Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-08-04
TABERNACLE PULPIT
TALMAOE breaches ON THE
RIGHTS OF CHILDREN.
"AIy Father, IL Thou Hast Opened Thy
Mouth Unto the Lord, DO to Me
According to That Which Hath IrO-
ceeded out OF Thy Mouth"

1
In the west, has cuUren for toplc Tor TINS
morn II (, "Cbildren Hishts."
Jephthah was u freebooter. Early
turned out from IA home where lie
tught TO have , cen cared for, he con-
sorted with rough men, and went or h
To e TN his living Us best he could. In
those time, il was considered right for
a man to go out On independent mill
tary eXpe itions. Jeputhah was n
good man according To he light Of his
dark age, buL through wandering
and "A predatory life IA be, amo stly IS
and precip tate. The grace OF God
char ges man hea t, but never re-
verses his nat raj temperament
The lsr elites wanted tie Ammon-
ties driven ut of their countrl, so
they sent delegation to Jepht all. SIX
ing him TO become commander IN cher
Of ali the forces He might have said:
~ on drov me out when you had no
use for me, d now you re IN rOuble
YOU want me back ut he did not
saw that. Ae axes command of the
army, ends messengers TO he Ammon-
ties to vacate the country, and, getting
NJ favorable response, marsnals his
tro ps for battle.
thah IN lle> a very solemn VOW, that If
the Lord will give him the victory,
then, on his return home, what oever
ii It ONES out of his doorway he will
offer in sa ritice as burnt Offering
I he battle opens. 1t was no skirmiSn-
in o. the edge of danger, no I'M
limbaring OF batteries two mi cs away,
b II tbs. hurl ng of men on the point
4 l. a
COZ d no IN re drink the hood, and
the horses reared to leap over the
piles of bodies OF the lain. Il those
old times, opposing io,ces would ght
until their 5 ~ ords were broken, and
tuen "a h one would throttle his man
until they both fell, teeth to teeth,
grip to grip, dedth-stare 10 dea h-stlre,
until the plain was one tumb led
mass OF corp,es from VIII Oh the last
trace OF manhood had been dash at out.
Jephtnah wins the day. Twenty
cities lay captured at his feet. Sound
the vi tory all through the mountains
OF Gilead Let the lrumpctvrs call up
the survivors. Homeward to your
wives and children. Homcward wi II
your glittcri x trea ures. Home ard
to have the applause of an admiring
nation. Build triumpuai arches.
SWING out flags all over AiZpeh. Open
all yo doors u receive the captured
treasures Through every hall spread
the banquet. Pie up the viands Fill
high the tanlSards. I he natl IS re
deemed, the invaders are routed and
the ma iOnal honor indicated.
uzza Jcphthah, t e con ,ueror
Jephthah, seated on u prancing stved,
advance amid acc aiming ma titudes
but his eye is not on the eX ted popu-
lace. Eememb boring that lie had made
a solemn vow that, returning fro n
victorious ba tie, whatsoever first
came out of the doorway OF his home
that should be sacrih, ell aS burnt
Offering, ne h S his anxious look hon
the door. ! wonder w"at sDotless
lamb. what brace of doves will be
thrown upon I fires of the burnt
Offering oh horrors Paleness OF
death blanches his cheek. Des air
seiZes his hea t. Ills daughter, his
only crild. rushcs out e doorway 10
thro herself in her fathers arms and
shower upon him more kisses than
there were wounds on his breast O,
dents on his shield. All the tri-
umphal splrndor vani hes. Holding
.
and pushing the locks lack from the
fair Lrow. and looking into the eyes
OF ineXtinguishab affection, with
choled u,terance he says, Would
God | lay stark on the bloody plain.
NV daughter, my only child, JOY OF my
home, lie of my life, thou ar the sac
rihce.'
The whole mat or was explained tc
I l. " 20 n mi hAl lsNxu
hearted girl into whose eyes the father
looxed. All the glory of sword an
shield vanished in the pr sence OF the
valor o that girl There may have
been t emor of the lip as a ose Leaf
trembies in the so Ugh or the south
wind; there may ha e be, the starting
Of te r like IA rain-droo shook from
the anthpr of a w ter lily but with a
self-sa ritice that man may II reach
and only woman's heart can compass .
she surrenders herself to fire and
death. She cries out in the words oil
my text, My father, if thou hast
o ened thy m nth unto the Lord, do
from thy mOu h."
She bows to the knife, and the
blood, which so oft, at the fathers
voice had rushed o the crimson cheek,
smokes in the fires o. the burnt-oler
ing. No one can tell us her name.
= here no need that we know her
name. The garlands that NJ zeph
twisted for Jephthah the wlrr.or had
gone in the dust: bat all ages are
twisting this girls chap ct. 1t is well
that her name came not u us, for nc
one can wear it. They may take the
name of Debol all, or Abigail, OF
Miriam, but no one in all the res can
have the title OF this daughter of sac
rifice.
OF cou Sc this Offering was not
| pleasing to the Lord but before Y u
hurl your denunciations at Jepthah's
cruelty. remember that in olden time Z,
when VOWS were made, men thought
they must execute them, perform
them, whether they were wicked or
good. There We're two wrong things
about Jephthah's vow. First, he ought
never to have made it. Next havin :
made it, it we're better broken than
kept But do not take on pretentious
airs and say, IL could not have done
as Jephthah did" If to-day you W, re
standing on tue banks of the Ganges
and you d been born in India, you
m ght have been throwing your chill
dren to the crocodil,s. 1t is not be-
cause we are natura ly any better,