Milford chronicle., 1901-07-12

~ :.3 u"
WASHINGTON, July Although DR..
Talmage was hindered from attending
the great annual meeting of the Christian
Endeavor society at Cincinnati, his ser
mon shows him to be in sympathy with
the great movement; text, Amos iX, -,
'Behold the days come, saith the Lord,
that the plowman shall overtake The
reaper"
Unable because of other important du-
ties to accept the invitation to take part
in the great convention of Christian En-
dcavorers at Cincinnati, begun last week,
preach a sermon of congratulation for
all the members Of that magnificent asso-
chiffon, whether now gathered in vast as
semblage or busy in their places Of use
fulness, transatlantic and cisatlantic, and
as it is now harvest time in the fields and
sicllles are flashing in the gathering Of
great crop, find mighty suggestiyeness
in my text.
1t is a picture Of tropical cline, with
a 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 a new
crop. "Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that tho plowman shall overtake
the reaper" When is that? That is
now.s 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 today.
Between 100000 and 100000 En-
deaYorers sworn before high heaven that
they will do all they can to take America
for God, Europe for God, Asia and AZ
RIGA for GOd-Are not the signs most
cheering? Or, to return to the agricul-
tural figure Of my text. more than a mill
lion reapers are Overtaken by more than
million plOwmen. Besides this, there
nre more people who believe in the Bible
than at any time in the worlds existence.
An Arab guide was leading French in
idel across the desert, and ever and anon
the Arab guide would get down in the
sand and pray to the Lord. 1t Disguised
the French inhdel, and after awhile, as
the Arab got up from one of his prayers,
the infide said, GLOW do you know there
is any GodF" And the Arab guide said:
How do ! know that n man and Il camel
passed by our tent last night? | know it
| by the footprint in the sand. And you
want to know how ] know whether there
is any God? Look at the sunset. Is that
the footstep of q manW And by the
same process You ana have come to un
lcrstand that this book is the footsteD OF
God.
Growth % Christianity.
But now let us see. whether the boob
is a last years almanac. Let us set
whether the church of God is a Bull Run
retreat, muskets, canteens and haver
sacks strewing all the way. The grea
English historian Sharon Turner. a mar
Of vast learning and great accuracy, no
a clergyman, but an attorney as well as
historian. gives this overwhelming staSis
tic in regard to Christianity and in regar,
to the number of Christians in the differ
ent centuries: In the first century 50O,O0I
Christians, in the second century 1000,
NOO AuIlSllullSs III lAG Alllu GtAlAul
100000 Christians, in the fourth cen
fury 100000 Christians, in the fift
century 100000 Christians, in tn
sixth century 2O,000,0O0 Christians, i
the seventh century 24.000.000 Chris
tians. in the eighth century 100000
Christians. in the ninth century 10000
300 Christians. in the tenth century so
900, 600 Christians. in the eleventh cer
| a..
century S0,O00,000 Christians, in the thi
teenth century 15,0000O0 Christians,
the fourteenth century SO.000,0G0 Chris
tians, in the fifteenth century 100000
Christians. in the sixteenth century 12j
100000 Christians. in the seventeent
century 155000,000 Christians, in ii
! eighteenth century 200000.000 Chri
tians-a decadence, as you observe, in ON
= one century, and more than made up
the following centuries, while it is Il
usual computation that there were at Il
close of the nineteenth century 100000
900 Christians, making us to believe tn
before this century is closed the mile
mum will have started its boom and lift
its hOsanna.
Poor Christianity! What a pity It h
no friends! How lonesome it must b
Who will TAKE it out of the poorhous
Poor Christianity! Four hundred m
lions in one century. In a few weeks
y this year 2,500,OO0 copies Of the Ne
=. Testament distributed. Why, the ear
m is like an old castle with 20 gates and
c park Of artillery ready to thunder dOy
u every gate. See how heathendom is
e. ing surrounded and honeycombed and
es tackled by this all conQuering gospel
IN the beginning of the nineteenth centu
MS 100 missionaries; at the close of that &C
fury $4,000 missionaries and native he
ns ers and evangelists At the beginning
lis the nineteenth century there were OF
10000 converts. Now there are on
~ lW0,000 converts from heathendom.
- You all know that an important We
T of an army is to plant the batteries.
may take many days to plant the bait
les. and they may do all the work in
minutes. These gospel batteries are
ing planted all along the seacoasts and
-ch. oil nations. 1t may take a good wi
ry. to plant them, and they may do
on their work in one day. They will !
n tions are to be born in a day. |
just come back to Christendom and I
lE. Ognize the fact that during the last
- years as many people have connec
themselves with evangelical churches
connected themselves with the churc
in the first 80 years Of last century.
Christianity is falling back, and the
BILE, they say. Is becoming an obso
,rry' book. / so into a court, and wherevt
XII find a judges bench or a clerks des
,wn find a Bible. Upon what book &C
there be uttered the solemnity of an GA
. What book is apt to be put in the tr
- of the young man as he leaves for
Il life? The Bible. What shall / fin
nine out of every ten homes in this
ian The Bible. In nine out of every
homes in Christendom? The Bible.
taire wrote the prophecy that the Bib
the nineteenth century would become
l., tinct. The century is gone, and
Del to tell you that the room in which
tnire wrote that prophecy not long
CC was crowded from floor to ceiling
Bibles from Switzerland.
The Force of the Bible.
Suppose the congress of the u
States should pass a law that
should be no more Bibles printe
America and no Bibles read If
reta are 60,000,000 grown people in the
ed States, there would be $4,000, 1000
pie in an army to put down such q
-FT and defend their right to read the /
esti. But suppose the congress Of the U
re or States should make q law against
other reading or the publication of any
enty book, how many people would go 0
, fnrd such a crusade? Could you get 60
600 people to go out and risk their
in the defense of Shakespeares I