Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-06-22
SERMONS OF THE DAY
Subject: "rhe Gallows For Haman''.
From the Life and Death of This
Persian COnrtier Living Lessons oi
Warning and Instruction Are Drawn.

Warning and Instruction Are Drawn.
TEXT: $50 they hanged Haman on the
galiows that he had prepared for Morde-
cal. Esther vii. . 16.
Here Is an Oriental courtier, about the
most offensive man in Hebrew history,
Haman by name. He plotted for the. de-
struction OF the Israelitish nation, and
synagogues to this day when Haman's
| name is mentioned, the congregation
clench their fists and stamp their feet and
cry, Let his name be blotted out!'' Ha-
| man was Prime Minister in the magnificent
court OF Persia. Thoroughly appreciative
OF the honor conferred. he expects every!
BODY that he passes to be obsequious.
Coming tn one day at the gate Of the pal
ace, the servants drop their heads in honor.
| OF his office; but Hebrew, named Morde-
cni; gazes upon the passing dignitary
without bending his head or taking off his
hat. He was good man, and would not
have been negligent in the ordinary court
estes OF life, but he felt no respect either
; Tor Haman or the nation from which ha
had come. SO he could not be hypocriti-i
cal; and white others made Oriental
salaam, getting clear down before this
Prime Minister when he passed, Mordecai.
the Hebrew, relaxed not II muscle of his
| neck, and kept his chin clear up. Becausd
OF that affront Haman gets decree from
Ahasuerus, the dastardly king for tha
massacre of all the Israeites, and that, OF
| course, will include Mordecai
L" make long story short, through
Queen Esther this whole plot was revealed
10 her husband, Ahasuerus. One night
somnia, in his sleepless hours calls for hiI
secretary to read him few passages Oh
Persian history, and so while away thu
night. Ia the book read that night to the
King an account was given of n conspi!
| racy, from which Mordecai the Hebrew
had saved the kings life and for which
kindness Mordecai had never received any
reward. Haman, who mad been fixing up
nice gallows to hang Mordecai on, was
walking outside the door of the kings
sleeping apartment and was called in. The
king told him that he had just had read to
him the account of some one who had
saved his, the kings life, and he asked
what reward ought to be given to such n
one- Self-conceited Haman supposing that
he himself was to get the honor, and not
| Imagining for moment that the deliv-
erer of the kings life was Mordecai, says.
why, your ajesty ought to make tri-
nmph for him, and put crown on him
and set him on a splendid horse, high-step-
ping and full-blooded, and then have one
| Of your princes lead the horse through
the streets, crying, Bow the knee, here
| comes man who has saved the kings
| ifen" Then said Ahasuerus In severe tones
20 Haman: II know all about your scoun-
drelism. Now You go out and make a
| w,
you hate. Put the best saddle on the
inest horse, and you, the prince, hold the
| 'tirrup while Mordecai gets on and then
lead his horse through the street. Make
| hastel''
What a spectacle! A comedy and tragedy
At one and the same time. There they go.
Mordecai, who had been despised, now
Starred and robed, in the stirrups. Haman
h. chancellor, afoot, holding the pranc-
.ng, rearing, chanping stallion. Mordecai
.ts l.,,e k,,S
down at the degraded Prime Minister
walking beneath him. Huzza for Nor
iecai! Alas for Haman! But what pity
20 have the gallows, recently built, en-
:irely wasted! 1t is fifty cubits high and
Quilt with care. And Haman had erected
| t for Mordecai, by whose stirrupS he now
walks as groom. Stranger and more start
ing than any romance, there go up the
steps of the scaffoldins, side by side, the
1angman and Haman the ex-chuncelIor.
so they hanged Haman on the gallows
chat he had prepared for Mordecai.'
| Although many years have passed
since cowardly Ahasuerus reiSned, and the
beautiful Esther answered to his whims,
and Persia perished, yet from the life and
death of Haman we may draw living les
sons of warning and instruction. And
first, We come to the practical suggestion
that, when the heart is wrong, things very
| Insignificant will destroy our comfort.
Who would have thought that n great
Prime Minister, admired and applauded by
millions of Persians, would have been so
nettled and harassed by anything trivial3
What more could the great dignitary have
wanted than his chariots and attendants,
and palaces and banquets? II affiuence OF
| circumstances can make a man contented
and happy, surely Hanan should have
been contented and happy. No; Morde1
CATS refusal of bow takes the glitter from
the gold, and the richness from the pur-
ple and the speed from the chariots. With
a heart pulled up with every imitation of
vanity and revenge, 1t was impossible for
him to be happy. The silence of Mordecai
at the gate was louder than the braying Of
trumpets in the palace. Thus shall it al
ways be II the heart Is not right. Circum-
stances the most trivial will disturb the
spirit.
1t is not the great calamities OF life that
create the most worriment. / have seen
men, felled by repeated blows OF misfor-
tune, arising from the dust, never despond-
ing. But the most OF the disquiet which
men suffer is from insignificant causess as
a lion attacked by some beast of prey turns
easily around and slays him, yet runs roar.
ing througi the forests at the ali0hting on
his Drawn neck OF few insects. You
meet some great loss in business with COM
parative cCnposure; but you can think OF
| petty trickerias Inflicted upon you which
arouse all your capacity for wrath, and re,
main in your heart an unbearable annoy,
ance. If you look back upon your life,
you will find that the most of the vexationa
and disturbances of spirit, which you felt,
were produced by circumstances that were
not worthy of notice. If you want to be
happy, you must not care for trifies. Do
not be too minute in your inspection of the
treatment y.ou receive from others. Who
cares whether Mordecai bows when you
pass or stands erect and stiff n CEDAR
That woodman would not make much
clearing in the forest who should stop to
bind up every little bruise and scratch he
received in the thicket; nor will that man
accomplish much for the world or the
church who is too watchful and apprecia,
tive OF petty annoyances. There are null
titudes OF people in the world constantly
narrowed because they pass their lives not
in searching out those things which are at
tractive and deserving, but In spying on,
with all their powers OF vision to set
whether they cannot find Mordecai.
Again: learn from the life of the mar
under our notice that worldly vanity and
sin are very anxious to have piety bow be
fore them. Haman was a fair emblem o.
entire woridllness, and Mordecai the repre-
sentative OF unfiinching godliness. Suct
were the usuages of society in ancient
times that had this Israelite bowed to th'
Prime Minister, 1t would have been an ac
acknowledgement Of respect for his characte
and nation. Mordecai would, therefore
have sinned against his religion had h
made any obeisance or dropped his chil
half an inch before Haman. When, there
fore, proud Haman attempted to compe
an homage which was not felt, he only di,
what the world ever since has tried to do
when it would force our holy religion Il
any way to yield to its dictates. Daniel
II he had been n man OF religious com
promises, would never have been throw
into the den of lions. He might have mad
some arrangement with King Dariu
whereby he could have retained part Of hi
form of religion without making himself s
completely obnoxious to the idolater.
Paul might have retained the favor OF hi
ruIers ana escaped martyrdom II he ha
only been willing to mix up his Christia
faith with a few errors. His unbendin
Christian character was taken as an II
suit.
Fagot and rack and halter in all age
have been only the different ways in whic
the world has demanded obeisance. 1t wa
once, away up on the top of the Temple, thu
Satan commanded the Holy One OF Naz,
reth to kneel before him. But 1t Is nc
Il - n