The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-03-04

there was nothing out rOuJ ana rum.
What work Benhadad's cup made for Ben
hadad's armyl What shipwrecks on the
sea, what disasters on the land caused by
infaming liquids put upon the tongue TO
set seething the brain! How many kings
of thought and influence, with crowns
brighter than the one Benhadad 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 in
ebriacy. GIVE them TO me: hand them
down-the brightest legislators Of the land
will thicken their tongue; / viii bloat
their cheek; i 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 min
lister of the gospel from the affairs of God.
Hand them down to me- the queens OF the
drawing room, and | viii 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-
eident 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 lnfathomed 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 parors are books
poisoned from lid to lid with impurities
Loose characters in the novel applauded
by rhetorical pens and properties of life
caricatured as prudery and inidelty of be-
havior put in 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.
Oh, yes, you need the harness on until
q To fal- If oil
1t was leathern armor or chain armor or
ribbed armor, fashioned in ancient foun-
dry, but no one can give you the outfit
you need except God, who is Master of
tins world, and the internal world, from
which ascend the michtiest hostilities
Lay hold of God. Nothing but the arm of
Omnlpotence IS strong enough for the
tempted
Young man, put on the entire gospel out
mt. IL you have come from the country TO
live IN the city, initiate the example of
young man who arrived in New York on
Saturday night, intending the following
Monday to enter his place OF employment
On sunday morning, carrying out the good
advice before leaving his country home, he
went to church Standing at the door nc
was abashed as the beauty and fashion
and wealth swept through the doors of
the sanctuary, and he dared not 90 in As
he was about turning to go away a gentle
man said. Have YOU seat, young man"
No, SIR. DO you belong in the city,"
NO, SIR. Where Is your homeI' In
the country" How long have Won been
in the city," Il came in last night"
What are you going to do here2' II
nope TO go into business tomorrow"
That Is right. You have begun well
young. man. Never forsake the God of
your fathers. Come, l viii give you seat
IN my pew The next morning the young
man presented his letter in business cir
cles. What do you want, young man."
said the Scotch merchant Il want to get
To-,
crave G you upper b ?nf SOLE
get references My father has friends
here" Young man, did 1 not see you yes
terday in Mr.. Lenox's pew Il do not
know, sir. was at church, and a kind
gentleman asked me TO sit in his pew"
Yes, young man, that was Robert Lenox
l will trust any one that Mr.. Lenox invites
INTO his pew. You need not trouble your
self about references. When these goods
are gone come and get more" That young
man became an eminent merchant and
more than that, Christian merchant, and
he attributed all his success to that first
Sabbath IN the city Young man just ar
rived, put yourself under good influences
your first day in town. There hangs your
helmet. Take it down. There is your
breastplote Adjust it. There is all the
| harness for safety and triumph. Put it on
If we secure the victory. it Will be a
struggle as fierce as when Darius and
| Alexander gTappled each other at Arbela
| as when Joan of Arc rode triumphant at
| Orleans, as when the Russians met the
Swedes at Poltava, as when Marlborough
| commanded the allied armies at Ben-
helm Those were fights for earthly
| crowns and dominions, but the fight that
now goes on between all the allied armies
| of heaven and all the allied armies Of hell
| IS to settle whether God or Satan is to
| have possession of this planet
L congratulate all those who are now in
| the thickest of life's battles that the time
is coming when the struggle will end and
| you will put the harness off helmet and
greaves and breastplate having fulfilled
their mission. GU cannot in one visit to
London Tower see all. You must go again
and again to that place, which is associated
with the story of Lady Jane Grey and
Anne Boieyn and Walter Raleigh and Sir
Thomas More. You will see the crowns
OF kings and queens, the robe worn by the
Black Prince, and silver baptismal fonts
from which royal infants were christened
and the block on which Lord Lovat was
beheaded. But no part of London Tower
will more interest you than the armory
in which is skillfuliy and impressively ar
ranged a collection of all styles Of armor
worn between the thirteenth and eigh-
teenth centuries, suggesting 500 years OF
conilict-cuirass and neck guard and chin
piece and lance rest and gauntlet and girdle
and mailed apron. on see Just how from
head TO heel those cd time warriors were
defended against sharp weapons
o We soldiers of Jesus Christ, when the
war OF life is over and the vctors rest in
the soldiers home on the heavenly heights
perhaps there may be in the city of the
sun tower Of spiritual armOr such as in
| cased the warriors for Christ i'm earthly
combat Some day we may be in that ar.
mory and hear the heroes tall, of how they
fought the good fight of faith and see them
with the scars of wounds forever healed
and look at the weapons of ofense and de-
Tense with which they became more than
conquerors. Tn that tower OF heaven az
the weapons of the spiritual conflict are ex-
amiued St. Paul may point out to us the
/ armor with which ne advised the Ephe.
slams to equip themselves and say. That
| is tho shield Of faith. That IS the helmet
of salvation. That is the girdle of truth
That is the brcastplatc of righteousness.
Those are the mailed shoes i'm which they
| were shod with the preparation of the gos-
pei. There and then you may recount the
| contrast between the day when YOU en-
| listed In Christian conflict and the dav
when you closed 1t in earthly farewell and
and heavenly salutation, and the text.
| which has so much meaning for us now.
will have more meaning for us then-'Iet
not him that grdeth on his harness boast
himself as he that putteth it off,"
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