Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-11-08
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terian Chureh, Chicago

Win CLASS peculiarly subject 10 nar0-
ships and temptations Is manifested
in this sermon by Rev. Frank De Witt
Talmage on the text Nehemiah Kill,
20, $50 the sellers of all kind OF ware
lodged without Jerusalem once or
twice"
President Harrison once sent forth a
proclamation which aroused wide
spread interest. In II 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 %, 1880, open the central portion
OF Oklahoma to the American people.
All the mes and women who at that
time entered the new country could
stake themselves out claim or a lot
or farm. On the appointed day
thousands upon thousands of people
assembled upon that borderland. Some
sat upon feet thoroughbreds ready to
make the race for the choicest lots In
the cities which would within few
days spring up as II by magic and the
streets of which were already laid out.
| Some came on foot. These divested
themselves Of all super6uous clothing,
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 a
run. The would be settlers rushed
ahead 50 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 1t was first opened to the
white man. had nearly 100000 inhabit-
ants
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 hare been aptly termed in
the commercial Travellers parlance the
knights OF the grip" Instead Of
riding a war charger. like the knights
OF olden time, they rode behind an
iron horse" which Is called a locomo-
tive. Instead Of carrying a spear or a
shield, they carried mouels 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 storekeepers
for the new farmers and their wives
and children. There is not town In
the United States. no matter how small
1t may be or how newly established,
which has escaped the weekly, II not
daily, inyasions of the commercial
travellers.
Ancient Comm ercinI 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. |
No sooner did Nehemiah. the governor, |
return from his Babylonlsh exile and |
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and |
make II 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 Gods 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 CON-
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 In 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 blaspheming
because they could not enter the Jeru-
salem gates and watch the prepara-
tions they are making to resist the at
tacks Of the robbers | am reminded
Of the dangers 70 which our modern
knights Of the grip are exposed They, !
too, have lurking enemies who would
despoIl them. and because those ene-
mics are more treacherous, more In
sidious and more ruthless than the
Bedouin hordes who menaced the an
cient commercial travellers Of Nehe-
miah's time / am anxious to point
them out and put the imperiled men
IN their guard.
The evil dangers threaten CONNER
cial travellers life when he Is away
rom home They try to ambush the
seller Of all kinds Of ware when he Is
IN the march; they strike at his heart
n q time and in place when he Is
lpt to think he can sin with impunity,
because no one will be the wiser, as he
AN cover up his tracks; they come to
he knights of the grip In the inslnu-
lting and dangerous ways that evil
sometimes overthrow Chris
ian people when they are travelling
broad. 1t is q we'll known fact that
he average European travellers Will ,
commit sins In Paris or Vienna or
Rome or Monte Carlo or Peking or
that they would never dream
4 doing Ii they were at home among
heir own friends and neighbors. The
Toung Dutch Queen Wilhelmlna Illus {
rated this common tendency Of the S
human race to be worse away from J.
lOrpp than thew are by their own Gre- | c