The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-08-23

His head was protected by helmet-a
cap made of thick hides or Of brass
usually crowned with crest or plumes
by way OF ornament. His feet were
protected by heavy sandals. His
chest and back were protected by
cuirass or shirt Of mail. composed Of
plate or chain armor. In his left hand
he held an oblong shield which he used
to ward of hard blows or flying darts.
while his right hand grasped a sword.
Here we have a mirror in which we
ought to see ourselves. have given
some patient thought to this picture
and to the lesson the apostle draws
j from it. / will not however trouble
you with details. will simply give you
the results have arrived at. Let me
just say, however, that light is shed on
!, some of the expressions in our text by
verse in st. Paul's first cpistle to the
Thessalonians where he speaks OF ..put-
ting on the breastplate of faith and
love, and for helmet, the hope of saliva
tion."
You will notice that the man pic
tured in our text is soldier. He has
enlisted. II he was ever rebel or a
bandit he has been pardoned. Have
you enlisted in the army of Jesus?
Have your sins been forgiven?
Does 1.-THE blood of Jesus Christ, Gods
Son cleanse you from all sin!'' DO not
dream of putting on Christ's armor or
| fighting under His banner if you are
..yet in your sins.' But assume that
you are Gods soldiers. As such YOU
need protection for head, heart, feet
The feet symbolic our activities. We
are often kept from doing our duty by
by shame or fear or distrust of our
own powers. Did you ever think what
comfort it is to work with a man
who is always ready to do his
best? Now readiness or '.prepar-
ation,' as our text has it, is what VIC
need that we may be shod for the
march; and this preparation is wrought
in us by 1.-THE gospel Of peace'-God's
good news of whereby
we become reconciled to God, recon-
ciled to our duty, reconciled to our
surroundings. reconciled to ourselves.
Then the heart needs protection. The
danger the heart is most exposed to is
selfishness, the aggressive seltishncss
that grasps and smites, and the passive
seltishness that frets and means.
Against scliishncss our breastplate is
other righteousness" or. rs il is in the
passage. faith and love- Righteous
ness has two hands-faith and love;
the one takes in; the other gives out;
faith grasps God and SO saves us from
| fear; love leads us out of self and SO
saves us from all the sins of an ag-
grcssive sclfishness. But the heart also
needs protection from Satan's .sfery
darts, or flaming arrows. Some of
us are very inilammable. An unex-
| pected act or word will set us in
| blaze. But if we take as our shield
that faith which realizes God presence
and feels the shelter OF his covering
wings. we shall not be provoked by
offenses nor agitated by the worlds
excitement. The head too. needs pro-
lection. Its chief danger is what / may
call intellectual despair. You know
how ingenious some people are in find
ing out reasons for expecting their own
ruin. We need helmet and We may
find it in salvation or as
we have it elsewhere, ..the
hope Of salvation Grasp the mean
ing of salvation, of the idea con-
veyed in the words, ''mighty to save"
Is not God greater than our enemies.
greater than our hearts? Then, the
hope Of salvation-how strong it is,
how bright it is! 1t "maketh not
ashamed" 1t scatters our doubts.
One weapon remains, the only weapon
for attack that is mentioned here,
'.the sword of the Spirit which is the
word of God.' The word of God tax
en- into our heart and acted out in our
life-that is to be our sword. just
glance at the history of Christianity.
1t was born on a gibbct, it was perse-
cuted remorselcssly through three CEN
turies and then-what? 1t ascended
the throne of the Caesars. What were
Its weaponsp Brides? Laws? Swords?
Schools? None of these things, still
less anything like abusiveness, denun-
citation or persecution. Its success
was achieved by lives inspired by the
word of God. by gentleness. patience
and purity, by active and unccasing
charity; and when it lost its sword it
won no more victories. What won in
the third century will win in the nine
teenth-in the nation, in the neighbor-
hood. in the home, in the heart.
Brethren, the Christians armor may
be all described in one word-H Holiness;
and to be made and kept holy we must
look to God. We learn from the last
clause of our text the secret of being
fully equipped as soldiers-.Praying
always
Nv. Bear with me little rs speak
of the spirit that should undcrlie our
warfare. have said that in order to
accomplish any worthy achievement VIC
must exercise the destroying faculty.
But understated the fact. We must
either destroy or be destroyed. And
even this is not the whole truth. Our
Lord uttered deep truth when He
said, HE that findeth his life shall lose
it, and he that loseth his life for My
sake shall find it," Loss for the sake
of gain; partial destruction. ('.he that
hath ears to hear, let him hears for
the sake of preserving the better and
noblcr part of our nature from
destruction. That is what our Saviour
places before us as the law of His
kingdom. We must crush, we must
cruelty the lower part Of our nature
that the better part Of it may live and
reign. 1t is but part of the truth to
say that a man who lets his lower in
stincts rule will lose his soul in the
next world. He loses it here; loses its
real grandeur and glory. loses the
higher joys of which it is capable; it
becomes Il paltry, II wretched. shriy-
elled and ruined thing. You remem-
Der that congress by II majority vote
endorsed the idea that no man could
go faithfully all through the war with
out losing SO much Of his strength and
vitality Us to need and deserve Il
pension, whether technically invalided
or not. You gentlemen are not the
men you once were; your nerves tremblc,