Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-02-09
Calm,age
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee. ID. ID.


sermon on the sudden rise Of Jehu to
power the preacher shows us that God
sometimes uses strange instruments to
accomplish his purposes and that un- !
expected temporal success Is often the
cause Of a mans destruction. The text
Is II Kings tx, 20, "For he driveth
furiously."
The world always makes way for It's
intense men, whose hearts are pump
ing arterial blood filed with red cor
puscles. Robert Hall, Richard Baxter
Douglas Jerrold, Edward Payson, Rob
ert McCheyne, John Keats and Alex
ander II. Stephens as valetudinarians
may have won immortal fame, but
they started the battle Of life with an
awful handicap. The world plties the
inmates of its hospitals. But pity is
not the armor bearer standing by the
chariots of war and waiting to run to
the bidding Of its military heroes. The
stouter the fist, the broader the lungs,
the deeper the voice and the more
flashing the eye Of the king, the more
inclined are his subjects to kneel down
and worship him. When the lion tanner
enters the cage OF the wild beasts
his eye must never culver nor his hand
which holds the lash trembie even for
an instant or the powerful beasts will
be leapng at his throat. The world
has but little use for weaklings. 1t
admires chiefly the man who can lead
all his contemporaries in the athletic
arena and strike the hardest blows In
the battlefield and who Is ready to face
every emergency and conquer or die.
Such man was the hero Of my text.
What he attempted to do he did with
his whole body, mind and soul. Jehu's
spirit was like floodgate. When he
attempted to do anything he opened
his floodgate and let all the waters
Of his energies rush forth In one ter
rife onward effort. When he played
he played with his whole heart. When
he worked he worked in the same way.
This life Of Jehu reminds me a great
deal in its intensity Of the great Eng
Hsh diplomat, Sir Charles Ewan-Smith.
Some years ago he represented his
queen at the capital Of Fee, in the en-
pire of Morocco. While there a great
Moorish uprising against the Chris
tians took place. A movement like the
Boxers uprising in China was about to
be enacted upon the African shores.
The sultan hastily sent his messengers
to the English embassy, saying: Come
quicklyl Come to my palace, or can
iflot protect youI Then in the morning
will send my troops to escort you
and your family to the coast" Sir
Charles calmly replied: 81 do not In
tend to leave; neither do l intend TO
come to your palace for protection.
'Tis true. may be killed, and my wife
and children may be killed, but you
20 back and tell your sultan that II l
am killed within one month there Will
be another British minister In the cap
ital of Fez, and he will be accompanied
by n British army, and when that Brit
ish army comes there will be no Moor
ish sultan in Fez." The sultan realiz-
ed he was dealing with giant. At the
royal command the Mohammedan up
rising against the Christians In Moroc-
co instantly ceased. What Sir Charles
Ewan-Smith did in Morocco, Jehu, the
mighty soldier, did in Samaria. When
God selected him as king to succeed
the Infamous Joram, who was the son
OF the infamous Ahab, he immediateis
entered his chariot He gathered his
army. He swept on to battle. de
claimed the throne, scattering all oppo
sItion before him even as the winds
scatter the chaff from Off the thrasnine
floors Of the east.
Jehu's Energy.
All. yes, Jehu was man OF intense
energy. When he attempted to do any
thing. he was like an exploding car
fridge burning up every grain Of pow
der which 1t had stored behind the
ball. Thus today the figure OF my
text is Jehu lashing his horses into
foam. On comes the future king 10
ward the royal palace Of Jezreel. AS
he rushes on the watchman IN the
royal tower carefully scans the ap
preaching cavalcade. He says to thf
anxious king beside him, who Is soor
TO be murdered, "The driving Is lik'
the driving of Jehu, for he driveth III
rlously." SO the king assembled nj
army and went forth to meet -Jehu
And Jorom was slain near to the vine
ward of Naboth, which his father ha(
stolen by conniving at the murder o
its late owner Such is the story O
the advent Of Jehu to lsraePs throne
from whose life we are going to learl
our sermonic lessons Of this Lord'
day.
This biographical sketch, in the frs
place. teaches us that sometimes Go'
uses a very bad man to work out hi
PURPOSES. He sometimes says TO nj
Jehus: "You. o selfish and sinful mel
are TO be the agencies by which | VII
4 execute my warnings. You are to cal
% ry my chalices even though your hanu
70 are sinful. You are to unsheathe m
3 avenging sword even though you hav
- evil hearts. You are to run my el
D. rands even though you are answerin
= the calls of greed and crime" Thu
5 all doers Of good are not necessaril
. disciples or Gods children. Thoug
"a we today End Jehu toppling over ID
throne Of an Infamous king, yet Jeh
himself was just as heartless, as me-
I clless and as much of a criminal q
j. Ahab or Jezebel, who slew Naboth
order that they might annex his VIM
D, yards to the royal domain.
, The sinful life Of Jehu as ruInii
Of Elljah's prophecies finds It's oup
. cate In the lives Of many sinful M
o whom God at times has used for c.
4 tain purposes. Study, for instance I
n n life of Thomas Paine. Most Oh I
narar think