The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1889-01-25
MANK ,ro FREE Press.
FRIDAY. JANUARY 25, 1850.
THE MARCH H0MEWARD.
SERMON PREACHED BY REV. T. DE
WITT TALMAGE, D. D., JAN. 20.

WITT TALMAGE, D. D., JAN. 90.
The Servants of the Lord Should Rouse
Themselves as Did David and His Men
and Recover Their Loved Ones from the
Power of the Evil One.
BROOKLYN, Jan. 20.-The Rev. T. Do Witt
Talmage, D. D., having expounded eppropri
ate passages of Scripture, gave out the hymn.
Who are these in bright array.
This innumerable throng,
Round the altar night and day
Tuning their triumphant songS
The subject of the sermon was The March
Homeward." and the text Samuel, Xxx, 8:
pursue for thou shalt surely overtake them,
and without fail recover ALL" DR.. Talmage
said:
There is intense excitement In the village of
Ziklag. David and his men are bidding
goodby to their families, and are off for the
wars In that little village of ZiklaS the de-
fenSeless ones will be safe until the " lrriors,
flushed with victory, come home. But will
the defenseless ones be safei The soft arms
Of children are around the necks Of the
bronzed warriors until they shake them
selves free and start, and handkerchiefs and
flags are waved and kisses thrown until the
armed men vanish beyond the hills. David
and his men soon get through with their cam
paign and start homeward. Every night on
their way home, no sooner does the soldier
put his head on the knapsack than in his
dream he hears the welcome Of the wife
and the shout of the child Oh,
what long stories they will have
10 tell their families of how they
doSded the battle axe! and then will roll up
their sleeves and show their half healed wound.
With glad. quick step, they march on, David
and his men, for they are marching home.
Now they come up to the last hill which over
looks Ziklag, and they expect In moment to
see the dwelling places Of their loved ones
They look, and as they look their cheeks turn
pale, and their lip quivers, and their hand in
voluntarily comes down on the hilt Of the
sword Where Is Ziklagl Where are our
honest" they cry. Alasl the curling smoke
above the ruin tells the tragedy. The Amale-
kites have come down and consumed the vii
lage, and carried the mothers and the wives
and the children of David and his men into
captivity The swarthy warriors stand for
few moments transfixed with horror.
Then their eyes glance to each other, and
they burst into uncomfortable weeping; for
when a strong warrior weeps, the grief is
appalling 1t seems as if the emotion might
tear him TO pieces. They wept until they had
no more power to weep" But soon their sor-
row turns into rage, and David, swinging his
sword high in air, cries: pursue; for thou
shalt overtake them, and without fail recover
all" Now the march becomes a double
quick" Two hundred of David's men stop
by the brook Besor, faint with fatigue and
grief. They cannot go step farther. They
are left there. But the other 400 men under
David, with a sort Of panther step, march on
in sorrow and in rage. They find by The side
of the road half dead Egyptian, and they
resuscitate him, and compel him to tell the
whole story He says: "Yonder they went,
the captors and the captives," pc -nting in the
direction. Forward, ye 400 bravo men of
fire! Very soon David and his enraged COM
pany come upon the Amalelitish host. Yon-
der they see their own wives and children
and mothers, and under Amalekitish guard.
Here are the officers of the Amalekitish army
holding banquet. The cups are full, the
music is reused, the dance begins. The Anal
eldtish host cheer and cheer and cheer over
their victory But, without note of bugle or
warning of trumpet, David and his four hun
dred men burst upon the scene suddenly, as
Robert Bruce hurled his Scotchmen upon the
jewellers at Bannockburn David and his
men look up, and one glance at their loved
ones in captivity and under Amalekitish
guard throws them into a very fury of deter
minatiop; for you know how men will fight
when they fight for their wives and chill
dren. Ali there are ightnings in their
eye, and every finger is a spear, and
their voice is like the shout of the whirl-
wind. Amidst the upset tankards and the
costly viands crushed under foot, the
wounded Amalekites lie their blood mingling
with their wine) shrieking for mercy. No
sooner do David and his men win the victory
than they throw their swords down into the
dust-what do they want with swords nowi
and the broken families come together
amidst a great shout of joy that makes the
parting scene in Ziklag seem very insipid in
the comparison. The rough old warrior has
to use some persuasion before no can get his
child to come to him now after so long an
absence; but soon the little finger traces the
familiar wrinkle across the SCARED face
And then the empty tankards are set up, and
they are filed with the best wine from the
hills, and David and his men, the husbands,
the wives, the brothers, the sisters, drink to
the overthrow of the Amalekites and to the
of Ziklag. So, o Lord, let thine
enemies perishl