The Penn's Grove record., 1899-04-21
DR.. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE ey THE NOTED
DIVINE,
subiecti Parental Heediessnesso- The
Nos' ofJephthah Typical of Much That
Is Distressing In Modern Iife-cbil.
dren Sacrificed to worId,v Anhi,tor.

dren Sacrificed to Worldly Ambition,
TEXT; Ny father, II thou hast opened
Thy mouth unto the Lord. do 10 me ac-
cordlng to that which hath proceeded ont
oithy mouth."-Judges XII, So.
Jephthah was a freebooter. FarIv turned
cut rom a home where he ought to have
Nleu cAsa Ior, he consorted with rough
best he could. In those times It was Con.
-ideTed right for a man to 20 out on inde-
PENDENT military expeditions, Jephthah
was a GOOD man according to the light Of
bis dark age, but through a wandering and
Preuatory lie he became reckless and pre-
ctpltate. me grace Of God changes a
mans heart, but never reverses his natural
temperament. The Israelites wanted the
h2nmonhes driven out OF their country, so
they sent u delegation to Jephthah, asking
MIN 10 become commander In chief of all
the forces. He might have said, YOU
ur9Ve me out when you had no use for me,
ana now you are In trouble you want me
back but he did not say that. He takes
command OF the army, sends messengers to
the Ammonites to tell them to yaeate the
country, and getting no favorable re-
sponse, marshals his troops for battle.
Betore going out to the war Jephthah
makes a very solemn vow that II the Lord
will give him the victory then, on his re-
turn home, whatsoever first comes oit OF
his doorway he will offer In sacrifice rs a
burnt Offering. The battle opens. 1t was
no sRlrmishing on the edges OF dangers, no
Numbering. OF batteries two miles away,
but the hurting Of men on the points Of
swords and spears until the ground could
no more drink the blood and the horses
reared to leap over the pile Of bodies OF
tue slain. In those old times opposing
forces would fight until their swords were
broken and then each one would throttle
his man until they both fell. teeth to
. TEEN. grin tn grin Iaufh otarn tn Iaath
stare, until the plain was one tumbled
mass OF corpses from which the last trace
OF manhood had been dashed out.
Jephthah wins the day. Twenty cities
lay captured mt his feet. Sound the victory
an through the mountains OF Gilead. Let
the,trumpeters call up the survivors. Home
ward to your wives and children. Home
ward with your glitterlng treasures.
HomeWard to have the applause of an adj
mlrfng nation. Build triumphal arches.
Swing out flags all over Mizpah. Omen all
your doors to receive the captured treas
ures. Through every hall spread the BAN
quet. Pile up the viands. FIJI high the
tankaris. The nation is redeemed, the In
vaders are routed and the national honor
Is vlndicated.
Huzza for Jephthah, the conquerorl
Jephthah, seated on a prancing steed, ad-
vances amid the acclaiming multitudes,
put MS eye Is not on the excited populace.
Remembering that he had made a solemn
VOW that, returning from victorious battle,
whatsoever first came out of the doorway
Of bis home that should be sacrificed as a
burnt Offering, he has his anxious look
npon the door. l wonder what spotless
lamb, what brace OF doves, will be thrown
upon the fires of the burnt offeringl
oh, horrorsl Paleness Of death blanches
his cheek. Despair seizes his heart. His
daughter, his only child, rushes out the
doorway to throw herself in her fathers
arms and shower Upon him more kisses
than there were wounds on his breast or
dents on his shield. All the triumphal
sllendor vanishes. Holding back this child
from his heaving breast and pushing the
locks back from the fair brow and looking
into the yes Of in~extinguishable affection,
with choked utterance he says: Would to
GodI lay stark on the bloody plainl My
daughter, my only child, Joy OF my home,
life of my life, thou art the saeri1cel'
The whole matter was explained to her.
This was no whining, hollow hearted girl
into whose eyes the father looked. All the
glory OF sword and shield vanished in the
presence Of the valor of that girl. There
may have been a tremor of the lip, as a
rose leaf trembles in the sough Of the south
wind; there may have been the starting of
Il tear like a raindrop shaker from the
anther of n water lily. But with a self
sacrifice that man may not reach and only
woman's heart can compass she surrenders
herself to fire and to death. She cries out
in the words of my text, my father, II
thou hast openedthy mouth unto the Lord,
do unto me whatsoever hath proceeded
from thy mouth"
She bows to the knife, and the blood,
yAish so often at the fathers voice had
rushed to the crimson check, smokes in the
fires of the burnt offering. No one can tell
us her name. There is no need that we
know her name. The garlands that Mizpah
twisted for %Jephthah the warrior have gone
into the dust, but all ages are twisting this
girls chaplet. 1t is well that her name
came not to us, for no one can wear 1t.
They may take the name Of Deborah or
Abigail or Miriam, but no one in all the
ages shall nave the title of this daughter
Of sacrifice.
OF course this offering was not pleasing
TO the Lord, esq ecially as a provision was
made In the law for such a contingency,
and Jephthah might have redeemed his
daughter by the payment OF thirty shekels
Of silver. But before you hurl your
denunciations at Jephthah's cruelty re-
member that in olden times, when VOWS
were made, men thought they must execute
them, perform them, whether they were
wicked or good. There were two wrong
things about Jephthah's VOW. First, he
ought never to ave made it. Next, having
made it, it were better broken than kept.
But do not take on pretentious airs and
say, 81 could not have done as Jephthah
did" II in former days you had been
standing on the banks of the Gauges and
you had been born in India, you might
have thrown your children to the croco-
dies. 1t Is not because we are naturally
any better, but because we have more
Gospel light.
Now / make very practical use OF this
question when l tell you that the sacrifice
of Jephthah's daughter was a type OF the
physical. mental and spiritual sacrifice of
j. 4kN,-a-l ahfIArap In thic lov Thara
are parents all unwittingly bringing to
bear upon their children a class OF in
Guences which will as certainly ruin them
as knife and torch destroyed Jephthah's
daughter. While l speak, the whole
nation, without emotion and without
shame, looks upon the stupendous saerl-
fee.
In the first place, l remark that much Of
the system Of edu antion In our day is a
system of sacrifice. When children spend
six or seven hours in school and then must
spend two or three hours In preparation
for school the next day, will you tell me
how much time they will have Tor sunshine
and fresh air and the obtaining of that ex-
uberance which is necessary for the duties
OF coming life2 No one can feel more
thankful than / do for the advancement of
common school education. The printing
of books appropriate for schools, the null
tiplication OF philosophical apparatus. the
NlAIlI6lluNht Va '@'
pfoyide for our children teachers OF largest
caliber, are themes on which every philan-
thropist ought to be congratulated. But
this herding OF great multitudes of chill
dren in III ventilated schoolrooms and
poorly equipped halls of instruction is
making many OF the places OF knowledge
in this country n huge holocaust. Politics
in many OF the cities gets into educational
affairs and while the two political parties
are scrabbling for the honors Jephthah's
laughter perishes. 1t is SO much so that
there are many schools in the country TO-
day which are preparing tens of thousands
al invalid men and women for the future;
so that, in many places, by the time the
child's education is finished the child is
lnishedl In man. places, in many cities
of the country, there are large .appropria-
tions for everything else and cheerful ap-
propriations, but as soon as the apPropria-
moral interests OF the city we are struck
throueh with an economy that is well nigh
Won NAV fiatter your pride by forcing
vour ebild to know more than any other
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