The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-03-24
GIANTS COUCH.
The Iron Bedstead Used by King Og
Was Certainly a Mammoth
Affair.
Dr.. Talmage Argues in Favor of Sleep
as Necessary for the Well Being
of the Human Race.

II. "Only Og, king OF Bashan, re.
manned OF the remnant Of giants; be-
hold, his bedstead was q 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 to have been of oVertowerine
altitude, but when, in after time, his
tomb was opened. his bones indicat-
ed that he had been physically of
only ordinary size. Roland the Hero
was said to have been of astounding
stature, but when his, sepulchre was
examined his armor was found only
large enough to fit an ordinary
helmets and shields OF enormous size
made and left among the people whom
ne had conquered, SO as to give the
impression that he was a giant, al
though he was rather under than over
the usual height OF a man. But that
in other days andlands there were real
giants is authentic. One of the guards
OF the duke of Brunswick was 81 feet
high. In a museum in London is the
skeleton Of Charles Brine, 8 feet 4
inches in stature. The Emperor
Maximin vas over 8 feet. Pliny tells
of a giant 9 feet high, and two other
giants 9b feet. So l am not incredu-
lous 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 13b
feet long. Judging from that, the
giant who occupied it was probably
about IL feet in stature, or nearly
twice the average human size. There
was no need OF Rabbincial writer's
trying to account for the presence of
this giant, King o., 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 passengers inside
the Ark daily providing him with
food. There was
NOTHING SUPERNATURAL
about HIM. He was simply a mon
ster in size.
Cyrus and Solomon slept on beds of
gold, and Sardanapalus had $50 bed
steads of gold burned up with him,
but this bedstead of my text was Of
iron-everythings sacrificed for strength
to hold this excessive avoirdupois,
this Alp Of bone and flesh. No won
der this couch was kept as a curiosity
att Rabbath, and people went fromtar
and near to see it, just as now people
go to museums to behold the armor
Of the a%ncients.
A land of indescribable opulence
comes into their possession, and all
that is left of the giant king is the iron
bedstead. "Nine cubits was thelength
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 bedstead? Why did it not indi-
cate that the man was II feet high in
stead Of telling us that his couch was
l3B feet long? No doubt among
other things it was to teach us that a
man al be judged by his surround
ings. Show me a mans associates,
show me a mans books, show me a
mans home and I will tell you what
he is without your telling me one word
about him. You cannot only tell a
man according to the old adage, "by
the company he keeps" but by the
books he reads, by the pictures he ad-
mires, by the church he attends, by
the places he visits. Moral giants and
MORAL PIGMIEs,
intellectual giants and intellectual
pigmies, like physical giants or physi-
cal piglnies may be judged by their sur
roundlngs.
When a man departs this life you
a tell what has been his influence in
a community for good by those who
mourn for him and by how sincere
and long continued are the regrets of
his taking off. There may be no pomp
or obsequies and no pretense at cpl
t~apheology, but you can tell how high
ne was n conservation, and how high
in usefulness by how long is his shad-
ow when he comest to lie down. What
is true of individuals is true OF cities
and nations. Show me free libraries
and schools of a city, and Twill tell
you the intelligence of it's people.
Show me it's gallery of painting and
sculpture, and l will tell you the ar
tistic advancement Of it's citizens.
Show me it's churches, and I will tell
the moral and religious status Of the
place.
Notice furthermore that even giants
must rest. Such enormous physical
endowment on the part of King Og
might suggest the capacity to stride
across all fatigue and omit slumber.
No. He requires an iron bedstead.
Giants must rest. Not approaching
that fact. how many Of the giants
yearly break down. Giants in bust
ness, giants in art, giants in eloquence,
giants in usefulness. They live not
out more than half their days. They
try to escape the consequence Of over
work by a voyage across the sea or a
summer yacht, or call on physicians
for relief from insomnia or restoration
of unstrung nerves or the arrest of
apoplexies, when all they need is what
this giant Of my text resorted to-an
iron bedstead. Let no one think be-
cause he has great strength of body n
mind that he can afford to trit1e with
his unusual gifts. The commercial
world, the literary world, the artistic
world, are all the time aquake with
THE CRASH OF FALLING G1ANTs.