St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-12-10
uniting the left foo, behind the 9TH

putting the left foot behin0 the Oth'
er's right foot, and getting his oppo-
uent off his balance; hard training for
days and weeks and r1onths. SO that
when they met it was giant elutching
giant. And, my friends, If we do not
want ourselves to be thrown in this
wrestle with the sin and error of the
world. we had better get ready by
Christian discipline, by holy self-de-
NAL, by constant practice. by submit
ting to Divine supervisal and direc-
ton. DO not begrudge the time and
money for that young man who is in
preparation for the ministry, spending
two years in grammar school and four
years in college, and three years in
theological seminary. l know that
nine years are big slice to take off n
mans active life. but if you realized
the height and strength of the archan-
gels of evil in our time with which
that young man is going to wrestle.
you would not think nine years of
preparation were too much. An un-
educated ministry was eXcusable in
other days, but not in this time, load
ed with schools and colleges. a man
who wrote me the other day letter
asking advice. rs he felt called to
preach the Gospel, began the word
God" with small g." That kind of
man is not called to preach the Cos
pei. Illiterate men, preaching the
Gospel, quote for their own. encourage
ment the Scriptural passage: open
thy mouth wide and / will fill it,"
Yes! He will fill it with wind. Prepa-
ration for this wrestling is absolutely
necessary. Many years ago DIR. New
man and DIR. Sunderland, on the plat
fern of Brigham Young's tabernacle
at Salt Lake City, Utah, gained the
victory because they had SO long been
skillful wrestlers for God. Otherwise
Brigham Young, who was himself a
giant in some things, would have
thrown them out of the window. Get
ready in Bible classes. Get ready in
Christian Endeavor meetings. Get
ready by giving testimony in obscure
places, before giving testimony in con-
spicuQus places.
Notice also that the success of a
wrestler depended on his having his
feet well planted before he grappled
his opponent. Much depends upon the
way the wrestler stands. Standing on
an uncertain piece of ground, or bear
ing all his weight on right foot or all
his weight on left foot, he is not ready.
A slight cuff of his antagonist will
capsize him. A stroke of the heel Of
the other wrestler will trip him. And
in this struggle for God and righteous
ness. as well as for our own souls, we
want our feet firmly planted in the
Gospel-both feet on the Rock of
Ages. 1t will not do to believe the
B,ble in spets. or think some of it
true and some of it untrue. You just
make up your mind that the story of
the Garden of Eden is an allegory. and
the Epistle of James an Interpolation,
and that the miracles of Christ can be
accounted for on natural grounds,
without any belief in the supernatu-
raj, and the first time You are inter
locked in wrestle with sin and Sa-
tan you will go under and your feet
will be higher than your head. 1t
will not do to have one foot on rock
and the other on the sand. The Old
Book would long ago have gone to
Eieces if it had been vulnerable. But
OF the millions of Bibles that have
been printed within the last a5 years,
not one chapter has been omitted. and
the omission of one chapter would
have been the cause of the rejection of
the whole edition. Alas! for those
who while trying to prove that Jonah
was never swallowed of whale. them
Sc Ives get swallowed of the whale of
unbelief, which digests but never
elects its victims. The inspiration OF
the Bible is not more certain than the
preservation of the Bible in its present
condition. After SO many centuries
of assault on the book. would it not be
a matter of economy, to say the least
economy of brain and economy of
stationery, and economy of printers
ink-if the batteries now assailing the
book would change their aim and be
trained against some other books. and
the world shown that Walter Scott
did not write 1.-The Lady of the Lake."
nor Homer 1.-The Had" nor Virgil
1.-The Georges" nor Thomas Moore
"I.alla Rookh." or that Washington's
Farewell Address" was written by
Thomas Paine. and that the war Of the
American revolution never occurred.
That attempt would be quite as sue
cessful as this long-timed attack anti
Biblical, and then it would be new.
Oh, keep out of this wrestling bout
with the ignorance and the wretched-
ness of the world unless you feel that
both feet are planted in the eternal
veracities of the Book of Almighty
God!
Notice also that in this science of
to which Paul refers in my
text. it was the third throw that de-
cided the contest. A wrestler might
be thrown once and thrown twice, but
the third time he might recover him
self, and, by an unexpected twist OF
arm or curve of foot, gain the day.
Well, that is broad, smiling, unmis-
Gospel. Some whom l address
through ear or eye, by voice or
printed page. have been thrown in
their wrestle with evil habit.
Ayei you have been thrown twice;
but that does not mean. oh! worsted
soul, that you are thrown forever.
have no authority for saying how
many times a man may sin and be for
given, or how many times he may fall
and yet rise again; but l have author
ity for saying that he may fall 400
times, and 40 times get up. The
Bible declares that God will forgive
seventy times seven, and il you will
employ the rule of multiplication you
finds that seventy times seven is 400.
Blessed be God for such q Gospel of
high hope and thrilling encourage
.nent and magnificent rescue! A Cos
pei of lost sheep brought home on
shepherds shoulder. and the prodigals
who got into the low work of putting
husks into swine's troughs brought
home to jewelry and banqueting and
hilaritv that made the rafters ring.
Three sketches of the same man: A