Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-21
ZIKLAG Is In ASHES!
Devastation of the Israelites' Homes
and the Pursuit by David.
A SAD RETURN FROM A CAMPAIGN.
The March HOmeward to the Golden Cities
of Heaven.
LOVED ONES RECKONING FROM ABOVE


the hymn:
Who are these in bright array,
This innumerable throng,
Round the altar night and day
Tuning their triumphant song?
The subject of the sermon was 1.-THE
March Homeward, " and the text l. 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 good
by to their families and are off for the wars.
In that little village of Ziklag the defenseless
ones will be safe until the warriors, flushed
with victory, come home. But will the de-
fenseless ones be safe? The soft arms of chill.
dren are around the necks of the bronzed war
riors until they shake themselves 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 campaign, and start homeward Every
night on their way home, no sooner does the
soldier put his head the knapsack than in
his dream he hears the welcome of his wife
and the shout Of the child. Oh, what long
stories they will have to tell their families Of
how they lodged the battle axi and then will
roll up their sleeves and show the 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 overlooks Ziklag, and they expect in a
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 irvoluntarily comes down on the
hilt or the sword. Where is Ziklag? Where
are our homes?" they cry Alas! the curling
smoke above the ruin
TELLS THE TRAGEDY.
The Amalekites have come down and con-
sumed the village, and carried tine mothers and
the wives and the children of David and his
men into captivity. The swarthy warriors
stand for few moments transfxed with horror.
Then their eyes glance at 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 sorrow turns
into rage, and David, swinging his sword high
in air, cries Pursue: for thou shalt over
take them, and without fail recover ALL" Now
the march becomes "double-Quick." Two
hundred of David's men stop by the brook
Besor, faint with fatigue and grief. They can
not go step farther. They are left there. But
the other 400 men under David, with a sort of
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," pointing in the direction.
Forward We 400 brave men of fire! Very soon
David and his enraged company came upon the
Amalekitish host Yonder they see their own
wives and children and mothers, and under
Amalekitish guard. Here are the officers of
the Amalekitish army holding banquet The
mil the muSic rOuspl the dance
begins The Amalekitish host cheer and cheer
and cheer over their victory. But, without
note of bugle or warning of trumpet, David
and his 400 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 determina- |
ton; for you know how men will fight when
they fight for their wives and children. All, |
there are lightnings IN their eye, and every |
finger is a spear, and their voice is like the |
shout of the whirlwind. Amid 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 VIC |
tory than they throw their swords down in the
dust-what do they want with swords now?- |
and the broken families come together amidst |
scene in Ziklag seem very insipid in compari- |
son. The rough old warrior has to use some |
persuasion before he 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 filled 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 Amalek- |
ties and to the rebuilding of Zklag So, o |
Lord, let Thine enemies perish!
Now they are coming home, David and his |
men and their families-a long procession.
Men, women and children, loaded with Jewels |
and robes and with all kinds of trophies that
the Amalekites had gathered up in years of
conQuest-everything now in the hands of
David and his men. When they come by the
brook Besor, the place where staid the men sick
and incompetent to travel, the jewels and the
robes and all kinds of treasures are divided
among the sick as well as among the well.
Surely, the lame and exhausted ought to have
some of the treasures. Here is robe for this
pale-faced warrior. Here is pillow for this
dying man. Here is a 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 fellows objected to the
sick ones having any of the spoils. The objec-
tors said: ''These men did not fight" David,
with a magnanimous heart, replies: "As his
part is that goeth down to the battle SO shall
his part be that tarrieth by the stuff"
THE WELCOME HOME.
This subject is practically suggestive to me-
Thank God, in these times a man can go off on
a journey, and be gone weeks and months, and
come back and see his house untouched of in
cendiary, and his family on the step to greet
him, if by telegram he has foretold the moment
of his coming. But there are Amalekitish dis
asters, and there are Amalek1tish diseases that
sometimes come down upon ones home, max
ing as devastating work as the day when Ziklag
took fire. There are families in my congrega-
ton whose homes have been broken up No
smote in the door. no iconoclast
crumbied the statues. no fame leaped amidst
the curtains; but so far as all the Joy and mer- |
riment that once belonged to that house are
the home has departed. Armed
diseases came down upon the quietness of the
scene-scarlet fevers. pleurisies or consump- |
tions, or underlined disorders came and seized
upon some members of that family and carried
them away Ziklag in ashes! And you go
ragged, wanting to get back your loved ones as
much as David and his men wanted to |
reconstruct their despoiled households
aKs Ment off from onnes home some You OF counseS yeS
the days of your absence. Every day seemed |
as long as week. Oh, how glad you were |
when tne time % came Tor you to go aboard the
arrived. You went up the street where your |
dwelling was, and in the night you put your
hand on the the doorben and behold! it was
you found that Amaiekitish 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 folded
and you weep until you have no more power to
weep.
ZIKLAG IN ASHES :
A gentleman went to friend of mine in the
city of Washington and asked that through
him he might get consulship to some foreign
port. My friend said to him: what do you
want to go away from your beautiful home for a