The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-02-19
THE PLACE TO START.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE SAYS 1T is AT THE
CAPITAL.

HSS. OH. lNLMHGC ONlO II 10 ~ iFlE
CAPITAL.
He Says America Is Going to Be Takcr
For God and That the Place to Begin 1.
In Washington-All VIII Cry Amen tt
This.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9.-The audience
Of DR.. Talmage is thronged with the
chief men Of the nation and people from
all parts, making this sermon most
timely. An hour and 4 half before the
doors open the people gather III the
street, and policemen keep the way open
for tho pewholders. The text chosen for
today's discourse was Luke xiv, A,
Beginning at Jerusalem.
"'There it is" said the driver, and
we 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, coroneted with tenn
pie and palace and radiant, whether
looked up at from the valley of Jehosh
aphat or gazed at from adjoining hills,
was the capital Of great nation. Clouds
Of incense had lowered over it. Chariots
Of kings had rolled through it. Batter
ing rams of enemies had thundered
against it. There Isaiah prophesied, and
jeremiah lamented, and David reigned,
and Paul preached, and Christ was mar
tyred. Most interesting city ever built
since masonry rung it's first trowel or
plumb line measured it's first wall or
royalty swung its first scepter. What
Jerusalem was to the Jewish kingdom
Washington is to our own Countrywide
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
extremities.
Christ VIII Reign There.
What the resurrected Christ said in
my text to his disciples when he ordered
them to start on the work of gospeliza-
tion, beginning at jerusalem" it
seems to me God says now i'll his provi
dence to tens Of thousands of Christians
in this city. Start for the evangelization
of America, beginning at Washington. "
America is going to be taken for God.
If you do not believe it, take your hat
now and leave aud give room to some
man or woman who does believe it. AS
surely as God lives and he is able to do
as he says he will this country will bo
evangelical from the mouth of the Po-
tomac to the mouth of the Oregon, from
the Highlands of Navesink to the Gold
en- Horn, from Bafin's bay to the gulf
of Mexico, and Christ will walk every
lake, whether besto1med or placid, and
be transfgured on every mountain, aud
the night skies, whether they hover over
groves of magnolia or over Alaskan
glacier, shall be filed with the angelic
overture of ''glory to God and good will
to men"
Again and again does the old book
announce that ali the earth shall see the
salvation of God, and as the greater in
cludes 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 engaged on both
sides are so tremendous that it cannot
be q drawn battle It is coming, the
Armageddon. Either the American Sab
bath will perish and this nation be
handed over to Herods and HildebrandS
and Diocletians and Neros Of baleful
power, and Alcoholism will reign, seated
upon piled up throne Of beer barrels, his
mouth foamiug with domestic and ma
tional curse, and crime will lift its un-
hindered knife Of assassination and rat
tie keys of worst burglary and wave
torch CT widest confagration, and our
cities be turned into Sodoms, waiting
for mighty tempest Of fire and brlm-
stone and one tidal wave Of abomlna-
tion will surge across the continent, or
our Sabbaths will take On more sancti-
ty, and the newspapers will become
apocalyptic wings of berediction, and
penitentiaries will be abandoned for
lack of occupants, and holiness and hap
piness, twin son and daughter Of heav-
en-, shall walk through the land and
Christ reign over this nation either III
person or by agency so glorious that the
whole country will be one clear, re-
sounding echo of heaven. 1t will be cne
or the other. BY the throne of him who
liveth forever and ever I declare 1t will
be the latter. If the Lord will help me,
as he always does-blessed be his glori
GUS rame-I will show You how
mighty work of grace begun at Wash
ington would have tendency TO bring
the whole continent to God, and before
this century closes.
William the Ccrqueror 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 eztinguished, and all the reo-
pie retire to their pillows. pray God
that the curfew CT this century may not
be sounded, and the fires be banked, and
the lights extinguished as the clock
strikes the midnight hour that divides
the nineteenth century from the twen-
tieth century until this beloved land,
which was to most Of US a cradle and
which will be to most Of Us a grave,
shall come into the full possession of
him who is so glorious that William the
Conqueror could not be compared to
him, even the One who rideth forth
"conquering and to conquer. -
A Battle For Souls.
Why would it be especially advanta-
geous if Almighty work Of grace started
here, ''beginning at Washington?'
First, because this city is on the border
between the north and the south. 1t is
neither northern nor southern. 1t com
mingles the TWO climates. 1t brings to-
gether the two styles of population. 1t
is not only right, but beautiful, that
people should have especial love for the
latitude where they were born and
brought up. With what loving accentu-
alton the AIabamian speaks Of his orange
groves And the man from Massachusetts
is sure to let you know that he comes