The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-03-19

We go not alone to the field. We have
invincible allies in the dumb elements
of nature. As Job said. we are in
league with the very stones of the field.
The sun by day and the moon by night
directly or indirectly, shall favor Chris
tianity. The stars in their courses are
marshaled for us, as they fought
against Sisera. The winds of Heaven
are now as certainly acting in favor of
Christ as in reformation times the in
vincibleArmada.i in its pride, approached
the coast of England. As that proud
navy directed their guns against the
friends of Christ and religious liberty,
God said unto his winds, Seize hold of
them" and to the sea. Swallow
them" The Lord, with His tempests,
dashed their hulks together and splin-
tered them on the rocks until the flower
of Spanish pride and valor lay crushed
among the waves of the sea beach. All
are ours. Aye. God the Father, God
the Son. and God the Holy Ghost are
our allies.
Now the church goes forth bearing
precious seed, but after awhile it will
be the sheaf- binding, and reaper angels
shall shout the harvest home. Now it
is tents and marching and exposure,
but then in the ranks OF PROSTATE in
| iquity and on the very walls of Heaven,
lin the name of God we will set up our
| banners"
By and by you would hardly know
| the earth if you saw it. The world as
a whole shall be as greatly improved
as the individual heart by conversion.
Fraud. leaving its trickery, will go to
work for an honest living. knavery
shall begin to make righteous bar
gains. PaSsian shall answer to the
control of reason. Scoffers shall
be changed into worshipers, and
skeptics into Bible lovers. Christ
shall begin His reign on earth.
| Whether He shall descend onto
the earth in person and establish
| government at Jerusalem, | cannot
say; but it will be an era of more than
| Augustan splendor. That is enough.
Knowing this we can never despair.
But as we see the church of Christ put
ting on her beautiful garments and
arising to shine, we will say, with the
| enthusiasm of Oliver Cromwell, who,
standing before his sick and famine
stricken soldiers at Dunbar, saw the
sun rising out of the morning mist,
and pointing to it with his sword, ut
| tered prayer which hurled his men
upon the crushed foe like a sky full
of thunderbolts: Arise, Oh God! Let
thine enemies be scattered" With
the ear of faith l catch the sound
of the latter-day glory. Church of
Christ, unsheathe thy sword and this
moment into the battlel In the name
of Christ, march on! Upon every school
and hospital, upon every bankers desk
and merchants counter, upon every
chemists laboratory and astronomers
tower, upon shepherds hut and wood
mans cabin, upon the ships deck and
sailors hammock, far out on the sea
and high up in the mountain, before
the gaze of nations, under the applaud
its of Heaven, In the name of God we
will set up our banners"
My subject has taught you that in
this contest we are not without en-
signs and colOrs. All we want now is
men to carry them. Before l sit down
l must propose to each of you this
| great honor. Becoming a Christian is
not so ignoble thing as many have
| thought it. 1t makes man stoop,"
you say. know it, but it is only the
stoop of an heir of royalty, who on
his knees is to receive a crown
of dominion. We want standard
bearers in all pulpits, in all
places of business - everywhere. /
do not ask you how old you are,
nor how young; how weak or how
strong; how dull or how sharp; nor
what your home, nor who your an
cestors. Without any condition, with
out any reserve, in the name of the
God of Israel, offer you the honor of
carrying the church's ensigns. DO not
be afraid of the assaults of a world
whose ranks you desert, nor of devils
who will oppose you with Internal
might. 1t were more blessed to fall
here than stand anywhere else.
The prophecies. intimate that there
shall before the destruction of the
world be one great battle between
truth and unrighteousness. We shall
not probably see it on earth. God
grant that we may see it, bending from
the battlements of Heaven. On the
of oppression and cruelty, led on by
infamous kings and generals. The
votaries of paganism, led on by their
priests. The subjects of Mohamme-
danism, following the commands OF
their shieks. And gluttony and in
temperance and iniquity of every phase
shall be largely represented on the
field. All the wealth and splendor
and power and glory of wickedness
shall be concentered on that one de-
cisive spot, and maddened by 10000
previous defeats, shall gather them
selves up for one last, terrible assault
With hatred to God for their cause and
blasphemy for the battle cry, they
spread out over the earth in square be-
yond square, and legion beyond legion.
while in some overhanging cloud OF
blackness foul spirits of hell watch
this last struggle of sin and darkness
for dominion.