Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-03-14
Oh THE GIANTS BED.
SERMON PREACHED BY Or. TALMAoE
ON SUNDAY MARCH f3.

DltDOhL1N, HA1Itl lO.-OT. Lar
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
Ammon? Nine cubits was the length
thereof and four cubits the breadth
Of it.
The story Of giants is mixed viii h
myth William the ConGueror was
said TO have been Of overtowering al
titude. bat 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 W; 8
examined his arlnor 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, 80 as to give the inn
preston that hewas 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 museunl
in London is the skeleton of Charles
Brine. 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 ! am not incredulous when |
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
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 tho
presence of this giant, King Og, as
they did, by saying that he came
down from the other side of tho
food, being tall enough TO wade tho
waters beside Noah's ark, or that he
rode On the top Of the ark, the pas
Fengers 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 betlstead of my text
was Of iron n-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
1t, just as now people go to museums
to behold the armor OF tho ancients.
You say what a fighter this giant,
King Og, must have been. No doubt
of it, / suppose the size OF his sword
and breastplate coreaponded 20 the
size of his bedstead, and his stride
across the battlefield and tho fan
stroke of his arm must have becu 0Is
palling. With an armed host h9
comes down to drive back the Israel
ites, who are marching ON from
Egypt to Canaan. We have no par
lticulars Of the battle. but think thc
Israelites trembled wheir they sow
this monster OF a man moving down
TO crush them. Alas for the lsiaelit IS
win their troubles never ceasef What
can men five and a half feet high 10
against this warrior of eleven feot,
and what can short swords doagaisst
sword whose CLEAN must have / on
like flash of lightningi The ball
Of Edrei opened Moses and hisMMt
met tho giant and his army. che
Lord of Hosts descended into "a
fight, and tho gigantic strides TIA;
Og had made WHOM advancing into
the battle were more than equalci
by the gigantic strides with which he
ITetroated. 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
.NinO cubits was the length thereof
and four cubits the breadth of H.
JUDGE OF A MAN BY ms SURROUNDINGS.
Why did not tho Bible give US the
size of the giant instead of the size OF
The bodsteadg Why did il not ind
cate that the man was eleven Zee
high instead of telling us that his
couch was thirteen and half feot
llongg No doubt among other things, |
lif was 10 teach as that you can judge |
Iof a man by his surroundings Show
lIno a mans associates. show Inc a
|rnan's books, show me a mans homo.
land wiz tell you what he is without
|your telling me one word about him
You cannot only tell man, accord
|ine 10 the old adage. by the cosa
|pany DO keeps, but by the booiSs hn
Ioada, BY tho pictures be admircs, By
tho church he attends, by the places
he viaits.
Moral giants and moral pygmies,
ini uoctug giants and intellectual
pygniea. Ike physical giants or ply
|.