The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-09-04
THE SONG OF THE LORD
Sunday Discourse By DR.. Chapman, the
Noted Pastor.EvangeIist.
4 Our Hearts VIII But Sing Right Christ VIII
Help Us 10 couuteract Our Bias to Sin.

NEW ONh it hcN. DTs ~ Nii-
bur Chapman's sermons continue to excite
the profoundest interest and to give the
greatest satisfaction to that large number
of American people who demand a strik'
ing discourse for weekly reading. The
popular pastor-evangeist has prepared the
following sermon for the press. 1t is en-
titled "The Song of the Lord" and is
preached from the text, "The song of the
Lord began also" III. Chronicles 20: q.
The difference between the 2Sth and the
Goth chapters of III. Chronicles presents to
us an illustration of that difference which
we frequently see in the church as she
passes from times OF enthusiasm to days
Of depression and back again. and for
which there seems to be no human expa-
nation. So also is it the picture Of many
families where the godly father has an un-
godly son and an ungodly father a gody
son. which is entirely contrary to the rules
which in our own house we have deter.
mined should abound. So also is it a pic
ture of many individuals who after weeks
and months and even years are found reg
ularly in the house of God the most devout
of worshipers. and then suddenly stop un-
able almost to explain to themselves how
they have lost interest and why their zeal
is quenched. The wicked reign of Ahaz
and the reign of his righteous son Heze-
kiah thus furnish us with practical illus
traton.
Ahaz was the eleventh king Of Judah.
the son of Jotham. His example was holy
and his reign was peaceful and prosper
Gus. Not so of his son. He was a gross
idolator, actually sacrificed his children to
the gods, remodeled the temple that it
might be fit for idolatrous uses and owned
chariot horses that were dedicated to the
SON. Upon all of this the judgment of God
falls. but because of it the condition of the
people is something dreadful. He is an il
lustration of the power of sin. First, in its
infatuation. We find him robbng the
palace and plundering the temple, places
which had always been sacred both to the
king and to the people, but which he pre-
sents as dishonored in the 2lst verse OF
the 2Sth chapter, to the king of Assyra,
but somehow sin seems always to present
the same sort of an infatuation to those
who walk for any length of time in its way,
Second, in its degradation. There could
be no worse sin than that described in
verses "a and 25 of the 28th chapter, where
Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the
house OF God, shut up the doors of the
house, and in all the cities of Judah made
high places to burn incense to other gods.
A picture very much like it is found in
the 9th chapter of Daniel the Sd and 5th
verses, where the temple vessels are taken
by the king and used in midnight revelry,
when suddenly the fingers of a mans hand
are seen writing on the wall, Thou art
weighed in the balance and found want
ing" However, it is true that any man
who uses his powers OF body or Of mind to
sin is as defiantly sinful as was Ahaz the
king.
Third, in his death he is picture of the
end of sin. He died when only thirty-six
years of age untimely death, and he
sleeps in a dishonored grave, for they
would not bury him in the tombs of the
kings, a perfect illustration of the text,
"Sin when it is finished brings forth
death" In the city of Paris in burning
letters of fire a certain place of dangerous
sin greeted the pssser-by with these words,
all OF them written in fire, Nothing to
pay but he who enters in through the
door will find that the wages of sin is
death. This has always been true. Heze-
kiah, the son of Ahaz, began to reign
when he was twenty-five years old. In
his parental heritage he had everything
against him. but his mothers name was
Abizah, and she was the daughter of
Zechariah, man who had understanding
in the views Of God This is undoubtedly
the secret of Hezekah's goodness. Boys
frequently go right when their fathers are
wrong, but when the mother is wrong very
rarely do they walk in the paths Of recti-
tude.
For sixteen years there had been no song
in the temple. This was a great loss, be-
cause the people had always been accus-
toned 20 sing from the time at creation
when the morning stars sang together anc
all the sons of God shouted for Joy to thu
marching through the Red Sea where the
sons of Israel were led by Miriam in the
singing, and the birth of the Saviour where
the angels were the choir, the last supper
where the Lord Himself was one OF the
singers, up to the new heaven and the new
earth where they sing the new song the
world has had much to do with music The
temple service when men lived in right re-
lations with God and the house was clean
was beautiful. Some Psalms were written
IN the temple in letters of gold, and the
people chanted them to the accompani-
ment of the consecratcd instruments, the
antiphonal choirs answered each other, as
for example, in the oath Psalm, one choir
would say, Lift up your heads, o ye
gates, even lift them up. ye everlasting
doors, and the King OF glory shall come
in" and the other choir would respond,
who is this King OF glory?" only to have
the other singers reply, The Lord OF
Hosts, He is the King OF glory" But for
sixteen years there had been no song.
First, why was this? The best expla-
nation is given in the 2sth chapter of IL.
And Ahaz gathered together the vessels
OF the house of God, and cut in pieces the
vessels Of the house of God, and shut up
the doors of the house of the Lord and
ne made him altars in every corner of
Jerusalem. And in every several city of
Judah he made high places to burn in
cense unto other gods and provoked to an
ger the Lord God of his fathers" There
Is many life to-day without a song, and
TO all such give my message. The reason
ior this is found in the fact of sin We sin
IN our outward acts, but God can keep US
from that If we will let Him and give us
the song once more. We sin in our de-
slres, but lie can remove these desires il
we WIN but permit Him to do so, and our
anectlons may be set on things above. We
slh IN our motives, but if we are His there
Is new pivot to our life, and the motives
Mhlch were most impure may become pure,
indeed. We have also bias to sin which
comes to us with our birth. but He can
counteract It if we will give Him the right
70 20 So II one could throw stone up
high enough it would come to the place
OF equlPolse, where the law of grayitation
would be overcome by the high law which
Puiis upward, and so If we did but yield
ourselves to Christ as we ought we would
come to the place where He would over
power the weakness of our nature, and
What we doubtless need ia a song to-day
~ may be the old song we used to sing. II
Is natural to everybody TO sing. the blow
boy as he follows his plow, the shepherd
az nc Keeps his flock in the mountains. the
sailor on the sea and the traveller on the
PLAIN, they all sing At critical moment
IN the battle of Waterloo when the soldiers
were wavering Wellington found out it was