Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-03-14
A SUBLIME THEME.
sAMERlcA FOR eoDp THE SUBJECT OF
DR.. TALMAGE's SERMON.

other Nations Are Devoted TO Art and
Manufactures, but America Shall BE For
God-Enemies That Must BE Overcome.
plan of Campaign.
WASHINGTON, March 8.-This dis
course presents sublime theme and is
Of national importance, and coming
from the capital of thenation must have
a stirring effect throughout the land.
Dr.. Talmage chose for his text Revela-
/ ton xiii, IL, And / behold another
beast coming up ont of the earth, and
he had two horns like a lamb, and be
1pake as dragon. =
Is America mentioned in the Bible?
Learned and consecrated men who have
studied the inspired books of Daniel and
Revelation more than have and under
stand them better agree i'll saying that
! the leopard mentioned in the Bible
meant Grecia, and the bear meant Me-
do-Persia, aud the lion meant Babylon,
i and the beast of the text coming up out
4 of the earth, with two horns like lamb
and the voice Of dragon, means our
country, because among other reasons it
seemed to come up ont of the earth
/ when Columbus discovered il, and it
! has been for the most part at peace like
/ a lamb unless assaulted by foreign foe,
1 in which case it has had two horns
/ strong and sharp and the voice Of a
i dragon loud enough to make all nations
/ hear the roar of its indignation. Is it
reasonable to suppose that God would
leave out from the prophecies of his book
this whole western hemisphere No, no
i beheld another beast coming up out
Of the earth, and he had two horns like
a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
+ Germany for scholarship, England
for manufactures, France for manners,
Egypt for antiquities, Italy for pictures,
but America for God.
/ start with the cheering thought that
the most popular book on earth today is
the Bible, the most popular institution
on earth today is the church, and the
most popular name on earth today is
Jesus. Right from this audience hun
dreds of men and women would, if need
be, march out and die for him.
Am l too confident in saying, Amer
lea for God?" If the Lord viii help me,
[ will show the strength and extent of
the long line of fortresses TO be taken
and give you my reasons for saying it
can be done and will be done. Let us
decide, in this battle for God, whether
we are at Bull Run or at Gettysburg
There is a Fourth of Julyish way of
Dragging about this country, and the
most tired and plucked bird that ever
few through the heavens is the Ameri-
can eagle, so much so that Mr.. Gladstone
said to me facetiously at Hawarden, 81
hear that the fish in your American
lakes are so large that when one of them
is taken out the entire lake is percepti
bly, lowered, and at dinner given in
Paris an American offered for senti-
ment, Here is to the United States
bounded on the north by the aurora boz
reals, ON the south by the procession of
the equinoxes, on the east by primeval
chaos and on the west by the day of
I Judgment" The effect of such grand
4 iloquence is to discredit 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 at belittle-
/ ment.
To Be Taken For God.
This land to be taken for God, &C.
4 cordiDg to Hassel, the statistician, has
IA, 219, 967 square miles, a width and
length that none but the Omniscient
can appreciate. Four Europes put to-
/ gether and capable Of holding and feed
+ ing, as it viii hold and feed, according
/ TO Atkinson, the statistician, if the
+ world continues in existence and does
( not run afoul of some other world or get
! consumed by the fires already burning
I IN the cellars of the planet-capable, /
say. Of holding and feeding more than
| 1000, 600, 600 inhabitants. For you must
remember it must be held for God as
well as taken for God, and the last
500, 600, 600 inhabitants must not be al
/ lowed to swamp the religion of the first
/ 800, 600, 600. Not much use in taking
the fortress if we cannot hold it. 1t
must be held until the archangel's
trumpet bids living and dead arise from
this laundering planet.
You must remember il is only about
/ 2 o'clock in the mGning Of our nation s
/ life Great cities are to fash and roar
among what are called the Bad Lands
Of the Dakotas and the great "Colum-
bia plains" Of Washington state, and
that on which we put our schoolboy fin
gers On the map and spelled out as the
Great American DESERT is, through
{ systematic and concentrating irriga-
/ tion, to bloom ike Chatsworth park and
be made more productive than those re-
gions dependent upon uncertain and
/ spasmodic rainfall. All those regions,
as well as those regions already Guilt
+ waited, 10 be inhabited That was sub
lime thing said by Henry Clay while
crossing the Allegheny mountains, and
he was waiting for the stage horses TO
be rested, as he stood on a rock, arms
folded, looking off into the valley, and
some one said TO him, Mr.. Clay, what
are you thinking about?" He replied,
i am listening to the oncoming tramp
OF the future generation of America -
Have You laid our home missionary
scheme on such an infinitude of scale?
If the work of bringing one soul to God
Is so great, can 1000, 600, 600 be cap
tured! In this country. already planted
and TO be overcome, paganism has built
its altar TO Brahma, and the Chinese
are already burning incense in their
temples, ana Mohammedanism drunk
IN other days with the red wine of hu-
man blood at Lucknow and Cawnpur
and now fresh from the diabolism in
Armenia, Is trying to get a foothold
here, aud from the minarets of her
mosques will yet humble her blasphe-
mics, saying, God is great, and Mo
manned is his prophet. - Then there
are the vaster multitudes with no reli-