Philistine cursed David by his gods. He said: "Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field."

Different ways of Coming. You come; I come.

Then said David to the Philistine: "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with spear, and with shield; but

"I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

"This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee * * * that all the earth may know that there is a God of Israel.

"And all this assembly shall know that

The Lord saveth not with

Sword and

Spear:

For the battle is the Lord's, and

HE WILL GIVE YOU into our hands.”

Now, dear Christian friend, is David right in saying this? Can it be true that victory depends not so much on the SWORD and the SPEAR as it does upon which one of the combatants is on the Lord's side?

The two combatants arise, and approach one another for battle; a contest, upon which depends the fate of each side. One of the combatants is a giant, about ten feet tall, mail-covered, whetted sword and pointed spear, and waited upon by a "second," who carried his shield.

He represents the Philistine camp.

From the other camp leaps a young man, a mere youth, without sword, without spear, without shield, without helmet—nothing seemingly for protection, and nothing for progression, save a staff. When the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him.

Yes, the Philistine DISDAINED David.

Who would stake his fate and future on such preparedness as that? Why no! Preparedness is all on the side of the Philistine, for God helps the man and the army that has the biggest cannon, the best ammunition and the most expert gunners, assure the Philistines.

So, then, David is wrong in his contention: "That the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's." Wait, and see!

"And David put the hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, Slang it, and

Smote the Philistine in his forehead, and

The stone SUNK INTO HIS FOREHEAD; and

HE FELL UPON HIS FACE TO THE EARTH."

So David prevailed over the Philistine

With a SLING, and

With a STONE, and

Smote the Philistine, and

Slew him;

But there was no sword in the hand of David.

Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword and slew him, and cut off his head therewith.

Now observe the results, the effects, the consequences.

And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, THEY FLED.

Yes, the Philistines FLED.

And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until they come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron.

Ample Preparedness An Absolute Necessity.

Who would say that David was not prepared?

Who would say that David had not studied diligently the art of warfare and the means necessary and the weapons appropriate for the occasion under prevailing circumstances?

In David's preparation for this battle, we notice:

1. That David had knowledge of the God of Israel, his ways and doings. He had a Godly, devoted mother. He titles her God's handmaid in the 86th Psalm, saying:

"O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, AND SAVE THE SON OF THY HANDMAID."

Ruth was his great grandmother, a very pious and devout woman, who ardently loved the Lord of Israel and his people, though a descendant from Moab. And having only the five books of Moses, and perhaps the book of Joshua, as records of God and his works, he learned by tradition of Abraham and the patriarchs, of Moses and the covenant, of Gideon, Deborah, Jephtah and Sampson.

And he believed all he heard to be the word of God, with the wholeness of his heart and the simplicity of a child.

2. That David had learned to pray and to trust. For it is by hearing the word of God, the believing in the word of God, the putting into actual practice the commands of God, the communication with God in prayer and praise, the intimacy with God, the love to God, and the confidence in God-these attributes, qualifications and requisites qualify the inner man, the ego, the spirit, to discern the will of God, and only such are capable to ask and to receive, only such have become docile and subtle by the work of the Holy Spirit to receive impressions and to follow the gentle leading and guiding hand of God.

This was the first and the very essential requisite in David's fight with Goliath. And he kept this as his bright guiding star all through his life.

God as a being, an actual existence, God's attributes-His righteousness, His judgments, His mercies, His grace, His loving. kindness, His marvelous works, His government universal-all

this attracted his attention, all interested him and afforded him unspeakable enjoyment and pleasure.

3. That David used every moment of his life for some good purpose. He was never idle, never vain.

He played the harp, he practiced with his sling and he learned to write. He could never have dictated all his Psalms if he had not learned to write. So he wrote poems, he composed tunes, melodies, he played, he sang, and he practiced with his sling. And in this practice, he become so proficient that he could hit an apple on a tree or the eye of an animal at a certain distance.

Though David ascribed his efficiency with the sling to God and His guiding hand, both as to accuracy in markmanship and in the force and velocity of missile, he knew beforehand the result. 4. That David was not careless or over-confident. For he selected FIVE stones. Not carelessly, no, the stones were chosen, selected, both in view to size and to form; they were smooth stones. This faculty of judgment, selection and comparison is Godgiven and by God maintained and preserved; and may be benumbed or failing at any time, if not sustained by God.

So here we have David's preparedness: (a) his religion; (b) his fervent worship; (c) his devotion to duty; industrious, painstaking (d) attainment of proficiency; (e) sensitiveness of the reproach of the honor of his God and the abuse and slander of his people; and (f) his risk in their behalf.

That David, seeing now that the honor of his God and the fate of his beloved people were at stake, reviled, scoffed at, and as he risked his life for the honor of God and the rescue of his people, he was assured that his God would vindicate him, and give direction to his stone and force to his arm.

6. The Five Smooth Stones: Their Significance.

David's intimate communion with God and his filial, immovable confidence in God, having surrendered himself wholly, unreservedly to God, and having dedicated his mind, his faculties, his endowments, his all as a living sacrifice on the altar for the worship and service of God, he said things, wrote things, and did things prophetic in essence, and diversified and instructive in application.

The Five Smooth Stones belong to this class. We notice. (a) That the figure three stands for the God-Head: Three in One; One in Three. And of the five stones, three is a majority; hence God must always be in the majority, the most important factor in everything we do. This plainly, and prominently unfolds in David's declaration:

"The Lord Saveth, not with sword or spear, and

The battle is the Lord's."

(b) The TWO stands for the agency it pleases the Lord to select for a certain purpose, as a means to an end. Here we have, then, the

Agent and his Tool or weapon. They are in the minority; for

it all depends upon the majority which gives the command and direction, which gives the strength, the discretion and the understanding.

Thus God is all in all. All originates with Him, all serves His purpose, all returns to Him.

One stone out of the bag did the business, indicating the use of the tool or weapon. Goliath furnished the rest himself for David to finish the job. For David had no sword, but hastened to the fallen adversary, pulled his sword out of the sheath and cut his head off with it.

Smoothness of Stones and the Sling.

7. The Smoothness of the Stones. The smoothness of the Stones indicates harmony. Smoothness indicates processing.

(a) The "processing" principle effecting the smoothness of David's stones is applicable to the two stones-the Agent and the Tool or weapon only. As to the personality or individuality of the three persons in the God-Head, and their affluence into one God-head-THEE IN ONE AND ONE IN THREE-is comprehensively illustrated and demonstrated by three flames blended into one. For example: Ignite three matches, and each one has a flame, therefore three separate, individual flames. Holding the three matches together the flames blend into one in all respects monomerous, a perfect blend into one, the parts of which are absolutely indistinguishable. Separate the matches, and we have again three individual flames, just as we had before.

We know that stones and pebbles have been ground down in creeks and water-courses by snowslides, glaciers and freshets, and in that way David's stones were made smooth; and so is roughness of nature made smooth, subtle and serviceable by education and discipline, and the raw material made into a serviceable tool by processing in various ways.

But the smoothness of David's stones represents Harmony alike in all five of them.

8. David's Sling represents, and reminds us of Intelligence and Ingenuity. David gave his stone greater force by using the sling. David could have thrown his stone with the hand, but not with so much force as he did with the sling; so he used the sling.

It is objected, that the stone must have struck the helmet, and could not, therefore, sink into Goliath's forehead. Considering this objection, we notice:

1. That Goliath seeing no weapon in David's hand but his staff, and that too short to reach him, he almost considered it below his dignity to meet such an antagonist in a combat of this kind. “Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves?" he said scornfully. Therefore he was not careful to protect his forehead by the helmet covering.

2. David slang his stone from a distance, taking the giant unaware and unprepared so far as adjustment of his armours were concerned. For he expected David to jump upon him with the

weapon he had in his hand, and would soon undo him with either his sword or his spear.

3. David's stone was shot from the ground upwards, hence from under the helmet. The sling David used consisted of a leather strap, one end wound around his finger and the other end held by the thumb, pressing against the central joint of the index finger. The strap had a widening or attached contrivance in the center to hold the stone. The sling being whirled rapidly around, and releasing one end at a certain point, gave the stone or missile great force. Now releasing the stone at a point near the ground afforded an upward shot, striking Goliath's forehead between the

eyes.

So here, in David's example, our young men in the training camps, have an important lesson to learn, and they should learn it well.

The first thing of importance is to know God; to know His power, His guidance, His wisdom; and to know His righteousness as well as His mercies.

The second thing of importance is "Diligence." "DILIGENCE is the mother of good luck," said Benjamin Franklin. Be not satisfied by being able to do the thing in a general way, as you are told to do it or as you see others do it, but try to excel. Be ingenious. Try to improve methods and to develop new ideas.

The lazy, careless and indolent soldier is the one who gets hurt. Remember, that the welfare of your beloved country depends upon you personally. Yours is the opportunity to return to your Country and to your State, County and home with emblems and tokens of bravery to the delight of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and the whole community will assemble to do you honor.

The third thing of importance is to meet the enemy in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Democracy, whom the Kaiser and his subservients have defied. Advancing toward this enemy, the Prussian militarism, in the same spirit as David met Goliath, and afterwards the Philistines, the giant will fall to your feet, and you will behead him with his own sword, and annihilate militarism so thoroughly that nations shall learn to war no more, to the glory of God and the good will among men.

And then you shall return home in triumph, as David did, after having slain the Philistine, of which we read:

"And it came to pass as they came, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.

"And the women answered one another as they played, and said: Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands."