Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-01-30

|
in the comparison. The rough old warrio
has to uss some persuasion before he ca
get his child to come to him nov after .
long an absence; bnt soon the little hnge
traces the familiar wrinkle across the soar
red face, And then the empty tankard
are set up, and they are filed with the bss
wine from the bills, and David and his men
the husbands, the wives, the brothers. th
sisters, drink to the overthrow of the Am
alekites and to the rebuilding of Ziklag
So. o Lord, let thine enemies perisbl
Now they are coming home, David ant
his men and their families long process
sion. Men, women, and children, loadet
with Jewels ard robes and with all kinds O
trophies that Amalekites had gathered VI
Iup in years of c,,nquest-everythingn now il
the hands of David and bis men. Whel
they come by the brook Besor, the placl
where staid the men sick and incompetent
to travel, the Jewels and the robes and al
kinds of tseaAures are divided among thu
sick as we'll az among the we'll Surely, th'
lame and exhausted ought to have some oi
the treasures. Here is robe for this pale
faced warrior. Here is handful of gold
for the wasted trumpeter. I really think
that these men who tainted by the brook
Besor may have endured as much as those
men who went into battle. Some mean fel-
lows objected to the sick ones having any
of the spoils. The objectors said: 'These
men did not fight" David, with mag.
unanimous heart, replies: "As his part ia
that goeth down to the battle, so shall his
part be that tarrieth by the stuff. )"
This subject is practically Suggestive to
me. Thank God in these times man can
go off on journey, and be gone weeks and
1 he h..ol hic
untouched of incendiary, and bave his fam
lily on the step to greet him, if by telegram
he has foretold the moment of his coming.
But there are Amalekitish disasters, and
there are Amalekitish diseases that some
times come down upon ones home, making
as devastating work as the day when Ziklag
took fire. There are families in my con-
gregation whose homes have been broken
up. No batteripg-ram smOte in the door,
no iconoclast crum bled the statues, no fame
leaped amidst the curtains; but so far as ell
the Joy and merriment that once belonged
to that house are concerned, the home has
departed. Armed diseases came down up
on the quietpess of the scsne-scarlet fevers,
or pleurisies, or consumptions, or underlined
disorders came and seized upon some mem
bers of that family, and carried them away.
Zikag in ashes And you go about, some
times weeping and sometimes enraged,
wanting to get back your loved ones as much
as David and his men wanted to reconstruct
their despoiled households. Ziklag in ashes
Some of you went off from home. You
counted the days of your absence. Every
day seemed as long as a week. oh, how
glad you were when the time came for you
TO go aboard the steamboat or rail car and
start for home! You arrived. You went
up the street where your dwelling was, and
in the night you put your hand on the door
bell, and, behold. it was wrapped with the
signal of bereavement, and you found that
Amalekitish Death, which has devastated
Thousand other households, had blasted
yours. You go about weeping amidst the
desolation of your once happy home, think
ing of the bright eyes closed, and the noble
hearts stopped, and the gentle hands fold
ed, aud you weep until you have no more
power to weep. Zklsg in ashes!
| A gentleman went to a friend of mine in
the city of Wa.bingtop, aud asked that
Through him be might get consu,shipst tc
some foreign port. My friend SAID to him
'sWhat do you want tn go away from your
beautiful home for, into foreign portF'
| ''Oh," he replied, my home is gone! Ny
six children are desdl | must get away, sir
CAM stand it in this country any longer
Ziklag in ashes!
Why these long shadows of bereavement
across this audience2 Why is it that in
a most every aseembiage black is the pre-
dominant color of tie apparel? Is it be-
causs yon do not like saffron or brown Oh
vioietP Uh, mol You say: The world is
not SO bright to us as it once was;' and
there is q story of silent voices, and of still
! feet, and of loved ones gone, and when you
look over the hills, expecting only beauty
and loveliness, you fi"d only devastation
apd wee Z,klag in ashes!
In Ulster county, N. T., the village
chu ch was decorated until the fragrance o
the flowers was almost bewildering The
maidens of the village had emptied thu
place of f1uwers upon one marriage altar
One of their own number was affianced tt
a minister of Christ, who had come to TAKE
her to his home. With hands Joined, ,amids
a copgratulatory audience, the VOWS were
taken. In three days from that time ont
of those who stood at the altar exchanged
earth for heaven. The wedding marcl
broke down into the funeral dirge. Thsr'
were not enough flowers now for the coffii
lid, because they had all been taken for th
bridal hour. The dead minister of Chris
is brought to another village. He had gou
out from them less than a week before il
his strength; now he comes home lifelesS
The whole church bewailed him. Th
solemn procession moved around to lool
upon the still face that once had bsame'
with messages of salvation. Little children
wera lifted up to look at him. And som
J of those WHOM he had comforted in days o
sorrow, when they passed that silent form
| made the place dreadful with their weep
ing. Another will 1ge emptied OF its flower
some of them put in the shape of a eros
J to symbolizs bis hope, others put in tn
shape Of crown to symbolize his triumph
r A hundred lights blown out in one stron,
gust from the open door of a sepulchre
; ziklag in ashes!
| p;each this sermon to day. because
! want to rally you. as David rallied bis mel
for the recovery of the loved and the lost.
want not only to win heaven, bot | wan
all this congregation to go along with me
> | | feel that somehow | have responsibility
in your arriving at that great city | hav
' on other Sabbaths used other inducements
r I mean, TO day, for the sake Of variety
t hoping to reach your heart. to try anothe
kind of inducement. Do you really wan
i. | to Join the companionship of your love
\ ones who have gone7 Are you as anxiou
} to Join them as David and his men We're t
Join their families? Then am here, in to
: name of God, to cay that you may, and
r tel you how.
l l remark, iu the first place, if you wan
q to join your loved ones in glory, you mus
s travel the same way they went No soor
, or had tho haf-dead Egyptian been resusc
D tated than he pointed tho way tho captor
: aud the captives had gone. aud David an
a his men followed after. So or Christia
v friends have goGe into another country, ao
g | If we want to reach their cumpani 5nshi
: We must take the same raad. They repen
Q ed; we must repent. They prayed; "
, must pray. T"ey trusted IN Christ; W
D mnst trust in Christ. They lived religion
i LIE; we must tige a religious life. The
1 were in some things iiKe ourselves. know
j. nou that they are gone, there 10 a bal
a around their names; but they had the
r faults. They said and did things the
S ought never 10 have SAID or dose. Tue
!. were sometimes rebeliious, sometimes Gas
e down. They were far froau being perfect