Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-07-21

eloquent Exposition of the Way Saul Won
Flock and Lost a kingdom-Impres-
sive Lessons Drawn From Old Bible
Story-The Utter Futilitv of Fraud.
TEXT: And Samuel said, What means-h
| then this bleating of the sheep In mine
| ears and the lowing of the oxen which /
| hear?"-I Samuel XIV. IA.
| The Amalekites thought they had con-
| luered God and that he would not carry
| into execution his threats against them.
| They had murdered the Israelites in battle
and out of battle and left no outrage un-
| tried. For four hundred 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 siay all
| the Amaiekites, not leaving one of them
| alive; also to destroy all the beasts in their
possessiOn-ox, sheep, camel and ass.
| Hark, l hear the tread of 2lO 900 men, with
mOnstrous Saul at their head, ablaze with
' Rrmor, his shield dangling at his side, hold
ing In his hand spear, at the waving Of
| which the great host marched or halted. L
see smoke curling against the sky. Now
| there is thick cloud of it, and now l see
| the whole city rising in IA 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 u death hush. Then
there is signal waved, swords cut and
|
from trunks and heads roll into the dust.
| Cash after cash, the frenzied yell, the
| gurgling of throttled throats, the cry of
| pain, the laugh of revenge, the curse Missed
| 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 Israelitesi Two
| hundred and ten thousand men wave their
! plumes and clap their Shields for the Lord
| God hath given them the victory.
| Yet that victorious army of Israel is con-
quered by sheep and oxen. God through
the prophet Samuel, told Saul to slay all
| the Amalekites and to slay all the beasts in
| their possession, but Saul, thinking he
| knows more than God, saves Agag, the
Amalektish king and five drove of sheep
| and a 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. Samuel
| comes and asks Saul the news from the
| battle. Saul puts on a solemn face, for
I 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 a little way of. Saul had no
| idea that the prophets would be so
| acute. Samuel says to Saul, ''If you have
| done God told you and slain all the
| Amaiekites and all the beast in their pos
| session, what meaneth the bleating of the
1
| oxen that 1 hear2' All, one would have
| thought that bushes would have CON
| sumed the cheek of Saul. No. mol esays
the army-not himself of course but the
army-had saved the sheep and oxen foI
] sacrifice, and then they thought it would
| be too bad anyhow to kill Agag, the Amale-
| kitish king. Samuel takes the sword and
. he slasheS Agag to pieces, and then he
1 takes the skirt of his coat in true oriental
| style and rends it in twain, as much az
20 Nnu Sarrl ttrlt tl.af hot ball h..
| 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 fiocF
| of sheep but lost Kingdom.
| l learn from this subject that God will
! expose hypocrisy. Here Saul pretends he
| has fulfilled the divine commission by slay-
/ ing all the beasts belonging to the Amale
| kites, and yet at the very moment he is
| telling the story and practicing the delu.
sion 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 a class. The mod
| ern hypocrite looks awfully solemn, whines
| when he prays and during his public de-
votion shows a great deal of the white OF
his eyes. He never laughs, or If he does
| laugh, he seems sorry for it afterward, IA
though he had committed some great in
| discretion. The first time he gets a chance
| ne prayS twenty minutes In pubic, ana
when he exhorts 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 ecclesiasti-
| cal Uriah Keeps.
| When the fox begins to pray, look out
| for your chickens. The more genuine re-
| ligion a man has the more comfortable he
| will be, but you may know a religious i'm
| postor by the fact that he prides himself on
being uncomfortable man of that kind
| is of immense damage to the church of
| Christ. A ship may outride a hundred
| storms and yet handful of worms in the
| planks 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
| hypocrisy that infest it. Wolves are of no
danger to the fold of God unless they look
| like sheep. Arnold was of more damage
to the army than Cornwallis and his hosts.
| oh, we cannot deceive God with a church
| certificatel He sees behind the curtain as
| well as before the curtain. He sees every
thing inside out. man may through
| policy hide his real character, but God will
after awhile tear open the whited sepulcher
and expose the putrefaction. Sunday
faces cannot save him. Long prayers
| cannot save him. Psalm singing and
| churchgoing cannot save hun. God will
| expose him just as thoroughly as though
| He branded upon his forehead the word
| "Hypocrite." He may think he has been
| successful in the deception, but at the
| most unfortunate moment the sheep will
| bleat and the oxen will below.
| One of the cruel bishops of olden time was
] going to oeXcommunicateo one Oft the martyrs,
and he began in the usual form-'In the
| name of God, amen." stop" says the
| martyr. Don't say in the name of God!'''
| Yet how many outrages are practiced un-
| der the garb Of religion end sanctity. When
| in synods and conferences ministers of the
| gospel are about to say something unbroth-
| eriy and unkind about member, they
| almost always begin by being tremendously
pious, the venom of their assault cores
| ponding to the heavenly flavor Of the pre-
! lude. Standing there, you would think
they We're ready to go right up into glory
| and that nothing kept them down but the
| weight of their boots and overcoat when
| suddenly the sheep bleat and the oxen bel
| low.
oh, my dear friends, let US cultivate
| simplicity of Christian character! Jesus
Christ said: Unless you become this
| little child you cannot enter the kingdom
| Of God" We may play hypocrite success
| fully now, but the Lord God will after
awhile expose your true character. You
| must know the incident mentioned in the
| history of Ottacas, who was asked to kneeI
| in the presence of Randolphus L.. and when
before him he refused to do it. but after a
| while he agreed to come in private when
| there was nobody in the kings tent, and
then he would kneel down before him and
worship, but the servants of the king
| had arranged il so that by drawing a cord
the tent would suddenly drop. Ottacas
after a while came in, and supposing he
was in entire privacy kbelt before Randol-
phus. The servants pulled the cord, the
tent dropped, and two armies surrounding
| looked down on Ottacas kneeling befor.
RandOlphus. If We were really kneeling tc
the world while we profess to be lowly
subjects of Jesus Christ, the tent has al
ready dropped and all the hosts of HEAVIER
are gazing upon our hypocrisy. God:
universe is very public place, and yo'