The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-12-31
n panper- Better underrate than over
rate ourxeIve

n 6egter underrate than over
rate ourselves.
My subject il also q refutatiou Of the
famous sentiment that God is on the side
Of the heaviest artillery. From all I can
read about this struggle Benhadad spoke
the truth hen he said, The gods do 90
unto me and more also IL the dust OF Sa-
maria shall suffice for handfuls for all the
people that follow me" He was so conf
dent that with his superior numbers he
could defeat the king Of Israel and cap
ture Samaria that he left the work for a
short afternoon. He is at noon in wassail
with his royal associates. The battle Of
Waterloo was not opened until twenty
FIVE minutes Of u O'Clock at noon, but
that was because the ground was too wet
to move the artillery. Benhadad waits
until afternoon because he is overconf-
dent. God is not on the side OF the most
swords or the most war chariots or the
most cannon if they be in the wrong, but
On the side Of the right. How such a pre-
posterous sentiment as / have mentioned
should have gained sway l know not
when all history proclaims he opposite.
Describing the very mex battle in which
Benhadad fought and was miserably de-
feated, the Bible says, The children of
Israel pitched before them like two little
fiocks Of kids, but the Syrians filled the
country" How insignificant were the I'M
armed Israelites, half starved and unor-
ganized, compared with Pharaoh's host
on foot, on horseback and charioted! But
the waves Of the Red sea took part in the
conflict, parting TO let the pursued pass,
but coming together to destroy the pur-
suers. The Midianites and Amalekites
were like grasshoppers for multitudes,
hut 300 men under Gideon came down,
their only weapons pitchers and lamps
and trumpetS. and as they held up the
lamps n threw down the pitchers and
blew the trumpets the fash of the lights
and the blare of the Instrument and the
crash of the crockery made their enemy
fall back in wild terror.
The Battle Of Life.
Notice also that my text takes it for
granted that you must put on the har-
ness, else how can you take it off? Life
is a battle-a thirty years, a forty years
or a sixty years war. Helmet you must
have, for the bat;l1aXcs Of sEepticism and
agnosticisE are aimed at your head. Ev-
cry possible effort will be made to make
you think wrong. The young man who
gets his head filed with wrong notions
about God, about Christ, about the soul,
about the great beyond. is already cap
tured. Put on tie helmet. the latchet well
adjusted under the chin. Think right. and
you will act right. Yes, breastplate for
the heart. That is the most important
part to be defended. That decides what
you love and what you hate, what you
hope for n what you despise. That de-
cides earthly happiness and eternal des-
tiny. Keep the heart pure. and the life
4 mill hn r,ra Hn-@ tha tnart -, aDI
your actions will be corrupt. Oh, that all
of us might have a new heart covered
with a divinely wrought breastplate! Yes,
greaves for the feet. So many dangerous
roads are W. compelled to walk. So many
people tread on sharp prongs Of tempta-
ton n go lame n limping all the rest
of their days. Iron mailed shoe for the
foot.
Young man, see that you have on a
complete armor. All looks bright now,
and it seems as if you could march right
on without opposition or attack, but be
not deceived. There are hidden foes ready
to halt you on your way. The same cup
that Benhadad drank out of just before
his defeat will be offered to effect your
defeat. His intoxicated brain saw victory
when there was nothing but rout and
ruin. What work Benhadad's cup mad
for Benhadad's army! What shipwrecks
on the sea, what disasters ON the land,
caused by inflaming liquids put upon the
tongue to set seething the brain! How
many kings of thought and influence.
with crowns brighter than the one Ben
hadad wore, have by strong drink been
put into fight as base as that in which
Benhadad rode, "Give them to me-" says
the demon Of inebriacy. Give them TO
me; hand them down-the brightest legis-
lators of the land. l will thicken their
tongue; I will bloat their cheeks; / will
stagger their step; / will damn their soul.
Hand them down to me-the physician
out Of his laboratory. the attorney from
the courtroom, the minister of the gospel
from the affairs Of God. Hand them
down to me, the queens Of the drawing
room, and I will disgrace their names
and blast their homes and throw them
down farther han Jezebel fell to the dogs
that crunched her carcass"
We hold our breath in horror as once in
awhile we hear of some one, either by &C
cident or suicide, going over Niagara
falls, but the tides, the depths, the awful
surges Of intemperance. are every hour Of
every day rushing scores Of immortals
down into unfathomed abysm. Suicides
W ~ uLA1kC ok ~
by the million! Beware Of the cup out OF
which Benhadad drank personal and ma
tional demolition.
Yes, you must have full armor. There
are temptations to an impure life all the
time multiplying and intensifying. Read
in private and discussed afterward by the
refined and elegant in parlors are books
poisoned from lid to lid with impurities.
Loose characters in the novel applauded
by rhetorical pens and proprieties of life
caricatured as prudery and inhde.ity OF
behavior put in a way to excite sympathy
and half approval. My wonder Is not that
so many go astray, but my wonder Is that
ten times as many are not debauched.
There are influences at work which, il
unarrested, will turn our cities into Sod
oms and Gomorrahs ready for the hail
and fire and birthstone of Gods indigna-
ton.
Aiming Against Temptation.