News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-03-17
OF THE GIANTS BED.
SERMON PREACHED BY DR.. TALMAGE
ON SUNDAY MARCH 10.

4 Lesson Drawn from the Bible Story of
og, King of Bashan, Whose Bedstead
Was Nine Cubits Long and Four Cubits
Broad.
BROOKLYN, March 13.-Dr. Tai
mage gave another illustration this
morning in his sermon at the Taber-
1acle of his wonderful power of
drawing useful, practical lessonsfrom
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
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
preston that he was giant, although
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 museum
in London is the skeleton of Charles
Brine, eight feet four inches in
stature. The Emperor Maximum 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 l
come to my text and find King Og
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 moth
ing supernatural about him. He was
simply a monster in size.
EVERYTHING SACRIFICED TO STRENGTH.
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
avoirdupois, this Alp of bone and
flesh. 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 arnOr of the ancients
You say what fighter this giant,
King Og, must have been. No doubt
of it. suppose the size of his sword
and breastplate correspondent to the
size of his bedstead, and his stride
across the battlefield and the full
stroke of his arm must have been ap-
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 Israelites
Will their troubles never cease? What
can men five and a half feet high do
against this warrior of eleven feet,
and what can short swords do against
a sword whose CLEAN must have been
like flash of lightning? 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 battle 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 indie
scribable opulence comes into their
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 A MAN BY HIS SURROUNDINGS.
Why did rot the Bible give us the
size of the giant instead of the size OF
the badstead? Why did it not indi-
cate that the man was eleven feet
high instead of telling us that his
couch was thirteen and a half feet
long2 No doubt, among other things,
it was to teach us that you can judge
of a man by his surroundings. Show
me a mans associates, show me g
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 a man, accord
ing to the old adage, by the com
pany he keeps" but by the books he
reads, by the pictures he admires, by
the church he attends, by the places
he visits.
Moral giants and moral pygmies.
intellectual giants and intellectual
pyg1nies. like physical giants or ply
s1ca pygmies may be judged by their
surroundings. That man has been
thirty years faithful in attendance
upon churches and prayer meetings
and Sunday schools, and putting
himself among intense religious as
sociations. 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
Ither influences, and his religious
stature is that of a dwarf No man
ever has been or can be Independent
of his acknowledgement. intel
lectual, moral, religious.
The Bible indicates the length of
the giant by the length of his bed
stead Let no man say, Il will be
good" and yet keep evil surround
ings. Let no man say, Il will be