The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-07-25

time you. came 70 mid-iife yos
believed that man was three
fourths wrong. But within these past
few years, since you have been 90 lied
about and swindled and cheated, you
have come to the conclusion that man
Is altogether wrong, and now you can
say with the prayer book and with the
Bible: "There is no health Ia us. T"
Now you believe with the prophet:
"The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked. "
Whatever you may have believed be-
fore, now you believe that Mephibo-
sheth is lame on both feet
Again, Mephibosheth in the text
stands for the disabled human soul
humbled and restored. When this In
valid of my text got command to
come to King David's palace, he trew-
bled. The fact was that the grand
father of Mephibosheth had treated
David most shockingly, and now
Mephibosheth says to himself: "What
does the king want of me? Isn't 1t
enough that am lame? In he going
to destroy my life? Is he going to
wreak on me the vengeance which he
holds toward my grandfather Saul?
It's too bad" But go to tho palace
Mephibosheth must, since tho king has
commanded 1t. With star and crutches
and helped by his friends, see Me-
phibosheth going up the stairs of tho
palace. hear his staff and crutches
rafting on the tessellated floor of the
throne room. No sooner have these
two y>areopo cop|ronkad 40 ch othar-
Mephibosheth and David, the king
than Mephibosheth throws HIM
self fat on his face before the
king, and styles himself q dead
dog. In the east when q man styles
himself dog he utters the ut
most term of self-abnegation. 1t 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 know by my
own observation, are utterly detesta-
BILE. Mephibosheth gives the utmost
term Of self-lothing when he compares
himself to a dog, and dead at that.
Consider the analogy. When the
command 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 now? Is
He going to wreak His vengeance up
on me?" There is more than one Me-
phibosheth 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 sinner. 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. I'M
der his observations: There was a poor
woman In the parish who was about to
he turned out because she could not
pay her rent. One night she heard
loud knocking ut the door, and she
made no answer, and hid herself. The
rapping continued louder. louder,
louder, but she made no answer, and
continued to hide herself. She was al
most frightened unto death. She said:
That's the officer of the law come to
throw me out Of my home"
few days after a Christian philan-
thropist met her in the street. and
said: my poor woman, where were
you the other night? came round to
your house to pay your rent. Why
didn't you let me in? We're you at
homer" why" she replied, was that
your" Eyes, that was me; / came to
pay your rent" why" she said, IF
had had any idea it was you l would
have let you in. I thought it vas an
,fA ~ aot -
home" o soul, that loud knocking at
thy gate to-day is not the sheriff come
to put you in Jail; it is the best friend
you ever had come to DO your secu-
rity. You SILVER with terror because
you think 1t Is wrath. 1t is mercy.
Why, then, tremble before the King of
Heaven and earth calls you to His pal
ace? Stop trembling and start right
away. "Oh," you say, II can't start
I have been so famed by sin, and SO
famed by evil habit, can't start. am
lame in both feet" My friend, we
come out with our prayers and sympa-
thies to help you up to the palace. If
you want to get to the palace you may
get there. Start now. The Holy Spirit
viii help you. All you have to do is
Just throw yourself on your face at the
feet OF the King, as Mephibosheth did.
And again: Mephibosheth in my text
stands Tor the disabled human soul
saved for the sake Of another. Mephi-
bosheth would never have got into the
palace on his own account Why did
David ransack the realm to fiud that
poor man, and then bestow upon him
q great fortune, and command farm
err by the name of .Ziba to culture the
estate and give to. this invalid Me-
phibosheth half the proceeds every
year? Why did King David make
such a mighty stir about poor fell
low who would never be Of any use
to the throne Of Israel? It 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 1t
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