The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-09

DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
BY THE REV, FRANK DE WITT rALMAoE. D. Q.

| Chicago August 2I.-In this sermon the preacher pays a fitting tribute to the oonsecrated mothers and daughters of America and pleads for a wider and more practical recognition of their ser vices in church and religious work. The text is Philippians iv, 3, Help those women who labored with me In the gos- pei"
 The conspicuous places In the church have always been filled by men. The effective. personal work of the church. however, has to a large extent been done by women. Opening the scroll of gos- pei triumphs, the names of the greatest preachers and organizers have been men; but in the ordinary walks of relig- ious life the consecrated female workers have always outnumbered the consecrat- ed male workers. In the history of the Christian church the women members. as a class. have rarely failed Christ in hours of reed
 Not she with trdtorous kiss her Master
 stung.
 Not she denied him with unfaithful tongue.
 She when apostles fled could dangers
 
 First at his cradle knelt. last at his
 grave.
 Tho part woman has In the gospel cam paign is that eulogized by military his torians and poets as that of the "man behind the gun" They declare It was not the great leaders like Robert E. Lee and Stonewal Jackson or U. S. Grant and w. T. Sherman who bore the chief in 1qN Olff bq mon soldier In the ranks. 1t was the artilleryman who lived In the trenches day In and ady out If was the sentinel doing picket duty. They declare that Colonel Theodore Roosevelt had but lit tie to do with the capture of San Juan hill If was the common soldier who | broke into run and swept up to the Spanish blockhouse. And if. said Col. onel Roosevelt, T had not charged the enemy at a dead run I would have been run down by my own men, who were running after me" It was the man "be- hind the gum who captured San Juan hill and he should have his share of the glory, which belongs not to Theodore Roosevelt or any other officer alone.
 The Woman Behind the Gospel Gun.
 But, though in military parlanee we may talk about the man behind the gum we cannot in the church militant It is the woman behind the gospel gum who for centuries upon centuries has borne the greatest brunt of religious strife. It is the woman behind the gos pei gum in the home, in the church, on the street, in the country, in the city and in the foreign missions who has car ried the name of Jesus Christ all around the world. It is the woman behind the gospel gun" who has won the greatest gospel victories for our churches in the tIa af ,to mon is to make a manly plea to the fath- CTS and husbands, brothers and sons. of the families of our churches to take their positions in religious work beside their mothers and wives, sisters and daugh- ters.
 Nearly every man in my audience to- day Is a believer in Jesus Christ. It is so with other churches. Infides and az nostics are still numerous. unhappily, but they are not in our churches, and the voice from the pulpit does not reach their ears My ministry so far as preach Ing to infidels and atheists and agnostics is concerned is practically ended. Theo- dore Cuyler, the grand old man of the Brooklyn pulpit lately declared that in ministry of over sixty years he had nev- CT yet preached a sermon upon the divine authenticity of the Scriptures. He be- lieved that almost every person with whom his work came in contact was not only a believer in the Bible, but also in the divinity of Jesus Christ l believe that every man in church today is not only believer in Jesus Christ. but that he also expects some day to receive Christ as his Saviour and to be redeemed from sin by the atonement of the cross.
 christ's Saving Power.
 You show the fact invountarily, al- most automatically. l can prove to you fs,,. ( HaIf CT in the saving power of divine Christ. How do you act? What do you say in crisis? Snpposing you were swept off the deck of a transatlantic steamer like Captain Courageous in Rudyard Kip ling's story? What would be the first cry which would invountarIly come to your lips? Would you not call out at the top of your voice, My God, help?' Sup posing you were caught in a blizzard upon the western prairie. After you had for hours been floundering around and around In the ever deepening snow, would you not with your benumbed fac ulties moan: 70 Christ. save me! Christ save mel When we were climb ing over the Johnstown ruins few days after the awful Conemaugh food Rev. Dr. Beale told me that during the pande- monium of death a saloon keeper, as he was sweeping by, caught hold of his church's steeple. As he hung there he was heard again and again to beseech God for his life. MT. Moody said that when he was returning from Europe on the last trip of his life the steamer for q whole day was every moment expected to go to the bottom. Then he heard men everywhere publicly praying to God for help-men who, perhaps, had not pub licly or privately prayed to God for years. Their prayers at that time proved con clusively that most men do believe in Jesus Christ; that most men do expect some day to be saved by the atoning power of teh cross.
 Now, my brother if you believe in Je- sus Christ and hope some day to be saved by Him why is 1t that your belief does not affect your life? Why are you not man enough to go work in His vine- yard? Your slothful, lazy habits, in a spiritual sense ought to make you de- spise yourself and have utter contempt for your past actions in reference to your church. You know 1t Is ingraned in every manly man to despise a shirk. If party of us should go hunting next summer we would naturally expect every member of that party to do his full share of work If one of the men refused to do it we would never take him out upon another camping trip. We would say to one another: That man is no good. He is mean and contemptible He is lazy despicable shirk.' 1 have had busi- ness men come to me and ask; What shall 1 do? 1 have entered into busi- ness partnership with such and such man. But he is lazy, indolent, useless dead weight. He will not think of work. And vet he expects me to divide the