The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-01-23
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Weekly Discourse OF tho Great
Brooklyn Preacher.
aubIc~s; "rHOw ~ ESing's Life
Was saved" Pre- achcd ina
Paris, France.

TEXT; "Jehoshebd, the daughter of King
Joranl sister Of Ahasiah, took Joash the
son Of Ahaziah, and stole him from among
NE Kings sons ,ohich ,oere slain; and they
hid him, euen him and his nurse, In the bed
chamber from Athatiah, so that he ieas not
slain. And he ioas Nth her hid in the house
Of the Lord sic yeGrs"-Il Kings, xi., 2, 8.
Grandmothers are more lenient with their
children's children than they were with their
own. At forty years of age, il discipline be
necessary, chastisenent is used, but at sew
enty, the grandmother, looking upon the
misbehavior of the grandchild, is apologetic
and disposed to substitute confectionery for
whip. There is nothing more beautiful than
this mellowing of old age toward childhood.
grandmother takes out her pocket handker-
chief and wipes her spectacles and puts them
on and looks down into the face Of her mis-
chievous and rebellious descendant, and
says: ~ don't think he meant to do it; let
him off this time; I'll he responsible for his
behavior in the futuren NV mother. with
the second generation around her-a bolster
Gus crew-said one day: II suppose they
ought to be disciplined, but / can't do it.
Grandmothers are not fit to bring up grand
Children But here, in my text, we have a
grandmother of different hue.
| have within a few days been at Jerusa-
lem, where the occurrence of the text took
place, and the whole scene came wildly be
lore me while l was going over the site OF
the ancient temple and climbing 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 King. Her husband was King. Her
son was King And vet we find her plot
ting for the determination of the entire royal
family, including her own grandchildren.
The 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 and death
groan. No mercy Kill Kill! But while
the ivory floors of the palace run with carn-
age, and the whole land is under the
shadow of a great horror, a feet footed
woman clergyman's wifs, Jehosheba
perial nursery, seizes upon the grandchild
that had somehow as yet escaped massacre,
wraps 1t 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 a 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
that all the royal family are dead.
But the six years expire, and it is now tins
for young Joash to come forth and take the
throne, and to push back into disgrace and
death old Athaliah. The arrangements are
all made 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
swords and the FURNISHED shields Every
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 fullregalia. 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.
F" What is that@ said Athaliah "Whet is
that sound over in the temple:" And
she flies to see, and on her way
they meet her AMI say why, haven't you
heard? You thought you had slain all the
royal family, but Joash has come to light
Then the queenly murderess, frantic with
rage, grabbed her mantle and tore il to tat
tiers, and cried until she foamed at the
mouth: You have no right to crown my
grandson. You have no right to take the
government from my shoulders Treason
the military started for her arrest, and she
took short cut through back door of the
temple, and ran through the royal stables;
but the battle axes of the military fell on her
in the barn yard, and for many day, when
the horses were being unloosed from the
chariot after drawing out young Joash, the
fiery steeds would snort and rear passing the
place, as they smet the place of the carnage.
The first thought hand you from this SUBJ
ls O fhn of, rrt,+
ness is an impossibility. When 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 eXterminste the last scion of the
house of David, through whom Jesus was to
come. There was plenty of work for en-
balmers and underta'ers. She would clear
the land of all God fearing and God loving
people. She would put an end to everything
imperial criminality. She folds her
hands and says: "The work is
done; it is completely done" Is it? In
the swaddling clothes of that church apart
ment 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 clergyman's wife, Jehosheba, will snatch
him up from the palace nursery, and will
run up and down with him into the house of
the Lord, and there she win hide him for six
years, and at the end of that time he will
come forth for your dethronement and OBJ
liberation.
Well, my friends just as poor botch does
the world always make of extinguishing
Righteousness. Superstition rises up and
says: Il will just put an end to pure religion"
Domitian slew forty thousa nd Christians
Diocletian slew eight hundred and forty -four
thousand Christians. And the scythe of
persecution has been swung through all the
ages, and the flames Kissed, and the guillotine
chopped, and the Bastile groaned; but did
the foes of Christianity exterminate it? Did
they exterminate Alban, the first British
sacrifice; or ZuingliuS, the Swiss reformer;
or John Oldcastle 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
all the royal family of Jesus, some Joash
would spring up and out, and take the throne
of power, and WELD a very scepter of Chris
tian dominion.
Infidelity says: "Fll 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 have annihilated the Scriptures Your
Washington is a pusillanimous Christian, but
lam the foe of Bibles and of churches o,
how many assaults upon at word! All the
hostilities that have ever been created on
earth are not to be compared with the hos
tilities against that one book. Said one
man, in his infidel desperation, to his wife,
'You must not be reading that Bible, and he
snatched it away from her. And though in
that Bible was a lock of hair of the dead
child-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 it, and cursed it. and said
''Susan, never have any more of that damn
able stuff herer'
How many individual and organized at
tempts have been made to exterminate that
Biblei Have they done it2 Have they ex-
terminated the American Bible Society
Have they exterminated tbs British and
Foreign Bible Society? Have they extermi-
mated the thousands of Christian institutions.
whose only object it is to multiply copies of
the Scriptures, and throw them broadcast
around the world? They have exterminated
until instead of one or two copies of the Bible
in our houses we have eight or ten, and we
pila them nm in the corners of orr Sabbath