The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-05-16
REV. Or. TALMAGE
"a
THE RROOKLyN DIv1NE.s sUEl
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "After the Battle" ss

TEXT: "And it came to pass on the NOR,
row, when the Ph1listines came to strip the
slain, that they found Saul and his three sons
fallen In Mount Gilboa. II Samuel xxi, 8.
Some Of you were at South Mountain on
Shiloh or Balls Bluff or Gettysburg on
Northern or Southern side. and ask you II
there is any sadder sight than battlefield
after the guns have stopped firing? walked
across the field Of Antietam 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 yultures lowering over and
around about an army, and they pick up
the 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-
tance. 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 9 SINH
lar scene in my text.
Saul and his army had been horribly out to
pieces. Mount Gilboa was ghastly with tho
dead. On the morrow the stragglers came
on to tho field, and they lifted the latchet Of
the helmet from under the chin Of the dead,
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 I suppose the
eowardly Phihstines, to show their bravery,
leaped upon the trunk of his carcass and
|esred at the fallen slain and wh;stled through
The mouth Of his helmet. Before night those
cormcrants had taken everything valuable
from the field. "And it came to pass on the
norow, 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
world over, and every day, and that when
men have fallen satan and the world, 50 far
from plying them or helping them, go to
work remorselessly to take what little there
Is LETT, thus stripping the slain.
There ere 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
sit 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 psophesy
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 net accustomed to
have 80 much money belonging 10 himself.
he Is little excited and does not know
exactly what to do with It, and he spends 1.
In some places where he ought not. Soon
there come up new companions and acqusdnt.
ances from the barrooIns and the saloons OF
the city. Soon that young man begins td
wsrer In the battle Of temptation, and soon
his soul goes down. Ip few months OF few
years he has fallen. He Is morally dead. BE
Is mere corpse OF what he once was. The
harples OF sin snuff up the tsipf and come
on the field Els garments gradually give
out. BE has pawned his watch. Eis health
is falling him His credit perishee. be &
too poor to stay In the city, and he IS toe
poor to pay bis way home to the country
Down, down! Why do the low fellows o.
the city now stick to him so closely? Is 1t te
help him back to moral and spiritual life;
Oh, no. will tell you why they stay. They
are Philist1nes stripping the slain.
Do not look where point, but yonde,
stands man who once had besutiful home
In this city. His house had elegant furni.
ture, his children were beautifully clad, hit
name was synonymous with honor and use
fulness, but evil habit Elocked at his front
door, knocked at his back door, knocked a,
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:
Soldto get bread. Where Is the wardrobe;
Sold to get rum. Where are the daughtersi
Working their fingers of In trying to keel
the family together. Worse and worse unit
everything Is gone. Who is that going up tht
front steps Of that house? That Is a creditor
hoping to find some chair or bed that has no
been levied upon. Who are those two gen
tlemen now going up the front steps? Tht
one Is constable; the other Is the sheriff
Why do they 80 there? The unfortunate j.
morally dead, socially dead, Financially dead
Why do they go there? will tell you why
the creditors and the constables and th'
sherifs so there. They are, some on thei
stripping the slain.
An ex-member Of Congress, one Of tn
most eloquent men that ever stood In th,
House Of Representatives. said In bis las
moments: This Is the end. I am dying
dying on 8 borrowed bed, covered by q Dor
rowed sheet. In q house built by public
charity. Bury me under that tree In the mid
Gle of the field, where shall not becrowded
for have been crowded all my lfe." Wher'
were the jolly politicians and the dissipehnt
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
thing Is gone. Why should they stay an,
longer? They have completed their work
They have stripped the slain.
There IS another way, however, OF doing
the same work. Here Is man who, through
his sin, is PROSTATE. He Acknowledges tha
he has done wrong. Now is the time for yo'
to 90 to that man md say, Thousands o
and got back" Now is the time for you t.
80 to that man and tell him Of the omnipo
tent grace of God, that Is sufficient for an,
poor soul. Now Is the time to 20 and tel
how swearing John BunyaI, through tn
grace Of God, ,afterward came to the Celestla
City. Now Is the time to 90 to that man ant
tell him how profligate Newton came
through conversion, to be a world renowned
preacher Of righteousness. Now is the TIM
to tell that man that multitudes who have beei
pounded with all the fails of sin and dragget
through all the sewers Of pollution at las
have risen to positive dominion OF mora
powers.
You do not tell him that, do you? No
You say to him, LOAN you money? No
You are down. You will have to go to tn
dogs. Lend you dollar? would not LEM
you five cents to keep you from the gallows
Yod are debauched! Get out Of my sight
low! Down! You will have to stay DOWN.
And thus those bruised and battered men ar
sometimes accosted by those who ought t.
lift them up. Thus the last vestige Of hop
is taken from them. Thus those who ough
to go and lift and save them are guilty o
stripping the slain.
The point want to make Is this: Sin
hard, cruel and merciless. Instead of help
Ing q man up it helps him down, and when
like Saul and his comrades, you lie on tn
field, it will come and steal your sword an
helmet and shield, leaving you to the jscka
aud the crow.
But the world and satan do not do thei
: work with the outcast and aDondoned.
resoectable inpenitent man comes to die