The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-04-26

The Temptation, the Choice and the
Outcome.
New YORK, April 2l,-Thero is no
liminution in the vast numbers that as
lemblo from Sunday to Sunday to listen
to tho eloquent sermons of Rev. DR..
Talmage. Today no chose for his sub
ject after the Battle" the text SOLICIT
cd being Samuel XXI. 8. "And 1t came
to pass on tao morrow, when the Philis-
tines oamo to strip the slain, that they
found Saul and his three SONS fallen in
Mount Gilboa."
Some Of you were at South Mountain
or Shiloh or Balls Bluff or Gettysburg
on northern or southe II side, and ask
you if thcro is any sadder sight than a
battlefield after the guns have stopped
firing? | walked across tho field of An.
tietam Just after The conflict Tho scene
was so sickening shall not describe it.
Every valuable thing had been taken
from the bodies of the dead for there
are always vultures lowering over and
around about an army; and they pick
up the watches. and the memorandum
books, and the letters, and tho daguerre'
otypes, and the hats, and the coats,
applying them to their own uses. The
6ead make nd resistance. So there are
always camp followers going On md
after an army, as when Scott went
down into Mexico, as when Napoleon
marched up toward Moscow, as when
Won Moltke went to Sedan. There is
similar scene In my text.
Saul and his army had been horribly
cut I'd pieces MoBiit Gilboa WAS phasts
Is With the dead On the morrow the
stragglers camo on to the field, and
they lifted the latchet Of the helmet
from under the chin of the dead, and
they picked up tho swords and bent
theht Oil their knee to test the TEMPER of
the metal and they opened the wallets
and counted the coin: Saul lay dead
along the ground, br feet in length,
and suppose the cowardly Philistines,
to show their bravery, leapod upon the
trunk Of his carcass and jeered at the
fallen slain and whistled through the
mouth of his helmet. Before night those
oprriorants had. taken everything valu-
able from the field. 'And it came to
pass on the morrow, when the Philis-
tines came to strip the slain, that they
found Saul and his three sons fallen in
Mount Gilboa.
satan and His Work.
Before | get through today | will
Show you that the same process Is going
ON all the world over, and every day,
and that when men have fallen satan
and the world, SO far from plying them
Of helping them, 60 to work remorse
lessly to take what little thers is loft,
thus stripping the sain.
There are tens of thousands of young
men every year coming from the coun-
try to our great cities. TheS come with
brave hearts, and grand expectations.
The country lads sit down tn the village
grocery with their feet ON the iron rod
around tho redhot stove, in the evening,
talking over the prospects of the young
man who has gone off to the city. Two
81 three Of them think that perhaps he
may get along very we'll aud succeed,
but the most of them prophesy failure,
for it is very hard to think that those
whom We knew in boyhood will ever
make any great success IN the world.
But our young man has fine position
in dry goods store, The month is over.
He gets his wages. He Is not Rccus.
toned to have SO much money belong
Ing to himself. He is a little excited
and does hot know exactly what to do
with it, and he spends it IN some places
where he ought not Soon there come
up new companions and acquaintance
from the barrooms and the saloons of
the city. Soon that young man begins to
waver in the battle of temptation, and
soon his soul goes down. In few
months or few years he has fallen. He
ID morally dead. He is mere corpse Of
what he once was. The harpies of sin
snuff up the faint and come on the field.
His garments gradually give out. He
has pawned his watch. His health is
failing him. His credit perishes. He is
too poor to stay in the city, and he is
too poor to pay his way home to the
6ountry. Down, down. Why do the low
fellows Of the city now stick to him SO
closely? Is it to help him back to NOR
al and spiritual life? Oh, no. Twill tell
you why they stay. They are Philistines
stripping the slain.
Do not look where point, but yon-
der stands man who once had beau
tiful home in this city. His house had
elegant furniture, his children were
beautifully clad, his name was synony
nous with honor and usefulness, but
evil habit knocked at his front door,
knocked at his back door, knocked at
his parlor door, knocked at his bedroom
door, Where is the piano? Sold to pay
the rent. Where is the hatrack? Sold to
meet the butchers bill Where are the
carpets? Sold to get bread. Where is the
wardrobe? Sold to get rum. Where are
The daughters? Working their fingers off
IN trying to keep the family together
Worse and worse until everything is
zone. Who is that going up the front
lteps of that house? That is creditor,
hoping to find some chair or bed that
has not been levied upon. Who are those
two gentlemen now going up the front
steps? The one is constable; the other
is the sheriff. Why do they go there?
The unfortunate is morally dead, social
ly dead, financially dead. Why do they
go there? I will tell You why the cred
itors and the constables and the sheriffs
70 there. They are, some on their own
/ account and some OH account Of the
law, stripping the slain.
4 Pathetic Request.
An exmember of congress, one Of the
most eloquent men that ever stood in
the house of representatives, said i'll his
I last moments: This is the end AM
! dying-dying on a borrowed bed, cover
| ed by borrowed sheet, in house built
| by public charity Bury me under that