The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-07-11
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
CHRISTIAN ENDEAvoR LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
"Behol the Days Come, Saith the
Lord, That the Flowman Shall OVER
take the Keaper'-Amos. IL, 13-The
Force of the Bible.

"Ocs s.p AAO
Force of the Bible.
Copyright, 1901, Louis Klopsch, N. "
Washington, July although DIR.
iai1nage was hindered from attending
the great annual meeting Of the Chris
tan Endeavor society at Cincinnati,
MS m show him to be in sym
pathy with the great movement;
text, Amos TX, 13, Behold the days
come, saith the Lord, that the plow-
mar Shall overtake the reaper"
because Of other important
duties to accept the invitation to take
part In the great convention of Chris
tlan Endeavorers at Cincinnati, began
last week. | preach a sermon of con-
graduation for all the members Of that
magnlhcent association, whether now
gathered in vast assemblage or busy
IN their places of usefulness, trans
atlantic n cisatlantic, and as it is
now harvest time in the fields and
slckles are flashing in the gatherings
OF a great crop, | find mighty sugges-
tlveness in my text.
1t is a picture of a tropical cline,
with a season so prosperous that the
harvest reaches clear over to the
planting time, and the swarthy hus-
bandman, busy cutting the grain, al
most feels the breath of the horses
on his shoulders, the horses hitched to
the pillow, preparing for a new crop.
Behold the days come, saith the Lord,
that the plowman shall overtake the
reaper" When is that? That is now.
mat Is this day, when hardly have
you done reaping n harvest Of re-
llglous result than the plowman is
getting ready for another.
In phraseology charged with all
venom and abuse and caricature l
know that infidels and agnostics have
declared that Christianity has COL
lapsed; that the Bible is an obsolete
pook; that the Christian church is on
the retreat. l shall answer that whole
sale charge today.
Growth of Christianity.
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
h~aversacks strewing all the way. The
great English historian Sharon Tur-
ner, a man of vast learning and great
accuracy, not a clergyman, but an at
torney as well as a 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, 500, 900
CHRISTIANS; in the second century.
2,OO0,OOO Christians; in the third cen
fury, 100000 Christians; in the fourth
century 100000 Christians; in the
fifth century 1 5 5000, 900 Christians; in
the sixth century 20, 0oO, 900 Christians;
IN the seventh century "a, 1000, 900
Christians; in the eighth century, go
100000 Christians; in the ninth CEN
tury 10000 900 Christians; in the tenth
century $4,000, 900 Christians; in the
eleventh century 10000. 900 Christians;
IN the twelfth century 30, OO0, 900 Chris
tians; tn the thirteenth century U.s.
100000 Christians; in the fourteenth
century 10000, 900 Christians; in the
fifteenth century 100, 600, 900 Chris
'tians; in the sixteenth century, 1885,
100000 Christians; in the seventeenth
century $4,000 900 Christians; in the
eighteenth century 200, 600, 900 Chris
tians-a %decadence, as you observe, in
only n 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, 900 900 Christians, making
us to believe that before this century
is closed the millennium will have
started it's boom and lifted its hosan-
ma.
Poor Christianity! What a pity it
a 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 a
few weeks of this year $500, 900 copies
of the New Testament distributed.
Why, the earth is like an old castle
with 20 gates and a park of artillery
ready to thunder down every gate.
See how heathendom is being sur
rounded and honeycombed and at
tackled by this all conquering gospel.
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century $50 missionaries; at the close
of that century S4, 1000 Missionaries and
native helpers and evangelists. At
the beginning of the nineteenth cen
fury there were only $4,000 converts.
Now there are over 1000, 900 converts
from heathendom.
The Force of the Bible.
Suppose the congress of the United
States should pass a law that there
should be no more Bibles printed in
America and no Bibles read. If there
are $1,000, 900 grown people in the
United States, there would be 60, O0O,-
900 people in an army to put down
such a law and defend their right to
read the Bible. But suppose the con-
gress of the United States should
make a law against the reading or the
publication of any other book, how
many people would go out in such a
crusade? Could you get go, 900, 900
people to go out and risk their lives in
defense of Shakespeare's tragedies or
Gladstone's tracts or Macaulay's His
tory CT England" You know that
there are a thousand men who would
die In the 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