The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-11-16
A STRONG SERMON.
Dr.. Talnage Says We Mus1
Strive to Overthrow Evil.
LIVE IN STRENGTH OF GOD.
Dr.. Talmage Says We Must, as
the Wrestlers of Old, be Po-
lite in Warfare Against

In this discourse DR.. Talmage Sc
lects one Of the boldeSt figures Of the
Bible to present most practical and en-
couraging truths: text, Epheslans Vi,
y, We wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against princlpalitles,
against powers, against the rulers OF
the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.
Soueamishness and fastidiousness
were never charged against Pauls rhe-
toric. In the war against evil he took
the first weapon he could lay his hand
on. For illustration, ne employed the
theater, the arena, the foot race. aud
there was nothing in the lsthmlan
game, with its wreath Of pine leaves,
or Pythian 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 a right to
put it in sermon or epistle, and are you
not surprised that in my text ne calls
upon wrestling bout for suggestive
ness? Plutarch says that wrestling Is
the most artistic and cunning OF athle-
tic games. We must make a wide dit
ference between pugilism, the lowest
of spectacles, and wrestling, which IS
an effort in short 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 then sprinkle6 with sand. The
third 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 Remains did not like this
game very much, for it was not savage
enough, no blows or kicks being allow
ed in the game. They preferred the
foot Of hungry 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 cortortions and strangulations
and violent strokes of the foot of one
contestant 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 specta-
tors greeted the victor. I guess Paul
had seen some such contest and it re-
minded him of the struggle OF the soul
with temptation and the strugg gle Of
truth with error and the struggle OF
heavenly forces against Appollyonlc
powers, and he dictates my text to an
amanuensis, for all his letters, save
the one to Philemon, seem to have
been dictated, and as the amanuensis
goes on with his work | hear the groan
and laugh and shout of earthly and
celestial belliggerents. I'VE 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" !"
notice that as these wrestlers ad-
vanced to throw each other they bowed
one to the other. 1t was clvlllty,
not only in Grecian and Roman games,
but in later day, in all the wrestling
bouts at Clerkenwell, England, and IN
the famous wrestling match during the
reign Of Henry III, in St. Giles, Field,
between men of Westminster and peo-
pie of London. However rough a twist
and hard pull each wrestler contem-
plated giving his opponent. they ap-
preached each other with politeness
and suavity. The genuAexions, the
afability, the courtesy in no wise him
dered the decissiveness Of the contest.
Well, Paul, I see what you mean. In
this awful struggle between right and
wrong, we must not forget to be gen.
tlemen and ladies. Afabllity never
hinders. but always helps. You are
powerless as soon as you get mad. DO
not call rumsellers murderers. Do not
call inGdels 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 yituperation and billingsgate and
contempt and adjectives dynamite.
The other side can beat US at that.
Their dictionaries have more obiurga-
tion and birthstone.
We are in the strength Of God to
throw fat on its back every abomlna-
tion that curses the earth, but let US
approach our mighty antagonist with
suavity. Hercules, son Of Jupiter and
Alcmena, will by 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 court-rooms, who
are complimentary to each other IN the
opening remarks before they come into
legal struggle such as that which LETT
Rufus Choate o. David Paul Brown
triumphant or defeated. People who
get into rage in reformatory work &C.
eomplish nothing but the depletion OF
their own nervous system. There IS
such thing as having gun so hot at
the touchhole that it explodes, killing
the one that sets it off. There are some
reformatory meetings to which always
decline to 60 and take part, because
they are apt to become demonstrations
Of bad temper. 1 never like to hear a
man swear, even though he swear on
the right side. The very Paul who in
my text employed in illustration the
wrestling match behaved on a memora-
bic occasion as we ought to behave.
The translators of the Bible made an
unintentional mistake when they ren-
resented Paul as insulting the people
of Athens by speakingo Of ''the unknown
god whom ye ignorantly worship In
stead of charging them with ignorance
the original indicates he complinented
them by suggesting that theywere very
religious, but as they confessed that