Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-06-01
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine'S Sun
day Sermon.
Subject: "Recov cred Families" preached
at Little Rock, Ark

until they had no more power to weep.
David recovered al. ~ Samuel Xxx.
4, 49,
There is intense excitement in the village
| OF Ziklag. David and his men are hiddnc
| goodby 10 their families AMI are off for the
wars. In that little village OF Zikag the de,
fenseess ones will be safe until the warriors
flushed with victory, come home. But will
| the defenseless ones be safef The soft arms
| OF children are around the neoks OF the
bronze warriors until they shake themselve.
free AMI start. and handkerchiefs and flags
| are wavel and kisses thrown until the armed
men vanish beyond the hills. David and his
men soon get through with their campaign
an2 start homeward. Every night on Their
way home no sooner does the soldier put his
head on the knapsack than in his dream he
| hears the welcome of the wife and the shout
OF The child
Oh, what long stories they will have to tell
their families of how they lodged the bat
tleax, and then will roll up their sleeve and
show the half healed wound. With glad,
quick step, they march on. David and his
men, for they are marching home. Now they
come up 10 the last hill which overlooks Zik-
lag, and they expect in moment to see the
dwelling places of their loved ones. They
look, and as they look their cheek turns pale,
and their lip quivers, and their hand invol-
unfairly comes down on the hilt OF the
sword. "Where is Ziklag7 Where are our
homes?" they cry. Alas, the curling smoke
above the ruin tells the tragedy!
The Amalekites have come down and con-
sumed the village and carried the mothers,
and the wives, and the children OF David and
his men into captivity. The swarthy war;
rlers stand fora few moments trans1xed with
horror. Then their eyes glance to each
other, and they burst into uncomfortable
weeping, for when strong warrior weeps
the grief is appalling. 1t seems as If the
emotion might tear him to pieces. They
"wept untilthey had no more power to weep"
But soon their sorrow turns into rage, and
David, swinging his sword high in air. cries,
pursue, for thou shalt overtake them, and
without fail recover ALL" Now the march
becomes "double quick" Two hundred OF
Dayld's men stop by the brook Besor, faint
with fatigue and grief. They cannot go q
step farther. They are left there. But the
other 400 men under David, with a sort of
panther step, march on in sorrow and In
rage. They find by the side of the road half
dead Egyptian, and they resuscitate him an
compel him to tell the whole story. He SAYS,
''Yonder they went, the captors and the cap
tives, pointing in the direction. Forward,
ye 400 brave men OF fire
Very soon David AMI his enragei company
come upon the Amalekitish host. Yonder
they see their own wives and children and
mothers. and under Amaekitsh guard. Here
are the officers OF the Amalekitlsh army hold
ing a banquet. The cups are full the music
Is reused the dancs begins, The Amalekit-
ish host cheer and cheer and cheer over their
victory. But, without note OF buGle or warn
ing OF trumpet, David and his 400 men burst
upon the scene. David and his men look up,
and one glance at their loved ones in captiv-
ity and under Amalekitish guard throws
them into q very fury OF determination, for
you know how men will fight when they fight
for their wives aud children. All, there are
lightnings in their eye, and every finger is a
spear, and their voice is like the shout of the
whirlwindl Amid the upset tankards and
the costly viands crushed underfoot, the
wounded Amalekites lie, their blood min
Cling with their wine, shrleking for
mercy. No sooner do David AMI his men
win the victory than they throw their swords
down into the dnst-what do they want with
swords now?-and the broken families come
together amid n great shout OF Joy that
makes the parting scene in Ziklag seem very
insipid in the comparison. The rough old
warrior has TO use some persuasion before
he can get his child to come to him now
after so long an absence, but soon the little
finger traces the familiar wrinkle across the
SCARED face. And then the empty tankarls
are set up and they are filled with the best
wine from the bills, and David and his men,
the husbands, the wives, the brothers, the
sisters, drink TO the overthrow OF the
Amalekites and 10 the rebuilding OF Ziklag.
So. o Lord, let Thine enemies perish
Now they are coming home, David AMI
bis men AMI their families-a long pro-
cession. Men, women and children, loaded
with jewels and robes and with all kinds OF
trophies that the Amaekites had gathered
up in years of conquest-everything now In
the hands Of David and his men. When
they come BY the brook Besor, the place
where staid the rnen sick and incompetent
to travel, the jewels and the robes and all
kinds OF treasures are divided among the
sick as we'll as among the well. Surely the
lame AMI exhauste ought to have some OF
the treasures. Here is robe for pale
faced warrior. Here is pillow for this
dying man. Here is q han ifu Of gold for
the wasted trumpeter. 1 really think that
these men who tainted by the brook Bssor
may have endured as much as those men
who went into the battle. Some mean fe-
lows objected 10 the sick ones having any OF
the spOilS. The o5jectOrs said, "These men
did not fight" David, with magnanimouS
heart, replies, 'As his part is that goeth
down to tho battle, so shall his part be that
tarrieth by the stuff"
Thissu6jectis practically suggestive TO me.
Thank Col, i'll these times man can 90 of
on journey an be gone weeks and months
and come back AMI see his house unit ouched
OF incendiary and have his family on the
step 10 greet him if by telegram he has fore
told the moment of bis coming. But there
are Amalekitish disasters. there are Amale-
ktish diseases that so netimes comes down
upon ones home, making rs devastating
work as the day when Ziklag took fire.
There are families you represent broken up.
No battering ram smote in the door, no
iconocast crumblel the statues, no fl ,me
leaped amid the curtains, but so far as all
the Joy an merriment that ones belonged
10 that house are concerned the home has
departed.
Armed diseases came down upon the qul-
etnesS OF the scene-Scarlet fevers or pleu-
rsies or cOnsumptions or underlined dlsor-
ders came and seized upon some members
OF that family and carried them away. Xix
lag in ashes And you go about, sometimes
weeping and sometimes enraged, wanting TO
get back your loved ones as much as David
and his men wanted TO reconstruct their
Some OF you went off iron home. You
counted the days OF your absence. Every
day seemed as long as week. Oh, how
glad you were when the time came for you
to go aboard the steamboat or railroad and
start for home! You arrived. You went
up the street where your dwelling was, AMI
in the night you put your hand on the
doorbell, and, behold 1t was wrapped with
the signal OF bereavement, and you found
that Amaakitish death, which has devas-
tated a thousand other households, had
blasted yours. You 90 about weeping anil
the desolation OF your once happy home,
thinking OF the bright eyes closed, and the
noble hearts siOnned and the gentle hands