The New York herald., 1879-07-07
THE GOSPEL OF PEACE.
"When Christ Shall Appear We Also
Shall Appear in Glory"
THOU SHALT NOT STEAL,
Services on Shipboard and in the High
ways and eyways.
FIFTH AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH.
LOYALTY TO JEHovAH-sERMoN By REV. DIR.


ARNITAGE.
The Rev. DR.. Armitage preached yesterday on
"Loyalty to Jehovah" taking his text from Num-
bers xiii, 2l-"The Lord. his God. is with him. and
the shout of a King is among them" Balaam. the
bard Pether the Doctor desired to curse srae
but on close inspection of the spirit Of that people
and their consequent power no uttered the text in
stead Ba.ak thought it great mystery that
nation of liberated slaves should be powerful in
the desert as to overthrow all their foes. marching
with the Ark their midst and their standards in tho
front of the camp. Baaam saw ut glance that the
strength of the dsorderly mob lay in their fidelity to
God, and he said so. lie said:-'God has not beheld
perverseness in Israe-hst is to say, they not
perverted to idoatry, and while they had no visible
head, the invisible God was with them. They were
loyal to His personal commands. and SO marched
on from victory to victory. giving Him the glory
for all their trumphs and keeping up the shout of
King among thom
A COMMON LAW.
This enthusiastic passion OF loyalty In the heart
of man toward the invisible God tells OF that hidden
sympathy which links man to the divine. 1t shows
that his strength is in God. and it brings his whole
nature into region of joyousness similar to that
which is felt in a conquerng king al the head Of his
camp. In the heavenly bodies. true TO the laws of
their nature. is bond of union. The same law In
Mt work in the anthll and the beehive which con-
kingdom of these industries is orderly and tends to
u common good. When the queen bee or ant king
is i'll their midst sort of loyal instinct seeks con-
troll because the true work of the community cannot
be done by its individual members without direc-
ton On tho same principle true loyalty
ments. He neither stands nor tails alone. He
is bound to act. to think. and. II need be, to
die for the commonwealth IN an extremity. fhe
ident of Jehovah with all the interests of
Israel excited their loyalty to Him. They felt its
thrill in their blood as they marched through the
desert. They obeycd Him in absolute trust and
exulted in Him with passionate shouts of JOY which
made the desolate Wilderness wild. The shout OF
the King in every mans heart. and of course it
rang from every mans lip. All things went well
with Israel SO long as this loyalty lasted. But it
trium phant or defeated. For about four and o haf
centuries they had no king. no lawgiver. but
monarchy not aristocracy, not republic or
democracy. simply . theocracy. But in the days
snrn'ar nostion and eemanded MAKE u, King ."to to
judge us, like all the nations. This alarmed him
and he laid the case before God. Jehovah said -
1.-The people have rejected me that l should not
reign over them. Howbcit. hearken INTO their
voice and show them the manner Of king who shall
reign over them.'' He showed them that the Inou-
arch for whom they camored would seize their
and daughters for slaves would reap their harvests
take their sheep and cattle and conscae their
Yards and olive yards till tncy should pray for his
removal. But they were infatuated and said:-"We
will have a king to go before us and tight our bat
'.God save the King!"
For q time the nation proud OF it's new toy
They seemed to have great prestige. and were de-
lighted to get rid of their quaint. antquated
way of doing things, and had como to be like other
folks. Now they could say:-'Gentlemen Philistnes
soon you please; we have . king. too,
and fine king. Can You match him? lie IL higher
than any of the people from his shoulders and up
ward" The Isrnetes were not an exception to the
doctrine that singularity of principle. OF purity OF
noble character. il hard lesson for most people to
learn against popular usage and pratte; But what
tremendous price they paid for their disloyaty
10
could trust Him. Strong. rich and fortified.
beautiful young monarch seven feet high aud we'll
proportioned was a magnificent thing to have-a
man to go before them, every inch . man. You
could be proud Of him ut every step. What sar-
casm! The sons of limppg old Jacob are parade.
following man with hign helmet on his head aud
a higher feather waving above 1t. Now they could
90 into battle like other nations. 1t was Israels
Fourth of July. AS individual men, churches
and a nation this subject reads great lesson.
Let us be careful, lest the whole fabric OF unity
and prosperity shall vanish forever before disoyaty
TO jehovah. ------