Connecticut western news., 1898-11-10
THE POWER TO FIGHT
OR TALMAGE TELLS HOW TO WIRES
 TILE WITH EVIL.

TILE WITH EVIL.
 We Must Re Trained For the strug-
 gle = Silence and Discipline - One
 Fall ls Not the End-The Strength
 That Comes From God.
 Copyright. 1898. by American Press Asso-
 ciation.1
 WAsHNGTON, Nov 6.--In this dis course Dr. Talmage. selects one of the boldest figures of the Bible to present most practical and encouraging truths; text Ephesians vi, I2, We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wiokedness in high places
 SQueamishness and fastidiousness were never charged against Paul's rhet- orio In the war against evil he took che first weapon he could lay his hand on. For illustration, he employed the sheater, the arena, the foot race, and there was nothing in the Isthmian game, with it's wreath of pine leaves, or Pyth fan game, with it's 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 wrestling bout for suggestiveness? Plutarch says that wIestlingis the most artistic and cunning of athletic games. We must make 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, indulged in it in our boyhood days if we were healthful and pluoky. The ancient wrestlers were first bathed in oil and then sprinkled with sand. The third throw decided the victory, and many man who went down in the first tbrow 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 gauna They preferred the foot of hun gry panther on the breast of fallen martyr.
 In wrestling the opponents would bow in apparent suavity, advance face Co 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 oontortions and strangulations and violent strokes of the foot of one con- teskant 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 Apollyonio pow ers. and he dictates my text to an amanuensis, for all his letters, save the one to Philemon, seem to have been dio- tated. and as the amanuensis goes on with his work I hear the groan and laugh and shout of earthly and celestial belligerents, 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.
 notice that as these wrestlers ad- vanoed to throw each other they bowed ono to the other. It was civility, not only in Grecian and Roman games, but in later day, in all the wrestling bouts at Qlerkenwell, England, and in the fa- mous wrestling match during the reign pf Henry III in St. Giles Field between mon of Westminster and people of Lon don. However rough twist and hard pull each wrestler contemplated giving his opponent, they approached each oth- 1 with politeness and suavity- The geuufexions, the affability, the courtesy in no wish hindered the decisiveness of the contest. Well, Paul, see what you meaH In this awful struggle between light and wrong we must not forget to be gentlemen and ladies. Affability nev- CT hinders, but always helps. You are powerless as soon as you get mad. Do nos call rumsellers murderers. Do not call inAdels 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- perafion and billingsgate and contempt and adjectives dynamite The other aide can beat us at that Their diotion- aries have more objurgation and brim- stone
 We are in the strength of God to throw fiat on it's back every abomina- sion 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 courtrooms, who are complimentary to each other in the opening remarks, before they come into legal struggle such as that which left Rufus Ohoate or David Paul Brown triumphant or defeated. People who get into a rage in reformatory work accom- plish nothing but the depletion of their swn 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 re- formatory meetings to which I always decline to go and take part, because they are apt to become demonstrations of bad temper. I never like to hear 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 memora- ble occasion as we ought to behave. The translators of the Bible made an unin tentional mistake when they represent cd Paul as insulting the people of Attn ems by speaking of "the unknown god whom ye ignorantly worship" Instead of charging them with ignorance, the original indicates he complimented them by suggesting that they were very religious, but as they confessed that there were some things they did not un derstand about God, he proposed to say