Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-02-09
REV. DR.. TALMAGE:.
THE EMINENT DIvINE'S SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject: A Warning Sounde6-Tbe Talent
of the Church of Christ is Unde-
veloped and Its Energy Dormant
The Enemy Profits by This.
ICopyright 1901

VelOped and Its Energy Dormaht~'
The Enemy Profits by This.
Copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, D. Gin this discourse DR..
| Talmage shows how the cause OF right
eousness hac lost many OF its weapons and
how they arc to be recaptured and put into
effective operation; text, /. Samuel Kill,
1921: "NoU there was no smith found
throughout all the land Of Israel, for the
Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make
them sword or spears. But all the Israel
ties went down to the Pbilistines, to
sharpen every man his share, and his coul-
ter, and his AK and his mattOck. Yet they
had a file for the mattock, and for the coul-
ters, and for the forks, and for the axes,
and to sharpen the goads."
What o CALLING subjugation for the Is
raeltes! The Philstines had carried off all
the blacksmiths and torn down all thu
blacksmitbs' shops and abolished the black
smiths trade in tho land of Israel. The
Phlistines would not even allow these par
ties 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 Philistines
| went on until they had taken all the grind
| stones from the land Of Israel, so that il an
| Israelitish farmer wanted to sharpen his
| pillow or his axe be had 20 go over to the
| garrison OF the Phlistinesto get 1t done.
There was only one sharpening instrument
| left in the land, and that was file, the
| farmers and mechanics having nothing to
whet up the coulter and the goad and the
pickax save a simple file. Industry was
| hindered and work practically disgraced.
| The great idea Of these Pbilistines was to
| keep the Israelites disarmed, They might
get iron out of the hills to make swords Of,
| but they would not have any blacksmiths
to weld this iron. II they got the iron
welded, they would have no grlndstones
on which to bring the instruments OF agri-
culture or the military weapons up to an
edge.
Oh, you poor, weaponess Israelites. re-
dueed TO file, how pity you! But these
Philistines were not forever to keep their
heel on the neck Of Gods children. Jona-
than. on his bands and knees, climbs up
q great rock, beyond which were tho Phil
istines, and his armor bearer, on his hands
and knees, climbs up tho same rock, and
these two men, with their two swords, hew
to pieces the Phlistines tho Lord throw
ing great terror upon them. So it was
then: so it is now. Two men OF God on
their knees mightier than Phllistine host
on their feet
learn, first, from this subject that ii is
dangerous for the church Of God to allow
its weapons to stay in the hands OF its enc
mics. These Israelites might again and
again have obtained q supply Of swords
and weapoDs-as for instance, when they
took the spoils Of the Ammonites--but
these Israelites seemed content to have no
swords, Io spears. no blacksmiths, no
grindstones, no active iron mines, I'M
til 1t was too late for them to make any re-
sistance 1 see the farmers tuGging along
with their pickaxes and pillow, and : say,
"Where are you going with those things"
They say, ooh, we are going over to tho
garrison of the Philistines to get these
things sharpenedl" say, "You foolish
men! Why don't you sharpen them at
homer" "Oh,' they say, "the black
smiths shops are all torn down, and we
have nothing left us but q 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 the
colleges, and the arts, and the sciences,
and the literature, and the printing press.
Infldelity 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
tho great battle between sin and righteous
ness has opened, il we do not look out we
will be as badly off as these Israelities,
without any swords to fight with and with.
out any sharpening instruments. call
upon the superintendents of literary insti.
tutions to see to it that the men who 60 in.
to the c.assrooms to stand beside the Ley.
den jars, and the electric batteries, and the
Microscopes and Telescopes, Be children OF
kGod 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 science,
and scholastic Christians to capture the
scholarship, and philosophc Christians to
capture philosophy, and lecturing Chris
tlans to take back the lecturing platform.
We want to send out against Schenkel ana
Strauss and Renan Theodore Christl1eD
of Bonn and against the 1nhdel scientists
OF the day God-worshlpiDg Silliman and
Hitchcock 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 morn
ing star Of the Redeemer, and with miner.
illogical hammer discover the Rock OF
Ages. and amid the flora Of all realms find
the Rose of Sharon and the Lilly OF inc
Valley. We want some one able to ex.
pound the first chapter OF Genesis, Drug 10
it the geology and the astronomy OF the
world, until, as Job suggested, "the stones
Of the field shall be in league" with the
truth and the stars in their course snail
fight against Sisera. Oh church OF COO,
20 out and recapture these weapons!
Let men of God go out and take posses
sion of the platform. Let any printing
presses that have been captured by the
enemy be recaptured for God, and the re-
porters, and the typesetters, and the cd
itors, and the publishers swear all al
legiance to tie Lord God of truth. All, my
friend, that day must come, and II the
great body of Christian men have not the
| faith or courage or the conservation to DO
| it, then let some Jonathan on his busy
| hands and on his praying knees CLIMB up
| on the rock of hindrance and, in the name
| OF the Lord God Of Israeli slash to pieces
| those literary Philistnes. Ii these men
will not be converted TO God, then they
| must be overtbrown.
sFAgain, l learn from this subject what
| large amount of the church's resources IS
actually hidden and buried and undevel-
oped. The Bible intimates that that was
very rich land, this land OF Israel. Ii
says "The stones are iron, and out OF the
hills thou shalt dig brass" and yet nun.
dreds and thousands OF dollars worth OF
this metal was kept under the hills. wen,
| that is the difficulty with the church OF
| God at this day. It's talent is not devel-
| oped. II one-half of its energy could be
| brought out, it might take the public In
| jouities OF the day by the throat and make
them bite the dust. II human eloquence
were consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ,
it would in few year, persuade the whole
earth to surrender to God. There Is
enough undeveloped energy in this city to
bring all the United States to Christ,
enough OF undeveloped Christian energy
in the United States to bring the whole
world to Christ, but it is buried under
strata OF Indifference and under whole
mountains of slotb. Now, is 1t not time
for the mining to begin and the pickaxes
to plunge and for this buried metal to be