The Yale expositor., 1898-11-11
struggle which will leave all perdition
under and all heaven on top.

Ihey were put upon such diet as would
best develop their muscle. AS Paul
says, EVERY man that striveth for the
mastery is temperate in all things.
The wfestlers were put under complete
Notwithstanding, gymnastics, strug-
gle in sport with each other to de-
velop strength and give quickness to
dodge Of head and trip OF foot; stoop-
ing to lift each other off the ground;
suddenly rushing forward; suddenly
pulling backward; putting the left foot
behind the others right foot, and get
ting his opponent off his balance; hard
training for days and weeks and
months, so that when they met 1t was
giant clutchiDg 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-denial. by constant practice,
by submitting to divine supervisal and
direction. Do not begrude the time
and the 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 of a mans active life. but
If you realized the height and strength
of the archangels 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 uneducated ministry was excusable
in other days, but not in this time,
loaded with schools and colleges. A
man who wrote me the other day a
letter asking advice as he felt called
to preach the Gospel, began the word
God" with a small "g." That kind OF
man is not called to preach the Cos
pei. Illiterate men, preaching the
Gospel, quote for their own encourage
men the scriptural passage, open thy
mouth wide and l fill it," Yes! He
will fill it with wind. Preparation for
this wrestling is absolutely necessary.
Many years ago Doctor Newman and
Doctor Sunderland, on the platform
of Brigham Young's tabernacle at
Salt Lake City, Utah, gained the vic
tory 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
ready by giving testimony in obscure
places. before giving testimony in con-
spicuous places.
Your going around with a Bagster's
Bible with flaps at the edges, under
your arm, does not qualify you for the
work of an evangelist. In this day OF
profuse CAB, remember that it is not
merely capacity to talk, but the fact
that you have something TO say, that is
going to fit you for the struggle into
which you are to go with smile on
your face and illumination on your
brow, but out of which you will not
come until all your physical and men
tai and moral and religious energies
have been taxed to the utmost and you
have not a nerve left, or a thought I'M
expended. or a prayer unsaid, or a
sympathy unwept. In this struggle
between Right and Wrong accept no
challenge on platform or in newspaper
unless you are prepared. Do not mis-
apply the story of Goliath the Great,
and David the Little. David had been
practising with a sling on dogs and
wolves and bandits, and a thousand
times had he swirled stone around
his head before he aimed at the fore
head of the giant and tumbled him
backward. otherwise the big foot OF
Goliath would almost have covered up
the crushed form of the son OF
Jesse.
Notice also that in this science of
wrestling, 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, tndl Is blOdu, GulliluS, uuLllSIdh-
able Gospel. Some whom l address
through ear or eye. by voice or print
ed page, have been thrown in their
wrestle with evil habit.
Ayel you have been thrown twice;
but that does not mean, oh! worsted
soul. that you are thrown forever. l
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
fly for saying that he may fall four
hundred and ninety times. and four,
hundred and ninety times get up. The:
Bible declares that God will forgive
seventy times seven, and If you will
employ the rule of multiplication you
will find that seventy times seven is
four hundred and ninety. Blessed be
God for such a Gospel of high hope
and thrilling encouragement and mag
nificent rescue! A Gospel of lost sheep
brought home on Shepherds shoulder.
and the prodigals who got into the low
work of putting husks into swines'
troughs brought home to jewelry and