Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-11-07
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor OF jefferson Park Presley
terrain Church, Chicago

win IL Sidss ptCullbTiy SUBJECT 10 n0r0-
ships and temptations is manifested
in this sermon by Rev. Frank De Witt
Talmage ON the text Nehemiah kin,
20. so the sellers OF all kind OF ware
lodged without Jerusalem once or
twice"
President Harrison once sent forth
proclamation which aroused wide
spread interest. In IL he announced
that the claims of many Indian tribes
had been bought up by the govern
ment; therefore by the power which
was vested in him as chief executive
of the United States, he would ON
April %, 1889, open the central portion
OF Oklahoma TO the American people.
All the men and women who at that
time entered the new country could
stake themselves out a claim or q lot
or farm. On the appointed day
thousands upon thousands of people
assembled upon that borderland. Some
sat upon fleet thoroughbreds, ready to
make the race for the choicest lots in
the cities which would within few
days spring up as If by magic and the
streets OF which were already laid out.
Some came on foot. These Invested
Is
so that they could run as swiftly as
possible. When the signal was given
by the pistol held in the cavalryman's
hand, the great multitude broke into
run. The would be settlers rushed
ahead so fast that within few hours
the whole land was taken possession
of, and cities like Guthrie began to
TEEN with life Oklahoma, only ten
years after IL was first opened to the
white man. had nearly 100000 inhabit-
ants.
But no sooner was Oklahoma settled
and the little country stores set up than
the wholesale merchants OF New York
and Philadelphia and Chicago and st.
Louis began TO send into this new ter
ritory another great army OF invaders
made up of the representatives of their
different establishments. These mod
ern crusaders have been aptly termed in
the commercial travellers parlance the
knights OF the grip" Instead of
riding war charger, like the knights
OF olden time, they rode behind an
iron horse" which is called locomo-
tive. Instead of carrying spear or a
shield, they carried models OF pictures,
showing how the steel and iron had
been melted into plows and reapers and
spades and axes and hammers and
saws. Instead of having mailed armor,
they had pieces OF cloth, which they
carried as samples OF clothing. which
they wanted to sell to the storekeepers
Tor the new farmers and their wives
and children There is not a town I'm
the United States, no matter how small
1t may be or how newly established,
which has escaped the weekly, IL not
daily. inyasions OF the commercial
trayelers.
Ancient Commercial Travellers.
In the scene of my text can be found
almost an exact duplication OF the in
yasion of the newly settled regions OF
Oklahoma by the knights or the grip.
NO sooner cid Nehemiah, the governor,
return from his Babylonish exile and
rebuild the walls OF Jerusalem and
make 1t safe place in which TO live
than the commercial travellers of that
day began to flock toward the Davidic
capital to dispose of their goods. But
there was one habit about many of
these ancient commercial travellers
which Nehemiah did not like. Some OF
city walls on the Sabbath day and try
ing to turn Gods day OF rest into a day
OF barter and gain. The governor, I'm
order TO stop the sin OF Sabbath desc
Grafton, ordered that the city gates
should be closed on the night before
the Sabbath and not be opened again
until the morning after the Sabbath,
no matter how much these ancient COM
mercial travellers might want to get in
and escape the dangers OF being muir
dered by the robbers who nightly in
tested the surrounding hills. Thus we
read the words OF my text with a
clearer Interpretation, 80 the sellers
OF all kind OF ware lodged without
Jerusalem once or twice"
As we walk I'm and out among the
sellers OF Nehemiah's time, barred
without the city walls. and examine
their piled up bales and hear the NUT
tered curses of the men disappearing
because they could not enter the Jeru-
2 salem gates and watch the prepara-
tons they are making to resist the at
tacks OF the robbers / am reminded
or the dangers to which our modern
knights OF the grip are exposed They,
W. nave cnciuleS Wuu Wudlu
despoil them, and because those enea
mics are more treacherous. moro In
sidious and more ruthless than the
Bedouin hordes who menaced the an
Client commercial travellers OF Nehe-
miah's time 1 am anxious to point
them out and put the imperiled men
on their guard.
The evil dangers threaten a CONNER
cial travellers life when he Ia away
from home. They try to ambush the
seller OF all kinds of ware when he Is
on the march; they strike at his heart
In time and In place when he Is
apt to think he can sin with IMMUNITY,
because no one Will be the wiser, az he
can cover up his tracks; they come to
the knights OF the grip In the insinu-
ating and dangerous ways that evil
temptations sometimes overthrow Chris
tan people when they are travelling
abroad. 1t ia well known fact that
the average European travellers will
commit sins In Paris or Vienna or
Rome or Monte Carlo or Picking or
calcutta that they would never dream
OF doing IL they were at home among
their own friends and neighbors. The
young Dutch Queen Wilhelmina Illus
trated this common tendency OF the
human race to be worse away from
home than they are by their own fire.
side In the quaint and pointed answer
which she gave to the Prince OF Wales
when visiting Queen Victoria some
years ago. The then heir apparent to
the English throne asked her what she |
was most impressed by in England. |
1t is to find that the English people |
are so refined and gentle and kind and |
religiously devout in their own homes"
she replied "One would never have
guessed 1t from the specimens 1 have
seen travelling 10 Holland"
SHINING Away From Home.
An average man can commit as n rule |
twenty sins away from home, when he
Is travelling alone, in a railroad train, or