Connecticut western news., 1892-03-17

A Lesson Drawn rom the Bible Story or
 og, King of Bashan, Whose Bedstead
 Was Nine Cubits Long and Four Cubits
 Broad.
 E. BROOKLYN, March 13.-Dr. Tal- mage gave another illustration this morning in his sermon at the Taber-. nacle of his wonderful power of drawing useful, practical lessons from an obscure text, which, to the ordi- nary mind, seemed incapable of yield ing any spiritual edifcation. The text was Deuteronomy iii, II: "Only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bed stead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon7 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 to have been of overtowering al- | titude, but when in aftertime his 1 tomb was opened his bones indicated that he had been physically of only ordinary size. Roland the Hero was said to have been of astounding stat ure, but when his sepulcher was examined his armor was found only large enough to fit an ordinary man. Alexander the Great had helmets and shields of enormous size made and left among the people whom he had conquered, so as to give the inn precision that he was giant, although I he was rather under than over the usual height of a man. But that in other days and lands there were real giants is authentic. One of the guards ! of the Duke of Brunswick was eight and half feet high. In a museum l in London IS the skeleton of Charles Bine. eight feet four inches in stature. The Emperor Maximin was over eight feet. Pliny tells of a giant nine feet high, and two other giants nine and half feet So I am not incredulous when I 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 occupied it was prob | ably about eleven feet in stature, or | nearly twice the average human size. There was no need of Rabbin- ical writers 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 flood, being tall enough to wade the waters beside Noah's ark, or that he rode on the top of the ark, the pas sengers inside the ark daily provid- ing him with food There was noth- ing supernatural about him. He was simply monster in size.
 EVERYTHING SACRIFICED TO STRENGTH.
 Cyrus and Solomon slept on beds of gold, and Sardanapalus had 150 bedsteads of gold burned up with him, but this bedstead of my text was of iron-everything sacrificed for strength to hold this excessive avoirdupois, this Alp of bone and flesh. -ll No wonder this couch was kept as a curiosity at Rabbath, and people went from far and near to see it, just as now people go to museums to behold the armor of the ancients.
 You say what a fighter this giant, King Og, must have been. No doubt of it. I suppose the size of his sword and breastplate corresponded to the size of his bedstead, and his stride across the battlefield and the full stroke of his arm must have been ap- l palling. With an armed host he comes down to drive back the Israel ties, who are marching on from | Egypt to Canaan. We have no par ticulars of the battle, but think the Israelites trembled when they saw this monster of a man moving down to crush them Alas for the Israehtes l Will their troubles never ceaSe2 What can men five and half feet high do against this warrior of eleven feet, and what can short swords do against a sword whose gleam must have been like flash of lightningf 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 Og had made when advancing into the hattie were more than equaled by the gigantic strides with which he retreated Huzza for triumphant Israel! Sixty fortified cities sur rendered to them. A land of il le scribable opulence comes into tloil possession, and all that is left of the giant king is the iron bedstead Mine cubits was the length thereof and four cubits the breadth of it"
 JUDGE OF MAN BY HIS SURROUNDINGS
 Why did not the Bible give us the size of the giant instead of the size oi the bedstead2 Why did it not indi cate that the man was eleven feet high instead of telling us that his couch was thirteen and @ half feet longf No doubt, among other things it was to teach us that you can judge of man by his surroundings. Show me a mans associates, show me { mans books, show me mans home and will tell you what he is without
 your telling me one word about him
 You cannot only tell man, accord ing to the old adage, By the com pany he keeps" but by the books ht reads, by the pictures he admires, by
 the church he attends, by the places
 he visits.
 Moral giants and moral pygmies
 intellectual giants and intellectua
 pyg1nies, like physical giants or phy
 sical pygmies may be judged by then
 surroundings. That man has beer
 thirty years faithful in attendance
 upon churches and prayer meeting