III.  I remark, again, that in order to be qualified to meet your duty in this particular age you want unbounded faith in the triumph of the truth and the overthrow of wickedness.  How dare the Christian Church ever get discouraged?  Have we not the Lord Almighty on our side?  How long did it take God to slay the hosts of Sennacherib or burn Sodom or shake down Jericho?  How long will it take God, when He once arises in His strength, to overthrow all the forces of iniquity?  Between this time and that there may be long seasons of darkness—­the chariot-wheels of God’s Gospel may seem to drag heavily; but here is the promise, and yonder is the throne; and when Omniscience has lost its eyesight, and Omnipotence falls back impotent, and Jehovah is driven from His throne, then the Church of Jesus Christ can afford to be despondent, but never until then.  Despots may plan and armies may march, and the congresses of the nations may seem to think they are adjusting all the affairs of the world, but the mighty men of the earth are only the dust of the chariot-wheels of God’s providence.

I think that before the sun of this century shall set the last tyranny will fall, and with a splendor of demonstration that shall be the astonishment of the universe God will set forth the brightness and pomp and glory and perpetuity of His eternal government.  Out of the starry flags and the emblazoned insignia of this world God will make a path for His own triumph, and, returning from universal conquest, He will sit down, the grandest, strongest, highest throne of earth His footstool.

    “Then shall all nations’ song ascend
    To Thee, our Ruler, Father, Friend,
    Till heaven’s high arch resounds again
    With ‘Peace on earth, good will to men.’”

I preach this sermon because I want to encourage all Christian workers in every possible department.  Hosts of the living God, march on! march on!  His Spirit will bless you.  His shield will defend you.  His sword will strike for you.  March on! march on!  The despotism will fall, and paganism will burn its idols, and Mohammedanism will give up its false prophet, and Judaism will confess the true Messiah, and the great walls of superstition will come down in thunder and wreck at the long, loud blast of the Gospel trumpet.  March on! march on!  The besiegement will soon be ended.  Only a few more steps on the long way; only a few more sturdy blows; only a few more battle cries, then God will put the laurel upon your brow, and from the living fountains of heaven will bathe off the sweat and the heat and the dust of the conflict.  March on! march on!  For you the time for work will soon be passed, and amid the outflashings of the judgment throne, and the trumpeting of resurrection angels, and the upheaving of a world of graves, and the hosanna and the groaning of the saved and the lost, we shall be rewarded for our faithfulness or punished for our stupidity.  Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory.  Amen and Amen.