The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-04-17

and predatory life he became reckless and
precipitate. The grace Of God changes q
man g heart, but never reverses his nat
ural temperament The Israelites wanted
the Ammonites driven out Of their coun-
try, go they sent delegation to Jephthah,
asking him to become commander In chief
Of all the forces He might have said,
"You drove me out when you had no use
for mo and, now you are In trouble, you
want mo back" but he did not say that.
He takes command Of the army, sends
messengers to the Ammonites to tell them
to vacate the country and, getting no IA
vorable response, lnarshals his troops for
battle
Before going out to the war Jephthah
makes very solemn vow that II the Lord
win give him the victory, then, on his re-
turn home, whatsoever first comes out Of
his doorway he will offer in sacrifice as
burnt offering. The battle opens 1t was
no skirmishing on the edges of danger, no
unlimbering 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 tho pile Of bodies Of the
slain. In those old times opposing forces
WOu1u uHub uAtIA tAl6AT bW0Tub WcI0 UEO-
ken, and then each one would throttle his
man until they both fell, teeth to teeth,
grip to grip, death stare to death stare,
until the plain was one tumbled mass Of
corpses from which the last trace Of man
hood had been dashed out.
Jephthah's Daughter.
Jephthah wins the day. Twenty cities
lay captured at his feet. Sound the VIC
tory all through the mountains Of Gilead.
Let the trumpeters call up the survivors.
Homeward to your wives and children.
Homeward with your glittering treasures.
Homeward to have the applause Of an ad-
miring nation Build triumphal arches,
swing out flags all over Mizpah, open all
your doors to receive the captured treas
ures, through every hall spread the BAN
quet, pile up the viands, fill high the
tankards. The nation is redeemed, the
invaders are routed and the national honor
is vindicated.
Huzza for Jephthah the conquerorl
Jephthah, seated on prancing steed, ad-
vances amid the acclaiming multltudes,
but his eye is not on the excited populace.
Remembering that he had made a solemn
vow that, returning from victorious bat.
tie, whatsoever first came out Of the door
way of his home, that should be sacrificed
as burnt offering, he has his anxious
look upon the door. wonder what spot
less lamb, what brace Of doves will DO
thrown upon the fires Of the burnt offer
ing.
Oh, horrorsi 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
splendor vanishes. Holding back this child
from his heaving breast and pushing the
locks back from the fair brow and looking
Into the eyes Of inextinguishable affection
with choked utterance he says: "Woul
God lay stark on the bloody plain My
daughter, my only child, joy Of my home.
life of my life, thou art the sacrificed
The whole matter was explained to her
| This was no whining, hollow hearted girl
into whose eyes the father looked. All tho
glory of sword and shield vanished in the
| presence of the valor of that girl. There
| may have been tremor of tho lip, as q
roseleaf trcmbles in the sough Of the south
wind; there may have been the starting
Of tear like rain drop shaken from the
anther of water lily. But with self
sacrifice that man may not reach and only
woman's heart can compass she surrelders
herself to fire and to death. She cries out
in the words Of my text, "My father, il
thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord
do unto mo whatsoever hath proceeded
from thy mouth"
Innocence Sacrificed.
She bows to tho knife. ed the blood,
which SO often Q. tine fathers voice had
rushed to the crimson cheek, smokes in
tho 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 war
rior, have gone into the dust, but all ages
arc twisting this girls chaplet. 1t Is well
that her name came not to us, for 10 one
can wear it. They may take the name of
Deborah or Abigail or Miriam, but no one
in all the ages shall have the title Of this
daughter Of sacrifice
OF course this Offering was not pleasing
to the Lord, especially as provision was
made in tho law for such q contingency,
and .Iephthah might have redeemed his
daughter by the payment of 80 shekels Of
silver but before you hurl your denuncia-
tions at Jephthah's cruelty remember that
in oldcn times when VOWS were mado
mon thought they must execute them, per-
form them, whether they were wicked or
good. There were two wrong things
about Iephthah's vow. First, he ought
never to have made It, Next, having
made it, it were better broken than kept.
But do not take on pretentious airs and
say, II could not have done as Jephthah
did" If in former days you had been
standing on the banks of the Ganges 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 gos-
pei light
Now make very practical use of this
question when tell you that tho sacrifice
Of .Jcphthah daughter was type of the
physical, mental and spiritual sacrifice of
10000 children in this day, There are
parents all unwittingly bringing to bear
upon their children class Of influences
which will as certainly ruin them as knife
and torch destroyed Jephthahas daughter.
While speak tie whole nation, withou
emotion and without shame, looks upol
The stupenduus sacrifice.
Children Overtnxed.
In the first place, remark that mucl
of the system Of education in our day is
system of sacrifice When children spent
six or seven hours in school and then mus
spend two or three hours in preparation
for school the next day, will you tell m
how much time they will have for sun
shine and fresh air and tho obtaining o
that exubernncc which is necessary for tn
duties of coming llfe2 No one can fec
more thankful than do for t. advance
ment Of common school cduchvion Th
printing of books appropriate for schools
the multiplication of philosophical nI
paratus, the establishment of norma
schools which provide for our chidre
teachers of largest caliber, are themes o.
which every philanthropist ought to b
congratulated. But this herding of grea,
multitudes Of children in i'll Ventilate
I schoolrooms and poorly equipped halls c
instruction is making many Of the place
Of knowledge in this country huge hole
cnust. Politics In many of the cities get
Into educational affairs and whilo the tw
political parties arc scrnbbl!ng for tn
honors Jephthah' $ daughter pcrshes.
Is SO much SO that there are many schcoI
In the country today which are preparin