The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-03-13
AMERICA FOR GOD.
DR.. Talmage on the Advance Of
Christianity.
America the Favored Land for the Spread
OF the Gospel-Sin Being Gradually
Suppressed In This Favored
Country.

In late sermon at Washington Rev
T. Dewitt Talmage discoursed on a
subject of national Importance. His
text was from Revelations xiii:11:
"And 1 beheld another beast coming
up out of the earth; and he had two
horns like a lamb and he spake as a
dragon" DIR. Talmage said:
Is America mentioned in the Bible?
Learned and consecrated men who
have studied the inspired books of
Daniel and Revelation more than
have and understood them better,
agree in saying that the leopard men,
toned in the Bible meant Grecia, and
the bear meant Medo-Persia, and the
lion meant Babylon, and the beast of
the text, coming up out of the earth
with two horns like a lamb and the
voice of dragon, means our country,
because among other reasons it seemed
to come up out of the earth when
Columbus discovered it, and it has
been for the most part at peace like a
lamb, unless assaulted by foreign foe,
in which case it had two horns, strong
and sharp. and the voice of dragon
loud enough to make all nations hear
the roar of its Indignation. Is it rea-
sonable to suppose that God would
leave out from the prophesies of His
book this whole western hemisphere?
No, no. 81 beheld another beast COM
ing up out of the earth, and he had
two horns like lamb, and he spake as
a dragon"
Germany for scholarship. England
for manufactures. France for man.
ners. Egypt for antiquities Italy for
pictures. But America for God.
1 start with the cheering thought
that the most popular book on earth
to-day is the Bible, the most popular
institution on earth to-day is the
church, and the most popular name on
earth to-day is Jesus. Right from this
audience hundreds 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 fortresses to be
taken, and give you my reasons for
saying it can be done. Let US decide,
in this battle for God, whether we are
at Bull Run or at Gettysburg. There
is Fourth of Julyish way of Dragging
about this country, and the most
tired and plucked bird that ever
flew through the heavens is the Amer
lean eagle, SO much SO that Mr.. Glad
stone said to me facetiously at Hawar-
den: 81 hear that the fish in your
American lakes are SO large that when
one of them is taken out the entire
lake is perceptibly lowered" and at a
dinner given in Paris an American of
fered for a sentiment: Here is to the
United States-bounded on the north
by the aurora borealis, 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 grandiloquence is to discredit the
real facts, which are 80 tremendous they
need no garpishing. The worst thing
to do in any campaign, military or re-
ligious, is to underestimate an enemy,
and 1 will take no part in such at.
tempt at belittlement
This land to be taken for God, &C
cording to Hassel. the statistician, has
l4,2l9, OCT square miles, a width and
length that none but the Omniscient
can appreciate. Four Europes put to.
gether, and capable of holding and
feeding, as it will hold and feed, &C.
cording to Atkinson, the statistician.
if the world continues in existence and
does not run afoul of some other world
or get consumed b. the fires already
burning in the cellars of the planet
capable, l say, of holding and feeding
more than 1000, 900, 600 of inhabitants.
For you must remember it must be
held for God, as we'll as taken for God,
and the last 500, 900, OOO Inhabitants
not be allowed to swamp the religion
of the first 500, 900, OO0 Not much use
taking the fortress if we cannot hold
it. 1t must be held until the arch
angels trumpet bids living and dead
arise from this laundering planet.
You must remember it is only about
seven o'clock in the morning of our ma
tion's life. Great cities are to flash
and roar among what are called the
bad Lands of the Dakotas and the
great Columbia Plains" of Washing
ton state, and that on which we put
our sehoolboy fingers on the map and
spelled out as the Great American
Desert" is, through systematic and
concentrating irrigation, to bloom like
Chatsworth park, and be made more
productive than those regions depend
ent upon uncertain and spasmodic
rainfall All those regions, as well as
those regions already cultivated, to be
inha bite0! That was a sublime thing
said by Henry Clay, while crossing the
Allegheny mountains, and he was
waiting for the stage horses to be rest
ed, 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: Il
am listening to the grooming tramp
of the future generation of America"
Have you laid our home missionary
scheme on such an infinitude of scale?
II the work of bringing one
soul to God is so great, can a
thousand million be captured? In this
country, already planted and to be