The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-08-19
EXPOSURE OF FRAUD.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Declares That
We Can Not Deceive God.
rs Incidentally Demonstrates That we
Nav Deceive Man for Time. But
That Exposure of Fraud Is
Certain to Come.

based on the text;
And Samuel said: What meaneth then this
bleatng OF the sheep in mine ears, and lowing |
OF the oxen which l hear.-I Sam uel, XIV, a.
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. Hark. l hear the tread of 2lO, 900
men, with monstrous Saul at their
head ablaze with armor, his shield
dangling at his side. holding i'll his
hand a 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 a
chariot of smoke behind steeds of fire.
| It, is Saul that set the city ablaEe. The
| Amalekites and Israelites meet; the
t1umpets of battle blow peal on peal,
and there is death-hush. Then there
| is signal waved; swords cut and hack;
| iavelins 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, h.,l 10 rl, off, ha
| 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
ard 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 STAY
all the beasts in their possession, but
Saul, thinking that he knows more
than God, saves Agag, the Amaelkitish
king, and five drove of sheep and a
herd of oxen that he can not bear to
kill. Saul drives the sheep and uAen
down toward home. He has no idea
that Samuel the pronhet, 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 solemn face, for there is
no one who can look more solemn than
your genuine hypocrite, and he says:
. II 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
t sion, what meaneth the bleatlng of the
:, sheep in mine ears, and the lowing OF
4 the oxen that hear?" All, one would
t have thought that bushes would have
e consumed the cheek Of Saul. No, no
l. He says the army-not himself, OF
course, but the army-had saved the
i sheep and oxen for the sacrifice: anc
b then they thought it would be too
It bad, anyhow, to kill Agag, the Amale
!, kitish king, Samuel takes the swort
8 and slashes Agag to pieces; and ther
. he takes the skirt of his coat. in true
oriental style, and reads 1t in twain
as much as to say: You, Saul, just
q like that, shall be torn away from you
% empire, and torn away from you
throne" In other words, let the ma
tions of the earth hear the story tina
Saul by disobeying God, won a hocl
of sheep, but lost kingdom.
l learn from this subject that Coz
y will expose hypocrisy. Here Saul pre-
tends he has fulfilled the Divine com
.. mission by staying all the beasts be
~ longing to the Amalekitcs, and vet O
the very moment he is telling the stor,
: and practicing the delusion the secre
, comes out, and the sheep bleat and tn
oxen below.
A hypocrite is one who pretends t
be what he is not. or to do what h
does not. Saul was only a type of
class The modern hypocrite look
awfully solemn, whines when he prays
and during his public devotion show
Il great deal of the whites of his eye.
He never laughs, Or, if he does laugh
he seems sorry for it afterward, a
indiscretion. The first time he gets
chance, he prays 20 minutes in publ,
and when he exhorts he seems to in
ply that all the race are sinners, wit
one exception, his modesty forbidden
> the stating who that one is. There al
a great many churches that have tw
. or three ecclesiastical Uriah Keeps.
When the fox begins to pray look OF
for your chickens. The more genuin
religion man has the more comfor
able he will be; but you may know
religious imposter by the fact that h
prides himself on being uncomf ortabl
A man of that kind is of immense dan
age to the church of Christ. A shi
may outride A hundred storms, IN
yet handful of worms in the plan
may sink it to the bottom. The churc
of God is not SO much in danger of til
cyclones of trouble and persecutio
- that come upon it as of the vermin
| hypocrisy that infest it. Wolvt
| are of no danger to the folds {