Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-04-02
REV DIR. TALMAGE
The Brooklyn Divine's Sum
day Sermon.

y 49, 'Po t'1 'fJ t't - 'tD Bofs /
Orbits the tfe0dh Of tt."-Deuterono2lr
iii II
The story of giants Is mixed with myth.
William the Conqueror was said to have
been Of overtowering altitude, but when IN
aftertime his tomb was opened his bones in
dictated that be had been physically Of only
ordinary size. Roland the Hero was said to
have been of astounding stature. but when
his sepnlchre was examined his arnor was
found only large enough to fit an ordinary
man. Alexander the Great had helmets
and shields OF encrmons size made and left
among the people whom he had conquered,
so as to give the impression that he was a
giant, although he was rather Under than
over tho usual height of O man. But that :
In other days and lands there wero real
giants is authentic. One of the guards OF
the Duke Of Brunswick was eight and u
half feet high. In a museum in Londo Is
the skeleton Of Charles Brine, eight feet
four inches in stature. The Emperor Maxi
min was over eight feet.
Pliny tells of a giant nine feet high and
two other giants nine and a half feet. SO I
am not incredulous when | come to my text
and find King Og a giant, and the size OF
his bedstead, turning the cubits 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 oc-
cupied 1t was probably about eleven feet in
stature, or nearly twice the average human
size. There WAS no need Of Rabbinical
writer's trying to account for the presence Of
this giant, King Og, as they did, by saying
that he came down from the other side Of
the food, being tall enough to wade the wa
tiers beside Noah's ark, or that<he rode on the
top of the ark. the passengers inside the ark
daily providing him with food. There was
nothing supernatural about him. He was
simply n monster in size
Cyrus and Solomon slept on beds Of gold,
and Sardanapalus had $50 bedsteads Of gold
burned up with him, but this bedstead of
my text was Of iron-everything sacrificed
for strength to hold this excessive avoirdu-
pois, this Alp OF bone and flesh. No wonder
this couch was kept as "A curiosity at Rab-
bath, and the people went from far and near
to see 1T, just as now people go to museums
TO behold the armor of the ancients. You
say what Il fighter this giant, King Og,
must have been. No doubt Of it. | suppose
the size Of his sword and breastplate CORE
sponded to the sizo Of his beadstead, and his
stride across the battlefield and the full
stroke Of his arm must have been appalling.
With an armed host he comes down to drive
back the lsraelites, who are marching on
from Egypt to Canaan.
We have no particulars of tho battle, but
! think the Israelites trembled when they
saw this monster OF n man moving down to
crush them. Alas for the Israelites! Will
heir troubles never cease? What can men
i've and a half feet high do against this war
lior OF eleven feet, and what can short
swords do against a sword whose CLEAN
must have been like a flash OF lIghtnlng?
The battle OF Edrei opened. Moses and his
army met the giant and his army. The Lord
of Hosts descended into the fight, and the
! gigantic strides that OK had made when adj
vancing into the battle were moro than
equaled 10y the gigantic strides with which
he retreated. Huzza for triumphant Israel.
Sixty fortified cities surrendered to them.
A land of indescribabie opulence comes into
their possession, and all that is left of the
giant king is the iron bedstead. Nine cubits
was the length thereof and four cubitS the
breadth of it"
Why did not the Bible give us the
size of the giant instead OF the size Of the
pedstead? Why did it not Indicate that the
giant was eleven feet high instead Of telling
rs that his couch was thirteen and a half
feet long? No doubt among other things it
was t. teach us that you can Judge Of q man
by his surroundings. Show ME a mans
associates, show me a mans books, show me
n mans home, and l will tell you what he is
without your telling me one word about
him. You cannot only tell a man accord
ing to the old adage, by the company he
keeps" but by the books he reads, by the
pictures he a%dnires, by the church he at
tends. by the places he visits. Moral
giants and moral pygmies, intellectual
giants and intellectual pygmies, like physical
giants or physical pygmies may be judged
by their surroundings.
When a man departs this life you can tell
what has been his influence in a community
Cor good 10y those who mourn for him and
by how sincere and long continued are the
regrets of his taking off. There may be no
! Domp or obs.4ules and no pretense at cpl
,apheology, hut you can tell how high he
was in conservation, and how high in use
:ulness by how long is his shadow when he
.,,. T., liz, .1oun "a hat l.. fr,o nf i,1i
vidunlS is true of cities and nations. Show
nv the free libraries ami schools of a city,
and will tell YOU the intelligence Of it,
people. Show me its gallary of painting and
sculpture, and | will tell you the artistic az
saucement of its citizens. Show NE it,
churches, ai.i | viii tell you the moral aDe
religious status of the place.
From the fact that Og's heisteal wa
thirteen and a half feet long. | conclude tbs
giant himself was about eleven feet high
But lei no one BIZ this thought be Induced tc
surrender to untavorable environments. A
man can make his own be isteai. Chantrey
and Hugh Miller We're born stonemasons-
but the one became an immortal sculptor
and the other n Christian scientist whose
name will never die. Turner, the painter
in whose praise John RusSin expended the
greatest genus of his life. was the son Of /
barber who advertised "a penny shave
DR.. FrideauS. one Of the greatest scholars oi
ali time, earned his way through college b.
securing pots ana pans. The late Judgl
Bradley worked his own way up from I
charcoal burner to the bench of the supreln
court Of the United States. Yes, a man ca
decide the SIZE of his own beistead.
Notice furthermore that even giants mus
rest. Such enormous physical endowmen
on the part OF King OK might suggest th
capacity to stride across all fatigue AM
omit lumber No. He required an irol
beiSteai. Giants must rest. Not apprecia
ting that fact how many of the giant
yearly break down. Giants in business
giants in art, giants III eloquence. giants /
usefulness. They live not out more tina
half their days. They try u escape til
consequence of oyerwork by a voyag
across the sen or a sail in a summer yach'
or call on physicians for relief from insou
MIA or restoration OF unStruug nerves or til
arrest of apoplexieS. when all they need
what this giant of my text resorted to-a
iron bedstead
Let no one think because he has grea
strength Of body or mind that he can affor
70 trlfe with his unusual gifts The coz
mereial world. the literary world. the arti
tic world. the political world. the religion
world, are all lifetime aQuake wit the cras
OF falling giants King Os 10 doubt had
throne. but the Bible never mentions hi
throne. King Og no doubt had crown. bu
t.e bible never mentions his crown