Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-02-02

hoNihS any VI lDc spOlS. Inc ON1eCtOTS
said: These men did not fight" David
with a magnanimous heart, replies: LAS
his part is 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 u man
can go oil on a journey, and be gone
weeks and months, and come back and
see bis house untouched of incendiary,
and have his family on the step to greet
him, if by telegram he has forctold the
moment Of his coming. But there are
Amalekicsh disasters, and there are
Amalekitish diseases, that sometimes
come down upon one's home, making as
devastating work rs the day when Ziklag
took fire. There are families in my con
gregation whose homes have been broken
up. No batteying ram smOte in the
door, no i~conoclast crumbled the statues,
no flame leaped amidst the curtains, but
so far as all the JOY and merriment that
once belonged to that house is concerned,
the home has departed. Armed diseases
came down upon the quietness OF the
scene-scarlet fevers, or pleurisies, or
consumptions, CT underlined disorders
came and seized upon some members OF
that family, and carried them away.
Ziklag in ashes, And you 20 about,
sometimes weeping and sometimes en-
ragged, wanting to get back your loved
ones as much AS David and his men
wanted 10 reconstruct their ~despoiled
households. Zlklag 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
20 aboard the steamboat or railcar 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 wrap
ped with the signal Of bereavement, and
you found that Amalekitish Death, which
has devastated "a thousand other house
holds, had blasted yours. You 60 about
weeping amidst the desolation Of your
once happy home, thinking Of the bright
eyes closed, and the noble hearts stopped,
and the gentle hands folded, u you
weep until you have no more power TO
weep. Ziklag IN ashes,
A gentleman went to a friend Of mine
in the city Of Washington, and asked
through him that he might get a consul
ship to some foreign port. My friend
said To him: What do you want TO go
aw ay from your beautiful home for, into
a foreign port?' ooh, he replied, my
h4me is gone! My six children are dead!
! must get away, sir. ! cant stand 1t in
this country any longer" Ziklag in
ashes
Why these long shadows of bereave-
ment across this audience? Why Is it
that in almost every assemblage black is
the predominant color of the apparelY
Is ii because you do not like saffron or
brown or violet? Oh, no, You say:
"The world is not SO bright TO us as 1t
once was" and there is "A 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
find only devastation and woe. Zikiagln
ashes!
In Ulster county, y. y, the village
church was decorated until the fragrance
of the flowers was almost b~ewilderlng.
The maijens Of the village had emptled
the place OF flowers 2pOn one marriage
altar. One of their own number was
atianced 10 a minister of Christ, who had
come to take her 20 his home. With
hands joined, amidst a congratulatoTy an
diencc. the vows were taken. In three
DAYS from that time one Of those VINO
stood at the altar exchanged eartA Tor
heaven. The wedding march broke down
into the funeral dirge. There were not
! enough flowers now for the coffin lid, be
cause they had all been taken for the
bridal hour. The Gead minister OF Christ
ia brought TO another village. He had
rome out from them less than g week be
fore in his strength; now he comes home
~lifeless. The whole church bewailed
him. The solemn procession moved
around 10 look upon the still face that had
once beamcd with messages OF salvation.
Little children were Fitted up 10 look at
him. And SON OF those who had com
forted him in days Of sorrow, when they
had passed that silent form, made the
place dreadful with their weeping. An
other village empticd vi its fiowers-some
OF them pat in the shape Of a cross TO
symbolic his hope, others put in the
shape of a crown TO symbolic his til
umph. A hundred lights blown gu. in
one strong gust from the open door OF a
scpulchre. Ziklag in ashes
preach this sermon tsday, because 1
want to rnliy you, as David rallied ms
men, for the recovery of the loved and
the lost. ] want not only to win heaven,
but ! want all this congregation to 90
along with me. | feel that somehow
have a responsibility in your arriving at
that great city. have on other Sabbaths
used other inducements. ! mean, today,
for the sake of variety, hoping 10 reach
your heart, to try another kipd OF in
ducement. DO you really want to join
the companionship Of your loved ones
who have gone? Are you as anxious to
Join them as David and his men were TO
Join their families? Then | I'm here, in
the name of God, to say that you may,
and to tell you how.
remark, in the first place, if you want
to Join your loved ones IL glory, you
must travel the same way they went. No
sooner had the half dead Egyptian
been resuscitated than he pointed
the way the caplors and the
| cgptives had gone, and David
and his men followed after. So our
Christian friends have gone into another
country, and Il we want TO reach their
companionship we must take the same
road. They %repented; we must repent.
They prayed; we must pray ihey
trusted in Christ; we must trast ia Chtlst.
They lived a religious life; wc must live
q religious life. They were in some
things like ourselves. know, now that