The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-02
THE LORD OF HOSTS
REV. MIR. PHIEPUTT breaches HIS
FIRST SERMON.
New Pastor of the CentraI-Avenue
Church-Mr. Smith Talks of the
War at H~aII-Place,

DR.. Allan B.. Philputt, the new pastor of
the Central Christian Church, preached his
first sermon yesterday morning as the regu-
lar pastor. a large congregation coming out
to hear him. His text was from Psalm XVI,
Z: 1.-THE Lord of hosts is with us, the God
of Jacob is our refuge" In his introductory
remarks the pastor said; 1.-The ministry
which begins to-day will make no depart
ure from it's predecessors in preaching
Jesus Christ and Him crucitied as the saw
Tor of sinners. l fully recognize that it is
one thing to raise a question in the study
and quite another to exploit it in the pulpit.
The people come here for bread. L shall
try not to give them a stone, In the simple
ecclesiastical polity which obtains among
us the opening of a new pastorate is at
tended with no ceremonial. There is, how
ever, an individual interest in the matter
and 1 come under the feeling that / have
been guided by the leadings of the Spirit in
this settlement among you. The preacher Is
not a Pope to dictate either the thought
or conduct of people, nor is the church a
council to put limitations upon the thought
of the preacher. AS long as we are agreed
we shall walk together. 1 come with no
other desire than to be a helpful preach
er and pastor of the flock, and upon this
union I invoke the blessing of Almighty
God" Continuing the pastor said i'll refer
ence to his text:
This refrain occurs in the midst of the
psalm and with it the psalm dies away.
Two ideas are contained in it-both very
dear to the Lords people. There is the IDEA
of conquest and the idea of comfort. Ihe
psalm has recounted both experiences; The
nations ragged, the Kingdoms were moved,
He uttered His voice, the earth melted. This
is conquest and power. But again he says,
God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble These are the two
sides of Gods nature as we get hold OF 1t,
and they correspond to the two-fold need
of the Christian life. In a very large sense
the life of the Christian is a life Of con-
quest. Gods cause must be heralded in the
earth and His name must be made glorious.
The Christian must do battle. He must
stand like flint against unrighteousness. The
friends of God must be aggressive. The SOL
dieIS of the cross have no small warfare
upon their hands. In all her career of nearly
nineteen centuries the church has waged
some sort of conflict with the world. She
has not always, If indeed, she has ever,
been entirely unworldiy herself. At times
her warfare has been carnal, and waged
with carnal weapons. She did not disdain
the sword when once she had got one, al
though her founder had bid the sword TO
be sheathed. But at no time has the church
been as corrupt as the world, and never
has she failed to strengthen in some way
the higher purposes of man. Her conquests
have been from sea to sea, and from the
rivers unto the ends of the earth. And look
ing back over history we can truly say:
The Lord of hosts is with u.s.
But the Christian must sometimes run to
cover. He must sometimes remain in the
trenches. A timorous feeling will come even
to the braVest. The stoutest heart now and
then needs consolation. Then 1t is sweet to
know that the God of Jacob is our refuge
Thus we have in this refrain both the idea
of conquest and comfort.
Let US look at the phrases a little closer
to see what they mean. The Lord of hosts
is an expression often met with in the Bible
md IT'S meaning iG NOT 50 p9 GilV determined
1t may refer to the stars of heaven. And
this would give it a large meaning. This is
back the walls of the world until the stars
we now know, countless though they be-,
are but a handful to the myriads that lie
beyond. The psalmist himself was wont to
sing: 'The heavens decare the glory of
God; The armament showeth His handi,
work. Day unto day uttereth, speech and
night unto night showeth knowledge There
is no language nor speech, their voice is
not heard. And yet their lines have gone out
of it's meaning in the light of the vision
vouchsafed to the young man with Elisha
when the king of Syria was trying to en-
trap the prophet at Dothan. Elisha had been
divining his movements to the king of Israel
and he sent down a great force with horses
and chariots to capture him. When his serv-
WHAT shall we do?' And Elisha prayed and
said, L pray thee. Lord, open his eyes that
he may see And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man and he saw: And be-
hold the mountain was full of horses and
chariots of fire round about Elisha These
were the hosts of God, the angelic hosts.
Paul speaks of the cloud of witnesses and
the Hebrew letter of the ministering spirits.
Milton sings: o myriads of immortal
spirits Q powers matchless but with the
"Or, in the third place, we might say that
the expression Lord of hosts refers to arm
les. He is the God of battles, the Lord of
Sabaoth. The Israelites invoked His aid in
their wars, and felt that He went before
them when their cause was just. And if. as
some contend, this psalm was written in
commemoration of Sennacherib's overthrow
while lying under the walls of Jerusalem
In the reign of Hezekiah III Kings, xix, 35),
1t would seem to make the phrase clear.
You will remember that the Assyrians came
and laid siege. They had conquered the out
lying towns and nothing human could save
Judea'S capital. But in a night the angel
OF the Lord smote them, nearly a hundred
leader withdrew and Judah was saved. It
was in c-ommemoration of this that Lord
Byron. composed his immortal poem: The
AssyrIan came down like a wolf on the fold,
etc. The God of Jacob is our refuge
w are more conscious of our individual
self than of all the world beside, and we
ask, what is TO become of me?' The tree
dies, but the forest lives. and it is enough.
But man takes little comfort in the progress
OF things in general, if the individual is ig-
nored: What is to become of me in all this
immensely or space and fury of conquest p
For him the psalmist has a word of COM
tort: The God of Jacob is our refuge Now
It is the Lord of hosts-the God of great
things. Now 1t is theNGod of Jacob-the God
of small things-the God of the individual
man. First the largest thought of the sweep
of Gods power. Then the smallest obiect of
ms attention the God of Jacob. Jacob was a
man as we are, who wrestled with God.
VINO saw visions and had trouble. He is the
God of the individual struggling soul who
may run unto Him and be shielded as the
partridge nestles her young. This is the
comfort OF the text: TIL God of Jacob is
our refuge"