The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1896-02-27
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.,
o,kpAY,s DISCOURSE By THE
I NOTED DIVINE
Subject: 1.-THE Place to Begin"

xiv, AZ.
"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 temples and palaces and
radiant. whether looked up at from the val
ley of Jehoshaphat or gazed at from adloin-
ing hills, was the capital of q great Nation.
Clouds ofincense had lowered over 1t. Char
lots of kings had rolled through 1t. Batter
ing rams OF enemies had Numbered against
it. There Isaiah prophesied, and Jeremiah
lamented, and David retgned, and Paul
preached, and Christ was rnartyred. Most
Interesting city ever built since masonry
rung its first trowel or plumb line measured
its first walt or royalty swung its first
scepter. What Jerusalem was to the Jewish
kingdom Washin Stoh 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
extremities.
What the resurrected Christ said In my
text to His disciples when He ordered them to
start on the work of gosplization, "begin-
ming at Jerusalem" 1t seems to me God says
now in His providence to tens Of thousands
Of Christians in this city. Start for tho
evangelization of America. "beginhing at
Washington" America Is going to be taken
for God. If you do not believe it, take your
hat now and leave and give room to some
man or woman who does believe it. As
surely rs God lives and He is able to do as He
says He will this country will be evangelized
from the mouth OF the Potomac to the
mouth Of the Oregon, from the Highlands OF
Navesink to the Golden Horn, from Baff1n's
Bay to the Gulf OF Mexico, and Christ will
walk every lake, whether bestormed or
placid, and be TRANSPORTED on every mouth
tain, and the night skies, whether they hover
over groves Of magnolia or over Alaskan
glacier, shall be filed with the angelic over
ture of "glory to God and good will to
men,"
Again and again does the old book an
nounce that all the earth shall see the saliva
ton of God, and Us the greater includes the
lesser that takes America glorlously in. Can
you not see that if America is not taken for
God by His consecrated people it will be
taken for Apolyon? The forces engaged on
both sides are so tremendous that 1t cannot
be drawn battle. 1t is coming, the Arma-
geddon. Either the American Sabbath 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 foaming with do
nestle and National curse, and crime will
lift its uuhndered knife OF assassination
and rattle keys of worst burglary and wave
torch OF widest confagration, and our
cities be turned into Sodoms, waiting for
mighty tempest of fire. and birthstone
and one tidal wave of abominatic-
will surge across the continent, or Sc
Sabbaths will take on more SAM Y
ty, and the newspapers will become apee
yptic wings of benediction, and penitentiaries
will be abandoned for lack OF occupants, al
holiness and happiness, twin son and daug5,
ter Of heaven, shall walk through the Ia,
and Christ reign over this Nation eithez
person or by agency so glorious that
whole country will be one clear. resoMEng
echo OF heaven. 1t will r. a ~ Ter
BN the throne of Him " -. and
help me, as He always does
TO .as6d he His glorious name-I will show
, you how a mighty work of grace begun at
Washington would have a tendency to bring
the whole continent to God, and before this
century closes,
William the Conqueror ordered the curfew,
the custom of ringing tho bell at midnight,
ut which all the fires on the hearths were to
be banked, and all the lights extinguished,
and all the people retire to their pillows /
pray God that the curfew of 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
hluclttulu century from inc lWtullelu CEN
fury until this beloved land which was to
most of us a cradle and which will be to most
Of US grave, shall come into the full pos
session of Him who is so glorious that Will.
lam the Conqueror could not be compared to
Him. even the One who rideth forth "con-
quering and to conquer"
Why should 1t be especially advantageous
If a mighty work of grace started here, .'be-
| ginninga at Washington" First, because this
n hn M I'd or harvr ha rfh a,,I
| the South. 1t is neither Northern nor South
| ern. 1t commingles the two climates. It
| brings together the two styles OF population.
| 1t is not only right, but beautiful that peo-
| pie should have especial love Tor the latitude
where they were born and brought up. With
what loving accentuation the Albanian
| speaks OF his orange grovesl And the man
| from Massachusetts is sure to let you know
| that he comes from the land Of the Adamses
Samuel and John and John Quincy. Did
| you ever know a Virginian or Ohioan whose
| lace did not brighten when he announced
| himself from the Southern or Northern
State of Presidents? If man does not like
his native cline, it is because while he lived
thcre he did not behave well. This capital
stands where, by its locality and its political
| influence, il stretches forth one hand toward
| the North and the other toward the South,
and mighty work Of grace starting here
would probably be National awakening.
| Georgia would clasp the hand of New Hamp-
| shire, and Maine the hand of Louisiana and
| California the hand of New York, and say.
| Come, let us go up and worship the God
| OF Nations. the Christ OF Golgotha, the Holy
| Ghost of the pentecostal thousands" 1t has
often been said that the only way the
| North and the South will be brought into
complete accord is to have war with
some foreign Nation in which both sections.
| marching side by side, would forget every.
thing but the foe to be overcome. Well, II
| you wait for such a foreign conflict, you
will wait until all this generation is dead
and perhaps wait forever. The war that
will make the sections forget past contro-
| Verses is war against unrighteousness
such as u universal religious awakening
| would declare. What we want Is battle
for souls in which about 40, 000, 900 Northern.
er5 and Southerners shall be on the same
| sidea and shoulder to shoulder. In no other
| city on the continent eau such war be de-
| clared so appropriately, for all the other
| great cities are either Northern or Southern.
| This is neither, or rather it is both
Again. itwould be especially advantageous
! II mighty work of grace started here. be.
cause more representative men are in WASH
ington than in any other city between the
oceans. OF course there are accidents in
politics, and occasionally there are men who
ger into the Senate and House of Represent
tatlyes and other important places who are
lifted Tor the positions in neither head nor
heart, but this is exceptional and more ex-
ceptionaI now than in other days. There Is
not drunkcrd in the National Legislature,
although thpra xvara ri rhap Kapt,,.,I-