The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-02-25
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Greeting to the Congress Assem-
bled at the Capital.
No Power So Great as the VIII of the Al.
mIghty-Ali Elements Are A.
Nothing Compared with
Omnipolence.

Washington congregations: StoriutuS
the Heights" basing it Oh the text:
Who art thou, great mountain? Betoie Ze-
rubbabel thou shalt become plaln-Zecha-
rah ". 7.
Zerubbabel! Who owned that diff
cult name, in which three times the
letter "b' occurs, disposing most peo-
pie to stammer in the pronunciation!
Zeru bba bel was the splendid man
call to rebuild the destroyed temple of
Jerusalem. Stone for the building !
had been quarried, and the trowel had ,
rung at the laying Of the conversions,
and all went well, when the Cuthaeans
offered to help i'll the work. They
were bad lot of people, and Lerub-
babel declined their help, and then
the trouble began. The Cuthaeans
pre- udiced the secretary OF the treas
ury against Zerubba bel, SO tina: the
wages of the carpenters and masons
could not be paid, and the heavy
cedar timbers which had been
dragged from Mount Lebanon to the
Mediterranean and tioatcd in RATS
from Beyrout to Joppa. and were to
be drawn by OK team from Joppa to
Jerusalem, had halted and as result
of the work of those jealous Cuthaeans
| for l6 years the building of the temple
was stopped. But after l6 years, Ze-
rubbabel, the mighty soul, got new
call from God to go ahead with the
temple building, and the angel of the
Lord in substance said: They have
piled up obstacles in the way of Ze-
rub ba bel until they have become as
mountain, height above height, crag
above crag; but it shall all be thun-
dered down and made fiat and smooth
as the floor Of a house. "NhO art thou,
0 great mountain? before Zerubbabel
thou shall become plain.
Well, the Cuthaeans are not all dead
yet. They are busy in every neigh
borhood and every city and every ma
ton of every age, heaplng obstacles III
the way of the cause of God. They
have piled up hindrances above hind
RANGES until they have become hill,
and the hill has become a mountain,
and the mountain has become an Alp,
eId there it stands, right n the way
Of all movements for the worlds saliva
ton. Some people are SO discouraged
about the height and breadth of this
mountain in front of them that they
have done nothing for it years, and
many of those who are at work
trying to DO something toward
removing the mountain toll in such a
way that | can see they have not much
faith that the mount ain of hindranc es
, will ever be removed They feel they
must do their duty, but they feel all
+ the time-I can hear it in my prayers
and eXhortations-that they are strill-
ing their pickaxes and shovels into the
side of the Rocky mountains. If the
good Lord will help me while preach
| will give you the names of some OF
= the high mountains which are really
IN the way, and then show you that
those mountains are to be Frustrated,
!, torn down, ground up, leveIed, put ont
Of sight forever "Who art thou, c
r great mountain? before Zerubbab be
Il thou shalt become a plain
l. First, there is the Mountain of Pref
Q udice, as long as a range of the Pyre
L aees. Prejudice against the Bible a:
q dull book, an inconsistent book,
q cruel book, an unclean book, and il
l. every way an unit book. The mos
IF them have never read it. They
. think the strata of the rocks contra
"a dict the account in Genesis. The poo
souls do not know that the Mosaic ac
d count agrees exactly with the geolog
c. zeal account. No violin or flute evel
were in better accord. BY crowba
- and pickax and shovel and blasting
. powder the geologist goes down in the
earth and says: The first thin,
created in the furnishing of TIL
earth was the plants" Moses says
''Ay! | told you that in the boo
Of Genesis: The earth brought fort
j.. grass and herb, yielding seed after hi
ID kind, and the tree yielding fruit
~ The geologist says: The next thins
in the furnishing of the earth was tn
} making Of the creatures of the sea.
\ Moses says: "Ay! l told you that wa
4 next in the book of Genesis: Go
said: Let the waters bring fort
abundantly the moving creatures tina
have life; and God created grea
II. whales" The geologist goes o
ke digging and says: The mex
Ia thing in the furnishing of til
- earth was the creation of the cattI
ann the reptiles and the beasts OF tn
field ayr says Moses. Il tol
you that was next in the first chaptt
Of Genesis: And God said. let til
earth bring forth the living creatul
IT after his kind, cattle, and creepin
thing, and beast of the earth after h
r kind. The geologist goes on di,
, ging in the earth and says "Tl
is next creature was the human family
i ayr Says Moses, Il told you that w;
" next in the book of Genesis: 80 &c
created man in Ills own image, in tt
image Of God created he him: ma
and female, created He them"
Another mountain of hindrence
that of positive and Cutspoken immo
ais. There is the Mountain of |
ebriacy. 1t is piled high with Ike,
20 and demijohns and decanters al
- hogsheads, en- which sit the victims
that traffic whose one business is
rob earth and Heaven of the most ge
*. erous ana iarge-hearted and splend