The Opelousas courier., 1890-03-01
TALMAGE'S TRIP.
rHE BROOklYN DIYINE's SUNDAY
SERMON.

--A DOkcottCOU, NouyttST Of hLTU
Jorans, sister of Ahozioh, took JoaSh the
SON Of Ahaziah, and stole him from among
che Kings sons avhich Were slain: and they
hso nun, eUeT him and has nurse, in the bed
hdn5e from Athdtiah, so that he acgs not
ss0tn. he iUas aUith her hid in the house
OF the Lord sie yeors."-IL Kings, XII, 2, 8.
~Grandmothers are more lenient with their
chldren's children than they were with their
oWn AT forty years of age, if discipline be
necessary, chastisement is used, but at sew
enty, the grandmother, looking upon the
m~lsbehavior of the grandchild, is apologetic
and disposed to substitute confectionery for
whip. There is nothing more beautiful thar
TINS meliowing of old age toward childhood.
Grandmother takes cut her pocket handker-
cnlef and wipes her spectacles and puts them
on and looks down into the face of her mis-
chlevous and rebellious descendant, and
says: Il don't think he meant to do it.; let
MN Off this time; I'll be responsible for his
behavior in the future" My mother, with
the second generation around her-a bolster
GUS crew-said one day: Il suppose they
| ought to be disciplined, but I can't do it.
Grandmothers are not fit to bring up grand
children" But here. in my text, we have a
| grandmother of a different hue.
L have within a few days been at Jerusa-
lem, where the occurrence of the text took
place, and the whole scene came wildly be-
fore me while I was going over the site of
bllO c1C1cub GtHlpl6 anu clII1DIQp the towers
OF the Kings palace. Here in the text it is
old Athaliah, the queenly murderess. She
ought to have been honorable. Her father
was a King. Her husband was a King. Her
soH was a King. And yet we find her plot
ting for the determination Of the entire royal
family, including her own grandchildren.
TIL executioners' knives are ~sharpened. The
palace is red with the blood of Princes and
Princesses. On all sides are shrieks, and
hands thrown up, and struggle aud death
groan. No mercy! KILL Kill But while
the ivory floors of the palace run with earn
age, and the whole land is under the
shadow of a great horror, a feet footed
by name, stealthily approaches the i'm
periai nursery, seizes upon the ~grandchild
that had somehow as yet escaped massacre,
wraps it up tenderly but in haste, snuggles it
against her, flies down the palace stairs, her
heart in her throat lest she be discovered in
this Christian abduction. Get her out of the
way as quick as you can, for she carries a
precious burden, even q young King. With
this youthful prize she presses into the room
of the ancient temple, the church of olden
time, unwraps the young King and puts him
down, sound asleep as he is, and unconscious
of the peril that has been threatened; and
there for six years he is secreted in that
church apartment. Meanwhile old Athaliah
smacks her lips with satisfaction, and thinks
SANO O1 ia " q AaA1I1J ~ uC1d.
But the six years expire, and it is now time
for young Joash TO come forth and take the
throne, and to push back into disgrace and
death old Athaliah. The arrangements are
al(enade for political revolution. The mill
tary come and take possession of the temple,
swear loyalty to the boy Joash and stand
around for his defence. See the sharpened
thing is ready. Now, Joash, half affrighted
at the armed tramp Of his defenders, scared
at the vociferation of his admirers, is brought
fourth in full regalia. The scroll Of authority
is put in his hands. the cornet of government
is put on his brow, and the people clapped,
and waved, and huzzaed, and trumpeted.
"What is thatS' said Athaliah. "What is
that sound over in the templeY" And
she flies to see, and on her way.
they meet her and say: why, haven't you.
heard? You thought you had slain all the
royal family, but Joash has come to light" u
Then the queenly murderess, frantic with.
rage, grabbed her mantle and tore it to tat
tiers, and cried until she foamed at the
mouth: You have no right to crown my
grandson. You AVE no right to take the
government from my shoulders. Treasonl
Treasonp' While she stood there crying that,
the military started for her arrest, and she
took a short cut through a back door of the
temple, and ran through the royal stables;
but the battle axes Of the military fell on her
ALL lit % 3tEu, liz 4C1 u4AHy duAy, Wkk54
the horses were being Embossed from the
chariot, after drawing out young Joash, the
fiery steeds would snort and rear passing tbs
place, as they smeit the place Of the carnage.
The first thought I hand you from this sub
ject is that the determination of righteous
ness is an impossibility. When a woman is
good, she is apt to be very good, and when
she is bad, she is apt to be very bad, and
this Athaliah was one Of the latter sort. She
would exterminate the last scion OF the
house Of David, through whom Jesus was to
come. There was plenty of work for en-
balmers and undertakers. She would clear
the land of all God fearing and God loving
people. She would put an end to everything
that could in anywise interfere with her
hlm .PPss and s=rim da1l: She She f9 aa9k hi s
done; it is completely DONE" Is it? In
tha swaddling clothes Of that church apart
mat are wrapped the cause Of God, and the
cause of good government. That is the scion
Of the house of David; it is Joash, the Chris
tian reformer: it is Joash, the friend Of God;
it is Joash, the demolisher of Baalitish
idolatry. Rock him tenderly; nurse him
gently. Athaliah, you may kill all the other
children, but you cannot kill him. Eternal
defenses are thrown all around him, and
this c~Iergyman's wife, Jehosheba, will snatch
him up from the palace nursery, and VIII
run up and down with him into the house Of
Rzl2 IOII, ALI uilGIS Sl0 WIZ liz NiIA 4O4 81
years, and at the end of that time he will
come forth for your d-ethronement and OBJ
liberation.
Well, my friends, just as poor a botch does
the world always make of ex~tinguishing
righteousness. Superstition rises up and
says: II will just put an end to pure religion"
Domitian slew forty thousand Christians,
Diocletian slew eight hundred and forty-four
thousands Christians. And the scythe of
persecution has been swung through all the
ages, and the flames Missed, and the guillotine
chopped, and Sshe Bastile groaned; but did
the foes of Ch.atianity exterminate it? Did
they e~SseFHH1ate AIban, the first British
sacrifice; or zuinglius, the Swiss reformer;
or John OldcastIe, the Christian nobleman;
or Abdallah, the Arabian martyr; or Anne
Askew, or Sanders. or Cranmer? Great work
Of determination they made of it. just at
the time when they thought they had slain
Ru the royal family of Jesus, some Joash
would spring III and out, and take the throne
Of power, and WELD a very scepter OF Chris
Eian dominion.
Infdelity says: sspn just exterminate the
Bible and the Scriptures were thrown into
the street for the mob to trample on, and
they were piled up in the public squares and
set ON fire, and mountains OF indignant con-
tempt were hurled on them, and learned uni
~versities decreed the Bible out Of existence.
Thomas Paine said: SIN my Age of Rea-
som / nave annihilated the Scriptures. Your
Washington is a pusilIanimous Christian. but
Jam tho foe of Bibles and of churches o,
how many assaults upon that world All the
hostilities that nave ever been created on
| earth are not to be compared with the hos
tilties against that one book. Said one
| man, in his inidel desperation, TO his wife:
ssYou must not be reading that Bible, y and he
saatchedi it away from her. And though in
| that Bible was q lock of hair of the dead
chiId-the only child that God had ever
given them-he pitched the book with its
contents into the fire, and stirred it with the
tongs, and spat on ii, and cursed itl and said: