The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-04-22
A VOW OF, JEPHTHAH
1t Is Cited as Warning Against
Parental Hcedlessness.
DIR. TnImnEe Lodges Protest
Against the Sacrifice of the
Young on the Altar OF
Worldly Ambition.
Copyright. 1897 Washington. April IS.

ncedlc"SncSS ana worldly amDltlOl
which are threatening the sacrifice o
many American children; text, Judge
1876: "My father, if thou has opene,
thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me nc
cordng to that which hath proceeded
out of thy mouth"
Jcphthah was a freebooter. Earl,
turned out from II home where he ough
TO have been cared for. he consortec
with rough men and went forth TO carr
his living as best he could. In those
times it was considered right for man
10 go out on independent military ex
petitions. Jephthah was n good man
according to the light of his dark age
but through wandering and "A preda.
tory life he became reckless and precipi-
tate. The grace of God changes mans
heart, but never revcrses his natural
temperament. The Israelites wanted
the Ammonitcs driven out of their
country, so they sent delegation to
g, Jephthah, asking him to become com
mandcr-in-chicf 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. lie takes com
mand OF the army, sends messengers to
the AmmonitcS to tell them to vacate
the country, and, getting no favorable
response, marshals his troops for battle.
Before going out to war Jcphthah
makes a very solemn vow that if the
Lord will give him the victory then,
on his return home, whatsoever first
comes out of his doorway he will offer
in sacrifice rs n burnt Offering. The
battle opens. 1t was no diminishing
on the edges of dangers, no unlimbcr-
ing of batteries two miles away, but
the hurting of men on the point 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 broken 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 manhood had
been dashed out. ....
cities lay captured at his feet. Sound
the victory 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 admiring nation.
Build triumphal arches. Swing out
flags all over Mizpah. Open all your
doors to receive the captured treasures.
Through every hall spread the banquet.
Pile up the viands. Fill high the tank
ards. The nation is redeemed, the in
vadcrs are routed and the national hon
or is indicated.
lIuzza for Jephthah, the conqueror!
Jephthah, seated on prancing steed,
advances amid the acclaiming multi
tudcs, but his eye is not on the excited
populace. Remembering that he had
made n 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. | wonder what spotlcss lamb,
what brace of doves, will be thrown
upon the fires of the burnt offering!
Oh, horrors! Palcness of death
blanchcs his check Despair scizes 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 splcndor van
ishcs. Holding back this child from his
hcaving breast and pushing the locks
back from the fair brow and looking
into the eyes of ineXtinguishablc af-
lection, with chokcd utterancc he says:
"Would to God lay stark on the bloody
plain! My daughter, my only child,
JOY of my home, life of my life, thou are
the sacrificed"
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
tremor of the lip, as n rose leaf trem-
blcs in the sough of the south wind;
there may have been the starting of n
tear like raindrop shaken from the
nnthcr Of n water lily. But with self
sacrifice that man may not reach and
only swoman's heart can compass she
surrenGers 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 what
soever hath proceeded from thy
mouth"
She bows to the knife, and the blood,
which 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
MS, Nfor no 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 sacri-
foe.
or course this offering was not pleas
Ing to she Lord, especially as n pro-