The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-24
TALMAGE At CHAUTAUOUA.
Sharpeled Axes The Subject Of Ills
Sermon at Madison.

Philistines and the Subsequent
Overthrow of the Latter by Jona-
than and His Armor-Bearer-Th
Lessons to be Learned from the
Story.
Madison, Wis, July GA great throng
Of many thousands from all parts of the
north and west are gathered at the
Monona Lake Assembly, a chautauqua
held near this city. DR. Talmage this
forenoon preached to this great multitude
on "Sharpened Axes" the text being
l. Samuel xiii, 1921: ''Now there was no
smith found throughout all the land of
Isreal," etc.
My loving and glad salutation to this
uncounted host chautauquans, Christian
Endeavorers, gospel workers, and their
friends from all parts of Wisconsin and
America, saints and sinners! My text is
gloriously appropriate. What scalding
subiugation the Isrealites were suffering.
The Philistines had carried off all the
blacSsmiths, and torn down all the black
smiths shops, and abolished the black
smiths trade in the land of Isreal. These
PhilisJines had particular grudge
against blacksmiths, although | have al
ways admired them, and have sometimes
thought | ought to have been one myself
The Philistines would not even allow
these parties to work their valuable
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 Phiistines went on until they had
taken all the grindstones from the land
of Israel, so that if an Israelitish farmer
wanted to sharpen his plough or his ak,
he had to 80 over to the garrison of the
Philistines to get it done There was only
pna al iuefr11r1ppt loft in tba
land, and that was file. The farm
ers ana the mechanics having moth
ing to whet up the coulter, and the goad,
and the piCkaXe, save q simple file, in
dustry.was hlndered and work practically
disgraced. The great idea of these
Philistines was to keep the Israelites
disarmed They might get iron out Of
the hills to make swords of, but they
would not have any blacksmiths to weld
this iron. If they got the iron welded,
they would have no grindstones on which
to bring the instruments ofagriculture or
the military weapons up TO an edge. Oh,
you poor, weaponless Israelites, reduced
to a file, how | pity youl But these
Philistines were not forever to keep their
heel on the neck of Gods children. Jona-
than, on his hands and knees, climbs up
a great rock beyond which were the
Philistines; and his arInOr- bearer, on his
hands and knees, climbs up the same rock,
and these two men, withtheir two swords,
hew to pieces the Philistnes the Lord
throwing great terror upon them. So
it was then; so it is now. The two men
of God on their knees, mightier than a
Philistine host on their feet.
] learn from this subject how DANCE
rous it is for the church of God to allow
its weapons to stay in the hands of its
enemies. These Israelitcs might again
and again have obtained a supply of
swords and weapons, as for instance
when they took the spoils of the Ammon-
ties; but these Israelites seemed content
to have no swords, no spears, no black
smiths, no grindstoneS, no active iron
mines, until it was too late for them TO
make any resistance. | see the farmers
tugging along with their pickaxes and
ploughs, and / say, "Where are you go-
ing with those things2" They say, "Oh,
we are going over to the garrison Of the
PhilistineS TO get these things sharp
ened." / say, ''You foolish men, why
don't you sharpen them at homel" "Oh,"
they say, ''the blacksmiths' shops are all
torn down, and we have nothing left us
but a file"
So it is in the church of Christ to-day.
We are too willing to give up our weapons
to the enemy. The world boasts that it
has gobbled up the schools and the coli
leges and the arts, and the sciences, and
the literature, and the printing press. In
fidelity is making 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 a while,
when the great battle between sin and
Righteousness has opened, if we do not
look out we will be as badly off as these
Israelites, without any swords to fight
with and without any sharpening instru-
ments. / call upon the superintendents
of literary institutions to see to it that
n. gv,Ag Nf.a vTa -,
stand beside the Leyden jars, and the
electric batteries, and the microscopes or
telescopes, be children of God, not Phil
istines The atheistic thinkers OF this
day are trying TO get all the intellectual
weapons of this century in their own
grasp. What we want is scientific Christ
ians to capture the science, and scholas-
tic Christians to capture the scholarship,
and philosophic Christians to capture the
philosophy, and lecturing Christians, to
take back the lecturing platform.
We want to send out against Schenkel
and Struss and Renan of the past, men
like the late Theodore Christlieb of Bonn;
and against the in1del scientists, God
wOrshiping Silliman and Hitchcock and
Agassiz We want to capture all the
philosophical apparatus, and swing
around the telescopes on the swivel, un-
til through them we can see the morning
star of the Redeemer, and with mineral
gical hammer discover tine ROCK OF
Ages. - ane amid the fora of the realms
find the Rose of Sharon and the lily of
the valley" We want a clergy learned
enough to discourse of the human eye,
showing it to be a microscope and tele-
scope in one instrument, with 500 wonder
full coutrivances, and lids closing 30 900
or 40, 600 times 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 seer" And then we
want to discourse about the human ear
its wonderful integuments, membranes
and vibration, and its chain of small
bones, and its auditory nerves, clos
ing with the question: HE that
planted the ear shall he not hearl''
and we want some one able to
expound the first chapter of Cen
esis, bringing to it the geology and the
astronomy of the world, until, as Job sug-
gested, ''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 recapture
these weapons. Let men of God go out
and take possession of the platform. Let
all the printing presses of this country
speak out for Christ, and the reporters,
and the type-setters, and the editors, and
publishers swear allegiance to the Lord
God of truth. All, my friend, that day