Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-10-21
GREAT NEEDS OF TO-DAY.
OR. ThLMAGE POINTS OUT THE
WANTS OF CHRISTIANITY.
A Scientific Clergy Able to Com
bat with the World on It's
Own Ground in
, Demand
More Useful Christians Essential for the
Good Of the Church.

mage, ~. ID, altef eApOunu1lS passages Ol
Scripture, gave out the hymn beginning:
How firm foundation, ye saints Of the Lord,
Hath He laid for your faith In His excellent word!
The text Of the sermon was /. Samuel, xiii,
1921: 'Now there was no smith found
throughout all the land Of Israel, for the
Phistlnes said, Lest the Hebrews make
them swords or spears. But all the Israelites
went down to the Philistnes to sharpen every
man his share, and his coulter, and his axe,
and his mattock. Yet they had file for the
mattock, and for the coulters, and for the
forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the
goads." DIR. Talmage spoke as follows:
What CALLING subjugation for the Israel
ties! The Philistines had carried off all the
bIacksmiths, and torn down all the black
smiths shops, and abolished the blacksmiths'
trade in the land of Israel. The Philistines
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 In all the
land. Yea, these Philistines went on until
they had taken all the grindstones from the
land of Israel, so that il an Israelitish farmer
wanted to sharpen his pillow or his axe he had
to 60 over TO the garrison OF the Phii.tines to
get it done.
ALL PRECAUTIONS IN VAIN.
There was only one sharpening instrument
left in the land, and that was a file. The farm
ers and the mechanics having nothing to whet
up the coulter and the goad, and the pick
axe save a simple Ale, industry was hindered,
and work practically dissraced. The great
idea Of these Philstncs was to keep the Israel
ties disarmed. They might get iron out of the
l. l., # .l...,
have any blacksmiths to weld this iron. If
they got the iron welded they would have no
grindstOncs on which to bring the instruments
of agriculture or the military weapons up to an
edge o, you poor weapOnless lsrealitcs, re-
duced to a file, how pity you
But these Philistincs were not forever to
keep their heel on the neck of Gods children
Jonathan on his hands and knees climbs up n
great rock beyond which were the Philistines;
and his armor- bearer, on his hands and knees
climbs up the same rock, and these two men
with their two swords hew to pieces the Phil
istines the Lord throwing great terror upon
them. So il was Them so it is now Two men
of God on their knees, mightier than Phils
| tine host on their fceti
| GIVING WAY TO THE ENEMY.
First-I learn first from this subject, how
dangerous it is for the church of God to allow
| It's weapons to stay in the hands of its enc
mics. These enemies might again and again
/
ons, as Tor instance when they took the spoils
| Of the AmmOnites: but the Israelites seemed
| content to have no swords, no spears, no black
| smiths, no griBdstoncs no active iron mines,
until it was too late for them to make any re-
! sistancc. ! see the farmers Juggling along with
their pickaxes and ploughs, and say: Where
are you going with those thingsr' They say:
| so, We nre going over to the garrison OF the
PhllistlneS TO get these sharpened." | say:
| you foolish men, why don't you sharpen them
| - a1-..., III
| shops are all torn down and we have nothing
! left us but fileN
! So it is in the church Of Jesus Christ to-day.
! We are too willing to give up our weapons to
| the enemy The world boasts that it has COB
bled up the schools and colleges and the arts
and the sciences and the literature and the
printing press lnfd-lity is max ng mighty
attempt to get all our weapons in its hand aud
then to keep them. You know it is making
this boast all the time; after while when the
| great battle of sin and righteousness has
| opened If we do not look out we viii be as
badly of as these Israelites without any
swords to fight with and without any sharpen
| ing instruments.
| SCIENTIFIC CHRISTIANS WANTED.
] call upon the superintendent Of literary
institutions to see to ii that the men who go
| into the class rooms to stand beside the Ley
den jars and the electric batteries AMI the
| microscopes and telescopes be children of
| God, not Philistines. The Carlylean, Elmer
sonian and Tyndallian thinkers OF this day
are trying to get all the intellectual weapons
of this century in their own grasp. What we
| want Is scientific Christians to capture the
scholarship and philosophic Christians to cap
ture the philosophy and lccturin Christians
to take back the lecturing platform. We
want to send out against Schenkel and Strauss
and Renan and Thcodor Christlieb OF Bonn,
and against the inidel scientists Of the day a
God-worshiping Sillman and Hitchcock and
| Agassiz. We want to capture all the philo-
| sOphical apparatus and swing around the tele-
scopes on the swivel until through them we
can see the morning star of the Redeemer and
| with meteorological hammer discover the Rock
Of Ages and amid the flora of all realms find
the Rose of Sharon and the Lily Of the Valley.
A LEARNED CLERGY NEEDED.
We want clergy learned enough to dis
course Of the human eye, showing 1t to be a
microscope and telescope in one instrument,
with eight wonderful cOntrivances, and lids
closing thirty thousand or forty thousand
times day; all its muscles, and nerves, and
bones showing the infinite skill of an infinite
God, and then winding up with the peroration
He that formed the eve shall he not seeP'
And then we want to discourse about the hui
man ear, its wonderful intcguments, mem.
branes, and vibration, and its chain of small
bones, and its auditory nerve, closing with the
question: "Ile that planted the ear, shall he
not hearin And we want some one able to ex.
pound the first chapter of Genesis, bring TO il
TIL as Job suggested: The 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 recapture these
weapons! Let men of God 60 out and take
possession of the platform. Let any printing
presses that have been captured by the enemy
be recaptured for God; and the reporters, anC
the type setters, and the editors and the pub
fishers swear allegiance to the Lord God O
truth. All, my friend, that day must come
Al ~. - N1,us-t
not the faith or the courage, or the consecra
ton to do it, then let some Jonathan on hi
busy hands and on his praying knees, climl
up on the Rock Of Hindcrance, and in tn
name of the Lord God OF Israel slash to piece
those literary Philistines If these men vii
not be converted to God then they must b.
overthrow.
GREAT RESOURCES UNDEvELoPED.
Second-Again: l learn from this subjec
what large amount of the church's resource
is actually hidden, and buried, and undeve
Oped. The Bible intimates that that was
very rich land this land Of Israel 1t says
'The stones are iron, and out Of the hills tho
shalt dig brass" aud yet hundreds and thou
sands of dollars worth of this metal was ker
under the hills. Well that is the difficult
with the church OF God at this day. Its taler
is not developed. If one-haf OF its energ
could be brought out it might take the publ
iniquities of the day by the throat and max
them bite the dust. II human eloquence WEI
consecrateu 10 the LORD Jesus christ, III WOul
in few years persuade this whole earth I
surrender to God. There is enough undeve
oped energy in this one church to bring a
, Brooklyn to Christ-enough OF undevelope
Christian energy in the United States to brin
the whole world TO Christ; but 1t is burie
, under strata of indifference, and under who
mountains of sloth. Now is it not time f.
the mining TO begin, and the piekaxes
, plunge, and for this buried metal to be brougl
out and put into the furnaces, and be turnt
out howitzers and carbnes for the Lords hos
The vast majority of Christians in this ds
are useless. The most OF the Lords battaliC
belong to the reserve corps. The most of Il
, crew are asleep in the bammocks. The mo
: of the metal is under the hills.
TOO MANY CHRISTIANS USELESS.
o, is it not time for the church of God
rouse up and understand that we want all Il
energies all the talent, aud all the wealth e
! listed for Christ's sake! ] like the hickman
that the English soldiers gave to Butcher, d
, commander. They called him "Old FC
l wards" We have had enough retreats in d
r church Of Christ; let us have glorious a
vance And | say to you as the general sa
Q when his troops were afIrightcd; rising up
\ his stirrups, his hair flying in the wind,
:, lifted up his voice until twenty thoasaI
troops heard him, crying out, Forward, q
n whole line ~