The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-02-21
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Stirring Appeal for Great Ma
tional Revival
To Havo It's Beginning In Washington and
Sweep the Country-A Revival OF
Forty Years Ago at the
Nations Capital.

-cAOWAnB appear 1OT national reVlVd
of religion to his Washington congrega
cation, which included many of tn
chief men of the nation, taking for hi
text:
Beginning at Jerusalem--Luke XIV, a.
There it is, said the driver, and w,
all instantly and excitedly rose in the
carriage TO catch the first glimpse Of
Jerusalem, SO long the JOY of the
whole earth. That city, coronetteC
with temple and palace, and radiant
whether looked up at from the valley
Of Jehoshaphat or gazed at from ad
joining hills, was the capital of a great
nation. Clouds of incense had hovered
over it. Chariot of kings had rolled
through IL. Battering rams of enc
mics had thundered against it, There
Isaiah prophesied, and jeremiah la
mented, and David reigned, and Paul
/ preached, and Christ was martvred.
Most interesting city ever built
since masonry rung its first
trowel, or plum line measured its first
wall or royalty swung its first scepter.
| What Jerusalem was TO the Jewish
kingdom, Washington is to our own
country-the capital, the place to which
all the tribes come up, the great
national heart whose throb sends life
or death through the body polite,
clear out to the geographical extremi-
| ties.
What the resurrected Christ said in
my text to His disciples, when He or
dered them to start on the work of gos-
Pelization, beginning at Jerusalem. 8"
1t seems to me God says now, in His
providence, to tens of thousands of
Christians in this city. Start for the
evangelization of America, begin
ming at Washington" America is
going to be taken for God. If
you do not believe it, take vour
hat now and leave, and give room to
some man or woman who does believe
1t. As surely as God lives, and He is
able to do as He says He will. this
country will be evangelical from the
mouth of the Potomac to the mouth of
the Oregon, from the highlands of the
NeversinlN to the Golden Horn, from
Batfin's bay to the gulf of Mexico, and
Christ will walk every lake, whether
bestOrmed or placid. and be transfig-
ured on every mountain, and the night
skies, whether they hover over groves
of magnolia or over Alaskan glacier,
shall be filed with angelic overture of
"Glory TO God and good will to men"
Again and again does the Old Book
announce that all the earth shall see
the salvation of God, and as the great
er includes the lesser, that takes
America gloriously in. Can you not
see that if America is not taken for
God by His cOnsecrated people, it will
be taken for Apollyon! The forces en-
gagged on both sides are so tremend-
Gus that it can not be drawn battle.
1t is coming, the Armageddonl Either
the American Sabbath will perish and
this nation be handed over to Herods, |
and Hildebrands, and Dioc letians, and
Neros of baleful power, and alcohol |
ism will reign, seated upon piled-up
throne of beer barrels, his mouth foam |
ing with domestic and national curse, !
and crime will lift its unhindered knife |
of assassination, and rattle keys of |
worst burglary, and wave forth the |
widest conhagration, and our cities be |
turned into Sodoms, waiting for AL
mighty tempests of fire and birthstone, |
and one tidal wave of abominEtion will |
surge across the continent, or our Sab
baths will take on more sanctity. and /
the newspapers will become apoca-
lyptic wings of benediction, and |
penitentiaries will be abandoned |
for lack of occupants, and holiness
and happiness, twin son and daughter
of Heaven, shall walk through the
land, and Christ reign over this nation,
either in person or by agency so glo-
rious that the whole country will be
one clear, resounding echo of Heaven
1t will be one or the other. BY the
throne of Him who liveth forever and
ever, declare it will be the latter. If
the Lord will help me, as He always
dOes-blessed be His glorious name!-I
VIII show you how mighty work of
grace begun at Washington would have
n tendency to bring the whole conti-
nent to God, and before this century
closes.
William the COnquerer ordered the
curfew, the custom of ringing the bell
at midnight, at which all the fires on
the hearths were to be banked, and all
The lights extinguished. and all the
people retire to their pillows l pray
God that the curfew of this century
nay no be sounded, and the fires be
and the lights extinguisbed,
rs the clock strikes the midnight hour
hat divides the nineteenth century
from the twentieth century, until this
beloved land, which was to most of us
/ cradle, and which viii be to most of
is a grave, shall come into the full
possession of Him who is so glorious ,
hat William the Conqueror could not ,
De compared to Him, even the one who ;
rideth forth ''conquering and to con-
Iuer."
Why would it be especially advan-
if mighty work of grace {
tarted here, beginning at Washing !
on?" First, because this city is on Z
he border between the north and the I
outh- 1t is neither northern nor I
southern. 1t commingles the two {
climates. 1t brings together the two (
tyles of population. 1t is MT only I
light, but beautiful, that peopbs should Z
lave especial love for the latitude i
where they were born and brought I
lp- With what loving accentua- {
ion the Alabamian speaks of his
range grovesl And the man from /
Massachusetts, is sure TO let YOU know a
hat he comes from the land of the n
damses-Samuel, and John. and u
ohm Quincy. Did you ever know a I
Tirginian or OhiOan whose face did not e
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