Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-05-18

Revenge on Christians tongue or pen OF
hand is inapt and more damage to the one
who employs 1t than the one against whom
It is employed. What A javelin hurled
at you and fallen at your feet and you not
hurl IL back Hsaint Yes, have tried ths
plan learned it from my father and
have practiced it all my life, and 1t works
well, and by the help Of God and javelins
not picked up have conquered all my foez
aud preached funeral sermons in honor OF
most Of them.
The best thing you can do with a javelin
hurled at you Is to let il lie where it dropped
or hang it upin your museum as a curl
Osity. The deepest wound made by a jaye-
lin Is not by the sharp edge, but at the dull
end Of the hsndle to him who wields il. ]
leave it to you to say which got the best OF
that fight in the palace-Saul or David.
See also in my subject that the fact that
man sometimes lodges is not against his
courage Ny text says that when Saul as
sailed him David avoided out Of his pres
ence twice'-that Is, when the javelin was
| flung he stepped out Of its direction OF
bent this way or that-in other words, he
lodged But all those who have read the
life of David know that he was not lack
ing in prowess David had faults, but
cowardice was not one Of them.
When David, who was, l guess, about
~ feet high. went out TO meet the giant,
who was, guess, about 10 feet high, it wa,
big undertaking, and the inequalities Of
the struggle were 30 great that 1t struck
the giants idea of the ludicrous, and he
suggested to the little fellow that he would
make fine dinner for buzzard or a jaekal
"Come to me, and will give thy flesh unto
the fowls Of the air and to the beasts Of the
field"
When David went out to meet that giant
and conquered him, he demonstrated, as
he did on other occasions, his courage. But
am so glad that when Saul flung that
javelin, David lodged 1t, or the chief work
| of his life would never have been done.
What lesson this is to those who go into
useless danger and expose their lives ur
their regulations or their usefulness un-
necessarily. When duty demands, 20
ahead, though all earth and hell oppose
Dodge not one inch from the right position.
But when nothing is involved. step back or
step aside.
Why stand In the way Of perils that you
can avoidP Go not into quixotic battles to
fight windmills. You will be of more ase
to the world and the church as an active
Christian man than as target for javelins.
There are Christians always in fight. J.
they go into churches they fight there. II
they go into presbyteries or conferences or
consultations they fight there. My advice
to you is, if anything is to be gained for God
or the truth, stand out of tie way of the
| javelins ISamuel xviii, II, David avoided
out of his presence twice"
Washington was as mighty in his re.
treats as in his advances. His army would
several times have been destroyed if he had
not lodged He lodged on Long Island,
he lodged on New Jersey heights. Lin
coin on his way to Inauguration at Wash
ington was waited for by assassins, but he
took another train and lodged the desper
ADDE'S. We have high example of the fact
that sometimes man will serve God best
by disappearing from this or that place
this or that environment.
A mob brought Christ to the top Of the
rocks back of Nazareth. They did not like
his preaching, and they proposed to hurl hin
down the precipice. But while they wert
getting ready for the massacre Christ dart
ed into the crowd and amid the confusion
escaped to Capernaum and continued exor
cising devils and cooling fevers and filling
fshnets and giving healthy circulation o
blood to paralysis and curing dementia ant
turning corpses into living men and wome1
and doing his chief work.
What good thing he lodged the crow(
on the rocks back of Nazareth Likewis
at Jerusalem one day, while. he was saun
, tering up and down in Solomon's Porcl
waiting for an opportunity to say kint
words or do useful deed, the people pro
posed to pay him for his self sacrifices b,
stoning him to death, but the record is
HE escaped out of their hands,"
See also in my subject the unreasonable
attitude of javelin toward harp. What hat
that harp in David's hand done to the jaw
elm in Saul's hand? Had the vibrating
strings of the one hurt the keen edge O
the other? Was there an old grudge be
tween the two families of sweet sound ant
sharp cut? Had the triangle ever insultet
, the polished shafti Why the deadly ain
, of the destroying weapon against the in
strument of soothing, calming, healing
sound? Well, will answer that if 70,
will tell me why the hostility of SO man,
to the gospel, why the virulent attack
against Christian religion, why the angr.
antipathy Of so many to the most genial
most inviting, most salutary influence un
der all the heavens?
Why will men give their lives to writin!
: and speaking and warning against Chris
y and the gospel? Why the javelin of tn
worlds hatred and rage against the harp o
heavenly love? You know and know mel
q who get wrathfully red in the face ant
, foaming at the mouth, and use the gestur
! of the clinched fist, and put down their fee
with indignant emphasis, and invoke al
sarcasm and irony and vituperation AM
a scorn and spite at the Christian religion
What has the Christian religion done tina
! it should be so assailed? Whom hath j
9 bitten andleHt with hydrophobiac virus il
their veins that it should sometimes b
, chased as though it were a maddened ca
a nine?
To head off and trip up and push dow
/ and corner our religion was the dominan
! thought in the life of David Hume ant
A Voltaire and Shaftesbury and even tn
Earl of Rochester until one day in a prince
, ly house in which they blasphemously pu
, God on trial, and the Earl of Rochester wa
q the attorney against God and religion ant
I received the applause of the whole com
o pany. when suddenly the earl was stsucl
' under conviction and cried: "Good Got
that man who walks uprightly, who see
q the wonderful works of God and has tn
4 uses of his senses and reason, should rs
them in defying his Creatorl l wish ha
e been crawling leper in a ditch rather tina
n have acted toward God as 1 have done"
!, Javelin of wit, javelin of irony, javelin {
/ scurrility, javelin of sophistry, javelin {
f human and diabolic hostility, have bee
J. flying for hundreds of years and are flyin
i now But aimed at what? At somethin
that has come to devastate the worldf
something that slays nations? At som
q thing that would maui and trample und'
l. foot and excruciate and crush the huma
racer No, aimed at the gospel harp