Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1892-12-05
WORD OF THE LORD
SUFFERING FOR OTHERS SIN

SUFFERING FOR OTHERS SIN
3hs nsssavsd Mother WsfsAing BY Her
Dad = bus the Type Of Millions Of
suissssng snd SCREENING Wsmen-
BnooxLyy, Dee. l-rhis h one %
thoss diacouxses of DR.. falmags deliv-
ord from tsxis which no one seems To
have ussd before. Important and prac-
tionl Lessons were drawn Ths opening
hymn. IN which many thousands joined.
Va:
csns ~ discsnsslAss vhsrs'ss ~ iAaguish-
The subject ef the sermon vas .Ris-
pah On ths Rock. the text sslsctsd b.
Ing II samuel XII. 10. ~And Rizpah,
tbs daughter q Allah, took sackcloth
and spread II fur her upon the rock.
frpm the beginning OF harvest until
water dropped upon them cut OF heaven.
sn,i suffered neither tho birds Of the afr
70 rsss on them by day nor the beasts Of
thu dsld by night
Tragedy that beats anything Shake-
spsArsan or Victor Hngoian- After re-
turning from the Holy Land briefly
touched upon II. 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 new the shrek
OF tho locomotive whistle which Is daily
heard at Jerusalem viii for many miles
apund clear Palestine Of cruel claw and
beak. Bot in tie tims OF the text those
regions were popaloas with muititudes
OF iaekals and hons Seven sons Of Saul
had been eruciasd or . hill. Rizpah
was mother to two and relative 10 five
Of the boys. What had these boys done
that they shonld be cracifed2 Nothing
except to have q bad father and grand
father. But now that the boys were
dead. why not take them down from the
gibhetss No. They are sentenced to
hang there.
So Rizpah takes the sackcloth-a
rough shawl with which In mourning
Tor 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 dad. Yet every other sentinel Is
relieved. and after being on guard for q
few hours some ons else takes his place.
But Rizpah - on guard both day and
night and for half year. Ono hundred
and eighty days and nights Of obseQuies
What nerves she must have had to stand
that. All, do you not know that .
mother can stand anything?
DENIED EVEN A BURIAL PLAcH
Oh. II shs might be allowed to hollow
. place in the side Of the Hill and lay
the bodies Of her children to quiet rest!
IL IN some cavern Of tho mountains she
might End for them Christian sepulture!
Oh. IL she might take them from the
gibbct Of disgrace and carry them still
farther away from the haunts Of men,
and then lie beside them in the last long
sleep, Exhausted nature ever and anon
falls into slumber, bat In . moment she
breaks the snare. and chides herself "a
though she lad been cruel, and leaps up
on the rock shouting as wild beast glar-
ing from the thickes and at vulturous
brood whesllng In the sky. The thrill
ing story CT Rizpah reaches David. and
he comes forth to hide the indecency.
Tho corpses had been chained to the
trees Tho chains are unlocked with
horrid clank, and tho skeletons are let
down. Ali the seven are buried, and
The story ends.
But IL hardly ends before you cry out,
~What hard thing that those seven boys
should suffer for the crimes Of father
and grandfather" Yes. But 1t Is al
ways 20. Let every one who does wrong
know that hs Wars not only, as In this
case. against two generations, children
and grandchildren, but against AL the
generations Of coming time. That is
what makes dissipation and uncleanness
90 awful. Il invertebrates In other times.
IL may skip ono generation. bat 1t Is apt
60 como cp In the third generation. as is
suggested in the Ten Commandments,
which say, Whiting the iniquities Of
che fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation
Mad you, IL ssys nothing about the
second generation. bat mentions the
third and the fourth. That accounts
for what ron sometimes see--very good
parvnss with very bsd children. Go far
enough back in the ancestral line and
you Ind the source Of al the turpitude.
"vNiting 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 IL would not have
been 80 sad. Alas. not Look On that
nill few miles out from Jerusalem and
srs the shastly burdens Of those seven
eibbsts and the wan and wasted Rizpsh
watching them
Go ssday through the wards and aims
houses ard the rsformseory institutions
where unfortunate children are kept
and yon viii find that nins out OF ten
Dad drunken or vicious parents. Yea.
Cav By day on the streets Of cur cities
you fad naea and women wrecked Of
ovfl parsntaga They srs moral eorpses.
Like the sevsn sons OF Saul. though
lesd. unbnrisd' Alas for Rspah. who.
not for six months. bot for years and
years. has watched theml She cannot
kesp TIE VA sur-s and the jsckals OF.
rursherruere. shis strange incident In
shs Biois story shovs that astrscfiveness
e person and elevation Of position are
10 security against troubls.
SORROWS os THE aRxAr.
Who = shis RisRah sitting IN desols-