Democratic messenger., 1892-12-10

tbchn iS nut thc lpe oi MILLIONS Ot SUI
Ecring and Sorrowing Women The SONS
Suffering for Their Fathers Crime.
BRooKLYS. Dec 4.-This is one of
those iiscorrses of DR.. Talmage deliv-
cred from texts which no one seems To
have used bef re. Important and prac-
tical lessons were drawn. The opening
hymn. in which many thousands joined,
was:
Come yc discnnsolaic wherc'cr yc languish.
The subject of the sermon was "Riz-
pah on the Rock. the text selected be-
ing II Samuel xxi. 10, And Rizpah.
the daughter OF Aiah. took sackcloth
and spread it for her upon the rock
from the beginning Of harvest until
water dropped upon them ont of heaven.
and suffered neither the birds of the air
TO rest on them by day nor the beasts Of
the field by night"
Tragedy that beats anything Shake
spearean or Victor Hngoian After re-
turning from the Holy Land briefly
touched upon it. but must have whole
sermon for that scene. The explosion
and fash of gunpowder have driven
nearly all the beasts and birds of prey
from those regions. and now the shrek
of the locomotive whistle which is daily
heard at Jerusalem will for many miles
awund clear Palestine of cruel claw and
beak. But in the time of the text those
regions were populous with muliitudes
of jackals and lions. Seven sons of Saul
had been crucified on a hill. RiZpah
was mother to two and relative 10 five
Of the boys What had these boys done
that they should he crucified: Nothin.
except to have bad father and grand
father. But now that the boys Were
dead. why not take them down from the
gibbets? No. They are sentenced 10
hang there.
So Rizpah takes the sackcloth-a
rough shawl with which in mourning
for her dead she had wrapped herself
and spreads that sackcloth upon the
rocks near the gibbets. and acts the part
Of a sentinel. watching and defending
the dead. Yet every other sentinel is
relieved. and after being on guard for 4
few hours some one else takes his place
But Rizpah is ON guard both day and
night and fer halfa year. One hundred
and eighty days anl nights Of obsequieS
What nerves She mnst have had To stand
that. All. do you not know that i:
mother can stand anything:
DENIED EVEN \ BCRIAI. PLACE.
Oh, if she might he allowed io hollow
a place in the de of the hill and Ii,
the bodies Of her children to quiet rest
If in some cavern of the mountains sh'
might find for them Christian sepuliure
Oh. if She might take them from tn,
gibbet Of disgrace and carry them still
farther away from the haunts of men
and then lie beside them III the last long
sleep. Exhausted nature ever aul anon
falls into slunber, but in moment sh,
breaks the snare. and chides herself n
though she had been cruel. and leaps NJ
on the rock shouting at wild beast glar
ing from he thicket and at vulturou
brood wheeling in the sky. The thrill
ing story of Rizpah reaches David, ans
he comes forth TO hide the indeccncy
The corpscs had been chained to tin
trees. The chains are unlocked Will
horrid clauk. and the skeletons are lc
down. All the seven are buried. an,
the story ends.
But it hardly ends before you cry ont
What n hard thing that those seven boy
should snffcr for the crimes of fathc
and grandfather Yes. But il is III
ways so. Let every one who does wron:
know that he wars not only, as III thi
case. against two generations. childrel
and grandchildren. but against all til
generations of coming time. That j
what makes dissipation and uncleannes
so awful. 1t revcrberateS in other times
1t may skip one generation, but it is ap
to come up III tine third generation. rs j
suggested in the Ten Commandments
which say. Visiting the iniquities O
the fathers upon the children unto tn
third and fourth generation.
Mind YOU. il says nothing about tn
second generation. but mentions III
third and the fourth. That account
for what You sometimes see-very GOO
parents with very bad children. Go fla
enough back in the ancestral line an
you find the source of all the tnrpitud.
Visiting iniquities of the father
nran the children unto the third an
d tn generation. II when Saul die
The consequences of his iniquity coul
have died with him it would not hav
been 50 sad Alas. no. Look ON tha
! r
see the ehasily burdens of those seve
gibbets and the wan and wasted RiZpa
watching them.
Gotoday through the wards AMI aim:
houses and the reformatory institution
where unfortunate children are keI
and you will find that nine ont of te
,iad drunken or vicious parents. 1ci
day by day on the streets of our citi,
you find men and women wrecked {
evil parentage. They are moral corpse
Like the seven SONS of Saul. thong
dead. unburied. Alas for Rizpah, wh'
not for six months, but for years an
years, has watched them. She cam,
keep the vultures and the jackals off.
Furthermore. this strange incident
the Bible story shows that attractivene:
of person and elevation of position III
no security against trouble.
SORROWS OF THE GREAT.
Who is this fizpah sitting i'll desoli
tion! One of Saul's favorites. Her pe
sonal ATTRACTIONS had Won his heart. ST
had been caress.-l of fortune. With
mothers pride She looked on her prime
y children. But the scene change
Behold her in baniShment and bcrcav'
mcnt RiZpah ou the rock.
Some of the worst distreSses ha,
come Ia scenes of royalty and wealtl
What porter AT the mansions gate h;
not let IN champing and lathered stet
bringing evil dispatch: On what te
sellated hall has there not stood the SO
emn bier: Under what exquisite fires,
has these not been enacted a tragedy ,
disaster? What curtalned couch hat
heard no cry of pain? What harp hat
never trilled with sorrow: What lorli
nature hath never leaned against carve
pillar and made utterancc Of Woe: Ga
is not less better when quaifed from
golden chalicr than when taken from