Connecticut western news., 1897-07-15
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
REV. DR. TAlMAGE ON THE DANGERS ! OF HYPOCRISY.


 Lost a Kingdom Impressive Lessons Drawn From an old Bible story-Futili- ty of Fraud.
 ! WASHINGTON, July 11.-This dis course of Dr. Talmage, founded on a strange scene of olden time, shows that fraud will come to exposure, if not in this world then in the next. Text, 1 Samuel xv, IA, "And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?'
 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 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 slay 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, I hear the tread of BIO, 900 men, with monstrous Saul at their head, ablaze with armor, his shield dangling at his side, holding in his hand spear, at the waving of which the great host marched or halted. see smoke curling against the sky. Now there is thick II oR r %bo l1 city rising in chariot of smoke behind steeds of fire. It is Saul that set the city ablaze. The Amalekites and Israelites meet; the trumpets of battle blow peal on peal, and tkere 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 gash, the frenzied yell, the gurgling of throttled throats, the cry of pain, the laugh of revenge, the curse hissed 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 Israelitesl 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 slay all the beasts in their rosse ssion, but Saul, thinking that he knows Eore than God, saves Agag, the Amalekitish 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. Sam uel comes and asks Saul the nc1s from the battle. Saul puts on a solemn face, for there is no one who can lock more solemn than your genuine hypocrite, and he says, "I have fulfilled the com mand of the Lord" Samuel listens, and he hears the drove of sheep little way of. Saul had no idea that the prophets ear would be so acute. Samuel says to Saul, "H 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 I hear?'' An, one would have thought that bushes would have con- stunned 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 it 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 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 all the nations of the earth hear the story that Saul, by disobeying God, won a flock of sheep, but lost kingdom.
 I learn from this subject that God will expose hypocrisy. Here Saul pre- tends he has fulfilled the divine commis- 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,
 
 A hypocrite is one who pretends to be what he is not or to do what Ee does not Saul was only type of class. The modern hypocrite looks awfully solemn, whines when he prays and dur ing bis public devotion shows 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 90 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 a great many churches that have two or three ecclesi- astical Uriah Heeps
 The Hypocrite.
 When the fox begins to pray, look out for your chickens. The more genuine able he will be, but you may know a religious impostor by the fact that he brides himself on being uncomfortab A man of that kind is of immense dam age to the church of Christ. A ship may outride hundred storms, and yet handful of worms in the blanks 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 hypoc- risy that infest it. Wolves are of nc danger to the fold of God unless they look like sheep. Arnog was of more damage to the army than Cornwallis and his hosts. Oh, we cannot deceive God with chprch certifcatel He sees behind the curtain as well as before the curtain. He sees everything insid out. A man may through policy hid his real character, but God will afte awhile tear open the whited sepulche and expose the putrefaction. Sunda faces cannot save him. Long prayer cannot save him. Psalm singing an churchgoing cannot save him. God vii expose him just as thoroughly a