The herald., 1896-03-09
Rev. J. w. Ball

L
Fire English Lutheran church was preached
by the pastor, Rev. ]. w. Ball, and the
text, st. Luke IL :2l-22. when strong
man armed keepeth his palace. his goods
are in peace; but when stronger than he
shall come upon him and overcome him,
hs taketh from him all his armor wherein
hs trusted and divideth his spoils."
He said: Peace and war are set before
us in these words. But what kind of peace
and what sort of war; for not every kind
of peace that is made can be considered as
a righteous peace, nor is every war work
of Satan. Usually we think of peace as
the ideal condition of life, and
indeed it is. Our highest aspirations
are for that time and place
where the storms OF life shall be over and
! the turmoil that SO often mars our JOY for
ever past. We shudder also at the thought
of international war. The strife and car
mage of brother fighting against brother on
the mad field of battle, the CHASTITY up
turned face livid in death, the flowing blood
from the half-dead living and the sorrow
and misery brought to the loved ones at
home speak more eloquently than words
the horrors of human strife. tod speed
the day when the strifes of nations shall be
settled in ''the parliament of man, the fed
Grafton of the world
There is a peace, however, that is infin-
itely worse than war. 1t is a peace that
consents to be enslaved by an inquitous
power. such peace as is alluded to in our
text.
We know the strong man here referred
to. Gods word, our best friend and coun-
selor, speaks not lightly of his power.
"Deep guile and great might are his dread
arms in fight. On earth is not his equal"
His palace Is his world. whose prince he is.
His goods are the hearts of men in peace
fu subjection to him. until delivered by
Christ. the stronger one. That power is H.
lustrated in the opening words of our gos-
pei lesson. "He was casting out a demon
and it was dumb The subject of possess
sion by demons is indeed one diificult to un-
darstand. but it speaks impressively to us
OF the activity of the powers of evil among
men and the relation of human life to a
terrible realm of darkness. The kingdom
of evil is real, governed by real prince
of demons. and we may we'll believe that
all the powers of hell were put forth to
defeat. if possible, the mission of the Son
of God. ''As roaring lion he goeth
about, seeking whom he may devour.''
Where he is left undisturbed his goods are
in peace. But what peace! Look at
Africa, of which Mr.. Stanley has but re-
Gently said: "A fine mess these tribal
fragments had made of themselves and
their lands after some fifty centuries or
thereabouts of occupa ion. Murder in every
conceivable shape rioted throughout their
territories. Naked ana De6tlal they had
lived from prehistoric time. 1t was death
to any unarmed stranger to venture among
them, and death TO any OF their own num-
Der who showed the least sign of capacity
or genius. Talk about the ernan.
cpation of the American negroes and the
Russian serfs. They were mere common
places compared to the emancipation of
Africa from herself that dates from 1885. y
Here we have striking picture of the de-
graduation brought by the evil one when
left in secure possession of his own. What
pernicious, deadly peace!
But thanks to God, this strong one is not
to be left in peaceful possession of what he
has won by such a conquest. "A stronger
than he shall come upon him and take from
him all his armour and divide his spoils."
If Satan is strong, Christ is stronger than
he. This is shown al throughout tho his
tory of that warfore. The stronger one
enters the dominion of the strong at Beth
lehem. He escap IS Satan's servant. Herod,
and goes into Egypt. Years later he en-
counters him in the wilderness and repels
him with iRnominious defeat. All
through onr Lords life the conflict
raged, and at it's close the strong man