St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-01
DR.. EGBERT'S SUNDAY TALK
ON THE DUTIES WHICH MAN
OWES TO FELLOW
MAN.
SERIOUS LESSONS CT LIFE
Times and Fight for the
Right.

church, yesterday preached an elo-
quent sermon from the text, Course
We, Meroz, said the angel of the
Lord; curse We bitterly the inhab-
tants thereof; because they came
not up to the help of the Lord
against the mighty" Judges, ", 49,
Meroz was pretty city on the
mountain side, and Deborah was a
prophecies of Israel. For twenty
years Jabin, king of the Northern
Canaanites had oppressed Israel, and
she was oppressed because she lost
her liberty through idolatry Her
inheritance from God and her great
opportunity of growth were laid
aside for ease and selfish prosperity.
and now the land was in terror, out
lawry everywhere, and nobody to
lead Gods people. Deborah was
aroused by message from God and
told to summon all the people to
battle. She selected one Barak, of
Naphtalia, to come down and lead
the people, and sent forth a sum-
mons to every tribe of Israel.
But why should Asher leave the
coast at Joppa and a large traffic
with the CanaaniteS to go into this
battle in the far off north? They
were not her enemies She was not
disturbed at all by these northern
Canaanites. But the summons
comes: God calls you to do battle
for him with Israel against these
foes. There are no conditions. Come
forth to battle" Evil is triumphant.
Gods heritage is at stake And it
looked for a little while as if the
knowledge of the one true God
would be lost from the earth. Here
was Sisera with his mighty army;
nine hundred scythe-chariots, Israel
had not one; a great body of cavalry,
Israel had not a horseman; trained
infantry that had done battle on
many a battlefield, Israel had no
army. But the message is, GO
forth to battle" 1t matters not who
the foe is, it is a battle. And they
went forth to Megiddo Kadesh, a
battlefield famous in almost every
great war of the East.
The summons went forth to all
the tribes. 1t came to MeroZ. The
people gathered in the gates and
received the messenger. 1--WE will
think of this thing" they said.
These foes are very dangerous enc
mics; they ought to be driven out
of the land. Idolatry is a deadly
thing; the religion of Jehovah must
triumph, and we wish you all sue
cess" But they considered and con-
sidered. They talked and talked. In
the meantime Barak gathered two
or three of the tribes and marched
right by the city of Meroz, fought
the battle, defeated the enemy. and
the defeated and pursuer both
passed by the city again. And after
the victory, almost like the Indians
of our own land, Apache-styIe, these
returning tribes of Israel went into
the mountain Businesses where these
people of Meroz with their focks
were dwelling in such peace, and
they so completely wrought out this
curse of the prophecies upon them.
Curse We Meroz," that the name
1s7never again mentioned in sacred
history
WHY CURSE MEROZ?
On the same plea that we so often
feel in our day. Better Sisera with his
strong hosts then Meroz with indif-
terence. Better an enemy that stands
out for an open fight, that arouses
every good and true thing in a man.
than some quiet, Indifferent neutral
who does not care which side wins the
victory so he is not disturbed Indif-
ference to good is treason to God In
action in any cali to battle for good
is defeat, defeat not simply of Gods
work here but defeat in US who are in
active. You know that the root out
of which was born the word "shirk''
furnished also the word Shark and
the original and abiding definition of
shark is one who preys upon lesser
creatures, who lives upon that which
is gathered by Others, and a shirker
among men is a shark. Are there not
thousands of men and women in this
land of ours who gladly live upon what
other people have won, upon institu-
tons that others have builded, taking
advantage of charities that others have
established, getting the good of all
those things in education, in religion,
in material life that other men have
builded? And what have they con-
tributed? Indifferent they are whether
these things live or die so they get
the benefit while they live.
Now, these men of Meroz were not
towards, and they were not ignorant,
They knew the danger just as we'll as
Deborah did. They were probably as
courageous as was Barak. But they
had two dangers which made moral
1nyx o~f1e, Of
they were not distributed. And also
they were somewhat entangled with
these very Canaanites. There had been
some marriages there, and there were
some business relations there, and they
were under some financial obligations
there, and so their affairs were en-
tangled with the very enemy of Israel
they were now called to fight. They
were moral towards. They could not
so out and cut the net that bound them
and go forth free men. And it may be
that many man today is not free be-
cause he is mortgaged morally by what
he has done financially or physically.
Many man has not the moral courage
to stand up and battle for some great
reform because there is
A WEAK PLACE IN HIS ARMOR.
that somes foe will strike at instantly
if he comes to the front of battle.
Conscience makes towards of us ALL
And brave and strong and true. with
out comparison to his felloWmen is the
man who can stand up and feel that
he is fighting with God and srrite any
foe that he sees is a foe to himself or
to his people A great many of us are
willing to follow this part of the scrip
ture injunction, to sit down and count
the cost before we build up some good,
some great reform, some great help to
our fellowmen; but when we have
counted the cost and are able to pay it
we are not always willing to pay it.
We forget that the highest value in
getting anything is not the thing we
get, but the power we develop in get
ting it.
Now, God summons you and sum
mons me- just as much as he sumomned