El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-07-11
BAPTIST CHURCH.
"Thou Shouldst Have Smitten Five
or Six Times"

| First 68pGlSG cnurCn yesterday moru-
ing having for q text ii XII. 1919, "Anc
the man of God was wroth with him,
and said, thou shouldst have smitten
| five or six times; then hadst thou
smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed
it, whereas now thou shalt smite Syria
but thrice" A part of the sermon Is
as follows:
JOssh was the twelfth king of Israel.
During his fathers reign Israel had
torn herselfloosef from Syrian dominion,
and was now striving to maintain her
independence. She had but ten
chariots and fifty horsemen left: but
stronger than these was the presence
and influence of Elisha, the man of
God. Wellington said of Napoleon
worth 10000 men. In Scott's Lady of
the Lake." we are told that one blast
from the bugle of the dead Roderick
DhuwOuld have been worth more than
| q thousand recruits to Clan Alpines re-
treating columns. Richter said of
Luther Ibis words are hall battles"
So now that Elisha is about to die the
king cries 30 my father, my father,
the chariots of Israel and the horsemen
thereof" He felt that Israel had bet
ter lose the few chariots and drivers
they had left than to lose this godly
man.
Seeing his belief in cody men and
the power of God to save, the prophet
sought to show him that God could
save even though there be no prophet
near, and to stimulate him to noble ac-
ton. He babe him open the window
and place an arrow on the bow ready
to shoot. Then as he shot the prophet
laid his hand on the kings hands and
shot with him, declaring that thus God
would work with the king and make
his warfare with the Syrians success
f,l no tol6 ha ri To fQ
the earth with the arrow Indicative OF
how under God he would deal with the
Syrians. The king did so but tamely
and only thrice. And this is what gave
rise to our text. Elisha was wounded,
yea angry, that the man had not shown
more enthusiasm, indicative of 4 great
err faith in God. 1 note from all this
four practical thoughts:
First: Even wicked men have some
faith in God and are glad to have the
help of God in times of trouble.
We are told in the context that Joash
was wicked even like Jeroboam. But
still he liked to retain shold on God
even though 1t were by proxy. He
felt safe when the man of God was
there to represent him. 1 heard once
of q man W no said to;his pastor, 'Pastor,
when you want any money, come around
to me, but don't bother about my pray
ing. 1 do the paying for the family
and my wife does the praying" Many
man feels kind of eecurity because
of mothers prayers in his behalf; and
indeed many one would have gone to
the devil long before they did, and
many are saved earlier than they
would be, but for these mothers and
fathers who stand between them and
God.
But as sure as you live there is
personal responsibility you have to as.
sumo sometime or all will be lost. The
prophet did all he could for this king,
but he finally threw the matter back
on him so that by his own action he
must stand or fall. After all, what
the old negress, in one of our religious |
story books, thought was scripture is q |
pretty good Interpolation. Said she: |
81 tells you dat de scripture says cherry |
tub must stand on it's own bottom"
And SO it must. You must get beyond
the proxy line and act for yourself
some time.
Second: But wicked man will not
have the faith in God that q good man
has. What difference to Elisha If the
prophet should not be present with his
personal irfluence? God could be there:
he would not die. And God could give
the victory just the same. But the
You'd the physical life of the prophet;
he felt doubtless that when he was
Bless Israel. So when he smote
upon the ground indicative
of his faith in the war
against Syria he was tame in his &C.
tion and left off long before he should. |
wroth. L often wonder what he would |
say were he to come back and watch |
for period of about six months the |
lack of faith and enthusiasm, aye the |
real csrelessness in our churches.
But what was the trouble with this |
king? All! sin was at the door, He |
lived at guilty distance from God.
And believe me that is often the cause |
today. Church people do not live as
they should and their faith and enthu-
siasm becomes withered and dried up.
In the construction of the Lick obser-
vatory it was found necessary to place
it on top of mount Hamilton so that it's
view of planets might not be cut off by
clouds and fogs in the lowlands of the
coast So my brethren If we would al
ways have q full view of God with the
telescope of faith, and this is necessary
to enth usiastlc action, we must mount
above the miasma and fog of sin and
rest upon. the mountain top of consecra-
ton.
Third: Any lack of faith and en-
thusiasm is certain to very much abre
prophet cried out, why did not YOU go
on shifting and then your blessing
would have been complete. But as it
is you shall receive only half of the
fulness of the blessing. Had you in
dictated sufficient faith and enthusiasm
you would have utterly subdued Syria;
but because of your lack you shall
smite her but thrice. Look at that
company of detected disciples at the
foot of the mount. They could not
cast out the demon from the child.
What was the trouble? Jesus told