Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-11
ISRAEL'S SUBJUGATION.
THE COUNTRY LEFT WITHOUT
"A BLACKSMITH.

ANSSCuo-ANeV. AAihASe NrRSs CuNis-
ttans to Recapture the spOIIs Tas en-
by the Hosts of WIckedness.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, Oct. 10.--At the
Tabernacle this morning the Rev. L. DE
Witt Talmage, ID. D., after eXpounding
passages of Scripture, gave out the hymn
beginning:
"How firm a foundation, We saints of the Lord,
Hath lie laid for your faith in His excellent
wordu'
The text OF the sermon was |. Samuel.
Kill, 1921: "Now there was no smith
found throughout all the land of Israel
for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrew 8
max e them swords or spears. But all the
lsraelites went down to the Philistines to
sharpen every mau his share, and his
coulter, and his AK, and his mattOck. Yet
they had file for the mattock, aud for
the coulters, and for the forks, and for the
axes, and to sharpen the goads." DR..
Talmage spoke as follows:
What a calling subJugation for the
lsraelites! The Pllstines had carried off
all the bac6smiths and torn down all the
blacksmiths' shops, ard abolished the
blacksmlths' trade in the land Of Israel.
The PniIistines would not even allow
these parties to work their valuable
mines of brass and iron, nor might they
make any swords or spears. There were
only two swords left ia all the land. Yea,
these PhilistmeS went on uptil they had
taken all the grindstones from the land Of
Israel, so that ii an Israelitsh farmer
wanted to sharpen his plough or his AK,
he had to go over to the garrison of the
Philistines TO get it done. There
was only one sharpening instrument
left in the land, and that was IA
file. Tne farmers and the mechanics
having nothing to whet up the coulter,
aud the goad, and the pick-ax, save a
simple file, industry was numbered aud
work practically disgraced. the great
idea OF these Philistines was to keep the
lsraelites disarmed They might get iron
out of the Mills TO make swords of, but
they would not have any blacGsmiths to
weld this iron. Ii they got the iron
welded they would have no grindStOnes on
which to bring the instruments OF agricu :
ture or the military weapons up to an
edge. o you poor, weaponle5e lsraelites,
reduced to a tile, how | pity you! But
these Philistines were not forever to keep
their heel on the neck of Gods children.
Jonathan on his hands and knees climbs
up great rock beyond which were the
Philistines, and his arm0r bearer on his
DRuub anu hUc6B Ctii1b bS hD bib odIuS TUE
| and these two men With their two swords
hew to pieces the Philistines, the Lord
| throwing great terror upon them. SO
it was then, so it is now. Two men OF
| God ON thelr knees mightier than a PhiliS.
! tine most on their feet!
l. | learn first from this subject, how
| dangerous it is for the Church of Goa tC
allow its weapons to stay in the hands oi
it's enemies. These Israelites might
again and again have obtained a supply
! of swords aud weapons, as for instance,
when they took the spoils of the Am
monites; but these Israelites seemed con
tent to have no swords, no spears. nc
blacksmiths, no grlndstone5, no active
iron mines, until it was too late for them
to make any resistance. | see The farmers
tugging along with their pickaxes and
plow, and / say: "Where are you going
with those things?" They say: E'Oh, we
are going over to the garrison of the
Pnilistines to get these things sharpened." ;"
l say: "YOu foolish men, why don't you
sharpen them at homeY' 'Oh," they say,
1.-THE blacksmiths' shops are all torn down,
and we have nothing left us but'a fle."
so it is in the Church of Jesus Christ
to-day. We are too willing to give VI
our weapons to the enemy. The world
boasts that it has gObbled up the schools,
and the colleges. and the arts, and the
sciences, and the literature, and the
printing press. Infdelity is making a
mighty attempt TO get all our weapons
in its hand and then TO keep them. You
know it ls making this boast all the time
and after awhile, when the great battle
between sin aud Righteousness has opened,
If we do not look out we will be as badly
off as these Israelites without any swords
TO fight with, and withoutauy sharpening
Instruments. call upon the superin-
tendents of literary institutions to see to
it that the men who go into the class
rooms TO stand beside the Leyden jars,
and tue electric batteries, and the ~ GRO
scopes, ana telescopes, be children OF
God, not Pbtlistines. The Carlylean.
Emersonian and Tyndallean thinkers
of this day are trying 10 get all the intel
lectual weapons OF this century in their
own grasp. What we want is scientific
Christians to capture the, science, and
scholastic Christians to capture tue schol.
arship, and philOsophic Christians 10 cap
tuIe the philosophy. and lecturing Chris
trians to take back the lecturing plat.
form We want TO send out againsl
Schenkel, and Strauss, and Rensu, a The.
odore ChristlIeb, OF Bonn; and against the
Infidel scientists Of the day dod-w or.
Shipping SillimaD, and Hitchcock, and
Agassiz. We want to capture all the
sDDllOSOpulChl dppdlutuoi hhu oHANS
around the telescopes on the swivel until
through them we can see the morning
star OF the Radeemer, and with minera
logical hammer discover the Rock o
Ages. and amid the fora ofali realms find
the Rose OF Sharon aud the Lily Ot the
Valley.
We want a clergy learned enough to
discourse OF the human eye, Gh0wing il
to be a microscope and telescope in one
instrument, WITH eigut wonderful con
triyances, and lids closing thirty thOu
sand or forty thousand times day; al
il, muscles, and nerves, and bones show.
ing the infinite skill OF an Infinite God
and then winding up with the perora
tion: ale that formed the eye, shall he
not seepo And then we want TO Discourse
about the human ear, Its wonderful ia
teguments, mem Dranes aud vibration
and its chain OF small bones, aud its audi
tory nerve, closing with tue question
''He that planted the ear, snail be moi
bear?O Aud We want some one able tC
expound the first chapter OF Genesis
bring TO 1t the geology and the astronomy
OF the world, until, as JoO suggested
1.-The stones OF the field shall be la lea gu ~
with the truth, and the Stars in theit
course shall fight against Sisera. o,
church of God, 20 out and recapture
these weaponsi
Let men OF God 90 out aud take posses.
sion OF the platform. Let anv printing
presses that have been captured by the
enemy be recapured for GOO; and the re.
porters. and the type settlers, and tue edi'
tors and the publishers 81 wear allegiance
10 the Lord God Ot truth. An, my friend
that dnv must come. aud If the great bod Y