The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-04-26
OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM
is :o-.~+asted Against by Dr.. Tall
mage in a Sermon.
HIS WARNING TO PARENTS.
Finds q Timely Lesson In the Sac
rifice Of Jephthah's Daughter.
Thousands Of Children Ed
ucated Into lmbecility.

In his sermon DR.. Talmage lodges
protest against the parental needless
ness and worldly ambition which are
threatening the sacrifice of many Ameri-
can children; text. Judges II, Sc, My
father, if thou hast opened thy mouth
unto the Lord, do to me according to
that which hath proceeded out of thy
mouth.
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 it was considered right for man
to 90 out on indepenent military ex-
petitions. Jephthah was good man
according to the light Of his dark age,
but through a wandering and predatory
life he became reckless and preclpltate
The grace of God changes e man $
heart, but never reverses his natural
temperament. The Israelites wanted
the Ammonites driven out OF their
country, so they sent delegation to
.Jephthah, asking him to become com
uander in chief of al! the forces. He
night 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
command of the army, sends messen-
gers to the Ammenites to tell them to
Yacate the country and, getting no ia
vorable response, marsbals his troops
for battle.
Before going out to the warJephthah
makes 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 as burnt offering The
battle opens. 1t was noskirmishlng on
the edges of danger, 20 unlimbering OF
batteries two miles away, but the hurl-
ing Of men on the points of swords and
spears until .he ground could no more
drink the blood, and the horses reare d
TO leap over the pile of bodies Of the
slain. In those old times opposins
forces NO, i'd fight until their SWORD :
were broken. and then each one woulo
throttle his man Until they both fell
teeth to teeth, grip to grip. death stare
to death stare, until the plain was one
tunbled nass of corpses from which
the last trace Of manhood had beeu
dashed out.
,Jepbthah wins the day. Twenty cities
lay captured at his feet. Sound the
victory all through the mountains OF
Gilead. Let the trumpeters call ny
the survivors. Houewar6 to your
wives and children Honeward with
your glittering treasures. Houeward
to have the applause of an aomirlns
nation. Build triuDphal 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 viai ds, I'LL high the tank
ards. The nation is redeemed, the III
vaders are routed and the national
honor is vindicated.
Huzza for Jephthah, the conqueror!
Jepbthah, seated on prancing steed.
advances amid the acclaiuing 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 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.
Ali the triumphal splendor vanishes.
Holding back this child from his heav-
ing breast and pushing the locks back
from the fair brow and looking into the
eyes of iuextiDguishable affection with
choked utterance be says: Would
God l lay stark on the bloody plain.
Ny daughter, my only child, JOY Of my
home, life of my life, thou art the sacri-
ice!'
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 tre-
NOR Of the lip, as roseleaf trembles in
the sough of the south wind; there may
have been the starting of tear like
rain drop shaken from the anther Of a
water lily. But with self sacrifice
that man may not reach and only wo-
mans heart can compass she surrenders
herself to fire and to death. She cries
out in the words Of my text, My IA
ther, if thou hast opened they mouth
unto the Lord dc unto me whatsoever
hath proceeded from thy mouth.
She bows to the knife, ago the blood,
which so often at the fathers voice
had rushed to the crimson cheek,
smokes in the fires Of the burnt offer
ing. No one can tell us her name.
There is no need that we know her
name. The garlands that Mizpah twist
ed for Jepbthah, the warrior, have gone
into the dust, but all ages are twisting
this girls chaplet. Itis well that her
name came not to US, for DO 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 CT sacrifice.
Of course this Offering was not pleas
ing to the Lord. especially as provi
sion vas made in the law for such
contingency, and Jephthah might have
redeemed his daughter by the payment
of 80 shekels Of silver, but before you
hurl your denunciations at Jephthah's
cruelty remember that in olden times