St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-03-10
THE FIGHT ON SATAN
D.. Talmage Says We Have Lost
Many Of the Weapons.
a warning to the ChrIstian Church
to Protect Itself Against the As
saults Of UnrlEhtcousncss
and Unbclicf.
Copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l ]

1
many of its weapons and how they are
to be recaptured and put into effective
operation: text, l. Samuel xiii, 1921:
'Now there is no smith found through
out all the land of Israel, for the Philis-
tines said: Lest the Hebrews make
them swords or spears. But all the
Jsraelites went down to the Philistines.
to sharpen every man his share, and
his coulter, ard his AK, and his mat
took. Yet they had file for the mat
took, and for the coulters. and for the
forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen
the goads."
What CALLING subjugation for the
1sraelites! The Phiiistines had carried
eff 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 file, the farmers
and mechanics having nothing TO whet
up the coulter, and the goad, and the
nj ~ F1o Ind try
hindercd and work practically dis
graced. The great idea of these Philis-
tines was to keep the lsraelites un-
armed. They might get iron out of
the hills 10 make swords of, but they
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 10 a file. how l pity YOU! But
these Ph:listincs 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 Il great terror upon them. So it
was then; SO it is now. Two men of
God on their knees mightier than 4
|Fhilistine host on their feet! -
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 lsraelites
might again and again have obtained
supply of swords and weapons, as,
for instance, when they took the spoils
of the Ammonites, but these Israelites
seemed content to have no swords,
no spears, no blacksmi,hs, no grind
stones, no active iron mines, until it
was too late for them to make any re-
sistance. I see the farmers tugging
along with their pickaxes and plow,
and I 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."
I say: "You foolish men, why don't
you sharpen them at home?" ''Oh,"
they say, "the blacksmiths' shops are
all torn down: and we have nothing
left us but 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. Infidelity is making
mighty attempt to get all our weapons
in its hand, and then 10 keep them.
You know il is making this boast all
the time. and after awhile, when the
great battle between sin and righteous
ness has opened, il we do not look out
we will be as badly off as these Israeli
ties, without any sharpening instru-
ments. i 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 10 take
back the lecturing platform. We
want to send out against Schen-
kel and Strauss and Renan
Theodore Christlieb of Bonn and
against the infidel scientists of to-day
. 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 neurological 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 tc it the ge-
ology and the astronomy Of the world
untll, as JOD suggested, tne stones ol
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 60 out and take pcs
session Of the platform. Let any print
ing presses that hate 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
truth. All, my friend, that day must
come, and II the great body of Chris
han men. have not the faith. or the
courage, or the copsecration to do it,
then let some 5enathau on his busy
hands and ON his praying knees climb
up ON the rock Of uindrance and in
the name Of the Lord God Of Israel slash
to pieces these literary Philistines! II
these men win not be converted to God,
then they must be overthrown.
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