The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-07-26

conservation to do. it, 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 lit
erary Philistines. If these men will
| not be converted TO God, then they must
| be destroyed
Again, l learn from this subject what
large amount Of the church's resources
| is actually hidden and buried and unde-
| Veloped. The bible intimates that that
was a very rich land this land Of Israel
| IL 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 difficulty with
/ the church of God at this day It's tai
| ent is not developed. If one-half of its
energy could be brought out, It might
| take the public iniquities of the dav bv
| the throat and make them bite the dust.
/ III human elOquence were cOnsecrated
! TO the Lord Jesus Christ, il could in q
| lew 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 il is buried
| under strata of Indifference and under
| whole mountains of sloth. Now is il
not time for the mining to begin. and
! the pickaXes to plunge, and FOR this
/
| INTO the furnaces and be turned into
| howitzers and carbines for the Lords
/ most? The vast majority OF Christians
/ IN this day are useless. The 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 it not time for the church of
| God TO rouse up and understand that we
| want all the energies, all the talent and
| all the wealth enlisted for Christ's salle2
L like the nickname that the Engiizh
soldiers gave To Blucher the commander.
| They called him Old Forwards. We
! have had enough retreats in the church
! OF Christ. let us have a glorious adj
| vance. And / say To you now as the
general said when his troops were af-
! frighted. Rising up in his stirrups. his
hair flying in the wind. he lifted up his
| voice until 10000 troops heard him crying
out. Forward, the whole line!"
Paul, the Philosopher.
Again, l learn from this subject that
we sometimes do well to take advantage
of the worlds sharpening instruments
These Israelites were reduced to q file,
and so they went over to the garrison Of
the Philistines to get their axes and
their goads and their plows sharpened.
The bible distinctly states i'm the context
that they had no other instruments now
with which to do this work and the Is
raelites did right when they went over
to the Philistines to use their grind
| stones. My friends. is il not right for US
| to employ the worlds grindstOnes? II
there be art, If there be logic, if there be
| business faculty on the other side, let us
| go over and employ it for Christ's sake
The fact is. we fight with too dull wea-
| pons, and we work with too dull impie-
ments. We hack and we maui when we
| ought to make a clean stroke.
Let US go over among sharp business
men and among sharp literary men and
| find out what their tact is and then
transfer II to the cause of Christ. II
| they have science and art, it will do us
| good to rub against it. In other words,
| let us employ the worlds grlndstones-
We will listen to their music, and we
| will watch their acumen, and we viii
use their grindstOnes, and we will bor-
| row their philosophical apparatus TO
| make our experiments, and we viii bor-
| row their printing presses to publish our
bibles, and we will borrow their ran
| trains to carry our Christian literature,
| and we will borrow their ships to trans
| port our missionaries.
That was what made Paul such mas
| ter i'm his day. He not only got all the
| learning he could get of DR.. Gamaliel.
but afterward, standing on Mars hill and
| in a crowded thOrOughfare, quoted their
| poetry, and grasped their logic, and
| welded their elOquence, and employed
| their mythology until Dionysius, the
Areopagite, learned in the schools of
| Athens and Heliopolis, went down un-
der his trem mendous powers. That was
| what gave Thomas Chalmers his power
! in his day. He conquered the world
| astronomy and compelled 1T to ring out
the wisdom and greatness OF the Lord
until for the second time the morning
| stars sang together and all the sons of
| God shouted for joy.
The Learned Edwards.
| That was what gave to Jonathan Ed
| wards his influence in his day. He con-
quered the worlds metaphysics and
forced it into the service of God until
not only the old meeting house in
Northampton, Mass, but all Christen-
dom felt thrilled by his Christian power.
| Well, now, my friends, we all have tools
/ of Christian usefulness. Do not let
| them lose their edges. We want no rus
| ty blades in this fight. We want no
Golfer that cannot ride up the glebe. We
| want no AK that cannot fell the trees.
We want no goad that cannot start the
| lazy team. Let US get the very best
| grindstones we can find though they be
| in the possession of the Philistines, COM
| pelling them to turn the crank while we
bear down with all our might on the
| swift revolving wheel until all our ener-
gies and faculties shall be brought up
! to a bright, keen, sharp, glittering edge.
| Again, my subject teaches US on what
| a small allowance Philistine iniquity
| puts a man. Yes, these Philistines shut
| up the mines, and then they took the
| spears and the swords, then they took
! the blacksmiths, then they took the
! srindstones, and they took everything
| but a file Oh, that is the way sin works.
| 1t grabs everything. 1t begins with
! robbery and ii ends with robbery. It
despoiis this faculty and that faculty
| and keeps until the whole nature is
gone Was the man eloquent before, it
| generally thickens his tongue. Was he
| fine in personal appearance, it mars his
visage. Was he affiuent it sends the
| sheriff to sell him out. Was he infiuen-
| tial. it destroys his popularity. Was he
| placid and genial and loving, it makes
! him splenetic and cross, and so utterly
| is he changed that you can see he is
| sarcastic and rasping and that the
| Philistines have left him nothing but a
| file.
oh. 1.-The way of the transgressor is
/ hard" His cup is bitter. His night is