Democratic messenger., 1905-01-28


success Cod meant these doctors sons
To be merchants or soldiers or mechan-
ics ar sailors Young man. care not
whose son you may he. find out what
,iod intended you to he. Ii makes but
little difference what your father wants
you TO be. What has God fitted you
TO be: Do not be ii man made lawyer,
doctor minister. merchant or mechan-
ic. BE God made David with his
sling. DO not try TO fight the battle of
life in your fathers armor. Gather
your own ammunition down by the rip
pling brook of Gods inspiration.
But the errors with which young men
choose their line of work are no more
reprehensible than the means some of
us use after our professions and career
in life have been selected. We then
show no more common sense in our
choice of weapons with which we are
to accomplish that work than if the
explorer Robert Edwin Peary should
try TO reach the north pole in a sail
boat fashioned after the hull of the
Santa Maria. the flagship of Christie
pher Columbus, or to fight modern
war with out of date weapons like
some of those antiques to be found In
the British museum.
1t would he Il mistake for ministers
to say: We will not talk to the people
in plain common sense way, as Christ
talked To his audience in parable. We
will not draw our illustrations from the
incidents of daily life and introduce
those fresh illustrations into our prac-
teal sermons. as Christ did when he
talked about the thieves on the Jericho
road. or about the woman who lost a
part of her wedding dOwry. But we
will gather our materials from past
ages and from the writer's of old and
from the sins of the Jewish people and
not from the sins of the American peo-
pie. who live at our very door," There
are many doing this. The result is there
are hundreds of preachers who do not
WELD any modern ''slings." They do
not preach as Christ would have them
preach. They are ready to talk about
the lily of the valley and the rose Of
Sharon and the grapes of Eschol. but
they are not willing TO utter philippe
against commercial sins in our own
day, against the groceryman who has
false weights for his pound of sugar
and tea as well as against the wealthy
millionaire who is living a double life
and is break ing the marital vows which
he once made TO the young girl when
the twain at the marriage altar became
one.
David Might Have Failed.
What we say about church work we
say about every other kind of work.
Young man. do not do thing as law
yer or doctor or merchant merely be-
cause other lawyers or doctors or mer-
chants have been accustomed In the
past to do that thing and in that way.
1t was the novelty Of onslaught which
David used that was able to overthrow
the mighty Philistine. If you are going
to make Il success in life you must
have independent ways of doing your
work. You must get out of the ruts.
Do not use Saul's sword to fight your
Goliath merely because all other SOL
diers are using swords to fight their
Goliaths. Develop your craftsmanship
by swinging your natural slings. Da-
vid fighting his battles in an original
way was a c0nqueror; David using
Saul's armor would have been a fail
ure.
There is another caution to the young
man who is going out to fight the bat
ties Of life. lie must be careful about
the quality and temper of his weapons.
If we should discard the obsolete weap-
ons with which our ancestors fought
their battles. how much more should
all of us refuse TO go forth to battle
in life with the glittering blades of sin
in our hands which again and again
have proved iGlpotent when the heat
of the struggle is on. We have often
read of the duels in chivalric times. In
those mortal combats the trueness of
blades decided whether the combatants
should live or die. We have read that
when some combatants were Just at
the critical stage of the duel a blade
had snapped. Then there was lunge
with sword. and the man who once
held the false blade in his hand drop
ped ut the feet of his adversary blood
soaked corpse When we take the
blades of sin we have false weapons in
our hands. In the heat of lifes battles
these blades of sin will fail us every
time
The Sword of Sin.
Perhaps David was tempted to use
Sauls sword. as some of us are tempt
ed at times to go forth to fight the bat
ties of life with the weapons of sin in
our hands. Methinks | can see the
shepherd boy take the jeweled blade
from the hands of the kings armorer
His face flushes with pleasure, his eye
flashes. he runs his thumb along the
keen edge of the blade, and he looks at
the jeweled hilt What" says he-"is
the king going TO let me have his own
swordY' But then David pushes it
aside and says. Better sling than
this cumbersome blade" So Satan
places the sword of sin in our hands.
We look at it. 1t seems to be jew
eled blade We say to ourselves: 'It is