Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-01-27
MOTHERS In ISRAEL.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE'S ELOQUENT SER.
MON AND UNIQUE TEXT.

REV. DR.. TALMAGE'S ELOQUENT SER.
MON AND UNIQUE TEXT.
How Sisera Was Killed by Jacl-The Bad
News Brought to His Mother-SittinG a,
the Palace Window-A Eulogy Of the
Needle-Anxious Mothers.
BROOKLYN, Jan. 14.-This novel and
unique subject was presented by DR..
Talmage this forenoon to the usual
throngs crowding the largest Protestant
church in America. The congregation,
led by organ and cornet, sang a gospel
hymn to the tune of Home, Sweet
Home. +" Text, Judges V, 90, Tho
mother of Sisera looked out at VIM
dow.
Spiked TO the ground of Jael's tent
lay the dead commander in chief of the
Canaanitish hest, General Sisera, not
far from the river Kishon. which was
only a dry bed of pebbles when in 1899,
in Palestine, we crossed it. but the gul
lies and ravines which ran into it indi-
rated the possibility of great fresheta
like the one at the time Of the text.
General Sisera had gone ont with 900
iron chariots, but he was defeated, and,
his chariot wheels interlocked with the
wheels of other chariots, he could not
retreat fast enough, and SO he leaped to
the ground and ran till, exhausted. he
went into ,Jael's tent for safety. She
had just been churning, and when he
asked for water she gave him butter
milk, which in the east is considexed a
most refreshing drink. Very tired, and
surprising he was safe, he went to sleep
upon the floor, but Jael. who had re-
solved upon his death, took tent mn,
long and round and sharp. in one hand
and hammer in her other hand and.
putting the sharp end of the tent min 70
the forehead of Sisera. with her other
hand she lifted the hammer and
brought it down on the head of the pin
with a stout stroke. when Sisera strug-
gled to rise, and she struck him again.
and he struggled to rise, and the third
time she struck him, and the command
err in chief of the Canaanitisb host Law
dead.
MEANING OF THE TEXT.
Meanwhile in the distance Sisera q
mother sits amid surroundings of wealth
and pomp and scenes palatial waiting
for his return. Every mother expects
her son to be victorious. and this moth
er looked ont st the window exnectino
to see him drive up in his chariot fol-
lowed bv wagons loaded with embroid-
cries and also by regiments of men van
onished and enslaved, see her now
sitting at the window. in high expecta-
ton. She watches the farthest turn OF
the road. She looks for tho fying dust
of the swift hoofs. The first flash of
the bit of the horses bride she will
catch.
The ladies' of her court stand round,
and she tells them of what they shall
have when her son comes un-chains Of
gold and carcanets of beauty and dresses
of such wondrous fabric and splendor
as the Bible only hints at, but leaves us
to imagine. He ought to be here by
this time, " saws his mother. THAT bat
tie is surely over. | hope that freshet
of the river Kishon has not impeded
him. hone those strange appearances
we saw last night in the sky were not
ominous, when the stars seemed to fight
in their courses. No! No! He is SO brave
in battle | know he has won the dav.
He will soon be here" But alas for the
disappointed mother! She will not see
the glittering headgear of the horses nj
full gallon bringing her son home from
victorious battle. AS a solitary mes
senger arriving in hot haste rides I'D to
the window at which the mother of Sis
era sits, he cries, Your armies are de-
feated, and your son is dead. " There il n
scene of horror and anguish from which
we turn away.
Now YOU see the full meaning of nv
short text, THE mother of Sisera look.
ed out at window" Well. NV friends.
we are all out in the battle of life; it
is raging POW. and the most of lis have
a mother watching and waiting for news
of our victory or defeat. If she be not
sitting at the window of earth, she is
sitting at a window of heaven, and she
is going to hear all about it.
By all the rules of war Sisera ought
to have been triumphant. He had 900
iron chariots and host of many thou
sands vaster than the armies of Israel.
But God was Oh the other side, and the
angry freshets of Kishon, and the hail,
the lightning and the un,nanaeeable
warehouses, and the c;psized chariots
and the stellar panic in the sky discom-
fitted Sisera. Josephus in his history
describes the scene in the following
words: When they were come to n
close fight there camo down from heav-
en- great storm with vast quantity
of rain and hail, and the wind blew the
rain in the face of the Canaanites ana
so darkened their eyes their arrows and
sings were of no advantage to them,
nor would the GOODNESS of the air permit
the soldiers to make use of their swords,
while this storm did not so much in
commode the Israelites because it came
on their backs. They also took such
courage upon the apprehension that God
was assisting them that they fell upon
the very midst of their enemies and
slew great number of them, so that
some of them fell by the lsraelites, some
fell 10y their own horses which were put