The Globe-republican., 1892-12-23

Tho snhiect of the sermon was "RiZpah
an tho Rock - the text selected being II
Samuel xxi. 10, And RiZpah. the daugh-
ter of Allah, took sackcIoth and spread it
for her upon the rock, from the begin
ming 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 Hugoian After re-
turning from the Holy Land l briefly
touched upon it, but must have whole
sermon for that scene. The explosion
and fash Of guDpowder 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
around clear Palestine OF cruel claw and
beak. But in the time OF the text those
regions were populous with multitudes
of jackals and lions. Seven sons OF Saul
had been crucified on hill. Rizpah
was mother to two and relative to five OF
the boys. What had these boys done
that they should be crucified? Nothing
except to have bad father and grand
father. But now that the boys were
dead why not take them down from the
gi5bets? No. They are sentenced to
hang there.
So Rizpah takes the sackcloth. 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
sentinel. watching and defending the
dead. Yet every other sentinel Is re.
lieved, and after being on guard for a
few hours some one else takes his place
But RiZpah is on guard both day and
night for half year. One hundred and
eighty days and nights OF obsequies.
What nerves she must have had to stand
that! All, do you not know that a
mother can stand ANYTHING?
Oh, if she might be allowed to hollow
a place in the side of the hill and lay the
bodies of her children to quiet rest! If
in some cavern OF the mountains she
might find for them Christian Sepulture!
Oh, If she might take them from the glib
bet of disgrace and carry them still far
Their away from the haunts of men, and
then lie beside them in the last long
sleep! Exhausted nature ever anon falls
into slumber, but in moment she breaks
the snare, and chides herself as though
she had been cruel, and leaps up on the
rock, shouting at wild beast glazing from
the thicket and at vulturous brood Wheel
ing in the sky. The thrilling story Of
Rizpah reaches David, and he comes forth
to hide the indecency. 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 grandfather! Yes. But tits always
so. Let every one who does wrong know
that he wars not only, as in this case,
against two generations, children and
n andchildren, but against all the gen.
erations of coming time. That is what
makes dissipation and uncleanneSS so
awful 1t reverberates in other times.
1t may skip one generation, but it is apt
to come up in tie third generation, as Is
suggested in the Ten Commandments,
which say, "Visiting the iniquties Of the
fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation"
Mind YOU, it says nothing about the
second generation, but mentions the
third and fourth. That accounts for
what you sometimes See-verY good par
ents with very bad children. Go far
enough back in the ancestral line and
you find the source of all the turpitude.
'.Visiting the iniauities of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation" If when Saul died
the consequences Of his iniquity could
have died with him it would not have
been SO bad. Alas, no! Look on that
hill few miles out from Jerusalem and
see the CHASTITY burdens of those seven
gibbets and the wan and wasted Rizpah
watching them.
Go to-day through the wards and
almshouses and the reformatory institu-
lions where unfortunate children are
kept and you will find that nine out Of
ten had drunken or vicious parents.
Yea, day BY day on the streets of our
cities you will find men and women
wrecked of evil parentaSe. 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. has watched them! She
cannot keep the vultureS and the jack
ais of.
Furthermore, this strange incident in
Bible story shows that attractiveness Of
person and elevation of position are no
security against trouble.
Who is this Rizpah sitting in desola-
ton? One of Saurs favorites. Her per-
sonal attractions had won his heart
She had been caressed CT fortune. With
q mothers pride she looked on her
prinoaly children. But the scene
changes. Behold her in Punishment and
bereavement-Rizpah on the rock.
Some of the worst diStreSSeS have
come to scenes of royalty and wealth.
What porter At the mansions gate has
not let in champing and lathered steed
bringing evil dispatch? On what tessel-
lated hail has there not stood the solemn
bier? Under what exquisite fresco has
there not been enacted a
tragedy of disaster? What cur
tanned couch hath heard no
cry of pain? What harp hath never
trilled with sorrow? What lordly ma
ture hath never leaned against carved
pillar and made utterance of woe? Gall
is not less bittet when Quaffed from a
golden chalice than when taken from a
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.