The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-07-16

prophet, tells saul
REV. TALMAeE. to go down and slay
all the Amalekites, not leaving one of
them alive; also to destroy all the
beasts in their possession-ox, sheep,
camel and ass. Harki hear the tread
of go, 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 halt
ed. l see smoke curling against the sky.
Now there is a thick cloud of it, and
now 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 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 the eyes up
shot and mouth yet grinning venge-
ance. 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
victory.
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 possessions; but
Saul, thinking that he knows more
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. 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, 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, 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 l hear?n 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 sacrifice; and then
they thought it would be too bad, any
how, 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.
1 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.
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 during his 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 20 minutes in public,
and 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 ecclesiastical Uriah Keeps.
When the fox begins to pray look
uine religion a man has the more COM
Portable he will be; but you may know
a religious impostor by the fact that
he prides himself on being uncomfort-
able. A man of that kind is of i'm
mense damage to the Church of Christ.
ship may outride hundred storms,
and vet a handful of worms in the
plank may sink it to the bottom. The
Church of God is not so much in dan
ger of the cyclones of trouble and per-
secution that come upon it as Of the
vermin of hypocrisy 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 CORVALLIS and his hosts.
oh, we cannot deceive God with