The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-07-11
TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY
DR.. TsImage Says the Church Of Christ
Is the Most Endearing Instita.
tion on Earth.
Its Unsurpassed Growth :. Iniidelity Refuted.



WASHINGTON, d. G. - Although DR..
Ialmage was hindered from attending the
great annual meeting of the Christian En-
deavor Society at Cincinnati, his sermon
shows him to be in sympathy with the
great movement; text, Amos tx, l3, "Be-
old nold ,he days come. saith the Lord, that
the plowman shall overtake the reaper"
Unable because of other important du-
Ties 10 accept the invitation TO take part
IN the great convention of Christian En-
deavorers at Cincinnati, | preach a SER
mon OF congratulation for all the members
OF that magnificent association, whether
now gathered in vast assemblage or busy
IN their places of usefulness, transatlantic
and cisatlantic. And, as it is now harvest
time IN the fields and sicl1les are flashing
IN the gathering of a great crop, / find
mighty suggestiveness in my text.
1t is picture of a tropical Cline with
season so prosperous that the harvest
reaches clear over to the planting time
and the swarthy husbandman, busy cut
ting the grain, almost feels the breath of
the horses on his shoulders, the horses
hitched to the plow preparing for n new
crop; Behold the days come saith the
Lord Lord that the glowman shall ooyertale
the reaper" When is that! That 10
now. That is this day, when hardly have
you done reaping one harvest of religious
result than the plowman is getting ready
for another.
In phraseology charged with all venom
and abuse and caricature | know that in
fidels and agnostics have declared that
Christianity has collapsed: that the Bible
is an. obsolete book; that the Christian
church is on the retreat. / shall answer
that wholesale charge to-day.
Between 100000 and 1000, 900 Endeav.
orers sworn before high heaven that they
will do all they can to take America for
God, Europe for God, Asia and Africa for
~ ba e,o 81. n.
to return to the agricultural figure of my
text, more than million reapers are over
taken by more than million plowmen
Besides this, there are more people who
believe in the Bible than at any time in
the worlds existence
But now, let us see whether the book is
last years almanac. Let us see whether
the church OF God is Bull Run retreat,
muskets, canteens and haversacks strew
ing all the way. The great English histor-
ian Sharon Turner, a man of vast learning
and great accuracy, not clergyman, but
an attorney as well as historian. gives
this overwhelming statistic in regard to
Christianity and in regard to the number
OF Christians in the different centuries:
In the first century 100000 Christians, in
the second century 1000 900 Christians, in
the third century 100000 Christians, in
the fourth century 10000, 900 Christians,
in the fifth century 100000 Christians,
1S.
in the seventh century 24000,000 Chris
tians, in the eighth century 10000, 900
Christians, in the ninth century 10000 900
Christians, in the tenth century $4,000 900
Christians, in the eleventh century TO-
100000 Christians, in the twelfth century
S0,O00,OOO Christians. in the thirteenth
century 75,000,000 Christians in the four
teenth century S0,000,u00 Christians. in the
fifteenth century 100000, 900 Christians. in
the sixteenth century l25,000000 Chris.
tians, in the seventeenth century l55,000,-
600 Christians, in the eighteenth century
200, 900 Christians decadence, as you
observe, in only one century and more
than made up in the following centuries,
while it is the usual computation that
there were at the close of the nineteenth
century 470,000,000 Christians, making us
to believe that before this century is
close the millennium will have started its
boom. and lifted its hosanna.
Poor Christianityi What a pity it has
no friends! How lonesome it must be!
Who will take it out of the poorhouse!
Poor Christianity! Four hundred mill
ions in one century.
At the beginning of the nineteenth cen
tury l50 missionaries; at the close of that
century $4,000 missionaries and native
helpers and evangelists., At the beginning
Of the nineteenth century there were only
10000 converts; now there are over l,000
900 converts from heathendom.
So Christianity is falling back and the
Bible, they say, is becoming an obsolete
book! | go into a court, and wherever
ad and Jni JInndisSs, bench or a clerks desk |
be. uttered the solemnity of an oathi
What ook is apt to be put in the trunk
of the young man as he leaves for city
life? The Bible. What shall / find in
nine out of every ten homes in this city?
The Bible. In nine out OF every ten homes
in Christendom? The Bible. Voltaire
wrote the prophecy that the Bible in the
nineteenth century would become extinct.
The century is gone, and / have to tell
you that the room in which Votaire
wrote that prophecy not long ago was
crowded from floor to ceiling with Bibles
from Switzerland.
Suppose the Congress of the United
States should pass law that there should
be no more Bibles printed in America and
no Bibles read. IL there are 10000, ,000
grown people in the United States there
would be 60,000000 people in an army to
put down such a law and defend their
right to read the Bible. But suppose the
Congress of the. United States should
make law against the reading or the
publication of any other book-how many
people would so out in such crusade?
Could you get 10000 900 people to 90 out
and risk their lives in the defense of
Shakespeares tragedies or Gladstone 5
.racts OF Macauiay History OF Eng
Iand!' You know that there are a thou
sand men who would die in defense of
this book where there is not more than
one man who would die in the defense of
any other book. You try to insult my
common sense by telling me the Bible is
fading out from the world 1t is the most
popular book OF the centuries.
Oh" say people, the church is a col
lection OF hypocrites, and it is losing its
power, and it is fading out from the
world" Is itg A bishop Of the Metho-
dist church told me that that denomina-
tion averages two new churches every day.
In other words, they build 730 churches
in that denomination in a year, and
there are at least 1900 new Christian
churches built in America every year.
Does that look as though the Christian
church were fading ont, as though it Were
a defunct institution? What stands near
est to the hearts of the American people
to-day? i do not care in what village or
what city or what neighborhood you CO.
What is il? Is it the postofiice? Is it the
hotel? Is il the lecture hall? All, you
know it is not. You know that that
which stands nearest to the hearts of the
American people is the Christian church.
You may talk about the church being a
collection of hypocrites, but when the
diphtheria sweeps your children off, whom
do you send for? The postmaster? The
Attoney-General? The hotel keepery
Alderman? No. You send for a minister
of this Rihla ral;oion And if fhara ,o a