Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-07-27
THE DIVINE SCIENCE.
DR.. TALMAGE ADDRESSES THE CHAu-
= TAUQUANS AT MONONA LAKE.


Logic, Astronomy, Geology, Chemistry.
and All For God and Truth.
MADISON, Wis, July ga great throng
of many thousands from all parts of the
north and west are gathered at the Monona
Lake assembly, Chautauqua held near
this city. Rev. DR.. Talmage this forenoon
preached to this great multitude on sharp
rned Axes" the text being Samuel xiii,
1921, Nov, there was no smith found
throughout all the land of Israel" etc.
My loving and glad salutation to this I'M
counted host, Chautauquans, Christian En-
neavorers, gospel workers and their friends
from all parts of Wisconsin and America,
saints and sinnersl My text is glorously
appropriate. What calling subjugation
the Israeltes were sufferingl The Philis-
tines had carried off all the blacksmths
and torn down all the blacksmiths' shops
and aboli shed the blacksmiths trade in
the land of Israel. These Philistues had
particular grudge against blacksmiths,
although / have always admired them and
have sometimes thought | ought to have
been one myself.
The Phlistnes 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
Philistines went on until they had taken
all the grindstones from the land of Israel,
so that if an Israelitish farmer wanted to
sharpen his pillow or his AK he had to 20
over to the garrison of the Philstines to
get it done. There was only one sharpen
ing instrument left in the land. and that
was file The farmers and the mechanics
having nothing to whet up the Golfer and
the goad and the pckaX save n simple file
industry was hindered and work practically
disgraced.
GODS PEOPLE DIsARMED
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 weld
ed, they would have no grndstones on
which to bring the Instruments of agricul-
fure or the military weapons up to an edge
Oh you poor, weaponless Israeltes, re
duced to a file, how pity you! 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 Il
great rock beyond which were the Pills
tines, and his armor bearer, on his hands
these two men with their two swords, hew
to pieces the Philstines, 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 u Philistine host on
their feet.
learn first from this subject how dan
gerous it is for the church of God to allow
its weapons to stay in the hands of its enc
miles, These lsraelites 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
1sraelites seemed content to have no swords,
no spears, no blacksmiths no grindstones,
no active iron mines, until it was too late
for them to make any resistance. | see the
farmers Juggling along with their pickaxes
and pows, and | say, Where are you go
ing with those thinga:' They say, "Oh, we
are going over to the garrison of the Philis-
tines to get these things sharpened."
say, You foolish men; why don't you
sharpen them at home?" Oh" they say,
1.-THE blacksmiths shops are all torn down,
and we have nothing left us but a file"
CHRISTIANS NEED THE SCHOOLS.
So it is in the church of Christ today. We
are too willing to give up our weapons to
the enemy. The world boasts that it has
gobbled up the schools, and the colleges,
and the arts, and the sciences, and the lit
erature, and the printing press. Infdelty
is making II mighty attempt to get all our
weapons in its hand, and then to keep hem.
You know it is making this boast all the
time, and after awhile, when the great bat
tie between sin and righteousness has
opened, if we do not look out we will be rs
badly off as these Israelites, without any
swords to fight with and without any sharp,
ening instruments.
call upon the superintendent of liter
airy institutions to see to it that the men
who go into the classrooms to stand beside
the Leyden Jars, and the electric batteries
and the microscopes or telescopes be chill
qren of God, not Philistines. The atheistiC
thinkers of this day are trying to get al
the intellectual weapons of this century il
their own grasp, What we want is scien
tiic Christians to capture the science, ant
scholastic Christians to capture the scholar
ship, and phlosophic Christians to capture
the philosophy, and lecturing Christians tt
take back the lecturing platform.
CHRISTIAN MEN OF SCIENCE.
We want to send out against Schenke
and Strauss and Renan of the past mel
like the late Theodore Christlieb of Bonn
and against the infidel scientists Goo
worshiping Silliman and Hitchcock anc
Agassiz. We want to capture all the phil
osophicai apparatus and swing around tn
telescopes on the swivel until through
them we can see the morning star of tn
Redeemer, and with meteorological hamme
discover the Rock of Ages" and amid tn
fora of the realms find the Rose of Sharon
and the Lily of the Valley"
We want clergy learned enough to dis
course of the human eye, showing it to b
microscope and telescope in one instru
ment, with 800 wonderful contrivances AM
lids closing 80 900 or 10000 times day, al
its muscles and nerves and bones shown
the infinite skill Of an infinite God, an
then winding up with the peroration, III
that formed the eye, shall he not seeS" An
then we want to discourse about the huma
ear, it's wonderful integuments, men
branes and vibration, and its chain of sma
bones, and its auditory nerves, closing wit
the question, "He that planted the ear, sha
he not hear!"
And we want some one able to eXpoun
the first chapter of Genesis, bringing to