Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-03-14
OUR MORAL GIANTS.
WONDERFUL Discourse BY DR. TALMAGE on
KING OG
Moses Trismphs Over the Giant King Of Rab6ath
The Huge Opposition Of lnnorality Must Sue
comb 10 Observation-Disclosures Giants
and Their Allotted Tasks.

of his wonderful power OF drawing use
full, practical lessons from an obscure
text, which, % the ordinary mind,
seemed incapable OF yielding any spirit
ual edihcatiOn. The text was Deut.
3Il. "Oriy Og, King of BaShan, re-
manned of the remnant Of giants; be-
hold, his bedStead was a bedStead OF
iron; is it not in Rabbath of the chill
dren of Ammon? Nine cubits was the
length thereof and four cubitS the
breadth OF it.
The story OF giants is mixed with
myth. William the COnQuerOr was said
10 have been OF overtOwering altitude,
but when, in after time, his tomb was
opened, his bones indicated that he had
been physically of only ordinary size.
Roland the hero was said 20 have been
OF astounding stature, but wnen ms
sepulchre was examined, his armOr was
found only large enough 10 nc an ordin-
ary man. Alexander the Great had he'll
NETS and SD eldS of enormous size made
and left among the people whom he had
CONQUERED. so a TO give the impression
that he was a giant. although he was
rather under than over the usual height
of man. But that in other days and lands
there were real giants Is authentic.
One of the guards of the Duke OF Bruins
wick was eight and half feet high. In
a museum in London is the skeleton of
Charles Brine, eight feet, four inches in
stature.
TIE EMPEROR MAXININ
was over eight feet. Pliny tells Of
giant nine feet high, aud two other
giants nine and a half feet. So l am
not incredulous when 1 come TO any
text and find King Og giant, and the
size of his bedStead, turning the cubttS
of the text into feet,-the bedStead OF
Og. the King, must have been about
thirteen and a half feet long. Judging
from that, the giant who occupied II
was probably about eleven feet IN
stature, or nearly twice the average
human size. There was no need OF
Rabbinical writer's trying 10 account Tor
the presence Of this giant, King Og, as
they did, by saying that he come down
from the other side OF the Flood, being
tall enough 20 wade the waters beside
Noah's Ark, or that lie rode on the top
of the Ark, the passengers inside the
Ark daily providing him with food.
There was nothing supernatural about
him. lie was simply a monster IN size.
Cyrus and solomon slept on beds OF
gold, and SsrdasapaluS had $50 bed
steads Of gold burned up with him, but
this bedstead OF my text was OF iron
everything sacrificed for strength to
hold this excessive GvOirdupOiS, this Alp
OF bone and flesh. No wonder this
couch was kept as a curiosity az Rao-
bath, and people went from far and
near 20 see il, just as now people 90 TO
museums 20 behold the armOr OF the
ancientS. You say what fighter this
giant. King Os, must have been. No
doubt of it. I suppose the size of his
sword and breastplate CORES DOuded 10
the size Of his bedStead, and his stride
across the battlefield and the full
stroke of his arm must have been APP
palling. With an armed host he comes
down 20 drive back the ISraeliteS, who
are marching on from Egypt TO Canaan,
WE HAVE NO PARTICULARS
OF the battle. but 1 think the Israelites
trembled when they saw this monster OF
man moving down 20 crush them.
Alas for the IsraeliteS. Will their
troubles never case? What can men
i've and a half feet high do against
this warrior of eleven feet, and what
can short swords do against sword
whose CLEAN must have been like a
lash Of lightning The battle of Edrei
opened. Moses aud his army met the
giant and his army The Lord of Hosts
descended into the fight and the gigan-
&c strides that Og had made when ad-
vanciHg into the battle were more than
eQualled by the gigantic strides with
which he retreated. Huzza for tri-
umphant Israel Sixty fortified cities
surrendered 90 them. a land OF indie
scribabie opUlence comes into their pos
session. and an that is left Of the giant
king is the iron bedstead. mine cUbits
was the length thereof and four cu0its
the breadth of it,.
Why did not the Bible give us the
size Of the giant Instead OF the size o.
the beadStead? Why did il not indicate
that the man was eleven feet high in
stead Of telling us that his couch was
thirteen and a-hali feet long? No doubt
among other things IL was 70 teach MS
that you can Judge Of a man by his sur
rCundingS Show me mans aSSOci-
Htes, show me a mans books, show me
mans home, and l will tell you what
he is without your telling me one word
about him. You can not only tell
man according TO the old adage,
''BY THE COMPANY HE KEEPS"
but By the books he reads, by the pict-
sres he admires. by the church he at
tends, by the places he visits. Moral
giants and intellectual pigmieS, intel
lectual giants and intellectual pigmieS,
like physical giants or physical pigmieS
may be judged by their surroundings.
That man has been thirty years faithful
In attendance upon churches and pray
ermeetings and Sunday schools, and
putting himself among intense religious
associations. he may have his imper-
fectionS, but he Is very good man.
Great is his religious stature. That
other man has been for thirty years
among influences intensely worldly, and
he has shut himself out from all other
influences, and his religious stature is
that of a dwarf. No man ever has been
or can be Independent OF his surround
ings, social, intellectual, moral, reiig-
ious. The Bible indicates the length Of
the giant By tie length Of his bedStead.
Let no man say: - Will be good" aud
vet keep evil surroundings. Let 10
man say: ~ will be faithful as a Chris
tian,' and yet conSort chief
IL with wOrdlings. You are
proposing an everlasting impOsSibility
When man departs this life you can
tell what has been his Influence in a
community for good by those who
mourn for him and by how sincere and
iong-cOntinued are the regrets OF his
taking of. There may be no pomp or
obseQuieS and no pretense at epitsph