Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-01-02

but coming together to destroy the pur-
suers. The Midiantes and Amalekites
were like grasshoppers for multitudes,
but 800 men under Gideon came down,
their only weapons pitchers and lamps
and trumpets, and as they held up the
lamps and threw down the pitchers and
blew the trumpcts the fash Of the lights
and the blare of the instruments 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 battle-a thirty years. n forty years
or sixty years war. Helmet you must
have, for the battlcaxes of skepticisn and
agnosticism 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 the helmet. the atchet 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 and what you despise. That de-
cides earthly happiness and eternal des-
tiny. Keep the heart pure, and the life
will be pure. Have the heart corrupt, and
your actions will be corrupt. Oh that all
Of us might have Il new heart covered
with divinely wrought breastplate! Yes,
greaves for the feet So many dangerous
roads are we compelled to walk SO many
people tread on sharp prongs Of tempta-
ton and go lame and 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 il 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 made
for Benhadad's army What shipwrecks
on the sea, what disasters on the land,
caused by inhaming liquids put upon the
tongue to set seethng the brain How
many kings of thought and influence,
with crowns brighter than the one Ben
put into flight 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 brig est legis-
ators of the land. I will thicken their
tongue; | will bloat their cheeks: | will
stagger their step; l 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 | will disgrace their names
and blast their homes and throw them
down farther than 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 ac-
Cident or suicide, going over Niagara
falls, but the tides the depths, the awful
surges Of incompetence, are every hour of
every day rushing scores of immortals
down into unfathomed abysm. Suicides
by the hundreds Of thousands, Suicides
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 lnhde.ity OF
behavior put in a way to excite sympathy
and half approval. Ny 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, if
unarrested. will turn our cities into Sod
oms and Gomorrahs ready for the hail
and fire and birthstone Of God's indigna-
ton.
Aiming Against Temptation.
Yes, you must have full armor, for
there are all the temptations to gaming
practices, either in gambling halls or in
the money markets, buying what they
never paid for and selling what they can
never deliver, first borrowing what they
cannot return and stealing what they can
not borrow. All hours of the day and all
hours of the night are vast sums of mon
ey passing fraudulently, for gambling in
all cases is fraud, whether it be a twenty
five cent prize package or a crash in
Northern Pacific, which made Lombard
street and the bourse aghaSt and shook
the nations with financial earthquake
Oh. yes you need the harness on until
God tells you to take it off. In olden time
it was leFthcru armor or chain armor or
ribbed armor, fashioned III ancient foun-
dry, but no one can give you the outfit
you need except God, who is master Of
this world and the Internal world from
which ascend the mightest hostlitic>
Lay hold Of God. Nothing but the arm Of
OmnipOteuee is strong enough for the
tempted.
Young man, put on the entire gospel
outfit. If you have come from the coun-
try to live in the city. initiate the exam
Pile of a young man who arrived in New
York on Saturday night, intending the
followtns Monday to enter his place of
employment On Sunday morning, carry
ing ont the good advice before leaving his
country h SIC he went to church. Stand
ing at the door, he was abashcd as the
beauty and fashion and wealth swept
through the doors of the sanctuary, and
he dared not go in. A. h. was about
turning to 20 away gentleman said,
Have you seat, young man. NO,
sir" "Do you belong to the city| "No.
sir" "Whcre is your homcE' ''ln the
country" How long have YOU been in
the city," Il came in last night What
are you going to do here" Il hope To 20
into business tomorrow" THAT is right.
You have begun WELL young man Never
forsakc the God of your fathers. Come.
! will give you seat in my pew The