The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-12-05
RIZPAH ON THE ROCK.
TALMAGE PREACHEs ON A TEXT
SELDOM HEARD OF.

The Mothers Long Guard Over the
Corpses of Her Dead sons-Seven
Sons OF Saul Crucifed on a Hill.
David Comes to the Rescue OF the
Lone Watcher.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, Dec 4--ThIs Is one OF
those discourses of DR.. Talmage, delivered
from texts which no one seems to have used
before. Important and practical lessons
were drawn. The opening hymn. In which
many thousands joined was:
Come ,ye dsoonsolate. whereer ye languish.
The subject of the sermon was "RiEpah
on the Rock" the text selected being IL.
Samuel, XXI. 10: "And Rizpah, the daughter
Of Allah, took sackcloth and spread il for
her upon the rock from the beginning Of
harvest until the water dropped upon them
out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds
Of the air to rest on them by day nor ths
beasts OF the field by nightn
Tragedy that beats anything Shakes.
perian or Victor Hugoian. After returning
from the Holy Land briefly touched upon
1t, but must have a whole sermon for that
scene. The explosion and flash OF gum
powder have driven nearly all the beasts
| and birds OF prey from those regions, and
now the shrek OF the locomotive whistle
which IL daily heard at Jerusalem will for
many miles around clear Palestine Of cruel
claw and leak. But In the time of the text
those regions were populous with
multitudes Of jackals and lions Seven
sons OF Saul had been crucifled on hill.
Rizpah was mother to two, and relative to
Ave OF the boys. What had these boys done
that they should be crucihed9 Nothing ex-
cept TO have bad father, and grandfather.
But now that the boys were dead
why not take them down from the gibbets.
No. They are sentenced to hang there. So
Rizpah takes the sackcloth, a rough shawl
with which in mourning for her dead she
bad wrapped herself, and spreads that SACK
cloth upon the rocks near the gibbets, and
| acts the part Of a sentinel watching and de-
| Tending the dead. Yet every other sentinel
is relieved, aud after being on guard for o
few hours some one else takes his 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 that.
All do you not know that a mother can
stand anything.
.. IL she might he allowed to hollow Q
| place in the side OF the hill and lay the
bodies OF her children 10 quiet restl IL in
| some cavern OF the mountains she might
find for them Christian sepulture, 0, II she
might take them from the gibbet of disgrace
and oarryhthem still further away from the
haunts OF men and then lie beside them ia
the last long sleepl Exhausted nature ever
aud anon falls into slumber but In mo-
ment she breaks the snare, and chides hers
| self as though she had been cruel aud leaps
| up on the rock shouting at wild beast gar-
| ing from the thicket and at vulturous brood
wheeling IN the sky. A thrilling story OF
| Rizpah reaches David and he comes forth
to hide the indecencV. The corpses had
been chained to the trees. The chains are
unlocked with horrid clank aud the skele-
tons are let down. All 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 1t is always SO.
Let every one who does wrong know that
he wars not only as in this case against two
generations, children and grandchildren,
but against oil the generations OF coming
time. That Is what makes dissipation and
unoleannsss 30 awful. IL reverberates in
other times. It may skip one generation,
| bus it is apt 20 come up in the third genera
| ton, as is suggested in the ten command
ments which say: Visiting the iniquities
OF the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation Mind you,
1t says nothing about the second generation,
but mentions the third and fourth. That ac-
counts for what you sometimes see, very
| good parents with very bad children Go far
enough back in the ancestral line and you
find the source of all the turpitude. "Visit-
| ing the iniquities of the fathers upon the
children. unto the third and fourth genera-
| tion.n IL when Saul died the consciousness
OF his iniquity could have died With him, ID
| would not have been so bad. Alas, mol
Look on that hill q 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 words and aims houses, and the reforms
atory institutions where unfortunate chil-
| dren are kept, and you will find that nine
out of ten had q unken or vicious parents.
Yea, day by day on the streets Of our cities
| you find men aud women wrecked of evil
parentage. They are moral corpses. Like
the seven sons Of Saul though dead, un-
buried. Alas for Rizpab, who, not for SIX
months, but for years and years has watched
them. She cannot keep the vuItures and
the jackals 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 desolationf
One Of Saul's favorites Her personal at
fractions had won his heart She had been
caressed OF fortune. With a mothers pride
she looked on her princely children. But
the scene changes. Behold her in banish-
ment 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 champ
ing and lathered steed bringing evil dis
patch9 On what teEselated hall has there
not stood the solemn bisrl Under what ex-
quisite fresco has there not been enacted a
tragedy of dlsasteri What curtained couch
hath heard no cry Of paint W hat harp hath
never trilled with sOrrowl What lordly
nature hath never leaned against carved
pillar and made utterance Of woel Gall is
not less bitter when quaffed from golden
chaIice 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 Adolphus wept in German
castles over the hypocrisy Of friends. Pedro
!. among Brazilian diamonds sbivered with
fear OF massacre. Stephen Of England sat
on a rocking throne And every mast OF
pride has 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 smoothess
trow and stiffen the sprightliest step,
Rizpah quits the oourtly 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
nlaptU and lu Of ex,o.,~ f.kh..1.