The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-02-16
WEAPONS ARE LOST.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ON THE WARFARE
AGAINST SATAN.
A Warming { o the Christian Church to
Protect Itself Against the Assaults
of Unrfghteousness and Unbelief.

In this discourse DR.. Talmage shows
how the cause of Righteousness has lost
many of it's weapon and how b are
TO be recaptured and put into effective
operation; text, I Samuel xiii, 1871:
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
Israelites went down TO the Philistines,
to sharpen every man his share, and
his coulter. and his ak, and his mat
took. Yet they had a file for the mat
tox, for the coulters, and for the
forks, and for the axes, n TO sharpen
the goads."
What a CALLING subjugation for the
Israelitesi The Philistines had carried
off all the blacksmiths and torn down
all the blacksmiths' shops and abolish
ed the b~lacksmiths' trade in the land
of Israel. The Philistines would not
eve allow these parties TO work their
valuable mines of brass and iron, nor
might they make any swords or pears.
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
if an Israelitish farmer wanted TO
sharpen his pillow or his ak he had to
6O OEtA ~ AlAC 81 ASCAA - 80 -@---
tines to get it done. There was only
one sharpening instrument left in the
land, and that was a file, the
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 dis
graced. The great idea of these Phil
istines was to keep the Israelites dis
armed. They might get iron out OF the
hills to 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 70
bring the instruments of agriculture
or the military weapons up TO an edge.
oh, you poor, w~eapOnless lsraelites,
reduced to a file, how l pity you. But
these PhiIistines were not forever TO
keep their heel on the neck of Gods
children. Jonathan, on his hands and
knees, climbs up a 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 two swords, hew 10
pieces the Philistines, the Lord throw
ing a great terror upon them so II
was then; so it is now. Two men OF
God on their knees mightier tina a
Philistine host on their feet!
/ learn, first, from this subject, that
it is dangerous for the church of God
to allow it's weapons to stay in the
hands of it's enemies. These lSraellteS
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 no swords, no
spears, no blacksmiths. no grindstones,
no active iron mines, until II was TOO
late for them to make any resistance.
1 s~ the armer tugging along with
their pickaxes and pillow, and l say,
Where are you going with those
things?" They say. "Oh, we are going
over to the garrison of the Philistines
to get these things s~harpened." L say.
You foolish men. why don't you shar-
pen them at home?" oh" they say,
"the blacksmiths' shops are all torn
down, and we have nothing left us but
a ffle,"
TOO WILLING TO SURRENDER.
So it is in the church of Jesus Christ
today. We are too willing to give up
our to the enemy The world
boasts that it has gobbled up the
school and the colleges and the arts
and the sciences attempt to get all
our weapons in it's 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
righteousness has opened. if we do not
look out we will be as badly off as these
Israelites. without any sharpening in
struments. l call upOn the superinten-
dents OF literary institutions to see TO
it that the men who go mo the class
rooms or 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
science, and scholastic Christians to
hs1Ncn
phic Christians to capture the ph1loSo-
ply, and lecturing Christians to take
back the lecturing platform. We want
to SEND out against Schenkel and
Strauss and Renan a Theodore Christ
lieb of Bonn n against the lnhdel
scientists of the day a God worship
ing SiIliman and Hitchcock and Ag-
asiz. We want to capture all the phil
esophical apparatus and swing around
the telescopes or the swivel until
through them we can see the morning
star of the Redeemer and with mine
~ralogical hammer discover the ROCK
of Ages and amid the flora of all realms
find the Rose of Sharon and the Lily
of the Valley. We want some n able
to expound the first chapters of Gene
sis, bring to it the geology and the as
tronomy of the world until, as Job
suggested, 1.-The stones of the field 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
possession of the platform. Let any
printing presses that have been captur-
ed 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 if the great body of Chris
tan men have not the faith, or the
courage, or the conservation to do II
her let some Jonathan on his busy
hands and on his praying knee clint
IN on the rock of Hindrance and in the
name of the Lord God Of Israel slash
to pieces these literary Philistines, II
these men will not be converted &c
God. Their they must be overthrown.
Again. I learn from this subject what
a large amount Of the church's re-
sources is actually bidder and buried
and undeveloped. The Bible intimates
that that was q very rich land, this