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NEW TABERNACLE SERMONS
BY
T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D.

AUTHOR OF
"_CRUMBS SWEPT UP_," "_THE ABOMINATIONS OF MODERN SOCIETY_," etc.

Delivered in the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

VOL. I

NEW YORK:
GEORGE MUNRO, PUBLISHER,
17 TO 27 VANDEWATER STREET.
1886.




[Illustration: T. De Witt Talmage]


    _Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by_
    GEORGE MUNRO, _in the Office of the Librarian of Congress,
    Washington, D.C._




CONTENTS.

                                               PAGE
    BRAWN AND MUSCLE                             7
    THE PLEIADES AND ORION                      21
    THE QUEEN'S VISIT                           34
    VICARIOUS SUFFERING                         45
    POSTHUMOUS OPPORTUNITY                      59
    THE LORD'S RAZOR                            72
    WINDOWS TOWARD JERUSALEM                    83
    STORMED AND TAKEN                           95
    ALL THE WORLD AKIN                         108
    A MOMENTOUS QUEST                          119
    THE GREAT ASSIZE                           134
    THE ROAD TO THE CITY                       147
    THE RANSOMLESS                             158
    THE THREE GROUPS                           171
    THE INSIGNIFICANT                          184
    THE THREE RINGS                            197
    HOW HE CAME TO SAY IT                      209
    CASTLE JESUS                               221
    STRIPPING THE SLAIN                        233
    SOLD OUT                                   246
    SUMMER TEMPTATIONS                         259
    THE BANISHED QUEEN                         274
    THE DAY WE LIVE IN                         285
    CAPITAL AND LABOR                          297
    DESPOTISM OF THE NEEDLE                    311
    TOBACCO AND OPIUM                          325
    WHY ARE SATAN AND SIN PERMITTED?           339




BRAWN AND MUSCLE.

    "And Samson went down to Timnath."--JUDGES xiv: 1.


There are two sides to the character of Samson. The one phase of his
life, if followed into the particulars, would administer to the
grotesque and the mirthful; but there is a phase of his character
fraught with lessons of solemn and eternal import. To these graver
lessons we devote our morning sermon.

This giant no doubt in early life gave evidences of what he was to be.
It is almost always so. There were two Napoleons--the boy Napoleon and
the man Napoleon--but both alike; two Howards--the boy Howard and the
man Howard--but both alike; two Samsons--the boy Samson and the man
Samson--but both alike. This giant was no doubt the hero of the
playground, and nothing could stand before his exhibitions of youthful
prowess. At eighteen years of age he was betrothed to the daughter of
a Philistine. Going down toward Timnath, a lion came out upon him,
and, although this young giant was weaponless, he seized the monster
by the long mane and shook him as a hungry hound shakes a March hare,
and made his bones crack, and left him by the wayside bleeding under
the smiting of his fist and the grinding heft of his heel.

There he stands, looming up above other men, a mountain of flesh, his
arms bunched with muscle that can lift the gate of a city, taking an
attitude defiant of everything. His hair had never been cut, and it
rolled down in seven great plaits over his shoulders, adding to his
bulk, fierceness, and terror. The Philistines want to conquer him, and
therefore they must find out where the secret of his strength lies.

There is a dissolute woman living in the valley of Sorek by the name
of Delilah. They appoint her the agent in the case. The Philistines
are secreted in the same building, and then Delilah goes to work and
coaxes Samson to tell what is the secret of his strength. "Well," he
says, "if you should take seven green withes such as they fasten wild
beasts with and put them around me I should be perfectly powerless."
So she binds him with the seven green withes. Then she claps her hands
and says: "They come--the Philistines!" and he walks out as though
they were no impediment. She coaxes him again, and says: "Now tell me
the secret of this great strength?" and he replies: "If you should
take some ropes that have never been used and tie me with them I
should be just like other men." She ties him with the ropes, claps her
hands, and shouts: "They come--the Philistines!" He walks out as
easily as he did before--not a single obstruction. She coaxes him
again, and he says: "Now, if you should take these seven long plaits
of hair, and by this house-loom weave them into a web, I could not get
away." So the house-loom is rolled up, and the shuttle flies backward
and forward and the long plaits of hair are woven into a web. Then she
claps her hands, and says: "They come--the Philistines!" He walks out
as easily as he did before, dragging a part of the loom with him.

But after awhile she persuades him to tell the truth. He says: "If you
should take a razor or shears and cut off this long hair, I should be
powerless and in the hands of my enemies." Samson sleeps, and that she
may not wake him up during the process of shearing, help is called in.
You know that the barbers of the East have such a skillful way of
manipulating the head to this very day that, instead of waking up a
sleeping man, they will put a man wide awake sound asleep. I hear the
blades of the shears grinding against each other, and I see the long
locks falling off. The shears or razor accomplishes what green withes
and new ropes and house-loom could not do. Suddenly she claps her
hands, and says: "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!" He rouses up
with a struggle, but his strength is all gone. He is in the hands of
his enemies.

I hear the groan of the giant as they take his eyes out, and then I
see him staggering on in his blindness, feeling his way as he goes on
toward Gaza. The prison door is open, and the giant is thrust in. He
sits down and puts his hands on the mill-crank, which, with exhausting
horizontal motion, goes day after day, week after week, month after
month--work, work, work! The consternation of the world in captivity,
his locks shorn, his eyes punctured, grinding corn in Gaza!

I. First of all, behold in this giant of the text that physical power
is not always an index of moral power. He was a huge man--the lion
found it out, and the three thousand men whom he slew found it out;
yet he was the subject of petty revenges and out-gianted by