Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-04-26
THE WAGES OF SIN.
REV. DE WITT TtLMAGE ON "AFTEF
:hE BATTLE"

tripping the slain-Ihe Mercilessness OF
sIn-A Tragedy on the Street Corner.
The Temptation. the Choics and the
Outcome.
New YORK, April 21.-There is no
diminution in the vast numbers that as
semble from Sunday to Sunday to listen
to the eloquent sermons Of Rev. Dr.
Talmage. Today he chose for his sub
ject After the Battle" the text select
ed being l Samuel XXI, s, "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 ask
you if there is any sadder sight than a
battlefield after the guns have stopped
firing? | 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 daguerre-
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
a similar scene in my text.
Saul and his army had been horribly
cut to pieces. Mount Gilboa was ghast-
" 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. 8 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
oormorants had taken everything valu'
able from the field "And 1t 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 l 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 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, in 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 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 aocus-
toned to have so much money belong
ing to himself. He is little excited
and does not know exactly what to dc
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 tc
waver In the battle OF temptation. and
soon his soul goes down. In a few
months or few years he has fallen. dc
is morally dead. He is mere corpse oi
what he once was The harpies OF sin
snuff up the taint and come on the field.
His garments gradually give out. dc
has pawned his watch. His health is
failing him. His credit perishes He IL
too poor to stay in the city, and he II
too poor to pay his way home to the
country. Down, downi Why do the low
fellows Of the city now stick to him SC
closelyl Is It to help him back 20 q NOR.
al and spiritual lifeG Oh, no. Twill tell
You why they stay. They are Philistines
stripping the slain.
Do not look where point, but yon'
der stands q man who once had beau.
.iful home IN this city. His house bad