Democratic messenger., 1904-09-24
Calna9e
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaec. d. ID.

into the church OF large accession
of converts. The text IL Isaiah lX. 3.
'Who are these that fly as cloud and
as the doves to their windows?"
An axiom is self evident fact. 1T
is" the photographers say. "a PROPOSE
tion whose truth is so obvious at first
sight that no process of reasoning or
demonstration can make il palmer"
II is IL golden truism coined i'm the
mint house of maXims" with tie rails
ell features of the Goddess of Truth
stamped upon its side. even as the
English shilling bears the profile Of
King Edward. an American silver dol
lar the outstrctched wings of an eagle.
as the Roman penny once bore the SUI
prescription and image of Caesar and
Grccian coin the features of Alexan-
der the Great. 1t is an aphorism. an
apothegm. 1t Is as Hippocrates once
said. "A succinct saying comprehend
Ing u complete statement" 1t is one
of the many terse sentences of Benja-
min Franklin which are found I'm Poor
Richards Almanac. No sooner do we
read IL than we say. THAT Is true"
From the moment of reading no
change us from our original conclu-
sion. 1t is II strong armed charioteer.
swiftly guiding before our eyes the
chariot of conviction" II Is truth In
nutshell. 1t is Il universe of analyses
condensed in an epigram.
The truth of an axiom can be put to
n practical test Sometimes. however.
men do not take the trouble to test it.
but give credence to statements ap-
parently contradicting il. instead of
applying the test of experience. Some
years ago the French savants were
asked TO explain how ii was that a
pail of water containing dead fish
weighed more than one of the same
size containing live fish. Disserta-
tion after dissertation was written
upon the subject. At last one COM
mon sensed scientist, whose brain had
not been educated to the verge of i'm
becility. saw that the question was a
misleading one. "A dead fish and Il
living fish ought to weigh the same"
He put live fish into a pail of water
and weighed it, He killed the fish and
put the dead body back into the same
water and weighed it again. The
water containing the dead fish and
that containing the live fish of course
weighed the same. All the ingenuity
expended In writing the dissertations
l,nI a..I Tt.. l,..I
been trying to find reasons for n phe-
nOmenon that did not exist.
Church's Power Not Waning.
Hundreds of men are simply doing
the same thing I'm trying to find the
reasons for the phenomenon stated by
shallow observers. that the church OF
Jesus Christ is losing its power over
men. Long lists of reasons for this
waning influence are cited. whereas
the writers have only to open their
eyes to discover that the church of
Jesus Christ is not losing its power
over men. The church of God was
never so powerful as 1t is today. More
strong men and strong women are
bowling before its affairs than ever
before. More are the church's teach
ings respected by statesmen and In
the homes and daily lives of our citi-
Zens than ever before. have not
time to go into argument to prove this
assertion. would not today do so
IL I had the time Why? Because II
IS a self evident fact that the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most
vital and essential influence In the
world today. 1t Is self evident state
ment. All intelligent people who have
looked boldly and impartially at the
facts are ready to concede that the
assertion is true.
But though the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is growing more and
more powerful day by day. yet we
believe that still greater triumphs are
before il In the future. The victories
already won are small compared with
those which are yet To be won, when
nations shall be born In n day. Josiah
Strong recently wrote book entitled
''The Next Great Awakening" am
not going to find my theme in the lat
est book of the famous author Of "Our
Country" I am going TO look through
the inspired spectacles Of prophet
who lived nearly 5000 years ago.
Isaiah took the picture of the doves
flying to their home cotes I'm great
clouds as the symbol of the church of
the future gathering I'm its members.
So shall try to show tEat the com
ing awakening OF the church Is not
only going To be worldwide evangel-
istic movement. but also that the
conquest OF the world for Christ may
be ncar-yes. very near-at hand.
Gospel Triumphs.
In the first place. let me say that
such movement as this. foreseen by
the prophet and prefigured under the
symbol of flight OF doves. is In ac-
cord with the record Of history. Again
and again there have been revivals
which have brought into the church
vast numbers at one time. Since the
day OF Pentecost. when 5000 were con
verted under the preaching of the apOs-
tie Peter. there have been such great
movements. How many were won to
the truth by the teaching of Luther
What vast multitudes were gathered
under the preaching of a Wesley. a