The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-10-13

BRooKLyx. y. Y. Oct 1o.-At the Taber-
naele this morning the Rev. T. De Witt Tai
mage. D. D.. after expounding passages Of
Scripture, gave out the hymn beginning:
Tiow nrm foundation yc saints of the Lord.
Hath He laid Tor your faith in Hsexcelent wordi
The text OF the sermon was Samuel xiii,
1921: ~Now there was no smith found
throughout all the land Of Israel: for the
Philistines sIid, Lost the Hebrews make them
swords or spears: Bat all the Israelites went
down 10 the Phillstincs, TO sharpen every man
his share. and bis coulter, and his ak and his
mattock. Yet they had file for the mat
tocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks,
and for the axes and To sharpen the goads
DIR. TalmaSe spoke AS follows:
What n CALLING subjuGation for the Israel
itesi The Phlistines had carried Off all the
blacksTniths and torn down all the black
smiths shops and abolished the blacksmiths'
trade IN tho land Of Israel The Philistines
would not even allow these parties to work
their valuable mines ~ brass and iron, nor
might they make any swords or spears. There
were only two swords left in all the land
Yea, thess Philistines went on until they had
taken all the grindstones from the land of
Israel. 30 that If an Israclite farmer wanted
b. sharpen his plow or his axe he had TO 70
over 70 the garrison Of tho Philistines TO get
1t done. There wns only one sharpening in
strument left in the land, and that was a
Tile. The farmers and the mechanics
having nothing 10 whet up the coulter.
and the goad. and the pick AK. save a simple
file, industry was hinderod and work practi-
cally dsgraced The great idea Of these
Philistines was 10 keep the Israelites disarned
They might get iron out OF the hills TO mako
swOrl5 Of hut they would not have any
a.aHr. 10 4
the iron welded they would have no grind
stones on which 10 bring the Instruments Of
agriculture or the military weapons up to an
edge. o, you poor, weaponless Israolites, re-
duced TO a file, how pity youl But these
PhIli-tines were not forever % keep their heel
on the ne"l, Of Gods children. Jonathan. on
his hands and knees, climbs up n great rock
beyond which were the Phiistincs; and his
nrmOr bearer, on his hands and knees, climbs
up The same rock, and these two men with
their two swords hew TO pieces the PhiIis-
tines, the Lord throwing great terror upon
them. So il was then, so it is now. Two
mon Of God on their knees, mightier than a
Philistine host ON their feetl
l. learn first from this subject how dan
gerou5 IL is for the church Of God 10 allow
its weapons 10 stay in the hands of its enc
mics These israeltcs might again and again
have obtained supply Of swords and
weapons, as for instance when they took tho
sp0ils OF the Ammonites; but these Isrnelites
seemed content to have no swords, no spears.
no blacksmiths, no grindstones, no active
iron mines, until il was too late for them to
mako my resistance. I sec tho farmers tug
ging along with their piclSaxes and plow and
L say: "Nhere are you going with those
thingsP They say: "Oh, we are going. over
TO the garrison Of tho Philistines to get these
things sharpcncd" | say: "You foolish
men, why don't you sharpen them at homef"
"Oh," they say, "the blacksmith shops are all
torn down, and we have nothing left us but
file"
So il is in the church of Jesus Christ to-
day We are too willing 10 give up our weap-
ons to the enemy. The world boasts that it
has gobbled up the schools, and the colleges
and the arts and the sciences, and the litera-
ture, and the printing press Iniidelity is
making mighty attempt to get all our wear-
ons in its hand, and then to keep them You
know it is making this boast ali the time. and
after while, whom the great battle between
sin and Righteousness has opened, if we do not
look out we viii be rs badly Off as these Israel
ties without any swords 10 fight with and
without any sharpening Instruments call
upon the superintendents OF literary institu-
tons 10 sec ~ it that the men who go into the
class rooms to stand beside the Leydeu lars.
and the electric batteries, and the microscopes.
and telescopes, be children OF God, not Phil
istines. The Cariylenn, Emersonian and
Tyndallean thinkers of this day are trying to
get all the intellectual weapons of this CEN
fury in their own grasp. What we want ia
scientific Christians 10 capture the science.
and scholastic Christians to capture the
scholarship, and philosophic Christians to
tlrr
tians TO take back the lecturing platform.
We want to send out against Schcnckel and
Strauss AID Renan Theodore Christlieb. of
Bonn; and against the infldel scientists OF
tho day, dworshiping Silliman and
Hitchcock and AgaSsiZ. We want to capture
all the philosophical apparatus, and swing
around the telescopes on the swivel until
through them we can see the morning star of
the Redecmcr, and with neurological ham
mer discover the Rock of Ages, and amid the
flora Of all realms find the Rose OF Sharon
and the Lily OF the Valley.
We want clergy learned enough 20 dis
course the human eye, showing it TO be a mi
croscope and telescope in one instrument. with
eight wonderful contrivances, and lids clos
ing thirty thousand or forty thousand times
day, ali its muscles, and nerves, and bones
showing tho infinite skill Of an infinite God.
and then winding up with tho peroration:
she that formed the ego, shall he not seer
And then we want to discourse about the
human ear, its wonderful integunents, rnen-
brancs, and vibration, and its chain of small
bones, and its auditory nerve, closing with
the question: He that planted the ear. shall
he not hearfr And we want some one nble
TO cxpound the first chapter OF Genesis. bring
to it the geology and the astronomy OF the
world, until, as Job suggested: ~rhe stones
OF the field shall be in league with the truth.
and the stars in their course shall fight against
Sisera. O, church of God go out and recap
ture these weapons,
Let men of God 60 out and take rossession
of the platform. Let any printing presses
that have been captured by the enemy be re-
captured for God; and the reporters, and the
typesetters, and the editors ami the publishers
swear allegiance To the Lord God of truth
All, roJ friend, that day must come, and if
the great body of Christian men have not the
faith, or the courage, or the conservation to
do it, then let some Jonathan, on his busy
hands and on his praying knees, climb up on
the Rock OF Hindrance, and in the name of
the Lord God Of Israel slash to pieces those
literary Philistines. If these men viii not be
converted 70 God then they must be over
thrown
III. Again, | learn from this subject what
large amount Of the church's resources is
actually hidden and buried and unslevelopcd.
The Bible intimatcs that there was very
rich land, this land of Israel 1t saws: sThe
stones are iron. and out Of the hills thou
shalt dig brass" and yet hundreds and thou
sands Of dollars worth of this metal was kept
under the bills. Wen, that is the difficulty
with the church OF God at this day. Its talent
Is pot developed If one-half of its energy
could be brought out it might take the pub
hc iniquitics of the day by the
throat and make them bite the dust
III human eloquenco were consccratcd to the
Lord Jesus Christ it would in q few wears
persuade this whole earth to surrender to God
There is enough undeveloped energy in this
one church TO bring al BROOKLYN to Christ
enough undeveloped Christian energy in the
city OF Brooklyn TO bring all the United States
TO Christ-enough Of undeveloped Christian
energy III the United States TO bring the
whole world to C5rist; but it is buried under
strata OF Indifference and under whole
mountains OF sloth. Now is it not time for
the mining to begin, and the piekaxes to
plunge, and for this buried metal to be-
brought out and put in the furnaces. and
be turned into howitzers and carbincs for the
Lords hostsi Tho vast majority of Christians
in this day are useless. The most of the
Lords battalion belong to the reserve corps.
The most OF the crew are asleep in the ham
moclSs. The most of the metal is under the
hills Oh, is ii not time for the church of
God TO rouse mp and understand that we want
ell tho energies, all the talent, and all the
wealth enlisted for Christ's sakef like the
nickname that the English soldiers gave to
Butcher, the commander. They called him
~Old Forwards" We hav had enough re-
treats In the church OF Christ; let US have q
glorious advance And say TO You. as the
general said when his troops were affrighted;
rising up in his stirrups, his hair flying in the
wind, he lifted up his voice until $4,000 troops
heard him crying out: @Fcrward, the whole
liner