Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-09-28
ABIMELECH AT SHECHEM.
A REALISTIC PICTURE OF THE
SACKING OF THE TOWN.

BROOKLYN, N. Y, Sept, 27.-sabbath
by Sabbath many more thousands come to
the gates OF the Tabernacle than can get
in.
The following hymn was sung:
''Hark We the voice of Jesus calling
who will 60 and work to-day:
Fields are white, the harvest waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves awaym
The pastor, Rev. DR.. Talmage, then
read and expounded the parable OF the
talents in the 25th chapter of Mat
thew, showing that the man who
received one talent received $500, and
that the man with the smallest equipment
for usefulness has great responsibility.
The subject OF the sermon was "Stormed
and Taken" and the text was taken from
Judges tx, As, 40: "And Abimelech gat
him up to Mount zalmon, he and all
the people that were with him;
and Abmelech took an axe in
hand, and cut down bough from
the tree and took it and laid it on his
shoulder and said unto the people that
were with him What ye have seen me
do, make haste and do as l have done.
And all the people likewise cut down ev-
cry man his bough and followed Abime-
lech, and put them to the hold and set the
hold on fire upon them; 30 that all the men
of the tower of Shechem died"
Abimelech is name maladOrOus in BIZ
bic history, and yet full of profitable sug-
gestiOn. BuOys are black and unoomely,
but they tell where the rocks are. The
snakes rattle is hideous, but it gives
timely warning. From the piazza of my
I l. ssaN.e e-wt.S
lighthouse fifteen miles away, not placed
there for adornment, but 10 tell mariners
to stand off from that dangerous point.
So all the iron-bound coast of moral dan
ger is marked with Saul, and Herod, and
Rehoboam, and Jezebsl, and Abimelech.
These bad people are mentioned in the
Bible not only as warnings, but because
there were sometimes flashes of good con-
duct in their lives worthy of imitation.
God sometimes drives a very straight
nail with very poor hammer.
The city OF Shechem had to be taken,
and Abimelech and his men were to do it.
zee the dust rolling up from their ex-
| cited march. l hear the shouting OF the
Captains and the yell of the besiegers.
The swords clack sharply on the parrying
shields. and the vOoiteration OF two armies
in death-grapple IS horrible to hear. The
battle goes on all day, and as the sun is
/ bGlLluk ADtIuGlCCn ana u1s army CFY
| ''Surrenderl" to the beaten foe. And, un-
able longer to resist, the city OF Shechem
falls; and there are pools of blood and
discovered limbs, and glazed eyes looking
up beggIngly for mercy, that war never
shows, and dying soldiers with their heads
on the lap Of mother, or wife, or sister,
who have come out for the last offices of
kindness and affection; and a groan rolls
across the city, stopping not, because
there is no spot for it to rest, so full is the
| place of other groans. A city wounded
A city dyingl A city dead Wall for
| Shechem all ye that know the horrors of a
! sacked tOWnl
| AS l look over the city, can find only
one building standing, and that is the
| temple of the god Berth. Some soldiers
outside of the city in tower, finding that
they can no longer defend Sheohem, now
| begin to look out for their own personal
safety, and they fly to this temple Of Be-
/ rith. They get within the door, shut 10,
| and they say Snow, we are safe. AOim-
! elech has taken the whole city, but he can
not take this temple OF Berth. Here we
shall be under the protection of the god.'
| Oh, Berth, the god do your best now for
these refugees. If you have eyes, pity
| them. If you have hands, help them. IL
| you have thunderbolts, strike for them.
| But how shall Abimelech and his army
/ TAKE luis LtiuDlG Oh DeTlLn ana IHb men
who are there fortified? Will they do it
with swordY Nay. win they do it with
| spear? Nay. With battering ram, rolled
/ by hundred-armed strength, crushing
against the walls? Nay. Abimelech
| marches his men TO a wood in ZalmOn.
| With his axe he hews off limb Of a tree,
and puts that limb upon his own shoulder,
and then no says to his men; "You do the
! same. They are Obedient 10 their COM
| shall have axes. The whole wood is full
OF bending boughs, and the cracking,
and the hacking, and the cutting, until
every one Of the host has a limb OF a tree
! cut down; and not only that, but has put
it upon his shoulder just as Abimelech
showed him how. Are these men now
all armed with the tree branches? The
answer comes, "All armed" And they
march on. Oh, what a strange army,
with what strange equipment. They
come up TO the foot OF the temple OF
Berth, and Abimelech takes bis limb Of
tree and throws IL down, and the first
platoon OF soldiers comes up and they
throw down their branches; and the sec
ond platoon, and the third, until all
around about the temple Of Berth there
Is pile Of tree branches. The Sheche-
mites look out from the window OF the
temple upon what seems 10 them childish
HAey vi wv INib VI tiANtA NNNAAitns ifAA
soon the fnts are struck, and the spark
begins TO klndle the brush, and the flame
comes up all through the pile, and the red
I element leaps 10 the easement, and the
woodwork begins to blaze, and one arm
OF flame Is thrown up on the right side OF
the temple, aud another arm OF flame Is
thrown upon the left side Of the temple,
until they claep their lurid palms under
the wild night sky, and the cry Of "Fire"
within and "Fire" withOut,annOunce8 the
terror and the strangllati0n, and the
doom OF the Shechemites, aud the COM
nlete overthrow OF the temple Of the god
Berth. Then there went up shout,
long and loud, from the stout lungs and
swarthy chests OF Abimeleeh and his men
as they stood amid the ashes and the dust
crying: "YIctOry! ylctoryw or, as the
text has II: Sand Abmeiech gat him up
TO Mount Zalmon, he and all the people
that we're with him, and Abimelech took
an ak in his hand and cut down n bOugh
from the trees, and took it. and laid II on
bis shoulder, and said unto the people
that we're with him: what 20 have seen
me do, make haste and do as ! have dOne.'
And all the people likewise cut down
every man his bough, and followed
Abimelech, and put them To the hold. and
set the hold on fire upon them. so that all
the men at the tower Of shechem died.D
Now / learn first from this subject the
folly Of depending upon any one form of
tactics In anything We have 20 do for this
world or for God. Look over the wea-
UQnrV Of oIHau ffnnaa-- -foEuIiua hoffIo-