Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-08-02
BATTLE OF LIFE.
In the Great Fight for God and Eternal
Glory
The Good Christian Needs weapons, to He
On Guard Against the Dcvn Sermon
BY Rev. a. Dewitt Taimaee, DID.

on Guard = E1inSt the Devil Sermon
BY Rev. a. DEWITT Tnimaee, DID.
great throng OF many thousands
from all parts of the north and west
are gathered at the Monona Lake as
sembly. Il chautauqua held near Madi-
son. Wis. Rev. DIR. Talmage Sunday
forenoon preached to this great multi
tude on 'Sharpened Axes. the text be-
ing l. samuel xiii, 1921: Now there
was no smith found throughout all the
land of Israel etc
: Ny loving and glad salutation to this
uneounted most, Chautauquans. Chris
! tian Endeavors, Gospel workers and
their friends from all parts of Wiscon-
sins and America, saints and sinners,
Ny text IS gloriously appropriate
WhaT scaldins subjugation the Israel
] ties were suffering. The Philistines
| had carried Oh all the blacksmiths.
and torn dow all the blacl5smiths'
] shops, and abolished the blaclxsmiths'
| trade in the land of Israel. These Phil
! istines had n particular grudge against
/ blaclismiths. although have always
| admired them. and have sometimes
thought l ought to have been one my
self. The fuliStines would not even
able mines Of brass and iron, nor might
they make any swords or spears, There
Were only two swords left in all the
land. Yea. these Philistines went on
until they had taken all the grind
stones from the land of Israel. so that
If an lsraelits farmer wanted to sharpen
his plow or his AK. he had to 60 over to
| the garrison of the Philistines TO ret il
done. There was only one sharpening
instrument left in the land, and that
was a file. The farmers and the me
chanics having nothing 70 whet up the
coulter, save simple file, industry was
hindered and work practically dis
graced
The gren, idea of the Philistines was
to keep the lsraelites disarmed. They
might get iron out of the hills to make
swords of, but they would not have any
blacksmiths TO weld this iron. II they
got the iron welded, they would have
no grindstones on which TO bring the
instruments of agriculture or the mill
I tarJ- weapons up to an edge. Oh, you
poor, weaponless Israelitcs, reduced to
file. how pity you. But these Phil
| istincs were not forever to keep their
heel on the neck of Gods children.
Jonathan, on his hands and knees.
climbs up great rock beyond which
were the Philistines; and his ar-mor-
bearer, on his hands and knees, climbs
up the same rock, and these two men,
with their two swords hew to pieces
the Philistines. the Lord throwing a
great terror upon them. So it was
then; so it is now. The two men of
God on their knees, mightier than a
| PhiliStiue host on their feet
! learn first from this subject, how
dangerous it is for the Church of God
TO allow its weapons to stay in the
! hands of its enemies. These Israelites
might again and again have obtained
supply of swords and weapons, as for
instance when they took the spoils of
the Ammonities but these lsralites
seemed content TO have no swords. no
| spears. no blacksmiths no grindstones,
no active iron mines, until il was too
late for them 10 make any resistance.
see the farmers tugging along with
their piclI-aXes and plows, and ] say:
Where are YOU going with those
things?' They say: 'Oh. we arc go-
ing over TO the garrison OF the Philis-
tines TO get these things sharpened," 1
say: You foolish men, why don't you
| sharpen them at homc?" "Oh, =" they
| say, the blacllsmiths' shops are all
| torn down. and we have nothing left us
| bat a file. "
| SO it IS in the church of Christ to-day.
We are too willing TO give up our weap-
ons TO the enemy. The world boasts
/ that it has gobbled up the schools, and
/ the colleges, and the arts, and the sci
ences, and the literature, and the
! printing press. Infdelity is making n
mighty attempt TO get all our weapons
in its hand and then TO keep them.
! You know il is making this boast all
the time; and after awhile, when the
| great battle between sin and righteous
ness has opened, If we do not look out
we will be as badly off as those Israel
ties without any swords 20 fight with
| and without any sharpening instru-
ments. ] call upon the supcrintcndents
OF literary institutions to see TO it that
the men who go into the class-rooms TO
stand beside the Leyden Jars. and the
electric batteries, and the microscopes
or telescopes, be children of God, not
/ Philistincs The athcistic thinkers of
this day arc trying TO get all the intel
/ lectual weapons of this century in their
/ grasp. What we want are scientific
/ Christians 20 capture the science, and
scholastic Christians to capture the
( scholarship and philosophic Christmas
to capture the philosophy, and lcctur-
I inc Christians 90 take back the lcctur-
ing platform
We want &c, send out against
Schcnlscl and Strauss and Renan of the
past. men like the late Theodore
( Christiicb Of Bonn; and against the
! inldtl scientists, God-wOrshiping
siliiman and Hitchcock and Agassiz
We want to capture all the philo-
| sophiral apparatus. and swing around
the telescopes on the swivel until
( through them we can see the morning
star Of tine Bclcemcr and with
meteorological hammer discover the
/ "ROcl, OF Ages" and amid the fora Of
the realms find the Rose OF Sharon
and the lily 81 the valley" We want
| "a clergy learned enough go discourse
Of the human eye. showing 90 TO bc a
microscope and telescope IN one instru-
ment. with 500 wonderful Contrivances.
and lids closing so. 600 to 10000 times ~
day: all Its muscles and nerves and
bones showing Che infinite skill Of an
infinite God. and then winding up with
The peroration. "llc that formed the
eve shall hc not cpe9" And then