THIRTEENTH SERVICE The Three Mighties 1. INVOCATION GRANT me, O Lord, a season of communion with thee. Help me to keep this Sabbath as a day apart-set apart and hallowed for the uses of the immortal soul. Let its sunset find me a Sabbath day's journey nearer the perfection of life and character. Come near now, I beseech thee, and speak comfortably to me, for Jesus' sake. Amen. 2. HYMN: "The morning light is breaking." 3. SCRIPTURE LESSON I Chronicles 2. Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28. 3:5, 12, 21. 4. PRAYER Have mercy upon me, O Lord, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies; for I acknowledge my sins and my transgressions are ever before me. Blessed be thy name for the abundant pardon which thou hast provided in the fountain filled with blood. I believe in Jesus Christ; I believe in his atoning death; and I freely and fully accept forgiveness in his name. Let me now rejoice in thee. Teach me the song of thanksgiving that rises above the confused noises of doubt and worldliness to thee upon thy heavenly throne. Glory and honor and power and dominion be unto thee, O God of my salvation, forever and ever! I praise thee and magnify thy name and give thanks to thee for thy great goodness! Yea, Lord, even in my sorrows and disappointments I am sensible of thy love. Thou hast never withheld thy comforts when out of the depths I have called unto thee. Once and again thou hast made bare thine arm to help me. Oh, that all men would praise thee for thy goodness! Make thyself known to-day in thy sanctuaries to such as have borne their sorrows and carried their burdens in lonely pride. Unveil the glories of the Cross to multitudes of sinners; and draw thy people into closer communion with thee, for the sake of thy dear Son who sits "expecting" until the whole world shall return to him. Amen. 5. HYMN: "Love divine, all love excelling." 6. OFFERING 7. THE SERMON The Three Mighties "These things did these Three Mightiest." (1 Chron. 11:19.) Of the conspicuous figures in the Old Testa ment, none is more popularly beloved than David. This is due in part to his courage. The shouting in the valley of Elah as the ruddy stripling went out to meet the champion of Philistia has sounded his fame through the ages. Then, too, David was an amiable man. An old proverb runs, "He that would have friends must show himself friendly." This man had a way of attaching others to him. In his exile among the mountains, though "hunted like a partridge," he did not lack adherents. One and another came with vows of loyalty until he had a body-guard of not less than six hundred, who were called Gibborim or "Mighties." These were vided into bands of thirty, each commanded by a captain of distinguished valor. The thirty companies, in turn, were organized into three regiments, which were officered by "the Three Mightiest." di The first of these, Jashobeam, had won his honors like a savage chief who carves three hundred notches on the handle of his spear. The second, Eleazar, had stood by David's side in opposing an attack of the Philistines until "his hand clave unto the hilt of his sword," stiffened there by the fervor of his zeal. The third had defended himself in a field of lentiles, solitary and alone, until the ground was covered with his foes. Brave men all! And braver than all was David himself. He was, moreover, a tender-hearted man. It is usually the case that "the bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring.' 99 In his life amid the luxuries of the palace he had not forgotten his old home at Bethlehem. He could see it now, twenty-five miles away from his camp among the hills-the old home and the fields where he had watched his flock. David was homesick! He longed for a drink of water from the well beside the gate. Have you never felt that way? throbbed to this tune? Has your pulse never How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the well; The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well. Then the memorable exploit. One of the Three Mighties overheard his captain's wish and straightway called his comrades. They were devoted to their captain, "swift to the thought or wish divined, swift to the sigh o'erheard." That night they "brake through the host of Philistines,' reached the well beside the gate and were back again before the morning, out of breath, dusty, with red-stained swords, but with the water-skin full. A drink for their captain! Well done! Here was a golden deed to tell beside the camp fires: and here is a lesson for us. I enter a plea for Heroism in the Christian life. We are followers of great David's greater Son. Did the Three Mightiest love their captain? Much more shall we who follow the Hero of all heroes, the Captain of our salvation. We are his militant host; we are his "Mighties." And heroism is born of love. "Ye that are men now serve him!" Blessed are all who stand in the ranks of the Six Hundred; more blessed they who attain to the ranks of the Thirty; but what shall be said of those who attain to a place among the Three? But is heroism possible in the Christian life in these days? Not the heroism of martial deeds. That, let us be thankful, is made next to impossible by the apparently near approach of the truce of God. Our Captain, Shiloh, the Prince of Peace, wants no wars. His word is, "Put up thy sword into the sheath." Nor are we likely to perform such golden deeds as were wrought by the martyrs of long ago. Blessed be the memory of the Vaudois, the Huguenots, the Puritans, the "Beggars of Holland." Blessed be the memory of Stephen, who shrank not when "glory smote him in the face"; of Polycarp, who "played the man in the flames"; of John Huss, who went smiling to the stake, "crowned with a yellow cap covered with black devils," and of all that noble army of whom we sing, |