The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-12-21
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvlNEs SUN
DAY SERMON. -
Subject: "Rizpah on the Rock"

TEXT: "And Rizpah, the daughter OF
Aiah, took sackcloth and spread it for her
pest until tUdter dropped upon them ont OF
heduen, and suffered neither the birds of the
air to rest on then, by day nor the beasts OF
the field by niaht."-II Samuel u-, 10.
Tragedy that beats anything Shake
speareau or Victor Hugoian. After return
ing from the Holy Land briefly touched
upon II, but must have whole sermon for
that scene. The explosion and fash Of gum
powder have driven nearly all the beasts
and birds of prey from these regions: and
now the shriek Of the locomotive whistle
which is daily heard at Jerusalem will for
many miles around clear Palestine OF cruel
claw and beak. But in the time Of the text
those regions were populous with multitudes
had been cruci6ed on hill. Rizpah was
mother to two and relative to five Of the
boys. What had these boys done that they
should be crucifedf Nothing except to have
bad father and grandfather. But now
that the boys were dead, why not take them
down from the gibbets? No. They ara
sentenced to hang there.
So Rizpah takes the sackcloth-a rough
shawl with which in mourning for her dead
sackcloth upon the rocks near the gibbeta,
and acts the part OF sentinel, watching
and defending the dead. Yet every other
sentinel Is relieved, and after being on
guard for few hours some one else takes
bis place. But Rizpah is on guard both
day and night and for half year. One
hundred and eighty days and nights Of
obsequies. What nerves she must have had
to stand thatl All. do you not know that
mother can stand anything?
| Oh, If she might be allowed to hollow
place id the side Of the hill and lay the
bodies of her children to quiet restl II in
some cavern Of the mountains she might
hnd for them Christian sepulturel Oh. If
she might take them from the gfbbet OF dis
grace and carry them still farther away
from the haunts Of men. and then lie beside
them In the last long aleepi Exhausted ma
ture ever and anon falls into slumber, but in
q moment she breaks the snare and chides
herself as though she had been cruel, and
leaps up on the rock shouting at wild BEAST
glaring from the thicket and at vulturous
brood wheeling In the sky. The thrilling
story of Rizpah reaches David and he comes
forth to hide the indecsncy. The corpses
had been chained to the trees. The chains
are unlocked with horrid clank, and the
skeletons are let down. ALI the seven are
buried, and the story ends: "
But It hardly ends before you cry out,
"What hard thing that those seven boys
should suffer for the crimes Of father and
erandfatherr Yes, but it Is always so.
Let every one who does wrong know tnat he
wars not only, as in this case, against Two
generations children and grandchildren, but
against all the generations Of coming time.
That is what makes dissipation and unclean-
ness SO awful. It reverberates in other
| times. It may skip one generation but 1t ls
apt to come up in the third generation, as Is
suepested In the Ten Commandments,
which say, ''visiting the finiquities Of the
father upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation"
Mind you, ic says nothing about the sec.
ond generation, but mentions the third and
the fourth. That accounts for what you
sometimes see-very good parents wltn very
had children, Go far enough back In the
ancestral line and you find the source Of all
the turpitude. Visiting the iniquities OF
the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation II when Saul died
the consequences of his iniquity could have
died with him It would not have been SO
sad. Alas mol Look on that hill few
miles ont from Jerusalem and see the
CHASTITY burdens of those seven glbbets and
the wan and wasted Rizpah watching them.
Go to-day through the wards and aims
houses and the reformatory lnstitutions
where unfortunate children are kept and you
viii And that nine out of ten had drunken or
vicious parents. Yea, day by day on the
streets OF our cities you find men and women
wrecked of evil parentage. They are moral
corpses. Like the seven sons OF Saul, though
dead. unburied! Alas for Rizpah, who, not
for six months, but for years and years mas
watched them! She cannot keep the Vui.
lures and the jackals OF.
Furthermore, this strange incident In the
Bible story shows that attractiveness OF
person and elevation Of position are no Sc
curity againt trouble.
One of Saups favorites. Her personal at
fractions had won his heart. She had been
caressed of fortune. With q mothers pride
She looked on her princely children. But
the scene changes. Behold her in banish-
ment and Observation-Disclosures on the rock /!
Some of the worst distresses have come to
scenes of ROYALTY and wealth. What por-
ter at the mansions gate has not let in
champing and lathered steed bringing evh
dispatchf On what tessellated hall has
there not stood tbe solemn bier! on-
der what exquisite fresco has tnere
not been enacted q tragedy OF dis.
astsri Whist curtained couch hath heard
no cry of pain? Whist harp hath never thrilled
with sorrowP What lordly nature hath
never leaned against carved pillar and made
,ittarance of woe? Gall Is not less bitter
when ouaffed from a golden chalice than
when taken from pewter mug. Sorrow Is
often attended by running footmen and
laced lackeys mounted behind. Queen Anne
Boleyn is desolate in the palace OF Henry
VIII.
+! Adolphus wept in German castles over
the hypocrisy Of friends. Pedro /. among
Brazilian diamonds shivered with fear OF
massacre. Stephen Of England sat on a
been bent in the storm, and the highest
mountains Of honor and fame are covered
with perpetual snow. Sickness will frost the
rosiest cheek, wrinkle the smoothest brow
and stiffen the sprightliest step. Rizpah
quits the courtly circle and sits on the rock.
Perhaps you look back upon scenes differ.
| ent from those in which now from day to
day you mingle. You have exchanged the
plenty and luxuriance Of your fathers house
FOR privation and trial known toGod and your
own heart. The morning of life was flushed
with promise. Troops Of calamitles since
then have made desperate charge upon you.
Darkness has come. Sorrows have swoopec
like carrier birds from the sky and barKed
like jackals from tbs thicket. You stand
amid your slain anguished and woe struck.
Rizpah on the rocS.
So it has been in all ages. Vashti must
dufP the spangled robes OF the Persian court
and 90 forth blasted from the palace gate.
Hagar exchanges oriental comfort for the
wilderness of Beersheba. Mary, queen OF
Scots, must pass out from fattery and
pomp to suffer ignominious death in the
castle OF Fotheringay. The wheel OF fortune
keeps turning, and mansions and huts ex-
change, and be who rode the chariot pushes
the barrow, and instead OF the glare OF
festal lights is the simmering OF the peat
fire. and in place Of Saurs palace is the
rock-the cold rock the desolate rock.