New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1889-01-30
THE MARCH HOME,
DIR. Talmage Discourses Upon the
March Homaward, at the Brook
Ign. Tabernacles.
IL One Wishes to Join His Loved Ones
In Heaven He Must Travel the Same
Way They Went.

BROOKLYN, N. Y, Jan. 2O-Rev. T. De-
Witt Talmage, D. D., having expounded ap-
propriate passages of scripture, gave out the
hymn:
s'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 "The March
Homeward," and the text Samuel, chapter
so, verse viii: 'tP ursue, for thou shalt sure
ly 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
bye to their families and are off for the wars
In that little village OF Ziklag the Defense
less ones will be safe until the warriors.
flushed with victory, come home. But
will the detenseless ones be safe? The so,t
arms of children are around the necks
of the bronze warriors until they
shake themselves free and start, and hand
skerchiefs and flags are waved and kisses
thrown until the armed men vanished be-
You'd the hills David and his men soon get
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
to tell their families, of how they lodged the
battle-axe and then will roll up their sleeve
and show the halfhealed wound. With glad,
quick step they march on, David and his
men, for they are marching home. Now they
come up to the last hills which overlooks
Hiklag, and they expect in moment to see
the dwelling places of their loved ones. They
hook, and as they look their cheeks turn pale,
and their lip quivers, and their hand invoi-
unfairly comes down on the hilt of the sword.
"Whele is Zikiag? Where are our homes?'
. they cry. Alasl the curling smoke about the
ruin tells the tragedy. The Amalekites have
come down and consumed the village, and
carried the mothers and the wives and the
children of David and his men into captivity
The swarthy warriors stand for few mo-
znents sransfxed with horror. Then their
eyes glance to each other, and they burst
into uncomfortable weeping; for when q
strong warrior weeps, the grief is appalling
Itseems as if the emotion might tear him to
pieces. They "wept until they had no more
power TO weep" But soon their sorrow
turns to rage, and David, swinging his sword
high in the air, cries: pursue; for thou shalt
>overtake them, and without fail re-
cover ALL" Now the march becomes
e'doublequick. Two hundred of David's
men stop by the brook Besor, faint with
fatigue and grief. They cannot go a step
farther. They are left there But the other
400 men under David, with sort of pan ther
step, march on in sorrow and in rage. They
find by the side of the road half-dead
Egyptian, and they resusciate him and COM
pei him to tell the whole story. He says:
Yonder they went, the captors and cap
tives," pointing in the direction. Forward,
{ ye 400 brave men OF fre Very soon David
and his enraged company come upon the
Amaiekitish host. Yonder they see their
own wives and children and mothers, under
Amalekitish army holding banquet. The
cups are full, the music is reused, the dance
4 begins. The Ameekitish host 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 revolver ut Bannockburn. David and
his men look up, and one glance at their
loved ones in captivity and under Amalekit-
ish guard throws them into a very fury OF
determination; 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 spear, and their
voice is like the shout of the whirlwind
Amidst the upset tankards and
the costly viands crushed under foot,
the wounded Amalekites lie (their
blood minglng with their wine) shrieking for
! mercy No Roonar do David and tbic MGR,
win the victory then they throw their swords
down in the dust-what do they want with
swords now?-and the broken families come
together amidst great shout OF Joy that
makes the parting scene in Zikiag seem very
i 1nslpid m the comparison The rough old
: warrior has to use some persuasion before he
can get his child to come to him now after SO
long on absence; but soon the little finger
traces the familiar wrinkle across the Scared
face. And then the empty taukards 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 rebuilding of ziklag. So, @ Lord
det 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-e.crything now in the hands of
David and ii is 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
Ito have some of the treasures. Here is q
arobe for this pale-face warrior. Here is a
pillow for this dying man. Here is handful
of gold for this wasted trumpeter. 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 objeeted to the sick ones having any
sof the spoils. The directors said: ssThese
men did not fight. 2 'sAs his part is that
goeth down to the battle, SO shall his part
be that tarrieth by the staff. y
This subject is practically suggestive to me
Thank God, in these times man can go off
on q journey, and be gone weeks and months,
and come back and see his house untouched
Of incendiary, ana have his family on the
step to greet him, if by telegraph he has fore
told The moment of his coming. But there
are Amalekitish disasters, and there are