Newport weekly independent., 1902-08-01

to set the soldiers upon him and tear him limb from limb. his spiritualvision, quickened in the moment of peril, sees the angel of the Lord and His host en- camped round about him to deliver him. Alone in a strange land, with unfriendly heather about him, and no companion in whom to trust and con- fide, he turns to the Lord with all the intensity of his lOvable; nature and finds in Him a satisfying portion; and turning to you and me he pleads: 70, taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."
 The experiences of life under the hand of the Lord will blossom into beautiful fruits of spiritual joy and satisfaction so that the soul can de- clare with David: My soul shall make her boast in the Lord" but the soul that puts it's Lord on a pedes- tai and makes Him an object of worship at appointed times and sea- sons and in set places, and does not take Him into the everyday expert ences in the shop, in the home, on the street, misses the very heart of religion and the purpose of God. He may be able boldly to say ill meeting that his boast is in the Lord, but if he has not learned what it means to stand with his Lord in the heat of the everyday conflict and peril, it is but an idle boast and he knows not whereof he speaks.
 The Worlds Boast.-And if David made his boast in the Lord, in what, think you, does the world boast itself? It's boast does not reach up into the heavens, where God has His dwelling place, but is found within itself, and is of the earth earthy. It boasts of the riches, gold, silver, precious stones, which are taken from it's bosom; it boasts of it's pow CT, and in it's strength expresses the weak; it boasts of it's learning and wisdom and speaks unto itself great things and high-sounding phrases. forgetful of the fact that the fool ishness of God is wiser than men; it boasts of it's culture and refinement. so-called, and fails to see under the polished surface the seething mass of corruption which has ultimately wrought the destruction of every na- tion which has yet in the worlds history held sway for a time Per- sia, Babylon, Greece, Rome have f1ourished in their day, and made their boast each in it's turn of their wealth, and power, and wisdom, and culture, and refinement, and then perished miserably by means of the very things in which they trusted.
 The world is an awful boaster. It boasted of it's own security and pros perity even while Noah was busy building the ark and God was fill ing the heavens with rain with which to deluge the sin-cursed earth. It boasted itself in the rearing of the tower of Babel that it was going to build into the heavens and above while it wrought in the vain ina gin ings of it's own heart the wrath of God fell upon the foolish boosters and scattered them hither and thither. But they carried their boastful spirit with them, and if they no longer all spoke the same Ian. guage, this one thing they had in common.
 Friend, where is thy boast? In what are you putting your trust? In the things of time, which perish? Goliath boasted in his strength, and in the many gods of his nation, and what was he and what were they before that simplehearted youth who makes his boast in the Lord?
 The people of the world are like the little boy who, when asked if he did not pray God to take care of him dur ing the day the same IS he did 1t night, replied that he didn't have to. as he could take care of himself then very we'll. But, thank God! all hearts are not blind to the greatest need of the soul, and the boast of David in the Lord sets other hearts to vibra ting to the same blessed tune. for our text goes on to say: "For the humble shall hear thereof and be glad" And it didn't make the mighty warrior, the great king, the wise ruler sorry a bit to feel that his followers were found in such a class. Jesus Christ Himself thanked His Father that these things were hid from the wise and pru- dent and had been revealed unto babes. Why so? Not because He wanted it so, but because the pride of the human heart decreed it so and would not yield its will to the will of God.
 "The humble shall hear thereof and be glad" The boast of David in the Lord Who never failed him did not