The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-12-07
"RIzPAH ON THE ROCK"
The Subject of an Eloquent Sermon
by Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage, d. d.
Practical Lessons Drawn From an Ancient
Tragedy-The Courage Of Women
Amid Great Emergenoies--wo
men OF Ancient and Modern
Times Who Have Made
Great Sacrifices.

cent discourse was "Rizpah on the
Rock" the text selected being II.
Samuel, xxi 10: "And Rizpah the
daughter of Allah took sackcloth, and
spread it for her upon the rock, from
the beginning of harvest until water
dropped upon them out of heaven, and
suffered neither the birds of the air to
rest on them by day, nor the beasts OF
the field by night" Following is the
sermon:
Tragedy that beats anything Shakes
pearean, or Victor Hugoian. After re-
turning from the Holy Land / briefly
touched upon it. but must have
whole sermon for that scene. The ex-
plosion and flash 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 around clear Palestine OF
cruel claw and bealr 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
hadthese boys done that they should be
crucifed? 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 are sentenced to hang there. So
Rizpah takes the sackcloth, q 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 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 and for half year. One hun
dred and eighty days and nights Of OBJ
sequies What. nerves she must have
had to stand that Ahl do you not
know that mother can stand any
thing2
o, II she might be allowed to hollow
place in the side Of the hill and lay
the bodies of her children TO quiet rest
II in some cavern OF the mountains she
might find for them Christian sepulture.
o, II she might take them from the
gibbet of disgrace and carry them still
further away from the haunts Of mer
and then lie beside them in the last
long sleepl Exhausted nature ever and
anon falls into slumber, but in mo
ment she breaks the snare, and chideI
herself as though she had been crue
and leaps upon the rock shouting a
wild beast glaring from the thicke
and a vulturous brood wheeling in thu
sky. The thrilling story of Rizpal
reaches David, and he comes forth u
hide the indecency. The corpses ha6
been chained to the trees The chain
are unlocked with horrid clank and thu
skeletons are let down. All the sever
are buried. And the story ends.
But IT hardly ends before you cry out
What hard thing that thos. sever
boys should suffer for the crimes of
father and grandfather Yes. But I
is always so. Let everyone who doe
wrong know that he wars not only, n
in this case, against two generations
children and grandchildren, but agains
ell the generations OF coming time
That is what makes dissipation and un
cleanliness so awful 1t reverberate
in other times. II may skip one gener
alton, but IL is apt TO come up in til
third generation, as is suggested In th
Ten Commandments which say: "Vis
iting the iniquities Of the fathers upo
the children unto the third and fourt
generation" Mind you, it says moth
ing about the second generation, bu
mentions the third and the fourth
That accounts for what you sometime
see, very good parents with very ba
children. Go far enough back in th
ancestral line and you will find tn
source Of all the turpitude. "Visitin
the iniquities of the fathers upon tn
children unto the third and fourth ger
Grafton" II, when Saul died, the cor
sequences of his iniquity could hay
died with him. ii would not have bee
so sad. Alas, mol Look on that hill
few miles out from Jerusalem and SC
the ghastly burdens OF those seven gil
bets and the wan and wasted Rizpa
watching them. Go to-day through III
wards and almshouses and the relormi
tory institutions, where unfortunat
children are kept, and you will fin
that nine out OF ten had drunken {
vicious parents. Yea, day by day O
the streets OF our cities you find me
and women wrecked OF evil parentag
They are moral corpses Like the seve
sons Of Saul, though dead, unburie'
Alas for Rizpah, who, not for 81
months, but for years and years, hi
watched them. She cannot keep Il
vultures and the jaclSals of.
Furthermore, this strange incident
Bible story, shows that attractivene
OF person and elevation of position al
no security against trouble.
Who is this Rizpah sitting in desol
ton? One Of Saul's favorites II,
personal attractions had won his hear
She had been caressed OF fortune. Wit
n mothers pride she looked on h,
princely children. But the seer
changes Behold her in banishmen
Rizpah on the rock
Some of the worst distresses ha'
come TO scenes Of royalty and wealt
What porter at the MANSIONS gate hi
not let in champing and lathered ste,
bringing evil dispatchP On what 10
selated hall has there not stood the &C
smn bier? Under what exquisite fres'
has there not been enacted tragedy
disasterp What curtained couch hal
4 =