Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-07-08

his sermon shows him to be in SYM
tpathy with the great movement; text,
Amos tx, ID, Behold the days come,
saith the Lord, that the plowman shall
oyertake the reaper"
J Unable because of other important
duties to accept the invitation to take
part in the great convention of Chris
rtian Endeavorers at Cincinnati, begun
last week, 1 preach a sermon of con-
igratulation 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 har-
vest time in the fields and sckIes are
flashing in the gathering Of a great
crop, l find mighty suggestiveness in
my text.
1t is q picture of a tropical cline,
with Il season so prosperous that the
harvest reaches clear over to the plant
ing time and the Swarthy husbandman,
busy cutting the grain. almost feels the
breath of the horses on his shoulders,
the horses hitched to the pillow prepar-
ing for new crop. Behold the days
come, saith the Lord, that the ploWman
shall Overtake the reaper" When is
that? That is now. That is this day,
when hardly have you done reaping
one harvest of religious result than the
lplowman is getting ready for another.
In phraseology charged with all ven
ON and abuse and caricature | know
that inf1dels and agnostics lave de-
clared that Christianity has collapsed;
that the Bible is an obsolete book; that |
the Christian church is on the retreat. /
Il shall answer that wholesale charge !
today.
Between 100000 and 100000 En- |
ideavorers sworn before high heaven I.
that they will do all they can to take |
America for God, Europe for God. Asia !
and Africa for GOd-are not the signs /
most cheering? Or, to return to the /
agricultural figure Of my text, more .
than a million reapers are overtaken |
by more than million plowmen. Be +
sides this. there are more people who
believe in the Bible than at any time
In the worlds existence.
- Growth of Christianity.
I But now let us see whether the book
is a last years almanac. Let US see
whether the church of God is a Bull
Run retreat, musketS, canteenS and |
haversacks strewing all the way. The
great English historian Sharon Turner, /
a man Of vast learning and great ac-
,curacy, not clergyman, but an attOr
ney as we'll as q historian. gives this
overwhelming statistic in regard to
Christianity and in regard to the num-
Der of Christians in the different cen
turtles: In the first century 100000
Christians, in the second century 2,000,-
900 Christians. in the third century /
100000 Christians. in the fourth cen
fury 100000 Christians, in the fifth
century 100000 Christians. in the
sixth century 20,O00,000 Christians in
the seventh century 24,000,000 Chris
tians, in the eighth century 100000
Christians, in tie ninth century 10000
900 Christians. in the tenth century go
100000 Christians, in the eleventh cen
fury 100000 Christians, in the twelfth
century S0,O00,OOO Christians, in the
thirteenth century 100000 Chris
danS in the fourteenth century 10000
600 Christians. in the fifteenth century
1O0,O00000 Christians, in the sixteenth
century 125.C00.G00 Christians. in the
seventeenth century 155,000,0O0 Chris
idanS, in the eighteenth century 200,-
100000 ChriStianS-a decadence. as you
observe, in only one century and more
than made up in the following centu-
lrieS, while it is the usual computation
that there were at the close of the nine
iteenth century 4I0.000.O00 Christians,
making Us to believe that before this
century is closed the millennium will
have started it's boom and lifted it's
ihosanna. ..
Poor Christianity! What q pity it
has no friends. How lonesome it must
be! Who will take it out of the poor
house? Poor Christianity. Four hun
dred millions in one century. In Il few
weeks OF this year 100000 copies of
the New Testament distributed. Why,
the earth is like an old castle with 20
gates and park of artillery ready to
thunder down every gate. See how
heathendom is being surrounded and
honeycombed and attacked by this all
conQuering gospel At the beginning
of the nineteenth century $50 mission
aries; at the close of that century 81
DOC missionaries and native helpers
and evangeliStS. At the beginning OF
the nineteenth century there were only
10000 converts; now there are over
100000 converts from heathendOm.
So Christianity is falling back and
the Bible, they say, is becoming an OBJ
solete book l go into a court. and
wherever 1 find a judges bench or a
clerk 5 desk 1 find Bible. Upon what
book could there be uttered the solem-
nifty of an oath? What book is AIT to
be put in the trunk of the young man
as he leaves for city life? The Bible
What shall l find in nine out of every
ten homes in this city? The Bible In