Milford chronicle., 1893-05-19


hurl it back again2 Yes have tried the
plan. / learned it from my father and
have praeticed it al my life, and i works
well, and by the help of God and layelins
not picked up have conquered all my foes
and preached funeral sermons IN honor oi
most Of them.
The best thing you can do with javeltn
hurled at you is to let IL lie where itdropped
or hang it up in your museum as curl
ositv. The deepest wound made by q jave
lin IS not by the sharp edge, but at the dun
end Of the handle to him who wields it.
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 thas
a man sometimes dodges is not against his
courage Ny text says that when saul as
sailed him ''David avoided cut Of his pres
ence twicen-that IS, when the jayelin was
flung be stepped out Of its direction or
bent this way or that-ln other words ne
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, ] guess, about
~ feet high, went out to meet the giant,
who was, guess, about 10 feet high, it WA
a big undertaking, and the inequalities q
the struggle were so great that it strnek
the giants idea Of the ludicrous, and he
suggested to the little fellow that be would
make fine dinner for a buzzard or a iaekal
Come to me, and viii give thy flesh unto
the fowls of the air and tothe 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
iavelin, David lodged il, OF the chief work
of his life would never have been done
What q lesson this is to those who go into
useless danger and expose their lives Or
their regulations or their usefulness un-
necessarily. When duty demands, 90
ahead though all earth and hell oppose
Dodge not one inch from the right position.
But when nothing is involved, step back OF
step aside.
Why stand in the way Of perils that you
can avoid2 Go not into quixotic battles 70
fight windmills. You viii be Of more ase
to the world and the church as an active
Christian man than as a target for Javelins.
There are Christians always in fight J.
they 90 into churches they fight there. II
they go into presbyteries or conferences o.
consociations they fight there. My advice
to you is, if anything is to be gained for Zoo
or the truth, stand out of the way OF the
javelins. Samuel xviii, II, David avoided
out of his pssssence 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 dodged the desper'
ADDE'S. We have high example of the fact
that sometimes a man viii 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 him
down the precipice But while they were
gettinc, 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 filing
4 ashnets and giving healthy circulation Of
/ blo9d to para ysis and curing dementia and
! turning corpses into living men and women
and doing his chief work.
I What a good thing he lodged the crowd
on the rocks back Of Nazareth Likewise
at Jerusalem one day, while he was saun'
I tering up and down in Solomon's Porch
waiting for an opportunity to say kind
words or do useful deed, the people pro
posed to pay him for his self sacrifices by
/ stoning him to death, but the record IS
He escaped out Of their hands"
See also in my subject the unreasonable
| attitude of iavelin toward harp. What had
that harp in David's hand done to the jaw
! elm in Saul's hand2 Had the vibrating
I strings Of the one hurt the keen edge O.
the other? Was there an old grudge be.
tween the two families of sweet sound and
| sharp cut? Had the triangle ever insulted
! the polished shaft? Why the deadly aim
/ of the destroying weapon against the in
| strument of soothing, calming, healing
! sound? Well, will answer that if you
will tell me why the hostility Of so many
/ to the gospel, why the virulent. attacks
1 against Christian religion, why the angry
/ antipathy of so many to the most genial
/ most inviting, most salutary influence un-
der all the heavensg
/ Why will men give their lives to writing
/ and speaking and warning against Christ
and the gospel? Why the javelin Of the
I worlds hatred and rage against the harp OF
/ heavenly lover You know and know men
I who get wrathfully red in the face and
4 foaming at the mouth, and use the gesture
of the clinehed fist, and put down their feet
with indignant emphasis, and invoke an
sarcasm and irony and vituperation and
seorn and spite at the Christian religion
! What has the Christian religion done that
/ it should be so assailedf Whom hath it
/ bitten and left with hydrophobiac virus in
| their veins that it should sometimes be
/ chased as though it were amaddened ca
/ miner
! To head off and trip up and push down
] ,--,,.,. offr ,a1ftrirra wac tha 0ul1nnVf
/ Thought in the life Of David Hume and
! Voltaire and Shaftesbury and even the
/ Earl Of Rochester until one day in a prince
/ ly house in which they blasphemously put
/ God on trial, and the Eal3 of Rochester was
the attorney against God and religion and
received the applause Of the whole COM
pany. when suddenly the earl was struck
nnder conviction and cried: Good God,
/ that a man who walks uprlghtly, who sees
the wonderful works Of God and has the
uses Of his senses and reason, should use
] them in defying his Creator lAyish had
/ been q crawling leper in a ditch rather than
I have acted toward God as ] have done"
Javelin OF wit, javelin of irony iavelin OF
scurrility, i6velin of sophistry, javelin OF
i human and diabolic hostility, have been
/ flying for hundreds Of years end are lying
\ now. But aimed at what2 At something
that has come to devastate the worid2 At
something that Stays nations? At some
I thing that would maui and trample under
foot and excruciate and crush the human
race? No, aimed at the gospel harp
harp on which prophets played with
somewhat lingering and uncertain i'm
/ gers, but harp on which apostles
blayed with sublime certainty, and
I martyrs played while their fingers were
on fire. Harp that was dripping with the
blood Of the Christ, out Of whose heart-
strings the harp was chorded and from
whose dying groan the strings were keyed.
4 Oh, gospel harpl All thy nerves a-tremble
with stories Of self sacrifice Harp
I thrummed by fingers long ago turned TO
4 dust. Harp that made heaven listen and
/ viii vet make all the earth hear Harp
! that sounded pardon to my sinful soul
/ and peace over the grave where my dead
] kHaf will fhad the chant