Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-03-30

Tribe of Benz of Worldly
MISUNDERSTANDING at the Gate OF
Tears.
BROOKLYN, March 29.-Dr. Talmage
| preached this evening in the Brooklyn
| Tabernacle, on the subject, awkward
Usefulness" When by electric touch
the 1900 lights OF the Tabernacle flash
| up, the auditorium affords a brilliant
scene not TO be forgotten. The aisles and
the corridors and the entrances of the
church are thrOnged The opening hymn
at this evenings service was:
''My soul, be on thy guard
Ten thousand foes arise;
The hosts of sin are pressing hard,
To draw thee from the skies"
The text was from Judges, ill.,, 10:
''But when the children of Israel cried
unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a
deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, Ben
jamite, a man left-handed, and by him
the children of Israel sent present unto
EglOn, the King of Moab." DIR. Talmage
said
Ehud was a ruler in Israel. He was left
handed, and, what was peculiar about The
tribe of Benjamin to which ne belonged, there
were in it seven hundred left handed men, and
yet so deXterous had they all become in the
use of the left hand that the Bible says they
could sling stones ut a hairs breadth and not
miss. Well, there was a King by the name of
EglOn, who was an OppressOr of Israel. He
imposed upon them q most outrageous tax.
Ehud, the man OF whom l first spoke, had q
divine commits ion to destroy that OppreSsor.
He came, pretending that ne was going to pay
the tax, and asked to see King EglOn. He
was told lie was IN the summer-hOuse, the
place to which the King retired when
it was too hot TO sit in the palace.
This summer-hOuse was a place sur
rounded by flowers and trees, and springtng
fountains and Warbling birds. Ehud en-
tered the summer house and said 10 hlng
EglOn that he hat a secret eTran with him.
Immediately all the attendants were waved
out of the royal presouce. King EglOn rises
up to receive the messe ger. Ehud, the left
handed man. puts his left hand to his right
ide, pulls out a da ger and thrusts Eglon
through until the haft went in after the blade.
EglOn falls. Ehud comes forth to blow
trumpet OF right amidst the mountains of
Epbraim, and a great most is marshalled and
pr I'D Moab submits to the conqueror and
Israel is free. So, D Lord. let all thine enc
mics perish So, . Lord, let all thy friends
triumph!
Ieara first from this subject the power of
lett handed men. There are some men who
| by physical organization have as much
| strength in their left hand "a in their right
| hand, but there is something in the writing of
| this text which implies thai Ehud had some
| defect in hie right hand which compelled him
| to use the lett. Oh. the power OF left-handed
menl Genius is often self-Obser ant, careful
| of itself, not given TO mucn toll, burning in
| cense to its own aggrandlzement; while many
a man with no natural endOwments actually
| defective in physical and mental Organiza-
| tiOn, has an earncStneS5 for the rights as pa
| tient industry, an all-cOnsuming perSever-
| ance, which achieve marVels f0r the kingdom
| of Christ. Though left-handed as Ehud they
| can strike down sin as great and imperial as
| Egoa. | have seen men of wealth gathering
| about them all their treasures, snufling at the
| cause of world living in wickedues5, roughly
| ordering Lazarus off their doorstep, sending
fhair Il GTora nn fO Ip n n
| him of their premises; catching all the pure
| rain of Gods blessing into the stagnant, r0pv
| frog inhabited pool of their own selhshness-
right handed men worse than useless-While
many man with large heart and little pulse
has out of his limit ed means, made poverty leap
| for joy, and started an influence that ove--
spans the grave ana Will swing round ana
round the throne of God, world without emf; &;
amen. Ah, me; it is high time that you left
handed men who have been longing for this
gift, and that eloquence, and the other mans
wealth, should take your left hand out of your
pockets. Who made all these railroads? Who
set up all these cities? Who started all these
churches and schools and asylums? " no has
done the Juggling, and running and pulling?
Men of no wonderful endOWments, thousands
of them acknowledging themselves to be left
handed, and yet they were earnest, and yet
they were determined, and yet they were
triumphant.
Butt do not suppose that Ehud, the first
time he took a sling in his left hand. could
throw a stone hairs breadth and not miss.
L
wonderful deXterity. Go forth to your
spheres Of duty and be not discouraged if in
your first attempt you miss the mark. Ehud
missed 1t. Take another stone, put it care
fully into the sling, swing it around your
head take better ann and the next time you
will strike the centre. The first time Il mason
rings MS trowel upon the brick, he does not
expect to put up perfect wall. The first
time carpenter sends plane over board or
drives a bit through a beam he does not
expect to make perfect execution. The first
time q boy attempts a rhyme he does not ex-
pect TO chime ''Lalla Rookh" or Lady of
the Lake" Do no. be surprised if in your
first efforts at doing good you are not very
largely successful. Understand that useful
ness is an art, science, trade. There was
an ocullst performing very difficult opera
tion on the human eye. A young doctor stood
by and said: 'How easily you do that; it
don't seem to cause yOu any trouble at all ="
An" said the old oculist, SIT is very
easy now, but | spoiled a hatful of eyes to
learn that" Be not surprised If it takes
some practice before we can help men to
moral eyesght and bring them to a vision of
the cross. Left-handed men to the work!
Take the gospel for sling and faith and re-
pentauce for the smooth stone from tho brook
take sure aim-God direct the weapon-and
great GOliaths Will tumble before you. When
Garibaldi was going ont to battle he told his
troops what he wanted Them to do, and, after
he had described what he wanted them to do
they SAID; well, General, what are you GO
ing to give us for all this?n ''Well," he re-
piled, Il don know what else you will get,
but you viii get hunger and co d and wounds
and death. HOW dO you like it?' His men
stood before him for little while in silence
and then they threw up their hands and cried:
''We are the men! We are the nenp The
Lord Jesus christ calls yOu to His service. |
do not promise yOu an easy time in tins world.
You may have prosecutions and trials and
Misrepresentation, but afterward there comes
an eternal weight OF glory, and yoa can bear
the wounds and the bruises and the misrepre-
sentatlon. If you can have the reward afler-
ward. Iave yOn not enough enthusiasm to
cry out: We are the meni We are the men?"
learn also from this subject the danger of
worldly elevation. This Eglon was what the
world called great man. There were hun
dreds of people who would have considered
it the greatest honor of their life just 10 have
him to speak TO them; yet, although he is so
high up in worldly position. he Is not beyond
the reach of Ehud's dagger. | see a great
many people trying to climb up in social posi-
ton, having an idea that there is a safe p ace
somewhere far above, not knowing that the
mountain of fame has top like Mount Blanc
covered with perpetual snow. We laugh at
the children of ohinar for irving to buitd a
tower that could reach to the heavens, but /
think if our eyesight were only good enough
we could see Babel in many door yard
On the struggle is fierce. 1t
house. street against street, nation
against nation. The goal for which men are
running is chairs and chandeliers and mirrors
and houses and lands and Presidential equip
ments. II they get what they anticipate, what
have they got? Men are not safe from caum-
nv while they live, and. worse than that they
are not safe after they are dead; for l have
seen swine root up graveyards. One day a
man goes up into publicity, AID the world
does him honor and people climb up into
sycamore trees to watch him as he passes, and
as he goes along on the shoulders of the ueo-
pie there is a waving of hats and a wild huzza
Tomorrow the same man IS caught between
the jaws of the printing press and mangled
and bruised, and the very sane persons who
applauded him before cry: Down with the
traitor! Down with him ~
Belshazzar sits at the feast, the mighty men
Of Babylon sitting all around him. Wit
sparkles like the wine and the wine ike the
wit. Music rolls up among the chandeliers;
the chandeliers flash down on the decanters
The breath OF hanging gardens floats in on the
night air; the voice Of reyelry floats out.
Amidst wreaths and tapestry ana folded ban
ners finger writes. The march Of host is
heard on the stairs. Laughter catches in the
throat A thousand hearts stop beating The
blow is struck. The blood on the fiOOr rs
richer hued than the wine ON the table. The
kingdom has departed. Belshazzar was no
worse perhaps than hundreds OF people in
Babylon, but his position slew him. Oh, be
content with Just such position as God bss
placed yOu In. 1t may not be said of us, HE
was great General or ale was an hOnored
Chlefuan," or He was mighty In worldly at
tainments;" bnt this thing may be said of you
and OF me: "He was good citizen, a faith
full Christian, friend OF Jesus" And that
in the last day will be the highest of all eu-
logiums.
comes to the summer house. Eglon did not
expect to die in that fine place. Amidst all
the flower leaves that drifted like summer
snow into the window in the tinkIe and
dash of the fountains, in the sound of a thou
sand leaves 1eetlng on one tree branch in the
cool breeze that came up to shake feyerish
trouble out of the Kings locks-there was
nothing that spoke of death. But there he
died! In the winter, when the snow is a
shroud and when the wind is a dirge it is
easy to think OF our mortality; but when the