Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-11-06
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMACE. DID,.
Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

chicago, NOV. 2.--Manly sympathy
with a class peculiarly subject to hard
ships and temptations is manifested
In this sermon by Rev. Frank De Witt
Talmage on the text Nehemiah Kill,
20, sc the sellers of all kind Of ware
lodged without Jerusalem once or
twice"
President Harrison once sent forth a
procla nation which aroused wide
spread interest In it 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.
fAll the men and women who at that
time entered the new country could
stake themselves out claim or q lot
or a 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 We're already laid out.
Some came on foot. These Invested
themselves of all supertuous clothing,
so that they could run as swiftly as
possible. When the signal was given
by the pistol held in the cavalrymans
hand, the great multitude broke into a
run. The would be settlers rushed
ahead &C fast that within a few hours
the whole land was taken possession
Of and cities like Guthrie began to
teen with life. Oklahoma, only ten
years after IT 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 locomc.
tive. Instead of carrying spear or u
shield, they carried models or 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 storeheepers
for the new farmers and their wives
au6 children. There is not a town in
the United States, no matter how small
1t may be or how newly established,
which has escaped the weekly, il not
daily, invasions of the commercial
travellers.
Ancient Comm ercinl Travellers.
In the scene of my text can be found
almost an exact duplication of the in
vasion of the newly settled regions of
Oklahoma by the knights of the grip.
10 sooner did Nehemiah, the governor,
return from his Babylonish exile and
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and
make it 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
them would persist in arriving at the
city walls on the Sabbath day and try
ing to turn God s day of rest into a day
of barter and gain. The governor, in
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 g
clearer Interpretation, $50 the sellers
OF all kind of ware lodged without
Jerusalem once or twice"
AS we walk In and out among the
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
salem gates and watch the prepare
tons they are making to resist the at
tacks OF the robbers ! am reminded
of the dangers to which our modern
knights Of the grip are exposed. They
too, have lurking enemies who woulC
despoil them, and because those enc
mics are more treacherous, more In
sidious and more ruthless than tn,
Bedouin hOrdes who menaced the an
Gent commercial travellers of Nehe
miah's time l am anxious to poin
them out and put the imperiled mel
on their guard.
The evil dangers threaten a CONNER
cial travellers life when he is ava!
from home. They try to ambush tn,
seller of all kinds Of ware when he Il
on the march; they strike at his hear
in time and In place when he 4
ppt to think ne can sin with impunity
because no one will be the wiser as h
can cover up his tracks; they come tt
the knights OF the grip In the insinu
ating and dangerous ways that evi
temptations sometimes overthrow Chris
tian people when they are travelling
abroad. 1t is well known fact tina
the average European travellers Will
NIT al N paris ar Vienna