Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-05-18
DIR. TALMAGTS SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE YTHE NOTED
,..A DIVINE. i.

r. tsaS
Subject: "Pnrental HeedIessness" - The
Vow ofJephthah Typical of Much Tha
10 Distressing In Modern Life-Chil
dren Sacrificed to Worldly Ambition.
TEXT: "My father, il thou hast opened
thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me ac.
cording to that which hath proceeded out
| of thy mouth."-Judges XII, SO.
Jephthah was freebooter. Early turned
out from home where he ought to have
been cared for, he consorted with rough
men and went forth to earn his living as
| best he could. In those times 1t was con.
sidered right for a man to go out on inde-
| pendent military expeditions. Jephthah
| was good man according to the light of
his dark age, but through a wandering and
| predatory life he became reckless and pre-
cipitate. The grace Of God changes a
mans heart, but never reverses his natural
| temperament. The Israelites wanted the
Ammonites driven out of their country, so
| they sent delegation to Jephthah, asking
MIN to become commander in chief of all
the forces. He might have said, "You
% drove me out when you had no use for me,
and now you are In trouble you want me
back. but he did not say that. He takes
con mand of the army, sends messengers to
the Ammonites to tell them to vacate the
country, and getting no favorable re-
sponse, marshals his troops for battle
makes very solemn vow that II the Lord
will give him the victory then, on his re-
turn home, whatsoever first comes out of
his doorway he will offer in sacrifice as a
burnt Offering. The battle opens. 1t was
no skirmlshing on the edges of dangers, no
unlimberlng 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
the slain. In those old times opposing
forces would fight until their swords were
! 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 manhood had been dashed out.
Jephthah wins the day. Twenty cities
lay captured ut his feet. Sound the victory
nll through the mountains of Gilead. Let
the.trumpeters call up the survivors. Home
ward to your wives and children. Home
ward 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 hail spread the ban
quet. Pile up the viands. Fill high the
tankards. The nation is redeemed, the in
vaders are routed and the national honor
Is vindicated.
huI1o ioH oeputnan, the conqueror!
Jephthah, seated on prancing steed, ad-
vances amid the acclaiming multitudes,
but his eye Is not on the excited populace
Rene embering that he had made solemn
VOW that, returning from victorious battle,
whatsoever first came out of the doorway
of his home that should be sacrificed as a
burnt Offering, he has his anxious look
upon the door. I wonder what spotless
lamb, what brace of doves, will be thrown
upon. the fires Of the burnt offering!
Oh, horrors! 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 triumph
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: "Would to
God lay stark on the bloody plainl My
daughter, my only child, Joy of my home,
life of my life, thou art the sacriAcel"
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 q tremor of the lip. as n
rose leaf trembes in the sough of the south
wind; there may have been the starting Of
tear like raindrop shaken from the
anther of u 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, If
thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord,
do unto me whatsoever hath proceeded
from thy mouth"
OF course this offering was not pleasing
TO the Lord, especially 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 burl 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 have made it. Next, having
made 1t, 1t were better broken than kept.
But do not take on pretentious airs and
say, II could not have done as Jephthah
did," II 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-
diles. 1t is not because we are naturally
any better. but because We have more
Gospel light.
question when tell you that the sacrifice
of Jephthah's daughter was q type Of the
physical, mental and spiritual sacrifice OF
ten thousand children in this day. There
are parents all unwittin9ly bringing to
bear upon their children a class, OF In
fuences which will as certainly ruin them
rs knife and torch destroyed Jephthah's
daughter. While I speak, the whole
nation, without emotion and without
shame, looks upon the stupendous sacri-
6ce.
In the first place. I remark that much OF
the system Of edu cation 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 life? No one can feel more
thankful than do for the advancement OF
common school education. The printing
of books appropriate for schools, the mui-
tiplication Of philosophical apparatus, the |
establishment Of normal schools, which
provide for our children teachers OF largest
caliber, are themes on which every philan-
thropist ought to be congratulated. But
this herdiDg OF great multitudes OF chill
dren in Ill ventilated schoolrooms and