The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-16
BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
REV. DIR. T iLMAGE ON THE DAN
GERS OF HYPOCRISY.

This discourse of DR.. Talmage, found
ed on a strange scene of olden time,
shows that fraud will come to expos
ure, If not in this world then in the
next. Text, I Samuel XIV, IA, And
Samuel said, What meaneth then this
bleating Of the sheep in mine ears and
the lowing of the oxen which / hear?'
The Amalekies thought they had
conquered God and that he would not
carry into execution his threats against
them. They had murdered the Israel
ties in battle and u 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 3d." Let us see. Sam
uel, Gods prophet, tells Saul to go
down and slay all the Amalekites, not
leaving one Of them alive; also to de-
stroy all the beasts in their possession
OK, sheep camel and ass. Hark, I
hear the tread of 30, 900 men, with
monsrous 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 l see smoke curl
ing 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 a
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 renZie yell, the gurg-
ling of thrOttled Threats, the cry of
pain, the laugh of revenge, the curse
Kissed between clinched teeth-and
army's death groan. Stacks of e. ON
all sides, with eyes unshut and mouths
yet grinning vengeance. Huzza for the
Israelites! wv hundred and ten thou
sand men wave their plumes and clap
their shields, for the Lord God hath
given them the victory.
GAINS AND LOSSES.
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 han
God, saves Agag, the Amalekitish
king, and five drove of sheep and a
herd of oxen hat 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 ask
Saul the news from the battle. Saul
puts on a solemn face, for there is no
ons who can ooh more solemn than
your genuine hypOcrite, and he says,
AZ have fulfilled the command of the
Lord" Samuel listens, and he hears
the drove of sheep a little way off. Saul
had no idea thai the prophets ear
would be 50 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 ] hear?' All, one would hav
thought that bushes would nave con-
sumed 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 anyhow to
kill Agag, the Amalekitish king. Sam
uel 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 thOrne." 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
a kingdom.
I 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 a type of a
class. The modern hypOcrite looks aW-
fully 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
indfscretion. The first time he gets a
chance he prays 20 minutes in public,
and when he exhorts he seems to i'm
ply tina 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 ecclesiastical Uriah Keeps.
THE HYPOCRITE.
When the fox begins to pray. 70
out for your chickens. The more gen
uine religion a man has the more COM
Portable he will be, but you may know
O. religious impostor by the fact that The
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 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 ver1min 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 Corn
wallis and his hosts. Oh, we cannO
deceive God with a church certificate!
He sees behind the curtain as we'll as
before the curtain. He sees everything
inside out. A man may through policy
hide his real character, but God will