The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1902-05-07

SERMON BY REV. H. A. MAC KUBeIN
Before the Society of Andrew and Philip,
of the First Presbyterian Church.
About fifty of the members of the
Brotherhood of Andrew and Phillip
attended the special services last Sun
day at the First Presbyterian Church.
The pastor, Rev. II. A. MacKubbin,
preached most excellent sermon,
which is given in full below.
And David said, the Lord that delivered
paw of the bear, He will deliver me out OF the
hand of this Philistine." |. Sam. rs:
We spend few moments tonight in
Gods great picture gallery, before
the portrait of the young David.
David lived in the age and under cir
cumstances that called for moral
hardihood. 1t was the time of the
Judges. Israel had fallen away into
idolatry. Thewh land reeked in
all the evil practices of idolatry.
Almost every sin that has a name, and
many now unnamed and nameless,
stalked forth unrebuked and unshamed
among the people. But God had his
few elect and chosen ones here, as he
ever has, who were brave enough to
stem the mighty current of evil, and
to make constant and unfiinching
protest against the shame and apostacy
of the nation. Every morning at day
break, boy might have been seen
leaving the little town of Bethlehem,
walking with quick and elastic pace,
and driving before him toward the
hills flock of sheep. His manly
bearing and radiant face would at
tract the notice and excite the admir-
alton of every passer-by. In that boy
character was being formed which
would in time become the shining OK
ample after which all jewish boys
would be taught to shape their lives.
Just now, all unconsciously, he was
developing that character building
mp that muscular and handsome
figure which in after life performed
dured so much exposure and hardship;
and while he was thus perfecting his
bodily strength he was not neglecting
the culture of his mind and heart.
There in the fields, on the mountain,
by the streams, under the shining sun
and the starry heavens, he was filling
his mind with these images of natural
beauty, and thinking those great
thoughts of God which appear in the
Psalms. While men were striving
with each other to prove which could
become the most depraved, this young
fellow was growing purer, and better
able than them all to face and over
come the great emergencies of life. 1t
WAS there that the spirit of the Lord
came upon him. / would have you to
notice right here that the place whore
God is most apt to come to you is at
the post of duty. No ono ever yet
found him in the path of disobedience.
Christ comes to find us along the
common paths of life, and we never
know what we lose by being out of
tho path of duty. 1t was in the fields
and among the sheep that the Aiora
found David, and endowed him with
that rare gift Of courage which crown
ed his life with glory, and fitted him
for the great work of restoring Israel
to the fear and the service of Jehovah.
That courage though developed in
lowly and obscure employments was
equal to great achievements. Three
instances of his courage at this period
of his life are in the Bible. On all
these occasions the courage which
David displayed was more than the
boldness and daring of physical
strength. Back of this great bodily
strength, back of his daring, and rs
the inspiration of it, was his firm and
unfinehing trust in God. Standing
before king Saul who smiled upon the
audacious proposition of the STRIPPING
to go out and fight the champion of
the Philistines, he said, 1.-THE Lord
that delivered me out Of the paw of
the lion, and out of the paw of the
bear, lie will deliver me ont of the
hand of this Philistine." And when
he went out to fight with Goliath, he
said to the gigantic Philistine, "Thou
contest to me with sword and with n
spear, and with shield but come
Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, "
1t was David's faith in God that made
him so bold, and gave him the assur-
ance of victory. And throughout his
whole career, along with the grandest
heroism there was always combined
the strongest faith He trusted con
tinually in God True, he was not n
perfect man. He sometimes stumbled
and fell. He made not few serious
and grave mistakes. He was guilty
of some fragrant sins against God and
man Too often he was imperious,
and petulant, and inconsiderate. But
after every failure, and after every sin,
he was manly enough to confess his
faults, and to make reparation to God
and man for tho injuries he had done
TO both. We may not condone his
fault, we may not even pity him for
some of his mistakes but we must
honor his manliness in admitting his
errors. Often it takes more courage
to confess sin than to do right. 1t
requires more grace to make n real
and sincere apology for misconduct
than to have refrained from the action
that made the apology necessary.
Repentance is token of moral power.
1t was because David leaned 80 much
and so hard upon God that he was
able to hate sin so vigorously, and to
repent of it so grieyously. And so
both in the performance OF his duty,
and in his sorrow for sin, we see that
the main spring of David's life, . was
moral courage inspired and strength
ened by trust in God.
If young man should come inquir-
ing what in my opinion would con-
tribute most to his success in life,
would at once reply, ''moral courage"
/ would say, Brother write that out
in capital letters, and keep it blazing
before your eyes by day and by night. ;"
The best guarantee of success for a
young man, and the safest criterion of
his future is the demonstration of his
answering adherence to principle.
/ am anxious to impress the young
men of this audience with this truth,
that the trait that wins success is cour-
age that has moral background, and
is inspired by faith in God.
This word has n moral significance
limited at in its derivation.
There is not the least hint of physi-
cal power in the word itself. 1t comes
from the Latin word cor, the heart
courage is heart and to be courage
Gus means nothing more than to have
a heart which is ready to do and to
dare everything that is necessary to
accomplish ones purpose. 1t is plain
from the very word that courage lies
more in ones feeling and spirit than
in the forth-putting of physical energy,
mr. tho axareisa of bodily stranpth