St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-12-10
ANCIENT ATHLETES.
Rev. Dr.. Talmage Uses Them as the
Basis Of a Sermon.
The Wrestler with Human Adversary
Made to Typify the Constant StroS-
gle OF Gods Chosen Against
the Power Of Evil.

the Power Of Evil.
In the following discourse Rev. l.
Dewitt Talmage selects prominent
Biblical figure to present practical
truths, The text is: I'VE wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness OF TINS
world, against spiritual wickedness III
high places" -Ephesians VI, l..
Saueamishness and fastidlousness
were never charged against Paul
rhetoric. In the war against evil ne
took the first weapon he could lay MS
land ON. For illustration, he en-
ploved the theater. the arena, the foot
lace, and there was nothing in the
Isthmian game, with its wreath OF
parsley: or any Roman circus, hut he
felt he had right to put it in sermon
or epistle, and are you not surprised
that in my text he calls upon wrest-
ling bout for suggestiveness? Plu-
tarch says that wrestling is the host
artistic and cunning of athletic games.
We must make wide difference be-
tween pugilism, the lowest of spccta-
cles, and wrestling. which is an ef-
fort to put down another on floor or
ground, and we, all of us, INDUCED IN
il in our boyhood days, if we were
healthful and plucky. The ancient
wrestlers were first bathed in oil, and
then sprinkled with sand. The third
throw decided the victory, and many
a 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 saw
age enough, no blows or kicks being
allowed 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 I'M
til the work began in real earnest. and
there were contortions and strangu-
lations, 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 defeated fell, and the shouts
of the spectators greeted the victor
l guess Paul had seen some such con-
test, and it reminded him of the
of the soul with temptation.
and the struggle of truth with error.
and the struggle of heavenly forces
against apollyonic powers. and he die
tates my text to an amanuensis, for
all his letters, save one to Philemon.
seem to have been dictated, and as the
goes on with his work l
hear the groan and laugh and shout
of earthly and celestial belligerents:
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.
l notice that as these wrestlers adj
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 famous wrestling match during
the reign Of Henry Ill. in ST. Giles
Field, between men of Westminster
and people of London. However rough
q twist and hard a pull each wrestler
giving his opponent.
they approached each other with po-
likeness and suavity. The genuflex-
ions, the affability, the courtesy in no
wise hindered the decisiveness of the
Well. Paul. see what you.
mean. In this awful struggle between
right and wrong, we must not forget
to be gentlemen and ladies. Affabili-
ty never binders, but always help.
You are powerless as soon as you get
mad. DO not call rumsellers murder
ers. DO not call infidels fools. Do
not call higher critics reprobates. Do
Tot call all card-players and theater-
goers children of the devil. Do not
say that the dance breaks through in
to hell. Do not deal in vituperation
and billingsgate and contempt and adj
jectives dynamite. The other side
can beat us at that. Their die
tionaries have more objurgation and
We are in the strength of God to
throw fiat on its back every abomina-
ton that curses the earth, but let us
approach our mighty antagonist with
suavity. hercules, son Of Jupiter and
Alemene, will by a precursor of smiles
be helped rather than damaged for
the performance of his twelve In
bors." Let us be as wisely strategic
in religious circles as attorneys in
court rooms, who are complimentary
t. each other in the opening remarks,
before they come into legal struggle
such as that which left Rufus Choate
or David Paul Brown triumphant or
defeated. People who get into a rage
in reformatory work accomplish moth
ing but the depletion of their own ner-
vOus system. There is such a thing as
having a gun so hot at the touch-hole
that il eNplodes, killing the one who
set it off. There are some reformato-
~ meetings to which always decline
TO go and take part. because they are
apt to become demonstrations of bad
temper. / 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
match behaved on a memo
rable occasion as we ought to behave.
The translators of the Bible made an
mistake when they rep
Paulas insulting the people of
Athens by speaking of 1.-The unknown
god whom We ignorantly worship"
Instead of charging them with igno-
rance, the original indicates he COM
plimented them by suggesting that
they We're very religious: but as they
confessed that there were some things
they did not understand about God. he
proposed to say some things concern
ing Him. beginning where they had
left off. The same Paul who said in
one place. BE courteous" and who
had noticed the bow preceding the
match. here exercises suavi-
ties before he proceeds practically to
throw down the rocky side of Acropo-
lis the whole Parthenon of idolatries.