The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-04-26
AFTER THE BATTLE.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the
Temptations of Life.
The Wages of sin-Temporary Pleasures
That Point the Way to Final Destruc-
tiOn-Now the Time to
Listen TO Reason.


Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage chose for hi
subject, After the Battle" the tex
selected being l. Samuel, XXI. s: "AnC
it came to pass on the morrow. wher
the Philistines came to strip the slain
that they found Saul and his thre,
sons fallen in Mount Gilboa." The
preacher said:
Some of you were at South Noun
tain, or Shiloh, or Balls Bluff, OF
Gettysburg, on the northern or south.
ern side, and ask you if there is any
sadder sight than a battlefield after
the guns have stopped firing? walked
across the field of Antietam just after
the conflict. The scene was so sicken-
ing / shall not describe it. Every valu-
able thing had been taken from the
bodies of the dead, for there are al
ways vultures lowering over and
around about an army, and they pick
up the watches and the memorandum
books, and the letters, and the daguer-
reotypes, 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 Moltlle went to Sedan. There is
a similar scene in my text.
Saul and his army had been horribly
cut to pieces. Mount Giiboa was
ghastly with the dead On the NOR
row the stragglers came onto the field.
and they lifted the latchet of the he'll
met 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, eight or
nine 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 valuable from
the field. And it 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 Gil
boa"
There are tens of thousands of young
men every year coming from the eoun-
try to our great cities. They come
with brave hearts and grand expecta-
tions The country lads sit down in
the village grocery, with their feet on
the iron rod around the red hot stove.
in the evening, talking over the pros
poets of the young man who has gone |
off to the city. Two or three of them |
think that perhaps he may get along |
very well 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 posi- |
ten in a dry goods store. The month |
is over. He gets his wages. He is not |
accustomed to have so much money be- |
longing to himself lie is a little ex-
cited, and does not know exactly what |
to do with it, and he spends it in some |
places where he ought not. Soon |
there come up new companions and ac-
from the barrooms and |
the saloons of the city. Soon that
young man begins to waver in the bat
tie of temptation, and soon his soul
goes down. In few months, or a few
years, he has fallen. lie is morally
dead. He is mere corpse of what he
once was The harpies of sin snuff up
the faint and come on the field. His
garments gradually give out. He has
pawned his watch. His health is fail
ing 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
Down! down. Why do the
low fellows of the city now stick to
him so closely? Is II TO help him back
TO moral and spiritual life? On, no.
will tell you why they stay; they are
Philistines stripping the slain.
Do not look where point, but yon-
Ter stands a man who once had beau
elegant furniture, his children were
clad, his name was synon-
ymous with honor and usefulness; but
evil habit knocked at his front door.
knocked at his back door, knocked at
MS parlor door, knocked at his bedroom
loor. Where is the piano? Sold TO pay
lhe rent. Where is the hat rack? Sold
10 meet the butchers bill Where are
The carpets? Sold to get bread. Where
S the wardrobe? Sold to get rum.
Where are the daughters? Working
heir fingers off in trying keep the fam
ly together. Worse and worse until
everything is gone. Who is that going
up the front steps of that house? That
IS a creditor. hoping to find some chair
,r bed that has not been levied upon.
Who are those two gentlemen now go
ng up the front steps? The one is
the other the sheriff. Why
10 they 60 there? The unfortunate is
morally dead, socially dead, financial
y dead Why do they go there?
will tell YOU why the creditors. and the
and the sheriffs go there.
They are, some on their own account.
and some on account of the law. strip
ping the slain.
An eX-nember of congress, one of the
most eloquent men that ever stood in
.he house of representatives, said in
his last moments: This is the end
I'm dying-dying on a borrowed bed,
covered by a borrowed sheet, in | {
house built by public charity. Bury
ne under that tree in the middle of the
ield, where l shall not be crowded, for {
have been crowded all my life"
Where were the jolly politicians and
.he dissipating comrades who had been
With him, laughing at his jokes, ap-
2lauding his eloquence, and plunging
iim into sin? They have left. Why?
Ills money is gone, his reputation is
zone. his wit is gone. his clothes are | {