The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-04-28
Copyright, 1899, by American Press
Association.)

lOQSeS ID pIoIeSL against the parental
heedlessness and worldly ambition
which are threatening the sacrifice of
many American children; text, Judges
XII, SO, My father, if thou hast opened
thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me ac-
cording to that which hath proceeded
out of thy mouth"
Jephthah was a freebooter. Early
turned out from a 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 it was considered right for a man
to go out on independent military ex-
petitions. Jephthah was a good man
according to the light of his dark age,
but through a wandering and a preda-
tory life he became reckless and precip-
itate. The grace of God changes a
mans heart, Dut never reverses his
natural temperament. The Israelites
wanted the Ammonites driven on Of
their country, SO they sent a delega-
ton to Jephthah, asking him to be-
come cOmmander-in-chief of all the
forces. He might have said, You drove
me out when you had no use for me,
anu HOW yOu dIc Ill IIOuDle 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 vacate the country, and, get
ting no favorable response, marshals
his rOOpS for battle.
Before going out to the war Jeph-
thah makes a very solemn vow that if
the Lord will give him the victory then,
on his return hime, whatsoever first
comes out of his doorway he will offer
in sacrifice as a burnt offering. The
battle opens. 1t was no diminishing
on the edges of dangers, no unlimber-
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 had
been dashed out
Jephthah wins the day. Twenty 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
vaders are routed and the national
honor is indicated.
JEPHTHAH'S SOLEMN VOW.
Huzza for J~ephthah, the conQueror!
Jepk thah, seated on a prancing Steed,
advances amid the acclaiming multi
tudes, but his 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 his home
that should be sacrificed as a burnt
Offering, he has his anxious look upon
the door. / wonder what spotless lamb,
what brace of doves, will be thrown
upon the first 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 her
self 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 an
ishes. Holding back this child from
his heaving breast and pushing the
locks back from the fair brow and
looking into the eyes of i~nextinguisha-
BILE effection, with choked utterance he
says: Would to God 1 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 10 whining, hollow
10 - -;-1 80 r-IN-@ w. 4Ia 8 - +l1@r
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 trem-
bles in the SOugh of the south wind;
there may have been the starting of a
tear like a raindrOp shaken from the
anther of a water lily. But with a self
sacrifice that man may not reach and
only WOman'S heart a 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"
She bows to the knife. and the blood,
which SO often at the fathers voice had
rushed to the crimson cheek, 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.
Il is we'll that her name came not to
us. for 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 sacrifice.
NOT PLEASING TO THE LORD.
OF course this Offering was not pleas
ing to the Lord, especially as a provi-
sion was made in the law for such q
contingency, and Jephthah might have
redeemed his daughter by the payment
of 80 sheckles of silver. But before you
hurl your denunciatiOns at Jephthah's
cruelty remember 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 thing about
Jephthah's vow First, he ought never
to have made it. Next, havirE made it
it were better broker than kept. Blu
do not take on ~pretentious airs ant
say. II could not lave done as Jeph