Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-01-23

-
little difference what your father wants
you to be. What has God fitted you
to be? Do not be a man made lawyer,
doctor, minister, merchant or mechan-
ics Be q 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
ping 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 a modern
war with out of date weapons like
some of those antiques to be found in
the British museum.
1t would be a mistake for ministers
to say: 1--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
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 ESchoI, 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 breaking 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 a 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 sings. Da-
vid fighting his battles in an original
way was a conqueror; David using
Saurs armor would have been fail
ure.
There is another caution to the young
man who is going out to fight the bat
ties of life He 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 sir
in our hands which again and AGAR
have proved impotent when the hea
of the struggle is on. We have Otter
read Of the duels in chivalric times. II
those mortal combats the trueness o.
blades decided whether the combatant
should live or die We have read tina
when some combatantS were just a
the critical stage of the duel a blad
had snapped. Then there was lung
with a sword, and the man who one
held the false blade in his hand drop
ped at the feet of his adversary blOo(
soaked corpse. When we take tn,
blades of sin we have false weapons il
our hands. In the heat of life's battle
these blades of sin will fail us ever.
time.
The Sword of Sin
Perhaps David was tempted TO us
: SauFs sword, as some of us are tennt
l ed at times to go forth to fight the hat
f ties of life with the weapons of sin il
/ our hands. Methinks 1 can see th
: shepherd boy take the jeweled bIad
] from the hands of the kings armorer
p. His face flushes with pleasure. his ey
4 flashes, he runs his thumb along th
/ keen edge of the blade, and he looks a
t the jeweled hilt. What" says he-"i
e the king going to let me have his owl
t sword" But then David pushes i
! aside and says. Better a sling thai
r this cumbersome blade" So Satal
t places the sword of sin in our hands
= We look at it. 1t seems to be a jew
/ eled blade. We say to ourselves: 1T i
/, only the sword of just one lie. 1t
|, only the sword of just one theft o
+ one deceit or one sin" We know W
;, can win victory with one blow fro1