Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-03-14
A SUBLIME THEME.
eAMERlCA FOR GOD" THE SUBJECT OF
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON.

Manufactures but America Shall BE For
God-Encmies 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 tho nation must have
stirring effect throughout tho land.
DR.. Talmage chose for his text Revela-
ton xiii, II, "Anl beheld another
beast coming up out of the earth, and
he had two horns like lamb, and he
spake rs q 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 III the Bible
meant Grecia, and the bear meant Me-
do Persia, and the lion meant Babylon,
and the beast of the text coming up out
of the earth, with two horns like lamb
nnd the voice of dragon, means our
country, because among other reasons 1T
seemed to come up out of the earth
when Columbus discovered it, and 1t
has been for the most part at peace like
lamb unless assaulted by foreign foe,
In which case it has had two horns
strong and sharp and the voice Of a
dragon loud enough TO make all nations
hear the roar of its indignation. Is it
reasonable to suppose that God would
ieave out from tho prophecies of his book
this whole western hemisphere? No, no |!
''I behold another beast coming up out
" tho earth, and he had two horns like
II lamb, and he spake as dragon. y
Germany for scholarship, England
FOR manufactures, France for manners,
Egypt for antiquities, Italy for pictures,
but America for God
start with tho cheering thought that
The most popular book on earth today Is
the Bible, the most popular institution
TN earth today is the church, and the
nlost 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 too confident in saying, Amer
lea for God?" If the Lord will help me,
/ will show the strength and extent Of
the long line Of fortrcsses to be taken
and give you my reasons for saying 1t
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
flew through the heavens is the Ameri-
ian eagle, SO much so that Mr.. Gladstone
said to me facetiously at Hawarden, Il
hear that the fish III yonr American
lakes are so large that when one of them
is taken out tho entire lake is percepti-
bly, lowered, and at dinner given in
Paris an American offered for a senti-
ment, Here is to the United States
bounded Oh the north by the aurora bo-
reals, on the south by the procession Of
the equinoxes, on the east by primeval
chaos and on the west by the day OF
Judgment. The effect Of such grand
tloquence 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 i'll such attempt at belittle-
ment.
To Be Taken For God.
This land to be taken for God, ac-
cording to Hassel, the statistician, has
l4,219, 967 square miles, width and
a length that none but the Omniscient
can appreciate. -Four Europes put to-
gether and capable of holding and feed
ing, as it will 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
in the cellars Of the planet-capable, l
say, of holding and feeding more than
1000, 900, 600 inhabitants. For you must
remember it must be held for God as
we'll as taken for God, and the last
500, 900, 900 inhabitants must not be al
lowed to swamp the religion of the first
500, 900, 0O0 Not much use in taking
the fortress if we cannot hold it. 1t
must be held until the archangol's
trumpet bids living and dead arise from
this laundering planet.
You must remember it is only about
2 o'clock in the morning of our nations
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 Oh which we put our schoolboy fin
gers on the map and spelled out as the
"Great American desert" is, through
systematic and consummating irriga-
ton, to bloom like Chatsworth park and
be made more productive than those re-
gions dependent upon uncertain and
spasmodic rainfall. All those regions
as we'll as those regions already Guilt
sated, to 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 rock, arms
folded, looking off into the valley, and
some one said to him, "Mr. Clay, what
are you thinking about?" He replied,
II am listening to the oncoming tramp
of the future generation of America. y
Have you laid our home missionary
scheme Oh such an infnitude of scale?
If the work of bringing one soul to God
is e. great, can 1000, 100000 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, and Mohanmedanism, drunk
in other days with the red wine of hui
man blood at Lucknow and Cawnpur
and now fresh from the diabolism III
Armenia. is trying to get foothold
here, and from the minarets of her
MOSQUES will vet humble her blasphe-