The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-07-23
TALMAGES SERMON.
Biblical Demonstration of the Ger
tain Exposure of Fraud.
Evil Influence OF the HypOcrIte Upon the
Church of ChrIst-Attempts to
Evade Responsibility for
Sin are Futile.

posture. 1t is based on the text
And Samuel said; What meaneth then this
bleating Of the sheep in mine ears, and lowing
OF the oxen which / hear.-I Sam uel, XIV, Il
The Amalekites thought they had
conquered God, and that He would not
carry into execution His threats
against them. They had murdered
the Israelites in battle and out of bat
tie, and left no outrage untried. For
400 years this had been going on, and
they say: God either dare not pun
ish US, or He has forgotten to do So"
Let us see. Samuel, Gods prophet,
tells Saul to go down and Stay all the
Amalekites, not leaving one of them
alive; also to destroy all the beasts in
their possession-ox, sheep, camel and
ass. Hank! ] hear the tread of 21O, 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 l see the whole city rising in a
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 death-hush. Then there
is a signal waved; swords cut 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 ofrevenge, the curse
Missed between clinched teeth - an
army's death-groan. Stacks of dead
on all sides, with eyes upshot and
mouth yet grinning vengeance. Huzza
for the Israelites! Two hundred and
ten thousand men wave their plumes
and cap their shields, for the Lord God
hath given them the victory.
Yet that victorious army of Israel is
conquered by sheep and oxen. God,
through the prophet Samuel, told Saul
to Stay all the Amalekites, and to slay
all the beasts in their possession, but
Saul, thinking chat he knows more
than God, saves Agag, the Amaelkitish
king, and five drove of sheep and
herd of oxen that he can not 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. Samuel comes and
asks Saul the news from the battle.
Saul puts on a solemn face, for there is
no one who can look more solemn than
your genuine hypocrite, and he says:
Il have fulfilled the command 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: If you have done as
God told you, and slain all the Amale-
kites and all the beasts in their posses
sion, what meaneth the bleaung of the
sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of
the oxen that l hear?" All, one would
have thought that bushes would have
consumed the cheek of Saul! No, no!
He says the army-not himself, of
course, but the army-had saved the
sheep and oxen for the sacrifice; and
then they thought it would be too
bad, anyhow, to kill Agag, the Amale-
kitish king. Samuel takes the sword
and slashes Agag to pieces; and then
he takes the skirt of his coat, in true
oriental style, and rends it 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 the ma
tions of the earth hear the story that
Saul, by disobeying God, won a 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 com
mission by Staying all the beasts be-
longing to the Amalekites, and yet at
the very moment he is telling the story
and practicing the delusion the secret
comes out, and the sheep bleat and the
oxen below.
hypocrite is one who pretends to
be what he is not, or to do what he
does not. Saul was only a type of a
class. The modern hypocrite looks
awfully solemn, whines when he prays,
and during 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 a
chance, he prays 20 minutes in public,
and when he exhorts he seems to i'm
ply that all the race are sinners, with
one exception, his modesty forbidding
the stating who that one is. There are
3 great many churches thug have two
Or three ecclesiastical Uriah Keeps.
When the fox begins to pray look out |
for your chickens. The more genuine |
religion a man has the more comfort |
able he will be; but you may know a
la "a hot hel
prides himself on being uncomfortable. |
A man of that kind is of immense dam |
age TO the church of Christ. A ship |
may outride a hundred storms, and |
yet a handful of worms in the plank |
may sink it to the bottom. The church |
Of God is not SO much in danger of the |
cyclones of trouble and persecution |
that come upon it as of the vermin of |
that infest it. Wolves |
are of no danger to the folds of |
God unless they look like sheep. |
Arnold was of more damage |
TO the army than Cornw allis and |
MS hosts. Oh, we can not deceive God /
with church certificate! He sees be-
hind the curtain as well as before the /
curtain; He sees every thing inside out |
A man may, through policy, hide his
real character; but God will after
awhile tear open the whited sepulcher
and expose the putrefaction. Sunday
faces can not save him; long prayers
IAN not save him; pSalm-singing and
church going can not save him. God
will expose him just as thoroughly as
.hough He branded upon his forehead
he word ''Pypocrite." He may think
ne has been successful in the decep-
ion, but at the most unfortunate mo-
nent the sheep will bleat and the oxen
will below.