The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-05-25

with magnanimous heart, replies,
Gas his part is that goeth down to the
battle, so shall his part be that tarriett
by the stuff. "
Ziklag In Ashesl
This subject is practically suggestive
90 me. Thank God, in these times a
man can go off on journey and be
gone weeks and months and GONE back
and see his house untouched of incen-
diary and have his family on the step
to greet him if by telegram he has fore
told the moment of his coming. But
there are Amalekitish disasters, there
are Amalekitish diseases that some
times come down upon ones home,
making as devastating work as the
day when Ziklag took fire. There are
families you represent broken up. No
battering ram smote in the door, no
iconoclast crumbled the statues, no
flame leaped amid the curtains, but so
far as all the joy and merriment that
once belonged to that house are con-
cerned the home has departed.
Armed diseases came down upon the
pleurisies or consumptions or underlined
disorders came and seized upon some
members of that family and carried
them away Ziklag in ashes And you
go about, sometimes weeping and some
times enraged, wanting to get back your
loved ones as much as David and his
men wanted to reconstruct their de-
spoiled households Ziklag in ashes
Some of you went off from 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 rail
car and start for home! You arrived.
You went up the street where your
dwelling was, and in the night you put
your hand ON the doorbell, and, behold!
it was wrapped with the signal of be-
and you found that Amale-
kitish death, which has devastated
thousand other households, had blasted
yours. You go about weeping amid
the desolation of your once happy home,
of the bright eyes closed, and
the noble hearts stopped, and the gentle
hands folded, and you weep until you
have no more power to weep. Ziklag in
ashes!
A gentleman went to friend of mine
in the city of Washington and asked
that through him he might get a con-
sulship to some foreign port. My friend
said to him, "What do you want to go
away from your beautiful home for into
a foreign port?" "Oh," he replied, "my
home is gone! My six children are dead.
[ must get away, sir 1 can't stand it in
this country any longer. % Ziklag in
ashes!
Shadows of Bereavement.
Why these long shadows of bereave-
ment across this audience? Why is it
that in almost every assemblage black
is the predominant color of the apparel?
Is it because you do not like saffron or
brown or violet? Oh, no! You say, "The
world is not 50 bright to us as once it
was" and there is story of silent
voices, and of still feet, and of loved
ones gone, and when you look over the
hills expecting only beauty and lowell
ness you find only devastation and woe
liklag in ashesl
One day, in Ulster county, N. Y, the
village church was decorated until the
fragrance of the flowers was almost be-
The maidens of the village
lad emptied the place of flowers upon
)ne marriage altar. One of their own
number was affianced to a minister of
Christ, who had come to take her to his |
,wn home. With hands joined, amid a |
,ongratulatory audience, the vows were |
aiken. In three days from that time one |
If those who stood at the altar ex-
changed earth for heaven. The wedding
march broke down into the funeral |
Urge. There were not enough flowers
low for the coffin lid, because they had
ii been taken for the bridal hour. The
lead minister of Christ is brought to
mother village.
He had gone out from them less than
week before in his strength; now he
ONES home lifeless The whole church
ewailed him. The solemn procession
moved around to look upon the still
ace that once had beamed the messages
f salvation. Little children were lifted
p to look at him. And some of those
yhom he had comforted in days of sor-
DIV, when they passed that silent form,
lade the place dreadful with their
-eeping. Another village emptied of
S flowers-some of them put in the
lape of a cross to symbolic his hope,
Tiers put in the shape of a crown to
his triumph. A hundred
ghts blown out in one strong gust from
lie open door of a sepulcher. Ziklag in
,hes
Heaven to Win.
I preach this sermon today because /
ant to rally you, as David rallied his
en-, for the recovery of the loved and
le lost. want not only to win heav
/, but want all this congregation to
, along with me. feel that somehow {
have a responsibility in your arriving .
that great city. Do you really want
join the companionship of your loved
les who have gone? Are you as anxious ,
Join them as David and his men were
join their families? Then am here,
the name of God, to say that you
ay and to tell you how. {