The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-07-11
TAI MATES SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse Of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher


Subjcci 1.-THE Miahticst
Weapon Is the Gospel"
TExr; There Is none like that; give %
me. ~ Samuel xxi, o.
David fed from his pursuers. The
world runs very fast when II is chasing
good man. The country Is trying to
catch David, and to slay him. David goes
into tho house of priest and asks him
for sword or spear with which to defend
himself. The priest, not being accustomed
to uso deadly weapons, tells David that
no cannot supply him; but suddenly the
priest thinks OF an old sword that had
been carefully wrapped up and laid away
and he takes down that sword, and while no
is mwrapping the sharp, glittering, tnenor.
able blade, II flashes upon David's mind that
| this was the very sword that was used
against himself when he was In tho 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 1t me.n In other words n want
| in my own hand the sword that has been used
against me, and against the cause of God. y
So 1t was given him. Well, my friends, that
| Is not the FIRST or tho last sword once used by
giant and Philistine iI3Quity which Is to como
into the possession of jesus Christ and of
His glorious church. ! want, as well as God
may help me, 10 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 l only initiate David when /
stretch out my hand toward the blade of the
Philistine, and cry; There is none like that;
| give 1t mel'
I remark, 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
Christianity. Worldly philosophy came out
of its laboratory and out of its observatory,
| and said; "Now, We will prove, by tho very
structure of the earth, and by the movement
Of the heavenly bodies, that the Bible is n
lie and that Christianity, as We have 1t
among men, Is positive imposition" Good
men trembled. The telescope, the Leyden
jars, the electric batteries, all in the hands of
the Philstines. 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 it mop And
| Copernicus and Calico, and Kepler, and
Isaac Newton came forth and told the world
that, in their ransacking of the earth
and heaven, they had found overwhelming
presence Of the God whom we worship; and
this old Bible began to shake itself from the
Koran, and Shaster, and Zendavesta with
| which 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,
unframed and unanswered, while the towers
of tho midnight heavens struck a silvery
chime in its praise.
| Worldly philosophy said: Matter is eter-
nal. 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 a magnificent truth when he
said: I'm the beginning"
| Worldly philosophy, said: "Your Bible is
most inaccurate book; all that story in the
Old Testament again and again told, about
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, locusts
without order" Waltz said Christian phi
losophy; and in 1868 in the southwestern part
of this country, Christian men went
out to examine the march of the locust. There
are men right before me who must have no.
ticed in that very part of the country the
coming up of the locust like an army; and it
was found that all the newspapers unwit-
tingly spoke Of them as an army. Why?
They seem to have q commander. They
march like a host They halt like a
host. No arrow ever went with
straighter flight than the locusts come
mot even turning aside for the wind. If
the wind rises, the locusts drop and then rise
| again after it has gone down, taking the
same line of march, not varying foot. The
old Bible right every time when it speaks of
locusts coming like an army; worldly phil
osophy wrong.
Worldly philosophy said: GAN that story
is simply an absurdity." Old time worldly
philosophy said: 1.-THE light comes straight
Christian philosophy said: ''Wait little
while" and it 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," says worldly philoso-
| ply, "all that illusion In Job about the
foundations of the earth is simply an alb
surdity. Where vast thou says God,
when l set the foundations of the earth The
earth has no foundations Christian phi
losophy 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 l set the sockets of the
earth ?" Where is the socket? 1t is the hol-
low Of Gods hand-a socket large enough
for any world to turn in.
Worldly philosophy said "What an absurd
story about Joshua making the sun and moon
stand still. If the world had stopped an in
slant, the whole universe would have been
out Of gear" "Stop," said Christian philoso-
ply, mot quite so quick" The world has
two motions-one on its own axis, and the
other around the sun. 1t was not necessary in
making them stand still that both motions
should be stopped-only the one turning the
world on its own axis. There was no reason
why the hating of the earth should have
| Jared and disarranged the whole universe.
Joshua right and God right; infidelity wrong
| every time. knew it would be wrong.
| thank God that the time has come when
christians need not be scared at any scientific
exploration. The fact is that religion and
science have struck hand in eternal friendship,
and the deeper down geology can dig and
the higher up astronomy can soar, all
the better for us. The armies of the
Lord Jesus Christ have stormed the
| observatorios of the worlds science, and
| frora the highest towers have flung out
| the banner Of the cross and Christianity
tonight, from the observatories of Albany
AMI Washington, stretches out its hand to-
ward the opposing scientific weapon, cry
ing: "Therc is none like that; give it mer'
was reading this afternoon of Herschcl,
who was looking at a meteor through
telescope, and when it came over the
| face of the telescope it was so powerful he had
to avert his eyes. And it has been just SO that
many an astronomer has gone into an OBJ
| seryatory and looked up into tho midnight
| heavens and the Lord God has, through some
| swinging world, famed upon his vision, and
| the learned man cried out: "Who am 1? I'm
done! Unclean! Have mercy, Lord God'
Again, l remark, that the travelling dis
| position of the world, which was averse to
| morals and religion, is to be brought on our
side. The man that went down to Jericho
and fell amidst thieves was a type of great
many travellers. There is many a man who
is very honest at home who, when he is
| abroad has his honor filched and his rood