The Bossier banner., 1894-07-05
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The JOY Of a Reunited Family After
Prolonged Separation.
If We Expect to Meet Our Families in
the World to Come We Must All
Follow the Same Road
Which Shall 1t Be?

they had no more power to weep. =
David recovered ALL. Samuel Xxx, f. 10.
There is intense excitement in the
village of Ziklag. David and his men
are bidding good-by to their families,
and are off for the wars. In that little
village of Ziklag the defenseless ones
will be safe until the warriors, flushed
with victory, come home. But will the
defenseless ones be safe? The soft
arms of children are around the neclzs
of the bronzed warriors until they
shake themselves free and start, and
handkerchiefs and flags are waved and
kisses thrown until the armed men van
ish beyond the hills. David and
his men soon get through with
their campaign and start homeward.
Every night on their way
home, no sooner does the soldier put
his head on the knapsack than in his
dreams 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
battle ak! and then will roll up their
sleeve and show the half-healed wound
David and his men, for they are march
ing home. Now they come up
to the last hill which overlool1s
Ziklag, and they expect in a
moment to see the dwell
ing places of their loved ones. They
look, and as they look their cheek
turns pale, and their lip quivers, and
their hand involuntarily comes down
on the hilt of the sword. ''Where is
Ziklag? Where are our homes?" they
cry. Alas! the curling smoke above
the ruin tell the tragedy. The Amale-
kites have come down and consumed
the village, and carried the mothers
and the wives and the children of David
and his men into captivity. The
swarthy warriors stand for a few mo-
ments transfixed with horror. Then
their eyes glance to each other, and
they burst into uncomfortable weeping;
| for when a strong warrior weeps the
grief is appalling. 1t seems as if the
emotion might tear him to pieces. They
''wept until they had 10 more power
| to weep" But soon their sorrow
turns into rage, and David, swinging
his sword high in air, cries: Pursue,
for thou shalt oyertake them, and with
out fail recover all" Now the march
becomes a ''double-quick." Two hun
dsed of David's men stop by the brook
Besor, faint with fatigue and grief.
They can not go a step farther. They
are left alone. But the other four hun
dred 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 and compel him
to tell the whole story. He says:
'Yonder, they went, the captors
and the captives," pointing in the
direction. Forward, We four hundred
brave men of fire! Very soon David
and his enraged company come upon
the Amalekitish host. Yonder they
see their own wives and children and
mothers, and under Amalel1itish guard.
Here are officers of the Amalekitish
army holding a banquet. The cups
are full, the music is reused, the dance
begins. The Amalekitish host cheer
and cheer and cheer over their victory.
But, without note of bugle or warning
of trumpet, David and his four hun
dred men burst upon the scene. David
and his men look up, and one
glance at their loved ones in captivity
and under Amalekitish guard throws
them into a very fury of determination:
for you know how men will fight when
they fight for their wives and children.
Ah! there are lightnings in their eye,
and every finger is spear, and their
voice is like the shout of the whirl-
the costly viands crushed underfoot,
the wounded Amalelzites lie their blood
mingling with their wine), shrieking
for mercy. No sooner do David and
his men win the victory than
they throw their swords down
into the dust-what do they want
with swords now?-and the broken
families come together amidst great
shout of Joy that makes the parting
scene in Zilzlag 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 tankards are set up, and they
are filed with the best wine from the
bills, and David and his men, the hus
bands, the wives, the brothers, the sis
ters, drink to the overthrow of the
Amalekites and to the rebuilding o
Ziklag. So, o Lord, let thine enemies
perishi
Now they are coming home, DaviC
and his men and their families-a Ions
procession. Men, women and children
loaded with jewels and robes and will
nll kinds of trophies that the Amale
kites haG gathered up in years of con
quest e~crything now in the hands o
David and his nen. When they com
by the brook 8esor, the place wher
stayed the men sick and incompent t
travel, the jewels and the robes an