The Greenville times., 1900-02-10
THE FIGHT ON SATAN
Dr.. Talmage Says We Have Lost
Many of the Weapons.
A warning TO the Christian Church
- .EStea. s.scs Amalns. the As
sauIta of UnrighteOusneAs
and UnbeIIef.
copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l

many of its weapons and how they are
TO be recaptured and put into effective
operation: text, l. Samuel xiii, 1921:
snow there is no smith found through
out ,ll the land of Israel, for the Philis-
tines said: Lest the Hebrews make
them swords or spears. But all the
Israelites went down to the Philistines,
to sharpen every man his share, and
his coulter, and his ak, and his mat
took, and for the coulters, and for the
forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen
the goads."
What a CALLING subjugation for the
Israelites! The Philistines had carried
off all the blacksmiths and torn down
all the blacksmiths' shops and abol-
ished the blacksmiths' trade in the land
of Israel. The Philistines would not
even allow these parties to work their
valuable mines of brass and iron, nor
might they make any swords or spears.
There were only two swords left in
all the land. Yea, these Philisines went
on until they had taken all the grind
stones from the land of Israel, so that
If an Israelitish farmer wanted to
sharpen his plow or his AK he had to
go over to the garrison of the Philis-
tines to get it done. There was only
one sharpening instrument left in the
land, and that was a file, the farmers
and mechanics having nothing to whet
up the coulter, and the goad, and the
pickax, save a single file. Industry was
hindered and work practically dis
graced. The great idea of these Philis-
tines was to keep the Israelites un-
armed. They might get iron out of
would not have any blacksmiths to
weld this iron. If they got the iron
welded, they would have no grindstones
on which to bring the instruments of
agriculture or the military weapons up
to an edge.
Oh, you poor, weaponless Israelites,
reduced to file, how pity you! But
these Ph;listines were not forever to
keep their heel on the neck of Gods
children. Jonathan, on his hands and
knees, climbs up great rock. beyond
which were the Philistines, and his ar
NOR bearer, on his hands and knees,
climbs up the same rock, and these two
men, with their own swords, hew to
pieces the Philistines, the Lord throw
ing a great terror upon them. So it
was then; SO it is now. Two men of
God on their knees mightier than
4hair faoff
I learn, first, from this subject, that
it is dangerous for the church Of God
to allow its weapons to stay in the
hands of its enemies. These 1sraelites
might again and again have obtained
a supply of swords and weapons, as.
for instance, when they took the spoils
of the Ammonites, but these Israelites
seemed content to have mo swords,
no spears, no blacksmiths, no grind
stones, no active iron mines, until it
was too late for them to make any re-
sistance. 1 see the farmers tugging
along with their pickaXes and plow,
and l say: "Where are you going with
these things?'' They say: "Oh, we
are going to the garrison of the Phil
istines to get these things sharpened."
1 say: "You foolish men, why don't
you sharpen them at home?" "Oh,"
they say, 1.-The blacksmiths' shops are
all torn down, and we have nothing
left us but a file."
So it is in the church of Jesus Christ
to-day. We are too willing to give up
our weapons to the enemy. The world
boasts that it has gobbled up the
schools and colleges and the arts and
the sciences and the literature and the
printing press. Infdelity is making
mighty attempt to get all our weapons
in its hand, and then to keep them.
You know it is making this boast all
the time, and after awhile, when the
great battle between sin and righteous
ness has opened, if we do not look out
we will be as badly off as these Israel
ties, without any sharpening instru-
ments. l call upon the superintend-
ents of literary institutions to see to
it that the men who go into the class
rooms to stand beside the Leyden jars
and the electric batteries and the mi
croscopes and telescopes be children of
God, not Philistines.
The Tyndallean thinkers of our times
are trying to get all the intellectual
weapons in their own grasp. We want
scientific Christians to capture the sci
ence, and scholastic Christians to cap
ture the scholarship, and philosophic
Christians to capture the philosophy,
and lecturing Christians to take
back the lecturing platform. We
want to send out against Schen-
kel and Strauss and Renan a
Theodore Christlieb of Bonn and
against the infidel scientists of to-day
a God-worshiping Silliman and Hitch
cock and Agassiz. We want to cap
ture all the philosophical apparatus and
swing around the telescopes on the
swivel until through them we can see
the morning star of the Redeemer and
with mineralogical hammer discover
the Rock of Ages and amid the fora
of all realms find the Rose of Sharon
and the Lily of the Valley. We want
some one able to expound the first
chapter of Genesis, bring to it the ge-
ology and the astronomy of the world
until, as Job suggested, "the stones of
the fields shall be in league" with the
truth, and the stars in their course
shall fight against Sisera. Oh, church
of God, go out and recapture these
weapons!
Let men of God go out and take pos
session of the platform. Let any print
jug presses that have been captured
by the enemy be recaptured for God
and the reporters, and the typesetters,
and the editors, and the publishers
swear allegiance to the Lord God of