Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1896 — THE STARTING POINT. [ARTICLE]

THE STARTING POINT.

HOW REV. DR. TALfifiKGE WOULD EVANGELIZE AMERICA. Wait* an Ontponring of tlie Holy ; Spirit at the National Capital— W ould Be of Incalculable Value to Christianity—A New Awakening. Sermon at the Capital. The audience of Dr. Talmage in. Washing ton is thronged with the chief men of the nation and people from all parts, making this sermon most timely.' An horn* •and- a half before -t he doors open the t-po-pie gatlier in the street, and policpinen keep the way open for the pew holders. The' test chosen for last Sunday’s dia-:" course was SqS® xxiv., 47, ‘‘Beginning at Jerusalem." “There it is." said the driver, and we all instantly and excitedly rose in the, carriage to catch the first glimpse, of Jerri* Salem, so long the joy of the whole earth. That city, coroneted with temple and palace and radiant, whether looked lip at fromfhe volley of Jehosaphat or gazed lit from adjoining hills, was the capital of a great nation. Clouds of iuceiise had hovered over it. Chariots of kings had rolled through it. Battering rains of enemies had thundered against it, There Isaiah prophesied, and Jeremiah lamented, nnd David feigned, and Paulpreaehed, and Christ was martyred. Most interesting city ever built since masonry rung its first trowel, or plumb line measured its first wall, or royalty swung its first scepter. -What .ternsaleni Was to the Jewish kingdom Washington is to our own country—the capital, the place to which all the tribes come up, the great national heart whose ' throb sends life or death through the body politic, clear out to the geographical extremities. What tlie resurrected Christ said in my text to his disciples when he ordered them to start on the work of gospelizat-ion, ‘‘beginning at, Jerusalem," it seems to me God says now in his providence to tens of thousands of Christians in this city. Start for the evangelization of America, ‘‘beginning at Washington.” America is going to he taken for God. If yori do not believe it, take your hat now and leave and give room to some man or woman who floes believe it. As surely ns God lives, and lie is able to 4 do as he says he wiil, this country will be evangelized from the mouth of the Potomac to the month of tlie Oregon, from the Highlands of the Navesink to the Golden Horn, from Baffin’s Bay to of Mexico, and Christ will walk every lakcj—whether bestormed or placid, and be transfigured on every mountain, and the night skies, whether they hover over groves of magnolia or <Tvor Alaskan glacier, shall be filled with angelic overture of “glory to God and good will to men.”

For God or for Apollyon. Again and again does trie old book announce that all the earth shall see the salvation of God, and as the greater includes the lesser that takes. America gloriously in. Can you not see that if America is not taken for God by his consecrated people it will be taken for Apollyon? The forces engaged on both sides are so tre..mendous that it cannot be a drawn battle. It is coining, the Armageddon! Either* the American Sabbath will perish and this nation be handed over to Ilerods and Hildebrands and Dioelatians and Neros of baleful power, and Alcoholism will reign, seated upon piled up throne of beer barrols, Jiis month foaming with domestic and national curse, arid crime will lift its unhindered knife of assassiuation, and rattle keys of worst burglary, and wave torch of widest conflagration, and our cities be tlirnofMTTtTi-Modems, waiting-far Almighty tempests of fire and brimstone, and one tidal wave of abomination will surge across tlie continent, or our Sabbaths will take on more sanctity, and the newspapers will become apocalyptic wings of beneuiction, and penitentiaries will be abandoned for lack of occupants, and holiness and happiness, twin son and daughter of heaven, shall walk through the land, and Christ reign over this nation either in person or by agency so glorious that the whole country will be one clear, resounding echo of heaven. It will be one or tlie other. By the throne of him who liveth forever and ever I declare it will be the latter. If the Lord will help me, as lie always does -blessed be his glorious name —I will show you how a mighty work of grace begun at Washington would have a tendency to Tiring the whole continent to God arid before this century doses. William tlie Conqueror ordered the curfew, the custom of ringing the bell at midnight, at which all the fires on the hearths were to be banked, and all the lights extinguished, and all the people retire to their pillows. I pray God that, the curfew of this century may not be sounded, nnd the fires be banked, and the lights “ extinguished ns the clock strikes the midnight hour that divides .the nineteenth century from the twentieth century, until this beloved land, which was to most of us a cradle, and which will be to most of us a grave, shall coqie into the full possession of him Who is so glorious that William the Conqueror could not be compared to him, even the One who rideth forth “conquering hnd to eouquer.” A Battle for Sonia. Why would it be especially advantageous if a mighty work of graee started here, “beginning at Washington?” First, because this city is on the border between the north and the south. It is neither northern nor southern. It commingles the two climates. It brings together the two styles of population. It is not only right, but beautiful, that people should have especial love for the latitude where they were born and brought up. With what loving accentuation the Alabamian speaks of his oraugo graves! And the man from Massachusetts is sure to let you that he comes from the land of the Adamses-Samuel and John and John Quincy. Did yon' evet* know a Virginian or Ohioan whose face did not brighten when ho announced himself from the southern or northern State of presidents? If n man days not liko his nntjvc dune, it is becniist while he lived there he did not behave well. This capital stands where, by its locality, nnd its political inlluahco, it stretches forth one hand toward the north and the other toward the south, nnd a mighty work of grace starting here would probably be a national awakening.’ Georgia would clasp the hand of New Hampshire, and Maine the hand of Louisiana, and California the hand of New York, nnd say, “Come, let us go up ami • irorahip the God of nations, the Christ of llolgotha. the Holy Ghost of the pente-t-ostal three thousands.”lt has often been said that the only way the north and the south will be brought into complete accord is to have a war with some foreign

nation, in which both Motions, marching side by side, would forget everything but the foe to.be overcome. Well, if you wait for such a foreign conflict, yon will wait until all this dead, and perhaps waiptforever. The war that will make the sections forget .past sies is a war against an righteousness, such as a universal-.religiousi awakening would declare. What we want is a battle for souls, in which about 40,000,000 northerners and southerners shall be on the same side and shbulder to shoulder. In no other city on the continent eaji such a war be declared so appropriately, for all the other great cities are either northern or southern. This is neither, or rather it is both. One Pont Worth More than Another. Agmnrft wontdtoe especraliy adYauTageous if a mighty work 8f grace started here because more representative men are in 'Washington than in any other eity between .the oceans. Of course there are accidents in politics, and occasionally there are men who get into the Senate and House of Representatives and other im-portant-places who are fitted for the positions in neither head.nor heart,' but this is exceptional pnd more exceptional now than in other days. There is not a. drunkard. ia the national legislature, although there were times when Kentucky, Virginia, - Delaware, Illinois, New York and Massachusetts had men in Senate “or House of Representatives who went maudlin or staggering drunk across those high places. Never nobler group of men sat in Seriate or House of Representatives than sat there yesterday and will.sit there to-morrow, while the highest judiciary,- without exception, has now upon its berich men beyond criticism for good morals ami mental endowment. So in all departments of official position, with here and there an exception, are to-day the brainiest men and most honorable men ’ofAmerica; Now, suppose the'Holy Ghost power should fall upon this city, and these men from all, parts of America"should suddenly become pronounced for Christ? Do you say the effect would be electrical? More than that. It would be omnipotent! Do you say that such learned and potent men arc not wrought upon by religious influence? That shows that you have not observed what has been going on. Commodore Foote, representing the navy; Gen. Grant and Robert E. Lee, representing the northern and southern armies; Chief Justice Chase, representing the Supremo Cburt; the Frelinghuyseus, Theodore and,Frederick, representing the United States Senate; William Pennington and scores of otlieys, representing the House of Representatives, have surrendered to that gospel which, before this winter is out, will in this capital of the American nation, if we are faithful in our prayers and exertions, turn into the kingdom of God men of national and international power, their tongues of eloquence becoming the tongues of fire in another Pentecost. .There are on yonder hill those who, by the grace of God, will become John Knoxes and Chrysostoms and Fcnelons and Bourdeleaus when once regenerated. There is an illusion I have heard in prayer meetings and heard in pulpits that a soul is a soul —one soul worth as much as another. I deny it. The soul of a man who can bring 1,000 or 10,000 other souls into the kingdom of God is worth 1,000 or 10,000 times more than the soul of a man who can bring no one into the kingdom. A great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in this capital, reaching the chief men of America, would be of more value to earth and heaven than in any other part of the nation, because it would reach all the .States, cities, towns and neighborhoods of the continent. Oh, for the outstretched right arm of God Almighty in the salvation of this capital!

, A Call to Repentance. Some of us remember 1857, when, at the '’close TrfTtrc-werst- monetary distress this country has ever felt, compared with which the hard times of the last three years were a boom of prosperity, right on the heels of that complete prostration came an awakening in which 500,000 people were converted in different States of the Union. Do you know Where one of its cuicf powers was demonstrated? In Washington. Do you know on ,what street? This street. Do you know in what church? This church. I picked up an old book a few days ago and was startled and thrilled nnd enchanted to read some words, written at that time by the Washington correspondent of a New York paper. He wrote: “The First Presbyterian Church can scarce contain the people. Requests are daily preferred for an interest in tlie prayers offered, and the reading of these forms one of the tenderest and riiost effective features of the meetings. Particular pains are taken to disclaim nnd exclude everything like sectarian feeling. General astonishment is felt at the unexpected rapidity with which jrie work lias thus far proceeded, nnd we are beginning to anticipate the necessity of opening another church.!’ Why, my henrers, not liavetteX "i'gssa, and more than that? There are many thousands more of inhabitants now than then. Besides that, since then are the telephone, with its semioininpresenee, nnd the swift cable car, for assembling the people. I belicye that the mightiest revivdl of religion that this city has ever seen is yet to come, nnd the earth will tremble from Cripitoline hill to the boundaries on all sides with the footsteps of God as he comes to awaken and pardon and save these ‘great populations. Peoplo of Washington, meet us next Thursday niglit at half past 7 o’clock to pray for this coming of the Holy Tlhost—not for a penteeostal 3,000, that 1 have referred to, but 30.000. Such a fire ns that would kindle a, light that would be seen from the sledges crunching through the snows of Labrador to the Caribbean sea, wherp the whirlwinds are born. I.et our cfy be that of Ilnbnkkuk. the blank verse poet of the Bible: “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years; in tlie midst of the years make known; in wratli remember mercy.” Let the battle cry be Washington for God, the United States for Go<l. America for God, the world for God! We are al! tired of skirmishing. Let us bring on a general engagement. T\ e are fired of fishing with hook and line. ith one sweep of the gospel net let us take in many thousands. This vast work must begin somewhere. Why not here? Some one must give the rallying cry. Why may not I, one of the Lord’s servants? Ry providential arrangement I am every week in sermonic communication with every city, town nnd neighborhood of this country, and I now. giro tho watchword to north nnd south nnd east nnd west. Hear and sea It, all people—this call to a forward movement, this call to repentance and faith, this call to a continental awakening! Work for the Nation’* Saltation. ' This generation will soon be out'of sight. Where are the mighty men of the

past who trod your Pennsylvania avenul and spake in yonder national legislatdrt and decided the stupendous questions ol the supreme judicatory? Ask the sleeper? in the Congressional cemetery; Ask the mausoleums all over the land. Theii tongues are speechless, their eyes' closed, their arms folded, their opportunities gone, their destiny fixed. How soon time prorogues parliaments, and adjourns senates, and, disbands cabinets, and empties pulpits, and dismisses generations! What we would do we must do quickly or not do at all. I call upon people who cannot come forth from their sickbeds to implore the heavens in our behalf from their mid' night pillows, nn<f I call upon the aged who cannot, even by the help of their staff, enter the churches to spend their last-days on earth ip snpptfeffthrg tire-sal-vation of this nation, and I call upon all men and women who have been in naces of trouble, as was Shadrach, and among lions, as was Daniel, and in dungeons of trouble, as was Jeremiah, to join in the prayer, and let the church of God everywhere lay hold of the Almighty arm that moves nations. Then Seiiato'rs of the United States will announce to the State legislatures that sent them here, and members of the House of Representatives will report to trie congressional districts that elected them, and* the many thousands of men and women now and here engaged in the many departments of national service will write home, telling all sections qf the country that the Lord is here, and that; he is on the march for the redemption of America. Hallelujah, the lord is coming! I hear the rumbling of his chariot wheels. I feel on my cheeks the breath of the white horses that draw the Victor! I see the Hash of his lanterns through the long night of the world’s sin and sorrow! A, New Awakening. We want in this country, only on q larger scale, that which other eenturTeT have seen of God’s workings, as in the refqrmation of the sixteenth century, when Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthou led on; as in the awakening of the seventeenth century, when Runyan and Flayel and Baxter led on; as m the awakening of the eighteenth century, Vhen Tennant and Edwards nnd the Wesleys led on; as in the awakening of 1857, led on by Mat-’ th'qw Simpson, the seraphic Methodist, and Bishop Macllvaine, the Apostolic Episcopalian, and Albert Barnes, the consecrated Presbyterian, and others, just as good, in denominations. Oh, will 1 not. some of those glorious souls of the past come down and help us? Come down off your thrones, Nettleton and Finney and Daniel Baker and Edward Payson and Truman Osborne and Earle and Knapp and Inskip and Archibald Alexander—that Alexander the Great of the Christian churches. Come down! How can you rest up there when the world is dying for lack of the gospel? Come-down and agonize with us in prayer. Cyme down and help us preach in our pulpits. Come down and inspire our courage and faith. Heaven can get along without you better than we can. But more than ail—and overwhelmed with reverent emotion we ask it—come, thou of the deeply dyed garments of Bozrah, traveling in the greatness of thy strength, mighty to save! Lord God of Joshua! Let the sun of this century stand still above Gibeon and the moon above the valley of Ajalon until we can whip out the five kings of hell, tumbling them down the precipices as the other live kings went ovof the rocks of Bethhorom. lip, ha! It will so surely be done that 1 cannot restrain the laugh of triumph. Washington Needs a Revival. From where the seaweed is tossed on the beach by the stormy Atlantic to the sands laved by tlie quiet Pacific, this country will be Emanuel’s land, the work beginning at Washington, if we have the faith arid holy push and the consecration requisite. First of all, we ministers must get right. That was a startling utterance of Mr. Swimrock when he said, “It is a doleful trijiiig W fall irito heir frdiiß uHdef the pulpit; but, oh, how dreadful a thing to drop thither out of the pulpit.” That was an all suggestive thing that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” That was an inspiring motto with which Whitefield sealed all his letters, “We seek the stars.” lord God! Wake up all our pulpits, rind then it will be as when Venn preached., and it was said that men fell before the word like slacked lime. Let us all, laymen and clergymen, to the work. What Washington wants most of all is an old-fashioned revival of-religion, but on a vaster scale, so that the world will be compelled to say, as of old, “We never saw it on this fashion.” Brit remember there is a human side ns well as a divine side to ft revival. Those of us brought up in the country know what is called “a raising” —the neighbors gathered together to lift the heavy frame for a new house after the timbers are ready to be put into their places. It is dangerous work, nnd there ai?vHriatiy ft'ccidents. The ntfSfffijftriPhhd gathered for such a raising, and the beams had all been fitted to their places except one, and.that very heavy. That one, on! the long pikes of the men. had almost, reached its place, when something went wrong, and the men. could hoist it no . higher. But if it did not go in its place it would fall back upon the men who were lifting it. It had already begun to settle back. The boss carpenter shouted: “Lift, men, or die! All together! Yo—heave!” With mightier push they tried to send the beam to its place, but failed. Still they held on, ajl the time their strength lessening. The wives nnd mothers and daughters stood in horror looking on. Then the boss carpenter shouted to the women, “Come and helpl'-iq^ They came, and womanly arms became ! the nrins of giants, for they were lifting to ! snve the liveti of husbands and fathers and sons as well as their own. Then the boss carpenter mounted one of the beams and shouted: “Now! Altogether! Lift or die! Yo, heave!” And with a uuited effort that nlmost burst the blood vessels the groat beam went to its place, and a wild huzza was hourd. That is the way it sometimes seems in the churches. Temples of righteousness are to be reared, but there is a halt, a stop, a catch somewhere. A few nro lifting all they can, but we want more hands.nt this raising and more henrts. more Christian men to help—aye; ttaore Christian women to re-enforce. If the work fail, it means the death of many souls. All together! Mep and women of God! Lift or did The top stoffe must Come to its place “with shoutings of grace, grace unto it.” God is ready to rln his part 1 . Are wo ready to do our part! There b» work not only for the kuee of 'prayer, but for the shoulder of upheaval. The chief objection to the charity that begins at home is its extreme domesticity, which prevents it from calling on any of Its neighbors.