Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-11-07
THE POWER TO FIGHT
DR.. TALMAGE TELLS HOW TO WIRES
TIE WITH EVIL.

That Comes From God
FCopyright 1898 by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, Nov. Elm this dis
course DR.. Talmage selects one of the
.boldest figures of the Bible to present
most practical and encouraging truths !;
text Ephesians vi, IL, 1--WE wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against
the rulers Of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high
places.
Squeamishness and fastidiousness
were never charged against Paul's rhet-
ORIG In the war against evil he took
the first weapon he could lay his hand
on For illustration, he employed the
theater, the arena, the foot race, and
there was nothing in the Isthmian game.
with it's wreath of pine leaves, or Pyth
ian game, with its wreath of laurel
and palm, or Nemean game, with its
wreath Of parsley, or any Roman circus
but he felt he had right to put it in
sermon or epistle, and are you not sur
prised that in my text he calls upon a
wrestling bout for suggestiveness?
Plutarch says that w1estlingis the most
artistic and cunning of athletic games.
We must make a wide difference be-
tween pugilism, the lowest of spectacles,
and wrestling, which is an effort in
sport to put down another on floor Or
ground, and we, all Of us, INDUCED in
it in our boyhood days if we were
healthful and plucky. The ancient
wrestlers were first bathed in oil and
l. Ia he
throw decided the victory, and many
man who went down in the first throw
or second throw in the third throw was
on top and his opponent under. The
Romans did not like this game very
much, for it was not savage enough, no
blows or kicks being allowed in the
game They preferred the foot of hun
CRY panther on the breast of fallen
martyr.
In wrestling the opponents would
bow in apparent suavity, advance face
TO face, put down both feet solidly, take
each other by the arms and push each
other backward and forward until the
work began in real earnest, and there
were coptortions and strangulations and
violent strokes Of the foot of one con-
testant against the foot Of the other,
tripping him up, or, with struggle that
threatened apoplexy or death, the de-
feated fell, and the shouts of the spec
tators greeted the victor. | guess Paul
had seen some such contest, and it re-
minded him of the struggle of the soul
with temptation, and the struggle of
heavenly forces against Apollyonic pow
ers, and lie dictates my text to an
amanuensis, for all his letters, save the
one to Philemon, seem to have been die
tated, and as the amanuensis goes on
with his work l hear the groan and
laugh and shout of earthly and celestial
belligereuts, 1--WE wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principali-
ties, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. -
The Amenities OF Life.
1 notice that as these wrestlers ad-
vanced to throw each other they bowed
one to the other. 1t was a civility, not
only in Grecian and Roman games, but
in later day, in all the wrestling bouts
at Clerkenwell, England, and in the IA
nous wrestling match during the reign
of Henry III in st. Giles Field between
men Of Westminster and people of Lon
don. However rough twist and hard a
pull each wrestler contemplated giving
his opponent they approached each 9th
er with politeness and suavity The
genufeXions, the affability, the courtesy
in no wish hindered the decisiveness of
the contest. Well, Paul, l see what you
mean. In this awful struggle between
right and wrong we must not forget to
be gentlemen and ladies. Affability new
er binders, but always helps. You are
poWerless as soon as you get mad. Do
not call rumsellers murderers. Do not
call infdels fools. Do not call higher
critics reprobates. Do not call all card
players and theater goers children of the
devil Do not say that the dance breaks
through into hell. Do not deal in vitu-
peration and billingsgate and contempt
and adjectives dynamite The other
side can beat US at that Their diction-
aries have more objurgation and brim-
stone
We are in the strength Of God to |
throw fat on its back e"ery abomina-
ton that curses the earth, but let us
approach our mighty antagonist with |
suavity. Hercules son of Jupiter and |
Alcmena, will by a precursor of smiles
be helped rather than damaged for the
performance of his ''12 labors'' Let US
be as wisely strategic in religious cir
cles as attorneys in courtrooms, who are
complimentary to each other in the
opening remarks, before they come into
legal struggle such as that which left
Rufus Choate or David Paul Brown
or defeated. People who get
into rage IL reformatory work accom-
plish nothing but the depletion of their
own nervous system. There is such a
thing as having gun SO hot at the
touchhole that it explodes, killing the
hot L I,GE