes an,
thing he can lay his hands on.
Plenty Of statistics to- tell how much none
| Is spent in this country for rum, aud no
2 many drunkards die. But who will give
, the statistics Of how many hearts are crushe
under the heel Of this worst demon of Il
; oenturies2 How many hopes blasted? Ho
S many children turned ont on the world Il
= cursed with the stigma of debauched al
cestry? Until the worm Of the distillery b
comes the worm that never dies and Il
| smoke of the heated wine watts becomes Il
: smoke OF the torment that ascendeth up 70
ever and ever! Alcoholism. swearing-n
with hand uplifted toward heaven, for fro
" that direction 1t can get no help, but Wi
q right hand stretched down toward the pc
. dition from which il came up-swearing tn
'. 1t will not cease as long as there are al
1 homesteadsto despoil, any magnificent mi
and women to destroy. any immortal sou
h. TO damn. any more Nations to balk, al
more civilizations to extingush.
: Then there is what in America we Ct
n socialism, in France communism and
. Russia nihiism, the three names for one a.
= the same thing, and having but two dc
I trines in its creed. First, there is no Gc
second. there shall be no rights of propert
a One OF their chief journals printed this sen
ment: Dynamite can be made out Of t
Ii dead bodies OF capitalists as well as out
# hogs" One OF the leaders of communi!
i. left inscribed on his prison wall, where
: had been justly incarcerated, these wor,
"When once you are dead, there is an end
e everything. Therefore, ye scoundrels, 81
whatever you can-only don't let yourself
!, be grabbed. Amen" There are in L
Il country hundreds of thousands of these Ia