The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-28
THE EXAMPLE OF ABIMELECH
A MaIodorous Name from Which Profit
able Suggestions May Be Drawn.
Folly of Relying on One Form Of Tactics in
the Battle Against Sin-Power Of Ex-
ample and Need of Action.
Special to tre Indianapolis JournaY.

BROOKLYN, Sept. 27.-Dr Talmage, In the
Tabernacle. this morning preached to his usual
large congregation. Sabbath by Sabbath many
more thousands come to the doors of this church
than can get in. The hymn before the sermon
was:
'Hark the voice of Jesus calling
Who will go and work to-day;
Fields white, the harvest waiting
| Who will bear the sheaves away"
| The preacher read and expounded the parable
of the talents in the twenty fifth chapter of
Matthew. showing that the man who received
one talent received ST. $780, and that the man with
| smallest equipment for usefulness has great
| sposibility.
| The subject of the sermon was "Stormed and
Taken and the text follows:
Sand Abimelech gat him up to Mount Zal-
| mon, he and all the people that were with him;
and Abimelech took an ak in his hand and cut
| down Dough from the trees and took it and
| laid it on his shoulder and said unto the peo-
pie that were with him: What We have seen
me do, make haste and do as have done. And
| all the people likewise cut down every man his
Dough, and followed Abimelech, and put them
to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them,
| SO that all the men of the tower of Shechem
died."-Judges TX, 4S 40.
| DR.. Talmage said.
| Abimelech is name ma!adorous in Bible
history, and yet full Of profitable suggestion.
| Buoys are black and uncomely, but they tell
| where the rocks are. The snakes rattle is
hideous, but it gives timely warning. From
the piazza of my summer home, night by night
| l saw a lighthouse fifteen miles away, not
placed there for adornment, but to tell
riners to stand off from that dangerous point
| SO all the iron bound coast of moral danger is
marked with Saul, and Herod, and Rehoboam,
and Jezebel, and Abimelech. These bad people
are mentioned in the Bible not only as warn
| ings but because there were sometimes flashes
of good conduct in their lives worthy of imi-
tation. God sometimes drives very straight
| nail with very poor hammer.
The city of Shechem had to be taken, and
Abimelech and his men were to do it. I
the dust rolling up from their excited march
hear the shouting of the captains and the yell
| of the besegers. The swords clack sharply on
the parrying Shields and the vociferation of two
| armies in death erapple is horrible to hear. The
| battle goes all day. and as the is setting
Abimelecn and his army cry, Surrender" to
the beaten foe. And unable 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 head on the
| lap of mother wife. or sister, who have come
out for the last offices of kindness and affection
and groan rolls across the city, stopping not
because there 10 spot for it to rest so fnll is
| the place of other groans A city wounded! A
city dying! city dead! Wall for Shechem all
| we who know the horrors of sacked town!
THE ASSAULT BY FIRE.
| As I look over the city I 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 de-
| fend Shechem, now begin to look out for their
own personal safety, and they fly to this temple
of Berth. They get within the door, shut it,
and they say, NOW we are SAFE Abimelech
| has taken the whole city, but he cannot take
this temple of Berth. Here we shall be under
| the protection of the gods" Oh, Berth. the
| godl do your best now for these refugees If
you have eyes. pity them. If you have haLds
help them. If you have thunderbolts, strike for
| them. But how shall Abimelech and his army
take this temple of Berth and the men who are
there fortified Will they do it with swordl
Nay. Will they do it with spear2 Nay. With
battering ram, rolled up with hundred-armed
| strength, crashing against Tue WallSf Nay
Abimelech marches his men to wood in Zal-
mon. With his ak he hews off limb of a tree,
and puts that limb upon his own shoulder, and
| then he says to his men: you do the same"
| They are obedient to their commander. There
is struggle as to who 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 limb of 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
branchl The reply ''Al armed"
| And they march Oh. what strange
army, with what strange equipment! They
come up to the foot of the temple of Berth, and
Abimelech takes his limb of tree and throws
| it down. and the first platoon of soldiers come
| up and they throw down their branches; and the
second platoon, and the third, until all around
about the temple OF Berth there is pile of tree
branches The Shechemites look out upon what
seems to them childish play upon the part of
their enemies. But soon the lints are struck,
and the spark begins to kindle the brush, and
the fame comes up all through the pile, and the
red elements leap to the easement, and the
woodwork begins to blaze, and one arm of fame
| is thrown UP the right side of the temple, and
! another of flame is thrown up on the left
side of the temple, until they clasp their lurid
palms under that wild night sky. and the cry of
'Flre!" within, and "Fire!" without, announces
the terror and the strangulatiou, and the doom
of the Shechemites. and the complete overthrow
of the temple of the god Berth Then there
went up shout long and loud, from the stout
lungs and swarthy chests of Abimelech and his
men, as they stood amid the ashes and the dust,
crying "Victory Victoryv Or, as the text has
it, 'And Abimelech CAT him up to Mount Zal-
mon, he and all the people that were with him.
| and Abimeiech took an ak in his hand, ard cut
down a bough from the trees, and took it and
laid it on his shoulder. and said unto the people
that were with hm What We have seen me do