Connecticut western news., 1895-04-25
THE WAGES OF SIN.
REV. DE WITT TAlMAGE ON "AFTeR
 THE BATTLE.o

REV DE WITT TAlmAGk ON "AFTER
 THE BATTLE"
 Stripping the Slakn-The MerciIessness of Sin-A Tragedy on the Street Corner. Outcome. NEW YORK, April 2l.-There is no Iiminution ill the vast numbers that as- semble from Sunday to Sunday to listen to the eloquent sermons of Rev. pr. Talmaae. Today he chose for his sub ject After the Battle" the text select ed being Samuel xxi. 8. 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."
 Some of you were at South Mountain or Shiloh or Balls Bluff or Gettysburg on northern or southern side, and I ask you if there is any sadder sight than battlefield after the guns have stopped firing? I walked across the field of An tietam just after the conflict. The 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 the dag0erre- otypes, and the hats, and the coats applying them to their own uses. The dead make no resistance. So 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 similar scene in my text.
 Saul and his army had been horribly cut to pieces Mount Gilboa was ghast- ly 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, and 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 ground, or 9 feet in length, and suppose the cowardly Philistines, to show their bravery, leaped upon the trunk of his carcass and jeered at the fallen slain and whistled through the mouth of his helmet. Before night those cormorants 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 I get through today I will show you that the same process is going on all the world over, and every day, and that when men have fallen satan aud the world, so far from pitying them or helping them, go to work remorse lessly to take what little there is left, thus stripping the sain.
 There are tens of thousands of young men every year coming from the coun- try to our great cities. They come with brave hearts and grand expectations. The country lads sit down in the village grocery, with their feet on the iron rod around the redhot stove, ill the evening, talking over the prospects of the young man who has gone off to the city. Two or three of them think that perhaps he may get along very we'll and, succeed, but the most of them prophecy 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 ill dry goods store. The month is over. He gets his wages He is not accus toned to have so much money belong ing to himself He is little excited and does not know exactly what to do with it, and he spends it in some places where he ought not. Soon there come mp new companions and aoquaintanoes 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 is morally dead. He is 0 mere corpse of what he once was. The harpies of sin snuff up the taint 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 country. Down. downl Why do the low fellows of the city now stick to him so closely? Is it to help him back to mor- al and spiritual life? Oh, no. will 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 gone. Who is that going up the front steps 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? 1 will tell.you why the cred itors 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.
 A Pathetic Request.
 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 tine end. I am dying-dying on borrowed bed, cover. ed by borrowed sheet, in house built by public charity. Bury me under that tree in the middle of the field, where
 shall not be crowded for I have beer