Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-07-16


ace Mephibosheth must, since the king has
commanded IT, With staff and c-utches
and helped by his friends, see Mephibo-
sheth going up the stairs Of the palace
hear his staff and crutches rafting on the
tessellated floor of the throneroon. No soon
er have these two persons confronted each
other Mephibosheth and David, the king,
than Nephibosheth throws himself fiat on
his face before the king and styles himself
a dead dog. In she east when u man STYLES
himself dog he Gtters the utmost term of
ELF abnegation. It is not term so strong
IN this country, where, if dog has fair
chance, he sometimes shows more nobility
| of character than some human specimens
that we wot Of, but the NANCY ours of the
oriental cities, as l know by my own OBJ
| servation, are utterly detestable. Mephib-
Osheth gives the utmost term of self loath-
| ing when he compares himself to dog,
and dead at that.
Consider the analogy. When the COM
mand is given from the palace of heaven to
the human soul to come the soul begins to
tremble. 1t says: "What is God going to
do with me nowf Is he going to destroy
mey Is he going to wreak his vengeance
upon me?" There is more than one Mephib-
osheth trembling now because God has
| summoned him to the palace of divine
grace. What are you trembling about?
God has no pleasure in the death Of a sin
ner. He does not send for you to hurt you
He sends for you to do you good. A Scotch
preacher had the following circumstances
| brought under his observation: There was
poor woman in the parish who was about
to be turned out because she could not pay
her rent. One night she heard loud
knocking at the door, and she made no an
swer and hid herself. The rapping con-
| tinued louder, louder, louder, but she made
no answer and continued to hide herself
She was almost frightened unto death.
| She said, That's the officer of the law
come to throw me out of my home"
A few days after a Christian philan-
thropist met her in the street and said:
My poor woman, where were you the
other night? l came round to your house
to pay your rent. Why didn't you let me
in? We're you at home?" "Why," she
replied, was that you?" eyes, that was
me. 1 came to pay your rent" why"
she said, ''if 1 had had any idea it was
you, would have let you in. I thought it
was an officer come to cast me out of my
home" o soul, that loud knocking at thy
gate today Is not the sheriff come to put
you in Jail 1t is the best friend you ever
had come to be your security You shiver
with terror because you think it is wrath.
1t is mercy. Why then, tremble before
| the King of heaven and earth calls you to
his palace? Stop trembling and start right
away. "Oh, you say, II can't start 1
have been so lamed by sin and so lamed
by evil habit I can't start. am lame in
both feet" My friend, we come out with
our prayers and sympathies to helpyou up
to the palace. If you want to get to the
palace, you may get there. Start now.
The Holy Spirit will help you All you
have to do is just to throw yourself on
your face at the feet of the King, as Me-
phibosheth did.
The Sinners Cry.
Mephibosheth caninal comparison
seems cxtravagant to the world, but when
q man has seen himself as he really is and
seen how he has been treating the Lord
there is no term vehement enough to ex-
press his self condemnation. The dead dog
of Mephibosheth's comparison fails to de-
scribe the mans utter loathing of himself.
| MephibOsheth' posturing does not seem
too prostrate. When a soul is convicted,
first he prays upright Then the muscles
of his neck relax, and he is able to bow his
head After awhile, by an almost super
human effort, he kneels down to pray. Aft
er awhile, when he has seen God and
seen himself, he throws himself fiat on his
face at the feet of the King, Just like
MephibOsheth. The fact is if we could see
| ourselves as God sees us we would perish
at the spectacle. You would have no time
to overhaul other people. Your cry would
be- God, be merciful to me, sinncrr'
And, again, Mephibosheth in my text
stands for the sake of another. Mephibo-
sheth would never have got into the palace
on his own account. Why did David ran
sack the realm to find that poor man and
then bestow upon him great fortune and
command farmer of the name of Ziba to
culture the estate and give to this invalid
Mephibosheth half the proceeds every year?
Why did King David make such a mighty
stir about a poor fellow who would never
be of any use to the throne of Israel? 1t
was for Jonathan's sake. 1t was what
Robert Burns calls for ''auld lang syne. "
David could not forget what Jonathan had
done for him in other days. Three times
this chapter has it that all this kindness
on the part of David to Mephibosheth was
for his father Jonathan's sake The
daughter Of Peter Martyr, through the
vice of her husband, came down to penury,
and the senate of Zurich took care of her
for her fathers sake. Sometimes person
has applied to you for help, and you have
refused him, but when you found he was
the son or brother of some one who had
been your benefactor in former days and
by glance you saw the resemblance of
your old friend In the face of the applicant
you rclented and you said, "Oh, will do
this for your fathers sake" You know
by your experience what my text means.
Now, my friends, it Is on that principle
that you and I are to get into the Kings
palace.
In His Name.
The most important part of every prayer
is the last three or four words of it For
Christ's sake" Do not rattle off those
words as though they were merely the fin
ishing stroke of the prayer. They are the
most important part of the prayer. When
in earnestness you go before God and say
"for Christ's sake it rolls in, as it were,
upon God mind all the memories of
Bethlehem and Gennesaret and Golgotha
When you say before God for Christ s
gake' you hold before Gods mind every
groan, every tear, every crimson drop Of
his only begotten Son. If there Is any
thing in all the universe that will move
God to an act of royal benefaction, it is to
say "For Christ's sake" God is omnipo-
tent, but he is not strong enough to resist
that cry, "For Christ's sake, - If little
child should kneel behind God s throne and
should say For Christ's sake, " the great
Jehovah would turn around on his throne
to look at her and listen. No prayer ever
gets to heaven but for Christ's sake. No
soul is ever comfortcd but for Christ sake.
The world will ever be redeemed but for
Christ's sake. Our name, however illus
trious it may be among men, before God
stands only for inconsistency and sin. But