Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1899-01-25
SERMONS OF THE DAY.
Preached by Rev. DR.. Taimage.

Preached by Rev. Dr.. Taimage.
Subject: "Cling to the Cross'-The Mu1,
tiplicitv of Opportunities For Doing
Good That Men of Talent Have Within
Their Reach-Brave Stay-at-Holnes.
TEXT: "Thou art worth 10000 Of u.s.
II Samuel xviii, 3.
One Of the most wondrous chara cters OF
his time was David. A red haired hoy, he
could shepherd flock or carry ''ten loaves
and ten slices Of milk cheese to his brothers
In the regiment" or with leathern thong,
stone loaded, bring down a giant whose
armor weighed two hundredweieht of
metal. or cause lion which roared at him
in rage to roar with pain as he flung it,
dying, to the roadside, or could marshal a
host. or rule an empire. or thumb a harp
SO skilIfully that it cured SauTs dementia
"a harp from whose strings dripped pas
torals, elegies, lyrics, triumphal marches,
benedictions. Now, this man. a mbina-
tion OF music and heroics OF dithyrambs
and battle fields, CT country quietudes and
statesmaDship, is to fit out military ex-
peditioD. Four thousand troops. accord.
ing to Josephus, were sent into the field.
The captains were put In command OF
the companies. and the colonels in com.
mand Of the regiments, which were dis
posed into right wing left wing and
center. General Joab, General Abishai
and General Ittai are to lead these three
divisions. But who shall take the field
as commander in chief? David offers
his services and proposes to go to the
front. He will lead them in the awful
charge, for he has not a cowardly nerve
in all bis body. He did not propose to have
his troops go into perils which he himself
would not brave. and the battlefield re.
qufred as much courage then as now, fol
the opposing forces must, In order to do any
execution at all, come up to within posi-
tive reach Of saber and spear. But there
came up from the troops and from civiIiani
mighty protest against David's takins
the field. His life was too important t.
the nation. If he went down. the empir
went down; whereas, IL the whole 1000 o
the ranks were slain another army nigh
be marsha!ed and the defeat turned int,
cally cried out: "Noi No! You canno
go to the front! We estimate you as 10, ,OO
men! Thou art worth 10000 OF usl''
That army and that nation then ant
there reminded David and now remind u
OF the fact which we forget or never ap
precfate at all that some people are moral
ly or spiritually worth far more thar
others, and some worth far less. The cen
sus and statistics of neighborhoods,
churches, Of nations, serve their purpose
but they can never accurately express tn,
real state of things. The practical subjec
who have especial opportunity. especia
RraceS, especial wealth. especial talent
especial eloquence, ought to make up b.
especial assiduity and conservation 70
those who have less opportunities and les
gifts. You ought to do ten times more 70
God and human uplifting than those wht
have only tenth of your equipment. Th,
rank and the file of the 1000 of the tex
told the truth when they said. ''Thou ar
worth 10 900 of u.s.
In no city Of its size are there so man,
men OF talent as are gathere In the capita
OF the American nation. Some of the State:
are at times represented by men who hav,
neither talents nor good morals. TheiI
political party compensates them for p8rti.
san services by sending them to Congress.
or by securing for them position In the wal
or navy or pension or printing depart.
ments. They were nobodies before they
4 rUfi9.s0sItz;s5f 20 1a5s- coolies hare. bui
men and men Of Exemplary lives and raff E4 ESf4hs
purposes. Some of them have the gifts and
qualifications OF ten men, OF hundred mef
yea, of a thousand men-and their con
stituents could trutbfully employ thu
words of my text and say, Thou art worth
10.00O of u.s.
menting their usefulness in every possible
direction? Many of them are, some of then
are not. 1t Is a stupendous thing to have
power-political power, social power, of
ficial power. 1t has often been printed and
often quoted as one OF the wise sayings o.
the ancients. knowledge is power" Ye,
it may as certainly be power for evil as fol
good. The lightning express rail train has
power for good if it is on the track, bui
horrible power for disaster If it leaves the
track and plunges down the embankment
The ocean steamer has power for good
sailing in right direction and in safe water,
and under good helmsman and wide awake
watchman on the lookout, but indescrib
able power for evil IL under full head
way it strikes the breakers. As steam
power or electricity or water forces may
be stored in boilers, IA dynamos, in reser.
voirs, to be employed all over a town OF
city, so God sometimes puts in one mar
enough faith to supply thousands Of mer
with courage. II n man happens to be thu.
endowed, let him realize his opportunity
and improve it. At this time millions OF
men are a-tremble lest this nation make
mistake and enter upon some policy OF
government for the islands of the sea that
will founder the republic. God will give
to few men on both sides of this question
faith and courage for all the rest. There
are two false positions many are now tax.
ing, false as false can be. The one is that
II we decline to take under full charge
Cuba and Porto Rico and the Philippines
we make declination that will be disas.
trous to our nation, and other nations will
take control of those archfpelagoes and
RUE tu0Lu, anu perhaps 10 our Quml1at1OD
and destruction. The other theory Is that
II we take possession Of those once Spanish
colonies We invite foreign Interference and
enter upon a career that Will finally be the
demolition of this government. Both posi-
tfons are immeasurable mistakes. God has
set apart this continent for free govern
ments and the triumphs Of Christianity
and we may take either the first
or the second course without ruin.
We may say to those islands, I'VE
do not want you, but we have set you
free. Now stay free. while we see that the
Spanish panther never again puts its
paw on your neck" Or we may invite
the annexation of Cuba and Porto Rico and
say to the Philippines, "Get ready by edu-
cation and good morals for free govern
ment, and at the right time you shall be
one of our Territories, on the way to be one
of our States"
And there is no power in Europe, Asia or
Africa. or all combined, that could harm
this nation in its world wide endeavor. God
is on the side OF the right, and by earnest
imploration for divine guidance on the part
of this nation we will be led to do the right,
We are on the brink OF nothing. There is
no frightful crisis. This train OF Republi-
can and Democratic institutions is
through train. and all we want is to have
the engineer and the brakemen and the
conductor attend to their business and the
passengers keep their places.
a vast mdJOFlty VI meu nave no surplus
of confidence for others and hardly
enough confidence for themselves. They
go through fife saying depressing things
and doing depressing things. They chill
prayer meetings, discourage charitable in
stitutions, injure commerce and kill
churches. They blow out lights when they
ought to be kindling them. They hover
around a dull fire on their own hearth and
take up SO much room that no one can
catch the least caloric, instead of stirring
the hearth into a blaze, the crackle of
whose backlog would invite the whole
nefghborhood to come in to feel the
abounding warmth and see the transngur-'
alton Of the. faces. As we all hare tcl
guess a great deal about the future, lei US
guess something good, for it will be more
encouraging, and the guess will be just as
apt to come true. What lot OF ingrates
the Lord has at His table! People who
have had three m eals a day for fifty years
md vet fear that they will soon have to
aiiie their knife and fork on an empty