The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-22
AFTER THE BATTLE OF LIFE.
FALMAGE TELLS or THE VULTUREs
THAT STRIP THE SLAIN.

JOurney-Ihc Promises OF Satnn
Then Found 10 Have Keen False
hoods Intended 10 Drag Him Down
20 Eternal Despair.
New York. April I.-There Is no dimIn-
ution in the vast numbers that assemble
from sunday 10 Sunday to listen TO the
eloquent sermons Of Dew. DIT. Talmage.
To-day he chose for his subject. After
the Battle" the text selected being =.
Samuel. SIS And il came TO pass On
the morrow. when the Philistines came to
strip the slain, that they found saul anG
has three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa."
Some OF you were az South Mountain, or
shiloh. or Balls Blud. or Gettysburg
on northern or southern side and I ask
you n there is any sadder sight than a
battlefield after the guns have stopped
firing? ! walked across the field OF Antie-
tam just after the conflict. The scene
was so sickening ! shall not describe A.
Every valuable thing had been taken from
the bodies Of the dead. for there are all
ways vultures lowering over and around
about an army. and they pick up the
watches and tine memorandum books, and
the letters. and the daguerreotypes. and
the hats and the coats. applying them 10
their own uses. The dead make no re-
sistance. SO there are always camp fol-
lowers going ON and after an army. Us
when Scott went down into Mexico, as
when Napoleon marched up toward Mos
COW, as when Won Moltke went TO Sedan.
There Is a similar scene in my text.
saul and his army had been horribly
cut 10 pieces. Mount Gilboa was CHASTITY
with the dead. on the morrow the strag-
glers came on 10 the field, and they lifted
The latchet Of the helmet from under
the chin of the dead and they picked
Iip 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.
eight or nine feet in length, and / sup
pose the cowardly Phlistines to show
their bravery, leaped upon the trunk
81 his carcass, ana 1eered at the fallen
slain. and whistled through the mouth
81 his helmet Before night those cor
morants had taken everything valuable
from the field: And II came to pass
on the morrow. when the Philistines
came 10 strip the slain. and they found
saul and his three sons fallen IN Mount
Gilboa."
Before / get through to-day / viii show
you that the same process is going on all
when men have fallen, satan and the
world, so far from plying them or help
ANk AHtUit 30 10 WOlk IEUlOiNtAeESN 10
take what little there is left, thus strip
ping the slain.
There are tens of thousands of young
men every year coming from the country
10 our great cities. They come with
brave hearts and grand expectations. Inc
country lads sit down in the village
grocery, with their feet on the iron rod
around the red-hot stove, in the even
ing, talking over the prospects of the
young man who has gone OF to the city.
Two or three OF them think that perhaps
~ aln a
but the most of them prophesy failure,
for IL is very hard to think that those
whom we knew In boyhood will ever
make any great success in the world.
Bus our Young man has a fine position In
a dry-goods store The month Is over.
He gets his wages. He is not accustomed
60 have so much money belonging TO him
self He is a little excfted and does not
know exactly what to do with IL. and he
spends II in some places where he ought
not. Soon there come up new companions
and acquaintances from the barrooms and
the saloons Of the city. Soon that younG
man begins TO waver in the battle of temp
tation, and soon his soul goes down. In
few months, or few years, he has fallen.
he is morally dead. He is a mere corpse of
what he once was. The harpies of sin
enun 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 country. Down!
now stick TO him so closely? Is it to help
him back TO a moral and spiritual life?
oh. no! will tell you why they stay; they
are Philistines stripping the slain.
Do not look where | point but yonder
stands a man who once had a beautiful
home in this city. His house had elegant
furniture, his children were beautifully
clad, his name was synonymous with hon
or 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 nat
rack? Sold to meet the butchers bill
Where is the wardrobe? Sold to get rum?
Where are the daughters? Work
ing their fingers off in trying
to keep the family together. Worse
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 gem
tlemen now going up the front steps?
The one Is a constable, the other is the
sheriff. Why do they so There? The un-
fortunate Is morally dead, Socially dead,
financially dead. Why do they go there?
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. | am dying
dying on a borrowed bed, covered by a
borrowed sheet, in a house built by public
charity. Bury me under that tree in the
middle of the field, where l shall not be
crowded, for l have been crowded all my
life" Where were the jolly politicians
and the dissipating comrades who had
been with him, laughing at his jokes, APP
plauding his eloquence, and plunging him
into SIM. They have left Why? His
money Is gone, his reputation is gone, his
wit is gone, his clothes are gone. every
thing is gone Why should they stay any
longer? They have completed their work.
They have stripped the slain.
There is another way, however, of do
ing that same work. Here is a man who,
through his sin, is PROSTATE He ac-
knowledges that he has done wrong. Now
is the time for you TO go to that man and
say: Thousands of people have been
as far astray as you are, and got back.
Now is the time for you to go to that man
and tell him of the omnipotent grace OF
God, that is sufficient for any poor soul
Now is the time to go to tell him how
swearing John Runyan, through the grace
of God. afterward came to the Celestial
City. Now is the time to go to that man
and tell him how profiigate Newton
came, through conversion, to be a world.
renowned preacher of righteousness Now
is the time to tell that man that multi.
tudes who have been pounded with all the
fails of sin and dragged through all the
sewers of pollution, at last have risen tC
positive dominion of moral power.
You do not tell him that, do you? No
You say to him: Loan you money? No
You are down. You viii have to 90 to the