The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-02-07
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Mighty Force Exerted by Hu-
man Example,
The Captaincy of Abimelech Before the
Gates of Shechem-Adyantage Of
Concerted Action-Danger
OF False Refugees.

Kew. L. lie Witt 1almage took for the
subject of a recent sermon to his Wash,
ington congregation: THE Power OF
Example" basiEg his remarks on the
text:
And Abimelech took an ak In his hand, and
cut down bough from the trees, and took Il
and laid It on his shoulder and said unto the
people that were with him. What ye have
seen me do, make haste and do as have done
And all the people likewise cut down every mar
his bough,-Judges tx, 1919.
Abimelech is a name malodorous in
Bible history, and yet full of profit.
able suggestion. Buoys are black and
uncomely, but they tell were the rocks
are. The snakes rattle is hideous, but
it gives timely warning. From the
piazza of my summer home, night by
night, / saw a lighthouse Is miles
away, not placed there for adornment,
but to tell mariners to stand off from
that dangerous point So all the iron
bound coast of moral danger is
marked with Saul, and Herod, and
Rehoboam, and Jezebel, and Abi-
melech. These bad people are mem
toned in the Bible not only as warn
ings, but because there were some
times flashes of good conduct in their
lives worthy of imitation. God some
times drives very straight nail with
o very poor hammer.
The city of Shechem had to be taken,
and Abimelech and his men were to do
it. l see the dust rolling up from their
excited march. I hear the shouting of
the captains and the yell of the be-
siegers. The swords clack sharply on
the parrying shields, and the vocifera-
tion of two armies in death grapple is
horrible to hear. The battle goes on
all day; and as the sun is setting Abb
melech and mis- army cry: ''Surren-
deri' to the beaten foe. And, unable
longer to resist, the city of Shechem
falls; and there are pools of blood, and
discovered limbs, and glazed eyes look
ing up beggingly for mercy that war
never shows, and dying soldiers with
their head on the lap of mother, or
wife, or sister, who have come out for
the last offices of kindness and affec-
ton; and groan rolls across the city,
stopping not, because there is no spot
for it to rest, so full is the place of
other groans. A city wounded! A city
dyingl A city deadI Wall for Shechem,
all ye who know the horrors of a sacked
townl
AS look over the city, can find
only one building standing, and that
is the temple of the god Berth. Some
soldiers outside of the city in a tower /,
finding that they can no longer de-
fend Shechem, now begin to look out
for their own personal safety, and
they fly to this temple of Berth. They
go within the door, shut it, and they
say: ''Now we are safe. Abimelech
has taken the whole city, but he can
not take this temple of Berth. Here
we shall be under the protection of the
gods" o Berth, the god! do your
best now for these refugees. If you
have eyes, pity them. If you have
hands, help them. If you have thun-
derbolts, strike for them. But how shall
Abimelech and his army take this tenn
pie of Berth and the men who are
there fortifcd2 Will they do it
with sword? Nay. With batterlng-
ram, rolled up by hundred-armed
strength, crashing against the walls?
Nay. Abimelech marches his men to
d WDOu III ZdlL4Ous WIN AAAo do AtC
hews off a limb of tree, and puts
that limb upon his own shoulder, and
then he says to his men: you do the
same" They are obedient to their
commander. There is a struggle as to
who shall have axes. The whole wood
is full of bending boughs, and the
cracking, and the hacking, and the
cutting, until everyone of the host
has limb of tree cut down, and not
only that, but has put it on his shoul-
der just as Abimelech showed him
how. Are these men all armed with
tree branch? The reply comes: 'All
armed" And they march on.
Oh, what strange army, with that
strange equipment They come up to
the foot of the temple at Berth, and
Abimelech takes his limb of a tree and
throws it down; and the first platoon
of soldiers come up and they throw
down their branches; and the second
platoon, and the third platoon, until
all around about the temple of Berth
there is a pile of tree branches. The
Shechemites look out from the win
dow of the temple upon what seems to
them childish play on the part of their
enemies. But soon the flints are
struck, and the sparks begin to kindle
the brush, and the flame
comes up all through the
pile. and the red elements
leap to the easement, and the wood
work begins to blaze, and one arm of
flame is thrown up on the right side of
the temple, and another arm of flame
is thrown up on the left side of the
temple, until they clasp their lurid
palms under the wild night sky, and
the cry of ''Fire!'' within, and 'sFirei"
without, announces the terror, and
ytrangulation, and the doom of the
Shechemites, and the complete over
throw of the temple of the god Berth.
Then there went up shout, long and
loud, from the stout lungs and swarthy
chests of Abimelech and his men, as
they stood amid the ashes and the
dust crying: Victory! victory!"
Now learn first from this subject
the folly of depending upon any one
form of tactics In anything we have to
do for this world or for God. Look
over the weaponry of olden times
javelins, battle axes, habergeons, and
show me single weapon with which
Abimelech and his men could have
gained such complete triumph. It is
no easy thing to take a temple thus
armed. / have seen house where,
during revolutionary times, man and
his wife kept back whole regiment,
hour after hour, because they were In.
side the house, andsthe assauItIng sol
diers were outside the house. Yet hero
Abimslech aBd hla ermY come Up.