The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-08-11
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Tho Jephthah's Daughters OF the
Nineteenth Century.
Ho~ Modern Children Are Sacrificed
OvertaskiBg at School, Improper
Discipline and the Spirit
OF Woridliness.

Res. IL. Dewitt Talmage gave out the
following sermon for publication,
among others, during his tour in the
west. The subject is "Children's
Rights and the text:
Ny father. II thou hadst opened thy mouth
unto the Lord. DO unto me according to that
which hath proceeded out OF thy mouth
Judges xi-. So
Jephthah was a freebooter Early
turned out from a home, where he
ought to have been cared for, he con-
sorted with rough men, and went forth
10 earn his living as best he could. In
those times it was considered right for
a man to go out on independent mill
tary expeditions. Jephthah wass' a
good man according to the light of his
dark age, but through wandering
and predatory life he became reckless
and precipitate. The grace of God
verses his natural temperament.
The Israelites wanted the Ammon-
ties driven out of their country, SO
they sent a delegation to Jephthah,
asking him to become commander-in-
chief of all the forces. He might have
said: ''You drove me out when you
had no use for me, and now you are in
trouble you want me back" but he did
not say that. He takes command of
the army, sends messengers to the
Ammonites to tell them to vacate the
country, and, getting no favorable re-
spouse, marshals his troops for battle.
Before going out to the war, Jeph-
than makes very solemn VOW that if
the Lord will give him the victory,
then, on his return home, whatsoever
first comes out of his doorway he will
offer in sacrifice as a burnt Offering
The battle opens. 1t was no slxirmish-
ing on the edges of danger, no unlim-
bering of batteries two miles away,
but the hurting of men on the point of
swords and spears until the ground
could no more drink the blood, and the
horses reared to leap over the piles of
bodies of the slain. In those old times
opposing forces would fight until their
swords were broken, and then each
one would throttle his man until they
both fell, teeth to teeth, grip to grip,
dcath-stare to death-stare, until the
plain was one tumbled mass of corpses,
from which the last trace of manhood
had been dashed out.
Jephthah wins the day. Twenty
cities lay captured at his feet. Sound
the victory all through the mountains
of Gilead. Let the trumpeters call up
the survivors. H@meward to your
wives and children. Homeward with
your glittering treasures Homeward
to have the applause of an admiring
nation. Build triumphal arches. Swing
ont flags all over Mizpeh. Open all
your doors to receive the captured
treasures. Through every hall spread
the banquet. Pile up the viands. Fill
high the tankards- The nation is re
deemed, the invaders are routed, and
the national honor is indicated.
Huzza for Jephthah the conquerorl
Jephthah seated on a prancing steed,
advances amid acclaiming multitudes,
but his eye is not on the excited popu-
lace. Remembering that he had made
a solemn VOW that, returning from vic
torious battle, whatsoever first came
out of the doorway of his home. that
should be sacrificed as a burnt-offering,
he has his anxious look upon the door.
l wonder what spOtless lamb, what
brace of doves will be thrown upon the
fires of the burnt offering. Oh hor-
rorsl Paleness of death blanches his
cheek. Despair seizes his heart. His
daughter, his only child, rushes out of
the doorway to throw herself in her
fathers arms and shower upon him
more kisses than there were wounds on
his breast or dents in his shield. All
the triumphal splendor vanishes.
Holding back this child from his heav-
ing breast, and pushing the locks back
from the fair brow, and looking into
the eyes of inextinguishable affection,
with choked utterance he says,
Would God / lay stark ON the bloody
plain. My daughter, my only child,
JOY of my home, life of my life, thou
art the sacrifice!'
The whole matter was explained to
her. This was no whining, hollow
hearted girl into whose eyes the father
looked. All the glory of sword and
shield vanished in the presence of the
valor of that girl. There may have
been tremor of the lip as rose-leaf
winds; there may have been the start
ing of tear like a rain-drop shook
from the anther of a water-lily; but
with self-sacrifice that man may not
reach, and only woman's heart can
compass, she surrenders herself to fire
and to death. MY father, if thou
hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord,
do unto me whatsoever hath proceeded
from thy mouth"
She bows to the knife, and the blood,
which so often at the fathers voice had
rushed to the crimson cheek, smokes in
the fires of the burnt offering. No one
can tell us her name. There is no
need that we know her name. The
garlands that Mizpeh has twisted for
Jephthah, the warrior, had gone into
the dust; but all ages are twisting this
girls chaplet. 1t is well that her name
came not to us, for no one can wear it.
They may take the name of Deborah,
the ages can have the title of this
daughter of sacrifice.
of course this Offering was not pleas
ant to the Lord; but before you hurt
your denunciations at Jephthah's cru
city, remember that in olden times,
when vows were made, men thought
they must execute them, perform
them, whether they were wicked or
good. There were two wrong things
about Jephthah's VOW. First, he ought
never to have made it. Next. having
made it, it were better broken than
kept. But do not take on pretentious
airs and say: II could not have done
as Jephthah did" If to-day you were
standing on the banks of the Ganges
and you had been born in India, YOU
might have been throwing YOUR chill