Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-24
AN UNSHAKEN ROCK.
All Assaults on the Gospel Have Been
Far Worse Than Useless.
STILL The MIGHTlEST WEAPON.
The Objections Of Worldly Philosophers Fall
to the Ground.
ALL THAT is GOOD ALSO CHRISTIAN
STILL THE MIGHTlEST WEAPON.
ALL THAT is GOOD ALSO CHRISTIAN


BROOKLYN, June 2S.-The Rev. 7. De.
Witt Talmage, d. D., preached at the Tab
ernscle' this evening on 1.-THE Mightiesi
Weapon is the Gospel" His text was 1.
Samuel xxi, 9: There is none like that
give it me-" The preacher said;
David fed from his pursuers. The world
runs very fast when it is chasing a good
man. The country is trying to catch David,
and to slay him. David goes into the house
of q priest, and asks him for a sword OF
spear with which to defend himself The
priest, not being accustomed to use deadly
weapons, tells David that he cannot supply
him; but suddenly the priest thinks of an
old sword that had been carefully wrapped
up and laid away-the very sword that Go
Hath formerly used-and he takes down that
sword, and while he is unwrapping the
sharp, glittering, memorable blade, it flashes
upon David's mind that this was the very
sword that was used against himself when
he was in the fight with Goliath, and David
can hardly keep his hand of it until the
priest has unwound it. David stretches out
his hand toward that old sword, and says:
''There is none like that; give it me-"
the sword that has been used against me
and against the cause of God" So it was
given him. Well, my friends, that is not
the first or the last sword once used by
giant and Philistine iniquity which is to
come into the possession of Jesus Christ
and of His glorious Church. 1 want, as
well as God may help me, to show you that
many q weapon which has been used against
the armies of God is yet to be captured and
used on our side; and I only initiate David
when stretch out my hand toward the
blade of the Philistine and cry: "There is
none like that; give it me p
A USELESS STRIFE.
I Iremark. first, that this is true in regard
TO all scientific exploration. You know that
the first discoveries in astronomy and geology
and chronology were used to battle Chris
tianity. Worldly philosophy came out of its
laboratory and out of its observatory, and
said: "Now, we will prove, by the very
structure of the earth, and by the movement
of the heavenly bodies, that the Bible is a
lie and that Christianity, as we have it
among men, is a positive imposition.
Good men trembled. The telescope, the
Leyden jars, the electric batteries, all in the
hands of the Philistines. But one day,
Christianity, looking about for some weapon
with which to defend itself, happened to see
the very old sword that these atheistic
Philistines had been using against the truth
and cried out: There is none like that; give
ii mel'
And Copernicus and Calico, and Kep-
Ter, and Isaac Newton came forth and told
the world that, in their ransacking Of the
earth and heaven, they had found over
Whelming presence of the God whom we
worship; and this old Bible began to shake
itself from the Korau, and Shaster, and
Zendavesta with whi3h it had been covered
up, and lay on the desk of the scholar, and
in the laboratory of the chemist, and in the
lap of the Christian, unharmed and unau-
Swered, while the towers of the midnight
heavens struck a silvery chime in its praise
Worldly philosophy said "Matter is
eternal The world always was God did
not make it," Christian philosophy plunges
its crowbar into rocks, and finds that the
world was gradually made, and if gradually
made there must have been some point at
which the process started; then, who started
it? and so that objection was overcome, and
in the first three words of the Bible we find
that Moses stated magnificent truth when
he said: "In the beginning"
ONE ILLUSTRATION.
Worldly philosophy said: "Your Bible
is a most inaccurate book; all that Old
Testament, again and again told, abou. the
army of the locusts-it is preposterous
There is nothing in the coming of the locusts
like an army. An army walks, locusts fly.
An army goes in order and procession, To-
Gusts without order:' "Waitp' said Chris
tian philosophy; and in 1858, in the SOUTH
western part of this country, Christian men
went out to examine the march of the locust.
There are men right before me who must
have noticed in that very part of the country
the coming up of the locust like an army;
and it was found that all the newspapers un-
willingly spoke of them as an army. Why?
They seem to have a commander. They
march hk host. They halt like host.
No arrow ever went with straighter flight
than the locusts come-not even turning
aside for the wind. If the wind rises, the
1ocusts drop and then rise gain after it has
gone down, TAXI e the same lineof march,
not varying fc.t. The old Bible right
every time wnea il speaks Of locusts coming
like an army; worldly philosophy wrong.
Worldly philosophy said: 'Al1 that story
about the light turn ID as clay to the seal
is simply an absurdity." Old-time worldly
said: "The light comes straight"
Christian philosophy said: "Wait little
while" and 1t goes on and makes discoveries
and finds that the atmosphere curves and
bends the rays of light around the earth,
literally "as the clay to the SEAL" The
Bible right again; worldly philosophy
wrong again. "Ah, " saws worldly philoso-
ply. F'ail that illusion in Job about the
foundations oil the earth is simply an ab-
surdity. Where vast thou says God,
when I set the foundations of the earth?'
The earth has no foundations" Christian
philosophy comes and finds that the word
as translated foundation" may be better
translated sockets" So now see how it
will read if it is translated right: "Where
vast thou when 1 set the sockets of the
earth?" Where is the socket? 1t is the
hollow of Gods hsnd-a socket large enough
for any world to turn in.
WRONG EVERY TIME.
Worldly philosophy said:s "What an
absurd story about Joshua making the sun
and moon stand still. II the world had
stopped an instant, the whole universe
would have been out of gear" STOP"
said Christian philosophy, "not quite so
quick" The world has two moticns-one
on its own axis, and the other around the
sun. It was not necessary in making them
stand still that both motions should be
the one turning the world
on its own axis. There was no reason why
the halting of the earth should have Jared
and disarrsnged the whole universe. Joshua
right and God right; in6delity wrong every
time. / knew it would be wrong. / thank
God that the time has come when Christian
need not be scared at any scientific ex-
plOrstion., The fact is that religion and
science have struck hand in eternal friend
ship, and the deeper Down geology can dig
and the higher up astronomy can soar, all
he better for us.
The armies Of the Lord Jesus Christ have
stormed the observatories of the worlds
science, and from the highest towers have