The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-07-16
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ON THE DANGERS
OF HYPOCRISY.

Drawn From an Old Bible Story-Futili
! ty of Fraud.
WASHINGTON, July 11.-This dis
course of DIR. Talmage, founded on
strange scene of olden time, shows thai
fraud will come to exposure, if not il
this world then in the next Text,
Samuel XIV, IA, "And Samuel said, What
meaneth then this bleating Of the sheer
in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen
which hear?'
- The Amalekites thought they had
conquered God and that he would not
carry into execution his threats against
them. EAey had murdered the Israelites
in battle and out of battle and left
no outrage untried. For 400 years
this had been going on, and they say,
"God either dare not punish us or
he has forgotten to do So Let us
see. Samuel, Gods prophet, tells
Saul to go down and Stay all the Anal
ekites, not leaving one Of them alive;
also to destroy all the beasts in their
possession--ox, sheep, camel and ass.
Hark, hear the tread of 210, 900 men,
with monstrous Saul at their head,
ablaze with armor, his shield dangling
at his side, holding in his hand a spear,
at the waving Of which the great host
marched or halted. see smoke curling
against the sky Now there is thick
cloud Of it, and now 1 see the whole
city rising in chariot of smoke behind
steeds of fire. 1t is Saul that set the city
ablaze. The Amalekites and Israelites
meet; the trumpets of battle blow peal
on peal, and there is a death hush
Then there is a signal waved, swords
out and hack, javelins ring on shields,
arms fall from trunks and heads roll
into the dust. Cash after cash, the
frenzied yell, the gurgling of throttled
Threats, the cry of pain, the laugh of
revenge, the curse Kissed between
clinched teeth-an army's death groan
Stacks of dead ON all sides, with eyes
unshut and mouths yet grinning ven
geance. Huzza for the Israelites! Two
hundred and ten thousand men wave
their plumes and clap their shields, for
the Lord God hath given them the vic
tory.
/ Gains and Losses.
Yet that victorious army Of Israel is
conquered by sheep and oxen. God,
through the prophet Samuel, told Saul
to slay all the Amalekites and to Stay
all the beasts in their possession, but
Saul, thinking that he knows more than
God, saves Agag, the Amalekitish king,
and five drove of sheep and herd of
oxen that he cannot bear to kill. Saul
drives the sheep and oxen down toward
home. He has no idea that Samuel, the
prophet, will find out that he has saved |
these sheep and oxen for himself. Sam
mel comes and asks Saul the news from
the battle. Saul puts on solemn face,
for there is no one who can look mort
solemn than your genuine hypocrite,
and he says, II have fulfilled the COM
mand of the Lord. " Samuel listens, and
he hears the drove of sheep little way
off. Saul had no idea that the prophets
ear would be SO acute. Samuel says to
Saul, eff you have done as God told
you and slain all the Amalekites and all
the beasts in their possession, what
meaneth the bleating of the sheep in
mine ears and the lowing of the oxen
that / hear?" All, one would have
thought that bushes would have con-
sumed the cheek of Saul No, mol He
says the army-not himself. of course,
but the army-had saved the sheep and
oxen for sacrifice, and then they thought
1t would be too bad anyhow to kill
Agag, the Amalekitish king. Samuel
takes the sword, and he slashes Agag to
pieces, and then he takes the skirt of
his coat in true oriental style and rends
1t in twain, as much as to say, "You,
Saul, just like that, shall be torn away
from your empire and torn away from
your throne. In other words, let all
the nations of the earth hear the story
that Saul, by disobeying God, won
flock of sheep but lost kingdom.
l learn from this subject that God
will expose hypocrisy. Here Saul pre-
tends he has fulfilled the divine commits
sion by Staying all the beasts belonging
TO the Amalekites, and yet at the very
moment he is telling the story and prac-
ticing the delusion the secret comes out,
and the sheep bleat and the oxen below.
A hypocrite is one who pretends to be
what he is not or to do what he does
not. Saul was only type of class.
The modern hypocrite looks awfully
solemn, whines when he prays and dur
ing his public devotion shows a great ,
deal of the whites of his eyes. He never
laughs, or, if he does laugh, he seems /
sorry for it afterward, as though he had
committed some great indiscretion. '
The first time he gets chance he prays
30 minutes in public, and when he ex-
horts he seems to imply that all the {
race are sinners, with one exception,
his modesty forbidding the stating who /
that one is. There are great many
churches that have two or three ecclei- I
astical Uriah Keeps. ,
The Hypocrite. c
When the fox begins to pray, look out 1
for your chickens. The more genuine s
;eligion man has the more comfort S
able he will be. but you may know a 9
religious impostor by the fact that he :
brides himself on being uncomfortable. '
4 man of that kind is of immense dam b
vi. l..