Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-12-17
THE MASK OF DECEIT.
swHY FEleNEsT THOU THYsELF TO
BE ANoTHERr

discourse DR.. Talmage draws some star
fling lessons and tears off the mask OF de-
seit The text is Kings xiv, 8, 'Why
leignest thou thyself to be another"
In the palace of wicked Jeroboam there
Is sick child--a very sick child. Medi-
tines have failed; skill is exhausted. Young
Abijah, the prince, has lived long enough
10 become very popular and yet he must
die unless some supernatural aid be afford
ed. Death comes up the broad stairs Of
ths palace and swings back the door Of the
sickroom Of royalty and stands looking at
the dying prince with the dart uplifted.
Wicked Jeroboam knows that he has no
right to ask anything Of the Lord In the
way of kindness. He knows that his pray
ars would not be answered, and so he sends
his wife on the delicate and tender mission
to the prophet of the Lord in Shiloh. Put
ting aside her royal attire, she puts on the
garb of a peasant woman and starts on the
road. Instead Of carrying gold and gems
as she might have carried from the palace
she carries only those gifts which seem to
indicate that she belongs to the peasantry
"a few loaves of bread and few cracknels
and a cruise of honey. Yonder she goes,
hooded and veiled, the greatest lady in all
the kingdom, yet passing unobserved. No
one that meets her on the highway has any
idea that she is the first lady in all the
land. She is q queen in disguise
The fact is that Peter the Great work
ing in the dry docks of Saardam, the sail-
or s hat and the shipwright's ak gave him
no more thorough Disguise than the garb
of the peasant woman gave to the queen of
Tirzah. But the prophet of the Lord saw
the deceit Although his physical eyesight
had failed, he was divinely illumined, and
at one glance looked through the imposi
ton, and he cried out: "Come in, thou
wife of Jeroboaml Why feignest thou thy
self to be another? / have evil tidings for
thee. Get thee back to thy house, and
when thy feet touch the gate Of the city
the child shall die" She had right to
ask for the recovery Of her son; she had no
right to practice an imposition. Broken
hearted now, she started on the way, the
tears falling on the dust Of the road all the
way from Shiloh to Tirzah. Broken heart
cd now, she is not careful any more to hide
her queenly gait and manner. True to the
prophecy, the moment her feet touch the
gate of the city the child dies. AS she goes
In the soul of the child goes out. The cry
IN the palace is Joined by the lamentation
of nation, and as they carry good Abijah
to his grave the air is filed with the voice
Of eulogy for the departed youth and the
groan of an afflicted kingdom.
A Thrilling Story.
1t is for no insignificant purpose that l
present you the thrilling story of the text.
In the first place learn that wickedness
involves others, trying to make them its
dupes, its allies and its scapegoats Jero-
Iboam proposed to hoodwink the Lord s
prophet. How did he do 1t? Did he 60
and do the work himself? No. He sent
his wife to do it. Hers the peril of ex-
Iposure, hers the fatigue of the way, hers
the execution Of the plot; his, nothing.
Iniquity is brag, but it is a great coward.
1t lays the plan and gets some one else to
Execute 1t; puts down the gunpowder
train and gets some one else to touch it off
contrives mischief and gets some one else
to work it; starts lie and gets some one
else to circulateit. In nearly all the great
crimes of the world 1t is found out that
lthose who planned the arson, the murder,
the theft, the fraud go free, while those
who were decoyed and cheated and hood
lwinked into the conspiracy clank the chain
and mount the gallows.
Aaron Burr, with heart filled with i'm
lpurity and ambition, plots for the over
throw of the United States government
and gets off with few threats and little
lcensure, while Blennerhassett, the learned
Blennerhassett, the sweet tempered Blen
nerhassett, is decoyed by him from tht
orchards, and the laboratories and the gar
Idens, and the home on the bank of tht
Ohio river, and his fortunes are scattered
and he is thrown into prison, and his fam
lily, brought up in luxury, is turned out tt
die. Abominable Aaron Burr has it com
Iparatively easy. Sweet tempered Blenner
hassett has it hard. Benedict Arnold pro
posed to sell out the forts of the Unite(
States; to surrender the Revolutionary
army and to destroy the United States gov
ernment. He gets off with his pockets full
of pounds sterling, while Major Andre, th'
brave and the brilliant, Is decnyed into th
conspiracy and suffers on the gibbet OF
the banks of the Hudson so that ever
the literature-the marble tablature tina
oommemorated that event-has been blast
ed by midnight desperadoes Benedict Ar
mold has it easy Major Andre has it hard
who suffer for crimes are merely the satel
/ lites of some great Villains Ignominiou
fraud is juggler which by sleight of ham
and legerdemain makes the gold that |
stole appear in somebody else's pocket
Jeroboam plots the lie, oontrives the i'm
position, and gets his wife to execute 1t
: Stand off from all imposition and chilean
? lery. Do not consent to be anybody g dupe
anybody's ally in wiokedness, anybody
= scapegoat.
The story of the text also impresses m
with the fact that royalty sometime
passes in disguise The frook, the veil
the hood of the peasant woman hid tn
queenly character of this woman of Tirzaf
! Nobody suspected that she was queen o
q princess as she passed by, but she wa
just as much queen as though she stoo
In the palace, her robes incrusted wit
{ diamonds. And so all around about U
Z there are princesses and queens whom tn
I world does not recognize. They sit on n
4 throne of royalty, they ride in no chariot
= they elicit no huzza, they make no pr
tense, but by the grace Of God they al
: princesses and they are queens; some
\ times In their poverty, sometimes in thei
Il Sell utnlui, SoInebiues III Onelr ntiru 5br ut
giles of Christian service--God knows the
Y are queens The world does not reoogni2
4 them.
II Royalty passing in disguise, kings witt
9 out the crown, conquerors without th
palm, empresses without the jewel Yo
saw her yesterday on the street. You sa'
6 nothing important in her appearance, BIT
4 she Is regnant over vast realm of virtu
y and goodness--a realm vaster than Jert
4 boam ever looked at. You went down int
\ the house of destitution and want and SUI
Y fering You saw the story of trial write
on the wasted hand of the mother, on til
: pale cheeks of the children, on the empt
i bread tray, on the fireless hearth, on Il
!, broken chair. You would not have give
J : dollar for all the furniture in the houe