Newspapers / The Chatham Record (Pittsboro, … / April 21, 1915, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE CHATHAM -RECORD H. A. London EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR Terms of Subscription $1.50 PER YEAR Strictly in Advance THE CHATHAM RECORD Rates of Advertising One Square, one insertion - - $1.00' One Square, two insertions 4 - $1.50 One Square, one month - - $2.50 For Larger Advertisements Liberal Contracts will be made. VOL. XXXVII. PITTSBORO, CHATHAM COUNTY, N. C, APRIL 21, 1915. NO. 37. smr II i i mm it EPITOME OF THE WEEKS EVENTS h a Condensed Form the Happenings of All Nationalities Are Given For Our Readers. WEEK'S NEWS AT A GLANCE Important Events cf the United State and Particularly in the South. European War A second Zeppelin aerial raid has been made over England immediately following the' one at Blyth. Bombs were dropped on half a dozen sea coast towns. French aeroplanes made an aerial attack on the German camp near Metz and claim to have destroyed the pow der magazine and railway shops in that city. The Russian general staff reports fur ther successes in the Carpathians, and claim to have taken several heights which give them a big ad vantage over the Austrians. The London war offices says the East Indian troopers have repulsed the Turkish troops on the Isthmus of Suez and several Turkish steamers have been sunk in the Aegean sea. - A German Zeppelin made a raid over England, bombarding several towns in Northumberland, including Blyth and other villages. No loss of life is reported and slight damage was done to property. About twenty bombs were dropped in all. The Russian advance into Austria has been checked by a sharp turn the Austrian army made under the lead ership of a German general. With the Hungarian plains in sight the Muscovites may be turned back like Moses with only a glimpse of the promised land. Domestic In addressing the Pennsylvania leg islature, former President Taft deplor ed the great public waste in the Unit ed States and advised the lawmakers to conserve the people's money and resources. Mayor Blankenburg and the city council of Philadelphia have permitted the Liberty Bell to be taken to San Francisco to the exposition. It will not be moved, however, until after the annual Fourth of July celebration in Independence Hall. Officials of the American steamship companies operating out of Seattle and San Francisco have been notified by the British admiralty office in London that the British government will search every American steamer out of these ports sailing for Alaska that touch at Canadian ports and re move all German passengers aboard to be held as prisoners of war. These companies immediately discharged all members of their crews who were Ger mans and refused to book any Ger man passengers. Gen. Victoriano Huerta, former dic tator of Mexico driven from power by President Wilson, issued a statement in New York, declaring he had no part in President Madero's assassina tion. When shown the statement, Col. Perez Romero, the Carranza min ister to Japan, stated in Seattle that Huerta's assertion was "all humbug," that "it is useless for the former dic tator to disclaim any responsibility of the Madero tragedy," as Romero says he was an eyewitness of the whole massacre. In a serious street car wreck, which collided with a freight train in De troit .thirteen passengers were killed and twenty-seven injured. Inexperi ence of the motorman is given as the cause of the wreck. A navy diver descended to the sub marine F-4, lying in the Pacific off Honolulu at a depth of 288 feet. The diver was under water two hours and on the ocean's bottom twelve minutes. His descent was lower than has ever been made before. Ten masked and armed men held up a New York Central freight train just out of Buffalo and uncoupled and loot ed the cars. They made their escape over the suspension bridge across the Niagara river into Canada. Sensational testimony is being brought out in the federal industrial relations commission's investigation of the telegraph companies in Chicago. One witness said a black list was kept against all operators and made inter changeable between all companies. A boat landing at Morgan City, La., from Demerara, British Guinea, brought four cases of yellow fever to the United States. Several of the passenger list on the boat died en route and were buried at sea. A resolution providing for state-wide prohibition in 1917, passed by 59 to 14 by the lower house of the Florida leg islature, was lost in the senate. by a vote of 19 to 12. One more vote would have carried the measure. Secret of Hog Success. The secret of hog raising with profit and success is- plenty of good pasture, pure water and breeding a pure bred type of hog, that will grow off and make weight quickly, is hardy, a good rustler, and from a stock accli mated to our climate. Such a type of bog, well cared for, will weigh at six months old from 125 to 175 pounds. . Dressing Chickens. In dressing your chickens for mar ket if you scald to remove feathers John Meriella, is) years old, has been arrested on the charge of threat ening the life of Vincent Astor unless he received $500 from the millionaire. Harry K. Thaw, millionaire murder er of Standford White, has been or dered back to the Matteawan asylum for the criminal insane by the appel late division of the New York supreme courts. Plans are now being formu lated by Thaw's counsel to take the case before the state court of appeals. The new Argentine battleship, Mo reno, recently launched at Philadel phia and dedicated by President Wil son at Annapolis, ran aground in Delaware river on a shoal near the entrance to the bay. No great damage was suffered, and the great vessel will proceed on her way to-Hampton Roads. Nelson W. Aldrich, for many years United ; States senator . from Rhode Island, co-author of the Payne- Aid rich tariff law and considered the greatest financial authority in Ameri ca since Alexander Hamilton, died sud denly of apoplexy at his New York residence. Sereno Payne, who wrote the law with him, died in Washington last December. Senator Aldrich was the father-in-law of John D. Rocke feller, Jr. Charles R. Crane of Chicago, ap pointed American minister to China by President Taft, and then recalled just as he was sailing from San Fran cisco, has presented a statue of Thom as Jefferson to the University of Vir ginia, which was 1 unveiled amid im pressive ceremonies at Charlottes ville. Mrs. Gertrude Atherton, one of America's foremost novelists, is con fined to her apartments in a New York hotel with a serious attack of pneumonia, contracted, it is believed, while aboard ship on her recent re turn from Europe. Washington It is expected sensational develop ments will follow in the charges brought by the Riggs National bank of Washington against Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo and Comptroller of the Currency Williams. The bank officials declare the secretary and comptroller wish to ruin their insti tution. Counter charges may over shadow these accusations as alleged violations o fthe national bank act on the part of the Riggs officials are ru mored. The state department received an official dispatch from the foreign sec retary of Spain at Madrid advising the United States of the real cause of General Huerta's visit to this coun try. Acocrding to the official infor mation the Spanish government virtu ally requested the former Mexican dictator to quit Spain on account of the high feeling against him there, that his life was endangered. Huerta's pur ported atrocities against Spaniards in Mexico during his days of power stir red up the Spanish people. The Span ish government) informs Washington that Huerta deposited $25,000,000 in Spanish banks after fleeing from Mex ico. This, he is said to have looted from Mexican banks during his re gime. It is announced Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo and Comptroller of Currency Williams will have the back ing of the government in the suit brought against them by the Riggs National bank, alleging the officials sought to ruin that financial institu tion. Louis D. Brandeis of Boston, famous as the prosecutor in the Bal linger Alaskan land investigation in the Taft cabinet scandals, will ap pear for Secretary McAdoo and Comptroller Williams. Foreign The Toronto city council tendered a banquet to Mayor Woodward of At lanta and his official party who are visiting that city. The Japanese are preparing for the coronation of their mikado, Yoshihi to, next November. The ceremony was to have taken place last November, but a postponement was necessitated on account of the death of the dow ager empress. Villa's defeat at Celaya by General Obregon of the Carranza forces seems to have been just as decisive as his loss at Matamoros inflicted two weeks ago by General Carranza himself, ac cording to reports received by Gen eral Funston at Brownsville. Villa has abandoned his siege of Matamoros and is rushing all his troops from the north and west to his assistance at Celaya. General Zapata is reported to be preparing to evacuate Mexico City for Chihuahua to establish the Villa Zapata capital. Carranza successes over Villa forc es continue to be reported. Follow ing a decisive battle near Neuvo La redo, in which the Villa troops were repulsed, about 350 Villa men who were taken prisoners were said to have been executed in horrible butch ery. Machine guns mowed down 120 of them; others were killed with re volvers and the rest bayonetted. The slaughter of women camp followers of the Villa lines who were caught by the Carranzaistas was said to be most frightful. pick the thighs before they are cold and do not scald the head. When you are through picking dip them into wa ter near the boiling point, while you can count ten quickly, then into cold water, then hang them in a cold place for several hours. This will "plumr them up." , Pig Requires Protein. The growing pig requires protein and not much corn. It is all right to give a iittle corn, but too much is harmful. , CERTAIN NO COTTON REACHES GERMANY iS KEPT FROM GERMANY AND AUSTRIA SAYS ATTORNEY GENERAL. BLOCKADE IS UNNECESSARY Attsrney General. Simon Replies to the Conference of. Chemist ar.d Engineers. London. That cotton is kept from Germany and Austria just as effect ively as If it were declared absolute contraband, is the tenor of a reply ad dressed by Attorney General Simon to a conference of chemists and engi neers who asked whether the Govern ment's action was sufficient to make it certain that no cotton reaches those countries. "The Attorney General ventures to suggest that those for whom you write may be under some misappre hension either as to the law of con traband or as to the steps which in fact are being taken under the order in council of March 11. The steps being taken under authority of that order in council have been extremely effective in stopping cotton from reaching Germany and the declara tion of cotton as contraband would not alter the result in the very least so far as preventing cotton reaching Germany is concerned. "If an article is declared absolute contraband, it can be stopped from going to a German port and can be stopped even from going to an adjoin ing neutral port, if it is in course of transit through that neutral port to an enemy country. These are exactly the circumstances in which, under the order in council any article can be stopped, whether it is contraband or not, and of course, this order in council is being put into force in all proper cases. "To imagine that since March 11 anything can be gained so far as stopping the entrance of cotton into Germany is concerned by calling it contraband is, in effect, to suppose that a blockade is rendered more ef fective if you add that specified con traband articles will not be allowed to break that blockade. A blockade stops all articles whether they are contraband or . not, therefore any ad ditional rulings would not have any practical consequences. What is true of Germany of course, is equally true of Austria. "Your memorialists no doubt will readily believe that there may be good reasons of quite a different kind for not making cotton contraband in view of the, precendent which would thereby be created, but as a practical matter in the present war any stop page of cotton secured by calling it contraband is equally secured by the order in council." GENERAL HERRERA KILLED. Killed by Own Men Who Mistook Them For Villa Troops. Laredo, Tex. Gen. Maclovia Her rera, Carranza commander at Nuevo Laredo, opposite here, was killed by his own men, who mistook him and bis for Villa troops, according to in formation received here by Gen. R. K. Evans, in command of United States Iroops here. General Herrera and members of his staff had taken a position on a hill near Neuvo Laredo when, it is said, they were fired upon from a Carranza military train, the soldiers mistaking the party for Villa troops. Besides Herrera his aid-3 (and several otber members of his staff were killed. SERIOUS MOTOR ACCIDENTS. Lake Hopatcongo, N. J.. An auto mobile plunged down an embankment near here, killing Mr. and Mrs. Albert Terhune, of Passaic, N. J. New York. Mme. Margarete Mat zenhaur, of the Metropolitan Opera Company was badly cut and bruised when she was thrown from an automo bile in collission with another ma chine in Long Island City. Her hus band, Edocardo Ferrari-Fontana, a tenor of the Boston Opera Company, also was cut and bruised. Kalamazoo, Mich. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Pare were killed here when an automobile collided with a street car. Two others in the automobile were in jured. Egg Harbor, N. J. Benjamin L. Stratt, a Philadelphia underwear man ufacturer, was killed and his business partner, Meyer Myerson, was injured when their automobile overturned. Tyrone, Pa. Dr. C. E. Shaffer, of Windber, Pa., was killed and five per sons were injured in an automobile accident near here. All the injured will recover. Sixteen Begin Prison Term. Idianapolis, Ind. Headed by Mayor Donn M. Roberts, 15 prisoners convict ed in the Terre Haute election conspir acy cases and sentenced to the Leav enworth penitentiary started on the trip to prison. The time for the departure was not made public here and only a small crowd was at 'the station as the pris oners, each accompanied by a special deputy United States marshal, board ed a special car attached t a passen ger train. ..... . NEARLY 3,000 CORN BLUB BOYS ON ROLL MANAGER BROWNE MAILS TO BOYS VOUCHERS TOTALLING $450.00. DISPATCHES FROM RALEIGH Doings and Happenings That Mark the Progress of North Carolina Peo ple' Gathered Around the State Caoitol. Raleigh. T. E. Browne, in charge of the Boys' Corn Club work in North Carolina, has just sent out vouchers to the win ners in the 1914 corn contest. The vouchers totalled l$450, which sum is the gift of the North Carolina Board of Agriculture to the lucky boys. There are 10 districts in North Carolina, and to each one of them will go $45 to the winners. The prizes are $15, $12.50, $10, $5 and $2.50. Dudley Hall, the champion grower of North Carolina, will re ceive a free scholarship to A. & M. College. There are numerous other local and county prizes which' the winning boys will receive for their labors. The agents state there is a won deruflly growing interest among the boys in their search for the scientific facts regarding corn growing and other farming. The prizes, the work ers say, help to stimulate rivalry, but are not the chief aim of the boys when they are working their crop. This is a pleasing feature of the work, and one towards which the depart ment has been working for some time. Another thing which the boys are doing besides replenishing their own coffers and enlarging thir knowledge, is teaching their fathers how the art of progressive farming Is carried on. Many farmers are outclassed by their sons, and this fact makes the elders work harder to make good yields. That this year will be a successful one is the prediction of Mr. Browne, who has watched the Corn Club work ever since it began in . North Caro lina. The crop will be a little late in getting started, but will have time enough to mature. The youths have their seed selected, and are ready to plant and begin cultivation. The membership Is now climbing towards the 3,000 mark, and it is thought that it will reach the coveted- goal before Fall. Opinions of the Supreme Court. The 17 opinions delivered by the court follow: Morton vs. Light & Power Co., Beaufort, partial new trial; Barnes vs. Southern Railway, Wilson, no error; Atlantic Goast Line vs. Bunting, Pitt, reversed; Groves vs. Scott, Wake, new trial; Plumbing Company vs. Hotel Company, Wake, no error; King vs. McCrackin, Colum bus, no error; Chilton vs. Grom, For syth, no error; Frick Company vs. Bowles, Surry, reversed; Shoe Com pany vs. Travis & Lee, Forsyth, affirm el; Bleakley vs. Candler, .Forsyth, re versed; State vs. Siler, Guilford, re versed; Shaw vs. Public Service Cor poration; Guilford, no error; Har grave vs. Board of Road Commis sioners, Davidson, affirmed; v Leaf Tobacco Sales For March. Leaf tobacco sales during March, as reported to the State Department of Agriculture by 23 markets, aggregated 1,720,440 pounds firsrt-hand for farm ers and 2,227,300, including resales dealers. Winston-Salem led with 461,238 pounds for growers and 726, 600 including resales for dealers, Reidsville was second with 280,613 to tal sales. Delegate to Labor Conference. Governor Craig appointed as dele gates from this state to the South ern Conference on Women and Child Labor to be held et Memphis, Tenn., April 26 and 27 the following: W. A. Erwin, Durham; C. E. Hutchison, Mt. Holly; Bishop Joseph Blount Ches hire, Raleigh; Rev. R. F. Campbell, Asheville; Zeb Vance Weaver, Ashe ville. State Fisheries Board Organizes. Ed. Chambers Smijh has just re turned from Newbern where a few days ago he was elected chairman of the State Fisheries Board which ; or ganized there under the new state fisheries law passed by the recent legislature. A. V. Cobb of Bertie county was elected secretary of the board. In compliance with instruc tions given by Governor Craig in ap pointing the members of the board, H. L. Gibbs was elected State Fish Commissioner. He will later desig nate two assistant commissioners. To Represent General Education Board . Mr. Jackson Davis, who is Just now retiring from his position as state agent for rural schools with the Vir ginia Department of Education to be come Southern representative of the General Education Board of the South in the utilization of the Slater and the Jeannes and other special educational funds is spending a few days in this state with members of the office staff of the North Carolina Department of Education making special study of the work in this state as it applies to the new work. Davfdten County Bonds Are Valid. One of the most notable opinions of the Supreme court delivered this week was that from Davidson county--Har-grave vs. Davidson Road Commission ers involving the $300,000 bond issue authorized by the recent legislature to be made' without special vote of the people for road improvement and completely changing the road laws of the county. The appeal as from the refusal of the trial judge to grant to opponents of the bond issue a re straining order against the new road commission and its exercise of the powers conferred upon it. In this case Justices Brown and Walker dissent, Justice Brown filing the dissenting opinion. In this the position is taken that the supreme court should reverse itself in the mat ter of the extent to which the prin ciple of issuance of bonds for "neces sary expenses" of county or municipal purposes can be stretched. The dis senting opinion declares that it never entered the minds of the framers of the Constitution in 1868 that Article 7, Section 7, would ever be construed to empower Toad commissioners to Is sue $300,000 bonds without vote of the citizens of the county. It is con tended, further, that there is no limit to the extent to which this construc tion can be stretched. The bond issue might as well be $1,000,000 as $300, 000 so far as the construction of . the court as to the "necessary expenses" is concerned. The controlling opinion of the court in the Davidson road 'bond case mainly reaffirms the position of the court in Commissioner vs. Commis sioners from Yancey county, 165 N. C. Reports, holding that this is a mat ter in which the Judiciary Depart ment has no power over the co-ordinate legislative branch of state gov ernment and that the remedy is with the people in procuring whatever legislation can be had from a sub sequent legislature to give relief, as was the case in the Yancey county case cited. The court holds as to the issue of defects in the machinery for condemning lands for road pur poses that this is not an issue that can be raised at this state and that at no stage could it involve any in junction proceeding such as that at bar. Farmers' Market Bulletin of Interest. The present number of the Farm ers' Market Bulletin contains articles of interest to farmers who have cot ton, corn, potatoes, butter, or eggs to market. The work of the North , Carrolina Division of Markets is outlined in a special report which was written for the Department of Agriculture of the State of Missouri. This report shows how farmers, merchants, bankers, and railroads may co-operate with a State Division of Markets. The co-operation of all is especially needed at this time to develop a market for North Carolina prorducts when the state is in somev measure shifting from the production of cotton to that of food and feed crops. Accepts Position of Grant Clerk. Col. J. Bryan Grimes, secretary of state, announced that E. G. Sherrill of Greensboro has accepted an ap pointment to the position of grant clerk in the office of the secretary of state and will take up his duties April 19, succeeding ,the late George Nor wood. Mr. Sherrill is Democratic chair man of Guilford county and was re cently appointed tax assessor. He has for some time held a position in Washington that would have neces sitated him moving his family. He has accepted trie position here in preference to this and will move his family to Raleigh. He is a son of Capt. M. O.. Sherrill, state librarian. J. R. Young Returns From Chicago. James R. Young has returned from Chicago, where he attended the spring meeting of the national convention of state commissioners of insurance. The convention arranged for a con siderable amount of committee work to be done in preparation for the annual summer convention to be held in Califronia in September. Governor Honors He uisit;or. Governor Craig honored a requisi tion from the Governor of Virginia for Seaward Isley for malicious trespass alleged to have been committed in Henry County, Va. He is being held for the Virginia authorities at Draper. Sale of Hosiery Mill Postponed. The Martin Hosiery Mill sale, which was scheduled to take place recently at auction has been indefinitely post poned because the bidding was not sufficiently active to make the sale at tnis time advantageous to the estate. The property will be readverti3ed and sold later. The sale was designed to make assets for the estate of the late J. B. Martin, who established the mill. He died here several months ago. 'It is a valuable and well-equipped prop erty located close by the freight yards of the Seaboard Air Line. Schedule of Freight Rates on Lime. Commissioner of Agriculture W. A. Graham issued tabulated schedule of freight rates on agricultural lime to be shipped in car load lots out of John son City, Tenn., by the Cranberry Fur nace Company at 50 cents per ton over the Carolina and Clinchfield road and delivered all along this road, the Sea board Air Line, the Norfolk Southern and other connection points where the freight rates will justify ship ments from this point. The commis sion ordered improvements in passen ger station equipment at Kinston. WILL TEST THE NEW T LIQUOR L JUDGE DANIELS WILL PASS ON TEST CASE OF NEW PROHIBI TION STATUTE. fRY TO COMPEL DELIVERY George M. Glenn, of Raleigh, Issues Mandamus Proceeding Against the Express Company. Raleigh. Judge Daniels Is to pass on the constitutionality of the quart liquor law passed by the recent legis lature, the hearing on a mandamus proceeding to compel transportation and delivery by the Southern Express Company of one gallon of whiskey from Richmond being set for April 26. In this case the constitutionality of both the recently enacted quart law in this state and the Webb-Kenyon act of Congress are intended to be ultimately involved as to their consti tutionality as the prosecution of the case progresses through the state and most probably the United States courts. George M. Glenn of this city order ed a gallon package of whiskey from a Richmond house and theexpress company refused to receive it for transportation, there being with the package as tendered a statement that Glenn Intended to receive it in Raleigh for his own personal use. The mandamus proceeding as in stituted here through Murray Allen, as counsel for the plaintiff, attacks both the regulations that the South ern Express Company has adopted for the making of shipments into North Carolina of whiskies and the provisions of the new' North Carolina law itself. It is insisted that the ex press company regulations Invade the constitutional rights of the individual to an extent beyond anything that could be required through the provi sions of the hew North Carolina law Furthermore there is insistence that the act itself invades the rights of the Individual under the State Constitu tion as to personal liberty guaranteed in Article 1, Section 1 and Article 1, Section 17, as to disseizing a citizen of his personal privileges without due process of law. Go to Mount Mitchell May 4. Asheville. T. E. Blackstock, of this city, who was named as chair man of the Mount Mitchell commis sion at a meeting of the commission ers at Burnsville recently, said that the members will go to the summit of the peak May 4th. They will meet there with a surrveyor who is to be employed by the commission, and work will be started at once, looking to the purchase of the highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains by the state of North Carolina for a park. The commission Is authorized to spend the sum of $20,000 in the ac quisition of the mountain, and it is empowered to secure the tracts either by purchase or condemnation. Chair man Blackstock says that the com missioners are determined to make the deal as soon as possible, believ ing that nothing is to be gained by postponement. State Editors Go to Montreat Salisbury The North Carolina Press Association will meet at ' Montreat July 1 and 2. This was decided by the executive committee which met in Salisbury. Montreat and Black Mountain com bined In the invitation. Other places bidding for the meeting were Bre vard; Lake Toxaway, Lake Kanuaga. Present at this meeting were President W. C. Hammer, J. B. Sher rill, J. H. Caine, H.-B. Varner, R. R Clark. Let Big Paving Contract. Greensboro. City authorities .have let the contract of the city for $87,350 worth of street paving to be done this spring. The streets included in the paving program of the city are Mar ket street from the railroad east of the Square to Tate street in the west; Asheboro from Fayetteville to the city limits; Walker avenue from Ashe to Mendenhall; and North Elm from the I present brick paving to the city limits Another Boost For Rocky Mount. Rocky Mount. Just another move in making the Rocky Mount the hub for Eastern Carolina became known when the news of the lease of spacious quarters in the Planters Bank build ing by the government mail service became known. The quarters just se cured are for the use of Charles F Carroll and his assistants in directing the railway mail service for Eastern North Carolina. Mr. Carroll will at an early date remove to this city from Warsaw and assume the duties of chief cleTk of the service. Community Road Improvement. Newton. Following the opening ot the new East road leading into the southeastern part of the county, to ward Charlotte, a movement has sprung up in Caldwell township, to improve the mainline of this route, and the necessary work is to be done by a big gathering of farmers. Men from town have also volunteered to help or to send a man or team. The road will be straightened in a half mile cut-off; cleared of timber, grad ed, top-soiled and ; completed in . a single day. QUAR W IHlUMnONAL hNUfSODOL (By B. O. SELLERS, Acting Director of Sunday School Course, The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, I1L) LESSON FOR APRIL 25 DAVID AND GOUATH. LESSON TEXT I Samuel 17:3-BL GOLDEN TEXT If God be for us. Who Is against us? Rom. 8:31 R. V. For forty days (v. 16) Goliath defied Saul's army, encamped near Bethle hem. Three of the sons of Jesse were in Saul's army and to them David is sent with food (w. 13, 18, 19) . These brothers scornfully reproached David when he expressed a willingness to fight Goliath, accusing him of pride and reminding him that he was b at a shep herd (vv. 26-29). David's words are carried to Saul and he is introduced to the king. I. Boastful Pride, w. 38-44. Fear and dismay were aroused at the very sight of this proud Philistine (w. 11, 24, 32), yet such fear was foreign to David, for his eyes were not upon man but upon God, (v. 37). He related to Saul bis exploits not as boasting but as giving him assurance that God was able to deliver him out of the hand of this Philistine. Saul, who had once been a man of like simple faith, Is now as much in fear as any of his army. David was perhaps about twenty, years of age and verse 56 calls him a "strip ling," hence it was that Saul's armor would not fit him (cf. 10:23). Human ly speaking, it was an impossible thing David offered to accomplish single handed. Even Saul (V. 32) sought to dissuade David, but David was not trusting in man nor depending upon the armor of the king (v. 39; Ps. 27:1 3; Isa. 12:2; Rom. 8:31). David took his familiar staff and sling (see 1 Thess. 5:2") and sallied forth, "strong in the Lord, not in himself; armed not with steel but with faith." Crossing "the valley" (v. 40 marg.) he prepared his sling, with which every Israelite was skilled (see I Sam. 13:19-23). On came the giant, a man about nine feet t tall (v. 4), "a stalking mountain, over: laid with brass and iron," preceded by his protector (v. 41). Why such a sol dier after his period of triumph should desire this added safety Is not uite clear. It suggests, however, the sin ner's timidity which reveals his essen tial weakness in that he trusts him self, takes no chances, and is even sus picious of his own supporters. What a contrast! This armored giant and this ruddy-faced, unarmed youth, car rying only the staff, wherewith he was wont to fight wild beasts, and his sling! When God calls a man he uses that weapon with which the man is most familiar, and when the church or the Christian soldier seeks to fight in the armor of another, or by using the weapons of the world, it is foredoomed to failure (Ex. 4:2; Judges 3:31). II. Conquering Humility, vv. 45-51. David acknowledged Goliath's su perior armament, yet armed with the name of the God of the army of Israel which Goliath had insulted, his confi dence overtops that of the Philistine and he hurls back his broud boast. Furthermore, the victory was to be an immediate one, "this day" (Zech. 4:6; James 4:7). With calm assurance he informs Goliath of the outcome of their conflict, but takes no credit to himself. David had naught but naked faith and the sense of a just cause to strengthen his arm. He would do to Gbliath and the Philistines the things that Goliath had boasted he would do to David (vv. 44 and 46) "that all the earth may know that there 13 a God in Israel;" see also v. 47. David's seemingly insufficient preparation is now revealed to be abundant, for he had four stones more than he needed . (v. 40). It is thus that God chooses the weak things to confound the mighty (I Cor. 1:27). III. Summary. We have before us three lessons. First the lesson of indi vidual responsibility. A sinful king had paralyzed the effectiveness of the army of Israel. David, "a man after God's own heart," refused Saul's ar mor, crying out "I cannot go in these." Saul, bound by tradition, must use conventional weapons. Every great advance in the history of the church nas Deen iea oy some man wno sirucK. out boldly, insensible alike to the con- . ventionalism of his friends and the -gibes of the enemy. God would have . every man worn accoraing 10 nimseiu not copying, not imitating, but with his own equipment. Second, all the giants of sin have not yet been overthrown. We still have the giants of Intemper ance, Unchastity, Graft, Selfishness, Ambition and the Inequalities of our civic and social life. These can only be overcome in the strength of God. Bunyan mentions three giants, -Pride, Grim and Pagan; to these wo may add. Anger, Untruthfulness, Self ishness and Sullenness. Third, Our Helper. See Golden : Text. Of all the graces David pos sessed, faith was the root of each one' faith In a living God. His active faith causeu him with nimble feet to attack this blasphemous enemy (v. 48). His faith In God characterizes his entire life, resounds In his songs and strengthened his life of service for Je hovah. It Is such faith thav; strengthens the arm of the true saint of God, that en ables him to "overcome" in his own life, to undertake for God and to go. to the ends of the earth in his name. 1ES9M i
The Chatham Record (Pittsboro, N.C.)
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April 21, 1915, edition 1
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