Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-04-21
Talma8e

BY Rev.
Frank De 6Vift
Tai age. ID. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, April lin these
days of eager desire for great wealth
and social position, when multitudcs
are absorbed in the struggle for world
ly successes, this sermon comes as a
wholesome and timely warning that it
Is possible to pay too high Il price for
fortunes favors and that fame may
be too dearly bought. The text is
Judges ri, 80 "Alas, my daughter"
An old trite saying Declares What
is worth getting is worth paying for
But the payment demanded for what
we want is often more than mere sill
YER and gold. 1t may cost the pound
of flesh near the heart of an Antonio.
and It may mean silver or gold. Grim
soned by having been dipped and
rusted and dyed in human blood.
Yes. | will own that land. | will
yet be master Of Daylcsford manor
house. These were the words uttered
by young paupcr, then being edn-
Gated in the charity school of the little
hamlet of Churchill. in Oxfordshire.
England. That paylcsford manor house
had once been the property of Warren
Hastings great grandfather Warren
Hastings, for that was the rauper's
name. was then n mothcrlcss lad. and
the son Of n good Cor nothing. shiitlcss
father. who had fed to England to
find his grave ultimately in the farolf
West Indies Aye Warren Hastings as
man fulfilled the pledge he made as
hoy. but he paid dearly for what
! he was after. He paid for DaylcSlord
manor house with money purchased
by years of exile, years Of tol. years
Of prosecutions What was worth hay
ing was worth paying for but the
price for the Hastings ancestral home
came very high.
Jephtkah's Ambition.
! Well. today we find General Jcphthah
having great ambition. He was not
only seeking noble and legitimate
goal but he was rashiy and reckessly
ready to pay any price 10 reach that
goal .Icphthah had two objects in
reaching this goal of his ambition. The
first was 10 wipe out the stigma on the
record of his birth. Like Alexandra
! Dumas, he could never mention the
name of his mother without bringing
Il blush of shame to his cheek. Second
| ~. .Iephthah wanted TO drive ont The in
/ Vading Ammonitsll hosts who were
threatening to destroy his people. So
the night before the great battle open
ed General Jcphthah IN his military
tent nnde pledge something like this
80 God, If tomorrow thou wilt only
give me success. if thou wilt allow me
to atone for the awful record Of my
birth by being a delivetcr Of my people
from these invading herds of cut
throats, promise thee that whatsoever
cometh forth of the doors Of my house
to meet me when | return in peace
from the children of Ammon shall
surely be the Lords, and will offer il
up for a burnt Offering"
Hardly had the roar and din Of battle
ceased when the messengers on swift
est of horses sped everywhere. They
rode as fast as Paul Revere Calloped
toward Lexington and Concord &c
arouse the mnutemen to rise and
resist the invasion OF the British sol
derS as fast aS Nathan Mayer Roths
child rode 70 reach London the night
after Wcllinyton's triumph AT Water
loo. Everywhere the hard riding cou
riers shouted the news 70 an eXultina
people: The land IS free The land is
free. The land is free, Jephthah has
won. Jephthah has Won"
k,.nu;.I, ur..pn.,
When the Roman generals came
back from their c0nquests, they were
given u triumphant entry into the
capital Of the seven hills" No more
enthusiastic ovation was ever awarded
to the military chieftains of the Cae
sars than that which now welcomed
the liherator OF the ISraclitsll people
The maidens came forth 10 dance be
fore him. and to Strow flowers in his
way. and to sing their sweetest songs
as the school children welcomed Lara
yette on his last journey through Oul
own land. such music and songs and
flowers as afterward welcomed King
Sau. after the destruction Of the Phil
istines We're surging over Genera
oNH'i'hhii IA SISdl tltlil NdN - VI lldI
monious sound or surrounding hin
: with huge floral rainbows, dyed in the
richest Of coors, with this one cycep
tion-General Jephthah had no taunt
ing name of shepherd boy to imbit
ter him with jealousy. But as the
lsrdclitish libcrator comes nearer t
his house we see n great commotion
Suddenly this mighty leader stops ant
staggers like drunken man. fOl
there. coming out OF his house Ieph
than sees his beautiful daughter, hi.
only child, stepping forth to greet him
and by the terms Of his VOW she mus
be the sacrifice for his great conquest
This pledge which Jephthah made I,
God was a very foolish one. God die
not want General Jcphthah to STAY hi
daughter; neither does he want us t,
make the foolish sacrifices some of IL
are willing to make in order to viii
temporal success in life. Therefore
shall try in this sermon to catalogue
some OF the foolish sacrifices some o
us make upon the altar OF FORUM
and TO protest against them.
The Parents Duty.
First, God would never have us, lk
Jephthah destroy the spiritual an
physical and temporal lives of on
children. lie would never have us =
rngrossed In our work that we woul
! naploct Nur own "NeSh and blood - n n