The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-05-08
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
SUNDAYS SERMON IN THE NEW
YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC.
Subject: "After the Battle"

Some of you were at South Mountain or
3hiloh or Balls Bluff or Gettysburg on
Northern or Southern side, and ask YOU il
there Is any sadder sight than q battlefield
after the guns have stopped firing? walked
across the field of Antietam just after the
conflict. The scene was 30 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
;he watches, and the memorandum books.
and the letters, and the daguerreotypes, and
The hats, and the coats, applying them to
their own uses. The dead make no resis-
lance. 30 there are always camp followers
going on and 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 q SINH
lar scene in my text.
Saul and his army had been horribly cut to
pieces. Mount Gllboa was ghasty with the
dead. On the morrow the stragglers came
on to the field, and they lifted the latchet of
the helmet from under the chin Of the dead,
they picked up the swords and bent them on
their knee to test the temper Of the metal,
and they opened the wallets and counted the
coin. Saul lay dead along the grouud, eight
or nine feet in length. and suppose the
cowardly Philistines, to show their bravery,
leaped upon the trunk of his carcass and
ieered at the fallen slain and whistled through
the mouth Of his helmet. Before night those
cormorants had taken everything valuable
from the field. "And 1t came to pass on the
morrow, when the Philistines came to strip
the slain, that they found Saul and his three
Sons fallen In Mount Gilboa."
Before get through to-dayI will show
you that the same process Is going on all the
rnr1I nd SIoA -lar
men have fallen satan and the world, so far
from pitying them or helping them. 60 to
work remorselessly to take what little there
Is left, thus stripping the slain.
There are tens OF thousands OF young men
every year coming from the country to our
great cities. They come with brave hearts
and grand expectations. The country lads
BIT down In the village grocery, with their
feet on the iron rod around the redhot
stove, in the evening, talking over the
prospects Of the young man who has gone
of to the city. Two or three Of them think
that perhaps he may get along very well and
succeed, but the most Of them prophesy
failure, for 1t Is very hard to think that
those whom we knew in boyhood will ever
make any great success in tho world.
But our young man has fine position in q
dry goods store. The month Is over. he
gets his wages. He Is not accustomed to
have 80 much money belonging to himself.
He Is q little excited and does not know
exactly what to do with it, and he spends II
In some places where he ought not. Soon
there come up new companions and acquaint-
ances from the barrooms and the saloons OF
the city. Soon that young MAJ begins to
waver in the battle Of temptation, and soon
his soul goes down. In few months or few
years he has fallen. He Is morally dead. BE
Is mere corpse Of what he once was. The
harpies Of sin snuff up the taint and come
on on the d His garments gradually give
IS falling him. His credit perishes. .he Is
too poor to stay In the city, ald be Is too
poor to pay his way Home to the Country.
Down, down! Why do the low fellows Of
the city now stick to him 80 closely2 Is 1t to
help him back to moral and spiritual lifei
Oh, no. will tell you why they stay. They
are Philistines stripping the slain.
Do not look where point, but yonder
stands man who once had beautiful home
in this city. His house had elegant furni-
ture, his children were beautifully clad, his
name was synonymous with honor and USE
fulness, 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 piano2 Sold to pay the
rent. Where Is the hatrack? Sold to meet
the butchers bill. Where are the carpetsf
Soldto get bread. Where Is the wardrobe:
Sold to get rum. Where are the daughtersl
Working their fingers of In trying to keep
the family together. Worse and worse until
everything Is gone. Who is that going up the
front steps OF that house2 That Is creditor,
hoping to find some chair or bed that hos not
been levied upon. Who are those two gen.
tlemen now going up the front steps9 The
one Is constable; the other Is the sheriff.
Why do they so there? The unfortunate is
morally dead, socially dead, financially dead.
Why do they go there2 will tell you why
the creditors and the constables and the
sheriffs go there. They are, some on their
own account and some on account Of the law,
stripping the slain.
An ex-member Of Congress, one OF the
most eloquent men that ever stood in the
House of Representatives. said in his last
moments: This Is the end. I am dying
dying on borrowed bed, covered by Dor.
rowed sheet, In house built by public
charity. Bury me under that tree in the mid
die OF the field, where shallnot be crowded
for have been crowded all my life." Where
were the jolly politicians and tho dissipating
comrades who had been with him, laughing
at his jokes, applauding his eloquence and
plunging him into sin? They have left. Why
His money is gone. his reputation Is gone
his wit Is gone, his clothes are gone-every-
longer2 They have completed their work.
They have stri pped the slain.
There is another way, however, OF doing
the same work. Here Is a man who, through
his sin, is prostrate. He acknowledges that
he has done wrong. Now Is the time for you
to 60 to that man and say, Thousands o1
people have been as far astray as you arc
and got back" Now is the time for you tc
20 to that man and tell him Of the omnipo.
tent grace Of God, that is sufficient for any
poor soul. Now Is the time to go and tel
how swearing John Bunyan, through the
grace Of Goo, ,afterYard came to the Gs,assstt,.s
Gity. Now Is the titis t6 R5 to that mai &hd
tell him how pfodigate Newton Came
thSousH CONVERSION, to Ss A World renowned
tNeeeacHsr Of righteousness. Now is the time
totell that man that multitudes who have been
pounded with all the fails Of sin and dragged
through all the sewers Of pollution at last
have risen to positive dominion OF moral
powers.
You do not tell him that, do youp No.
You say to him, "Loan you money? No
You are down. You will have to go to the
dogs. Lend you dollar2 would not lend
you five cents to keep you from the gallows.
Yod are debauched! Get out of my sight,
now! Down! You will have to stay down.
And thus those bruised and battered men are
sometimes accosted by those who ought to
lift them up. Thus the last vestige Of hope
is taken from them. Thus those who ought
to 80 and lift and save them are guilty OF
stripping the slain.
The point want to make is this: Sin Is
hard, cruel and merciless. Instead OF help
ing man up it helps him down, and when,
like Saul and his comrades, you lie on the
field, it will come and steal your sword and
helmet and shield, leaving you to the iackal
and the crow.
But the world and satan do not do their
work with the outcast and Abandoned. A
respectable impenitent man comes to die.