The Tupelo journal., 1904-05-13

desolate. Sin had been eating like a
corroding acid at the very roots and
vitals of his and the nations life, and
within five years we behold Shishak and
his hosts sweeping down upon Judah
and Jerusalem and taking away those
things which had been the glory and de-
light Of the king. The gold shields typ
flying Gods protection and purity were
lost. And the Christian sometimes yea,
often. loses his golden shields Of Gods
purity and protection. His heart is
stripped bare of the splendid treasure.
Sin, as in the case of Rehoboam, has
crept up, and up, and up into the life
until the enemy has come and stripped
us Of the purity of the presence Of
Christ and carried off into a far country
the sense of the protection of God. The
gold shields lost. Rehoboam forsook the
law Of his God, and the entering wedge,
I am inclined to believe, was a mere
perfunctory discharge of his religious
obligations. He lost sight of God, he
forgot the meaning of those shields of
gold and gloried only in their external
beauty and richness. He delighted in
the magnificent procession to the temple
only because the glitter and show of the
golden shields went with him. And from
the hollow p%retense of Journalism is only
a step into positive and destructive sin.
He forsook God in spirit, and he soon
forsook the law of God as well. And per-
haps here is where every Christian first
turns aside into the ways of wickedness.
The religious life and obligations be-
come perfunctory and meaningless.
There is no real communion and fellow
ship with God. There are JOY and salts
faction in the glitter and display Of the
church life and fellowship, but no heart
experiences, no spiritual growth, no
fruit-bearing. Lower and lower settles
the barometer of the spiritual life until
the storm of temptation breaks in upon
the soul, and begins its undermining and
destructive work. The gold shields are
lost. The heart, stripped of it's purity
in Christ and it's Divine protection, is
distressed and disturbed. Shall it ad-
init it's desolate condition to the world
and 60 without the display and glitter
of the religious life? Here is where the
struggle comes, and here is where the
spiritual counterfeiting begins.
WHE Brass Shields.-When Re-
L hoboam lost his shields of gold he
made him shields of brass hat he
might continue his glittering displays
and march in magnificence to the tenn
pie. He was willing to put the base in
stead of the pure. He would be salts
fed with the false 10Y that he had lost
the true through sin. He would substi-
tute his counterfeits for the genuine.
And oh, how many, many Christians
who are doing hat very thing! Sinful
indulgence has robbed them of that
first flush of purity which came with
Jesus into their hearts. Sin has come
as a gigantic barrier between them
selves and God. What shall they do?
Admit their condition to the world anG
their fellow worshippers? Miss the
glitter and display of outward show
and discharge of religious obligations?
What if God does see their desOlate
condition? What if He does know that
the gold shields have been lost? 1t Is
of what men think and say, which is
their concern. The genuine are gone,
but there must be the glitter and dis
play still. And SO they make for them
selves shields of brass. They use the
base metal of their own endeavor to
construct shields that will glitter anG
flash. They will have something to dis
play when they go forth to worship.
The counterfeit must take the place of
the real. They must keep up appear
ances with men, v though the
chamber of their heart is bare of the
precious shields. Brass shields! Are
you, oh, Christian, bearing about with
you a brazen shield which flashes be-
fore the eyes of your fellow men and
appears to them as the purity and pro-
tecting presence of God, but which you
know is a base and wicked sham
Away with it!
nUT you need not be without the
ID shields you have lost through sin
Rehoboam never recovered his shields
of precious gold. They went into
Egypt never to return. He could never
get them back. But, thanks be to the
gracious and merciful Heavenly Father,
He will replace the lost golden shields
with others as precious and genuine as
those we have lost. He will give US
back the purifying presence Of the
Christ, He will shelter us about with
His blessed three-fold protection. But
not if we dare to resort to spiritual
counterfeiting. Not if we put brass of
pretense and deceit for the precious
pure gold of His coinage. Away with
the brass shields! Cast them aside as
the peril of your very soul! Give up
the glitter and display and sit alone in
the desolate chamber of your heart!
God will come to the penitent heart
and forgive! He will come to the heart
that has lost but that. longs for the
gel uine instead of the counterfeit, and
He will hang upon the palace walls Of
your heart the golden shields of His
purity and protection. Perhaps you
have been counterfeiting without being
really conscious of the deceptive work.
The heart is deceitful above all things
and leads astray SO often. Many a dear
soul perhaps has fallen into the mis-
take of Rehoboam without being really
conscious of it. Without the purpose
of being a hypocrite or deceiver. But
let me warn you to examine yourself
and see whether they are the gold