File:The culture of Christian manhood; Sunday mornings in Battell chapel, Yale university (1897) (14761010054).jpg

Identifier: cultureofchristi00sall (find matches)
Title: The culture of Christian manhood; Sunday mornings in Battell chapel, Yale university
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Sallmon, Henry William, 1866-1938, ed
Subjects: Universities and colleges Sermons, American
Publisher: New York, Chicago (etc.) Fleming H. Revell company
Contributing Library: Princeton Theological Seminary Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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Text Appearing Before Image:
peace, — it draws near and speaks. It appeals
to us in the name of our supreme and most
intimate personal realities, if we do but con-
sider. And so is it not a gift most practical
and most precious—a gospel for us and for
humanity ?

215

Trophies of Youth the Safeguard of
Manhood
By
Rev. James G. K. McClure,
Pastor of the Lake Forest (Ill.) Presbyterian Church

" And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philis-
tine, whom thou slewest in the valley of El ah, behold, it is
here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take
that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And
David said, There is none like that; give it me." —1 Sam.

xxi. 9.

IN her gymnasium Yale has a trophy-room.
Many a graduate feels his blood stirred
as he enters it. The emblems of contest,
flag and cup, oar and ball, arouse the mem-
ory. Scenes of the past become vivid—the
surging crowd, the excited faces, the shouts
of victory. Other days are lived over again,
and there is joy and inspiration in recalling
them. The setting up of trophies is a custom as

216
Text Appearing After Image:

James G. K. McClure (Q74274364)

The Hour of Contest

old as history; all ancient peoples did it.
The Greeks put shields and helmets on a tree
of the battle-ground if it was a land victory,
and beaks of conquered vessels on the near-
est coast if it was a sea victory. The Romans
did differently. They carried their trophies
to some prominent spot in Rome itself. Stil
differently did the Egyptians and the Israel-
ites, who deposited their trophies in their
temples.
So it was that the sword taken by youth-
ful David from conquered Goliath was in the
tabernacle. What stirring scenes that sword
suggested! A young man going out alone
to meet a vaunting foe. Two armies, Philis-
tines and Israelites, numbering thousands, on
opposite hills, watching the unevenly matched
contestants. The slinging of a smooth stone,
its sinking into Goliath's forehead, the giants
fall, Davids springing forward to draw Go-
liath's sword. Surely that was a moment
never to be forgotten when, with the giant's
head in his left hand, David held aloft the
giant's sword in his right hand, and there

217

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