The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-20

u has two great reserve corps. the land wehr and the landsturm. That means that every ablebodied man in the Ger man empire is part of the nucleus of a, regiment. Each man has his place. At the national call to arms all the men from the farm, the counter and the of ice repair to their mobilizing stations. There the uniforms and the guns await them. Each horse and saddle in the em- pire is numbered. And at given signal every ablebodied man from 20 to 50 can be swung to the frontier for defensive or offensive purposes. But the gospel army is larger than that of the combined armies of the German empire.
 The Gospel Army.
 The gospel army is not limited to any one nation. It is not restricted as other armies are, to one sex. It is not decreased by the limitation of age. Old men belong to it. Children belong to it. Husbands and wives and brothers and sisters belong to it. White and red and black and yellow skinned races, all belong to 1t. This army is made up of all kinds of people of all churches. And yet, strange to say there are some mistaken men and women who think the gospel church is not an army at all. They suppose it is mere aggregation of a few "corpora1 guards whereas it is numerically greater than all the combined armies of England and Germany and France and Italy and Austria and Russia and Japan and China put together. If we could only get all Christians to form into line and march side by side and keep step the pounding of their united feet would make this old earth trem- ble. Great Greati Infinitely great is the gospel army.
 That the host is mighty one is demonstrated by the marvellous statis- tics of missions both home and foreign. It was only a few years ago compara- lively that William Carey died. He died in 1884. Yet up to his time but little was being done for the saliva tion of the outside world. It was only in the beginning of the last century that five humble students met behind a haystack in Williamstown, Mass, to form the American Foreign Missionary society. Yet there are today 2S,3S6 mission stations in heath en lands There are organized thousands of churches among the nations groping about in idol worship. And there is not a strategic point in any island or upon any continent which today has not a gospel missionary preaching there.
 Study today your muster rolls of the Christian Endeavor societies and your Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip
 
 day your enrolment of denominational churches How the number sWellsi Larger and larger it crowns. Like St. John in his vision of the other world we can cry as we see this gospel army marching, After this I beheld and. To, a great multitude that no man could number of all nations and kin dreds and peoples and tongues. stood before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our Lord which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb" The first great fact which ought to impress us as to the church army of Jesus Christ is the infinite numbers of its marching soldiers.
 An Army With Banners.
 Next to the vastness of this army of the church of God l am impressed with the banners which are fiuttering over 1t. You know that what the military uni- form is to the soldier as an individual the flag or banner is to the army as q whole. It is the sign by which the sol- diers of one nation are distinguished from the soldiers of another nation. Be- cause our own beloved American flag represents so much you always find 1t the most honored emblem in the camp or in the field l was never more impressed
 
 I went to the Presidio, or army quarter of San Francisco. l went there with a very important message to the comman- dant of the post, Colonel Lundeen from the commanding general of the coast, Lieutenant General Macarthur Sud denly, while l was talking to the colonel, the sunset gun was fired and the post flag began to fiutter down. At once Col onel Lundeen stopped talking to me and faced about and stood ft attention be- fore those falling coiorf Not one word would he speak until the ceremony of lowering the flag was ended.
 The flag, the American flag. means much. It is the protecting emblem oS our national government. In time of battle it is the great rallying point for our soldiers. Where the flag goes our soldiers always follow When the flag goes down confusion reigns; hence of the most dangerous yet most honored posts in the army is that of a color guardsman. So precious are regimental colors that they are always surrounded by the best and the bravest soldiers when the regiment Is in the field
 Now. it is appropriate for the gospel army to have d flag like any other army. What kind of a banner is fioaang over this great army of the church? There is only one flag, and that is the banner of the cross. Whatever you do. wher ever you go, there in the gospel army you can always find the one banner of the cross. As in other organized armies, there are in tlIe gospel forces different regiments, which are called denomina- tions. There is the Episcopalian regiment, the Baptist regiment. the Presbyterian regiment, the Lutheran regiment, the Congregational regiment and the Metho- dist regiment Every regiment has its own denominMional flag carried alongside of the flag of the cross. Is it not a glori- ous thought that as the years go on there is an increasing tendency to throw away our sectarsn flags and lift higher and higher the blood rcd flag of the atom ing cross of Jesus Christ?
 An Advancing Army,