The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-02-08
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Mighty Force Exerted by Hu-
man Example.
The Csptaincy OF Abimeiech Before the
Gates OF shochem-Advsntags OF
Concerted Action-Dsnger
of False Ref uges-

Rov. L. Dewitt Talmage TOOK TOT Tn
subject of recent sermon to his Wash
ington congregation: 1.-THE Power o
Example, !" basing his remarks on thu
text:
out down bough from tho trees, and took
and laid IL on his shoulder and said unto th'
people that were with him. What ye hav'
seen me do. make haste and do as have done
And all the people likewise cut down every maj
his bough.-Judges IL. $50.
Abimelech Is q name malodorous IL
Bible history, and yet full Of profit
able suggestion. Buoys are black and
uncomely, but they tell were the rocks
gre. The snakes rattle is hideous, bu'
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 of from
that dangerous point. So all the iron
bound coast of moral danger ID
marked with Saul, and Herod, and
Rehoboam, and Jezebel, and Abb
melech. These bad people are men
toned in the Bible not only as warn
ings, but because there were some
times flashes of good conduct in their
Gives worthy of imitation. God some
times drives a very straight nail with
q very poor hammer.
The city of Shechem had to be taken,
and Abimelech and his men were to do
It. see the dust rolling up from their
excited march. 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 his army cry: "Surren-
der!" 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
dying! A city dead! Wall for Shechem,
all We who know the horrors of sacked
town!
AS look over the city, I can find
only one building standing, and that
Is the temple of the god Berth. Some
soldiers outside of the city in tower,
finding that they can no longer de-
fend Shechem, now begin to look out
Tor their own personal safety, and
hey fly to this temple of Berth. They
90 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. II you have thun-
1erbolts, strike for them. But how shall
Abimelech and his army take this tenn
Pile of Berth and the men who are
there fortified? Will they do 1t
with sword? Nay. With battering-
ram, rolled up by hundred-armed
strength, crashing against the walls?
Nay. Abimelech marches his men to
/ wood in Zalmon. With his ak he
news off limb of tree, and puts
hat limb upon his own shoulder, and
hen he says to his men: "You do the
'ame." They are obedient to their
commander. There is struggle as to
who shall have axes. The whole wood
s full Of bending boughs, and the
and the hacking, and the
until everyone Of the host
has limb of tree cut down, and not
'nly that, but has put it on his shout
Ter just as Abimelech showed him
low. Are these men all armed with
rec branchp 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
Abime1ech' takes his limb Of tree and
throws 1t down; and the first platoon
If soldiers come up and they throw
Town their branches; and the second
platoon, and the third platoon, until
III around about the temple of Berth
here is pile of tree branches. Tho
look out from the win
low Of the temple upon what seems to
hem childish pla, on the part Of their
enemies. But soon the fints are
struck. and the sparks begin to kindle
he brush, and the flame
zones up all through the
pile, and the red elements
cap to the easement, and the wood
work begins to blaze, and one arm of
lame is thrown up on the right side of
The temple, and another arm Of fame
s 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 "Fire!"
without, announces the terror, and
and the doom of the
Shechemites, and the complete over
throw of the temple of the god Berth.
Then there went up a shout, long and
oud, from the stout lungs and swarthy
chests of Abimelech and his men. as
hey stood amid the ashes and the
lust crying: Victory! victory!"
Now l learn first from this subject
the folly of depending upon any one
form OF tactics in anything we have to
a n l.