The Penn's Grove record., 1893-07-28
RBV. DR.. 1AbNAGE'S SERMON
xAe Hsooklyn Dfviner Sunday
DexInenI
Subject :-"Sharpened Axes"

TEXT: "Nn,r, taere mas no smith found
throughout all Tie land Of Israel" etc. i
Samue Kill . 1921.
My loving and glad salutation to this un.
counted host, Chautauquans, Christian En-.
deavors, gospel workers and their friends
from all parts o: Wisconsin and America,
saints and sinners My text is glOriously
appropriate. What a CALLING s~uhjugatioD
the Israelites were suffering The Philistines
J ii carried off all the blacksmiths and torn
Gown all the blacksmiths' shops and abolished
the blacksmith's trade in the land OF Israel.
These Philistines had n particular grudge
against blacksmiths. although 1 have always
admired them and have sometimes thought
] ought TO have been n myself. The Phil
istines would not even allow these parties TO
work their valuable mines OF brass and iron,
ror might they make any swords or spears.
There were only two swords left in all the
land. Yea. these Philistlnes went on until
they had taken all the g~rindstones from the
land Of Israel. so that II an 1sraelitish farmer
wanted TO sharpen his pillow or his ax he had
10 go over to the garrison of the PEilisliaes
10 get 1t done. There was only one sharpen-
inc instrument left in the land, and that was
a file. The farmers and the mechanics hav-
ing nothing to whet up the coulter, and the
eoad. and the pickax save a simple file, in
dustry was hindered and work practically
disgraced.
The great idea Of these Philistines was to
keep the Israelites disarmed. They might
get iron out ofthe hills to make swnr u OF,
but they would not have any biacksmiths 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
military weapons up to an edge. Oh, you
poor. weaponless Israelites. reduced to q file,
how | pity youi But these Philistines were
not forever TO keep their heel on the neck OF
Gods children. Jonathan, on his hands and
knees. climbs up u great rock beyond which
were the Philistines, and his armor bearer.
on his hands and knees. climbs up the same
rock, and these two men, with their two
swords, hew to pieces the Philjstines, the
Lord throwing a great terror upon them. So
1t was then so it is now. The two men OF
God on their knees mightier than a Philistine
host on their feet.
/ learn first from this subject how danger
Gus it Is for the church of God to all w its
weapons TO stay In the hands Of its enemies.
These Israelites might again and again
have obtained a supply OF swords and
weapons, as for instance, when they
took the spoils OF the Ammonites, but
these Israelites seemed content to have
no swords, no spears, no blacksmiths,
nc g~rindstones, no active iron mines, until it
was too late for themto make any resistance.
l see the farmers Juggling along with their
pickaxes and plows. and I say. "Where are
you going with those things?" They say,
''Oh. we are going over to the garrison of
the Philistines to get these things sharp
ened." l say, 'You foolish men why don't
say. "the blacksmiths' shops are all torn
down, and we have nothing left us but a
Hla."
So 1t Is in the church OF Christ to-day. We
are too willing to give up our weapons to the
enemy. The world boasts that 1t has COB
bled up the schools, and the colleges, and
the arts, and the sciences, and the literature,
AMI the printing press. Infidelity Is making
a mighty attempt to get all our weapons in
its hand and then to keep them. You know
1t is making this boast all the time, and after
a while, when the great battle between sin
and righteousness has opened, II We do not
look out we will be as badly Off as these Is
%raelites, without any swords to fight with
and without any sharpened Instruments.
1 call upon the superintendent Of literary
institutions to see to it that the men who go
into the classrooms.to stand beside the Ley
den jars, and the electric batteries, and the
microscopes or telescopes be children OF
God, not Philistines. The atheistic thinkers
OF this day are trying to get all the intel
lectual weapons Of this century in their own
grasp. What we want is scientific Christians
to capture the science. me scholastic Chris
tians to capture the scholarship, and philoso-
phic Christians to capture the philosophy,
and lecturlng Christians TO take back the
lecturlng platform.
We want to send out against Schenkel
and Strauss N Renan Of the past men like
the late Theodore Christlieb Of Bonn, and
against the inflde scientists a God worship
ing Silliman and Hitchcock and Agassiz.
We want to capture all the philosophical
apparatus and swing around the telescopes
on the swivel until through them we can see
the morning star of the Redeemer, and with
meteorological hammer discover the Crock
of Ages" and amid the fora OF the realms
find the ''Rose Of Sharon and the Lily OF
the Valley"
We want a clergy learned enough to dis
course OF the human eye, showing it to be a
microscope and telescope In one instrument,
with 800 wonderful contrlvances and lids
closing so. 900 or 1000 times a day, all its
muscles and nerves and bones showing the
infinite skill of an infinite God, and then
winding up with the peroration, "He that
formed the eye, shall He not see?" And
then we wan to discourse about the human
ear, IFS wonderful ~integuments, membranes
and vibration. and its chain of small bones,
and Its auditory nerves, closing with the
question, II that planted the ear, shall He
not hearY"
And we want some one able to expound
the first chapter of Genesis, bringing to it
the geology and the astronomy Of the world,
until, as Job suggested, 'the stones of the
field shall be in league" with the truth, and
'the stars in their courses shall fight against
Sisera." Oh, church OF God, go out and re-
capture these weapons. Let men Of God go
out and take possession OF the platform. Let
all the printing press OF this country speak
out for Christ, and the reporters, and the
typesetters, and the editors and publishers
swear allegiance to the Lord God of truth.
All, my friend, that day must come, and II
the great body of Christian men have notthe
faith, or the courage, or the conservation to
do 1t. then let some Jonathan on his busy
hands and on his praying knees climb up on
the rock of hindrance, and in the name OF
the Lord God of Israel slash to pieces those
literary Philistines. II these men will
not be converted to God, then they must be
destroyed.
Again, 1 learn from this subject what a
large amount OF the church's resources is
actually hidden and hurried and undeveloped.
The Bible intimates that that was q very
rich land-this land of Israel. 1t says,
''The stones are iron, and out of the hills
thou shalt dig brass" and yet hundreds of
thousands OF dollars worth of this metal was
kept under the hills. Well, that Is the diil-
Guilty with the church of God at this day. Its
talent is not developed. II one-half of its
energy could be brought out, 1t might take
the public iniquities of the day by the throat
and make them bite the dust. II human
eloquence were consecrated to the Lord
Jesus Christ, 1t could in a few years persuade
this whole earth to surrender to God.
There Is enough undeveloped Christian
energy in the United States to bring the
whole world TO Christ, but it is buried un-
der strata OF indiffer nee and under whole
mountains of sloth. Now, is 1t not time for
the mining to begin, and the p~ickaXes TO
plunge, and for this buried metal TO be
brought out and put into the furnaces and
be turned into howitzers and carbines Tor
the Lords host2 TIL vast majority Of
Christians in this day are useless. Tn
most OF the Lords battalion belong to the
reserve corps. The most of the crew ARE
asleep in the hammocks. The most of the
metal is under the hills.
oh, is 1t not time for the church of God 10
rouse up and understand that ws want all
the energies, all the talents and allthe wealth
enlisted for Christ's sake7 I like the nick.
name that the English soldiers gave to Blu.
cher. the commander, They called him sold
Forwards" We have had enough retreats in |
the church of Christ let us nave a glorious
advance. And I say to you now as the |
general said when his troops were affrighted.
Rising up in his stirrups, his hair flying in
tbs wind, he lifted his voice until 10000
troops heard him, crying out, Forward, the
whole liner y |
Again, l learn from this subject that We