The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-10-15
1-a(m1aQe
Der mOn
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, D. D.

cline Of Christ i'm civilization and
shows that the conquering forces OF
the faith We're never so strong as now
The text is Solomon's Song vi, 10,
Terrible as an army with banners
One Of the ct@i"=t characteristics Il
develop is yt.,ius tcr looking upon
the dark side of life. II the human
soul will persist in dwelling in the
| dark caycrns by day it will not he very
long before ii viii go forth to seek its
| food by night. Then it will think that
! all human beings have the depravea
nature Of the bat and the coyote. Then
| it will get the awful habit of looking
| for the imperfections in the lives of
men rather than for their virtues and
| their cGccllencies.
| People who rejoice in the weak
nesses Of their neighbors are apt to
| glory in the imperfections Of any nota-
| bic movement of the day. They love
| to magnify social troubles. They love
| to detect the dark clouds in the polit-
ical. moral and financial horizons.
| They love to he eulogists of the past
|
| contend that all the great men are
dead and that the living men are a
| feeble. plny. worthless race. They
seem to be blinded to the self evident
| facts Of the worlds progress on every
| side They are like the foolish man
who stands upon the seashore and
watches the incoming tide A wave
rears and breaks and filings Itself upon
the beach and then recedes into the
ocean. There, There!" he cries.
"s'ce, the tide is going" Then anothe;
wave rears and plunges and comes ny
little higher upon the beach and
then recedas. There. THERE. he
cries again. THE tide is going out
| The rcsGimists seem to be blinded to
the fact that each wave comes up a
little higher anl little higher until
after awhile full tide is reached and
the whole seashore ia flooded with the
heaying waters. Now, this Is JUS
what some Eessimists do when the.
watch the incoming tides Of the
worlds prosperity and progress. The.
see here and there 4 wave break and
go back They see here and there :;
man or az institution fail. Then the.
cry: Lock. Lcok! See how the world
Is going to the dogs!' But though here
and there we may see n receding wave
the general trend is higher and better
Critics OF the Church.
pessimists hurl their structures in al
directions. but their favorite target is
the church. "Ahar' they laugh. did
you ever see an institution crumble In
) to pieces like the old church? The
children of this day are not being
sent to the Sunday schools as they
once We're Just look how empty are
its news-here and there an old wo
man or sickly. effeminate man ut
tending the church service, but for the
most Part sensible people look upof
Sunday as ii holiday instead Of holy
day. Once the Bible was the mos
conspicuous book upon the parlor ia
bic; now the stock quotations OF TIT
daily newspapers have taken Its place
| Once tie minister was looked upon a.
the most important parsonage in
community; now the actor Is the lido
Of the young people Once the school
hotise was 4 coadjutor of the church
now Il has broken its shackles Of bond
age, and the public authorities refuse
to allow Bible chapter to be read il
the public school, Everywhere we SCI
the church as q public institution re
cedinc and crumbiing and disappear
ing" SO say the pessimists, who ar
hurting their anathemas at the church
Now. l would not have you thinl
that the church which Christ estab
lished is dying church. I shall show
YOU that the church Of God Is by it
nature conquering church; that th
gospel Is growing stronger and pure
ana more powerful every day; that tn
nrohetic vision which King Solomon
saw 5000 years ago IS being fulfilled
6 now. The church today. like bride. |
preparing for the advent of the Divin
bridegroom She is going forth to per
form the work which God has givel
her to do, fair as the moon, clear q
the sun and terrible as an army wit
banners.
The prophetic vision of my text LII
ened the conqnering church to srea
army III numbers. 1t likened 1t to j
mighty multitude which marched bJ
company after company. regiment al
err regiment. brigade after brigade. d
vision after division. host after hos
There the army went marching, tramp
Ing. And as they marched ald ker
e rtep the very earth trembiad an
shook with the uniform tread of tn
myrisds of feet.
= viii Not Break Step.
You know that when soldiers com
TO Il bridge they are ordered to brea
step lest the rhythmic pIisation OF tn
maeching bring down the bridge. BIT
In The scene OF my text the conquerin
church will never have to break stel
Its myriads Of Christian soldiers wi
march until the poundings OF the
nany feet viii make the earth shaE
ls ith the step of the advancing host
The Egure fl this metaphor is not tn;
z S.S ~n&