Milford chronicle., 1906-03-16
Caln1ase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage, D. D.

The text IS l Kings xvii, Il, THE bar
rel OF meal shall not waste, neither
shall the cruise Of oil fail"
God grant that gaunt, haggard,
parched skinned, death dealing fam
Inc may never stalk through the streets
Of our fair cities. Dore's most vivid
conceptions of Dante's hell and Ho-
garth's most horrible caricatures OF
degradation and vice and Vassili We
reschagin's most realistic scenes Of
the blood soaked battlefelds of the
Turkish and Russian war cannot com
pare in horror with the terrible sights
that have been witnessed when mad
dening famine gets in its work. Could
any paintings be more awful than the
simple photographs we saw Of men and
women and children huddled together
in sickenlng groups who were slowly
starving to death in the awful Indian
famines of 1897 and 1900? Could any
war be more fearful than the simple
statement which declares that in the
famous Bengal famine Of 177O out of
3O,OOO,OOO of inhabitants 100000, OF
One,third Of the whole population, were
dead within a few months3
The same kind of a fearful famine
that cursed Russia in the year 1892,
that devastated Ireland in 1879 and
in 1916 and 1874, the same kind Of a
famine as that which destroyed two
thirds Of the inhabitants of the Cape
Verde islands In 1880, the same kind
Of a famine which blasted northern
Africa during Joseph's premiership and
is now devastating the land Of Japan,
was depopulating Palestine. 20 God,
give us rain!' is crying the rich man
in his palace 20 God, give US rainP'
cries the poor peasant in his hut. "Give
us raini Give us rain, or we der
were the universal pleaGings. But no
rain came. On account of King Ahab's
sins God had decreed that no rain was
to descend upon Palestine hills and |
valleys for three long years.
We leave the hills and the valleys Of |
the interior. We come down toward |
the Mediterranean shore, to the beau |
tlful city Of Zarephath, situated near |
to Tyre and Sidon. There we find the |
desolation appalling. The horses, cat |
tie and sheep died months ago. The |
drought has already lasted two long |
years. The cattle had no food to live
on. They had to die The grass and |
the wheat had long since disappeared. |
Men and women and children were dy- |
ing by the scores and the hundreds. |
Fever and scurvy were every day add !
ing to the death list. The whole city |
was becoming one great charnel house. !
The fields where once grew the har-
vest were as hard as baked and crack
ed clay. As l stand in Imagination
upon the outskirts of the city, amid
these scenes Of desolatiOn and death,
Il see a humble woman. weak and tot
terlng, gathering a few sticks to build
a fire. Along comes a tall, gaunt, dig
nided man. He looks like a born lead
er Of men. He accosts the woman
something like this:
They Were Starving.
"Woman, 1 pray thee, hasten and
bring me drink" She turns to do his
bidding. Then in a matter Of fact way
this stranger says, Bring me, I pray
thee. a mOrsel Of bread in thine hand"
He practically says, when you go for
water bring a little food too" The
woman. weak and tottering from star
walton, turns and looks at him in
Then she speaks in this
wise: Man, what are you talking
about? Are you mad? We are starv-
ing. We are dying. The dead in our
streets lie unburied! 1 have starved
and starved. l have cut the daily sup
ply Of food down and down, until now
we are at the end. have but hand
full Of meal and a little oil. am going to
cook this for my son, and then we shall
both lie down and die" With that
Elijah the Tishbite said: woman, do
as l say and God will take care of thee.
For thus saith the Lord. The barrel Of
meal shall not waste, neither shall the
cruise Of oil fail, until the day the Lord !
sendeth rain upon the face of the
earth" Such is the simple story Of how
God saved the poor widow and her son
during the Zarephath famine, because
she was willing 20 do what Gods
prophet commanded.
The zarephath famine, in the first
place. teaches that the good and the in
nocent must conjointly suffer from the
evil results Of the deeds Of the bad
Sir Walter Scott's business partners
lid wrong. The innocent Sir Walter
Scott had to suffer. The owner Of Alb
lotsford had to shoulder 100000 debt.
The saa-in-law Of Francois Grevy prov
ID to be a scoundrel. Innocent Fran
.ols Grevy had to resign the presi-
lential chair Of France because his
.on-ln-law, Wilson. was convicted OF
ielling the decorations and the Offices
f the government for cash. The April
hover falls upon the just and the un-
ust, upon the wheat and the tares
like. The evil deeds Of a husband
urse not only himself. but his wife
nd his children also. When the way
yard Hebrew prince was hung, David,
lie broken .earted father went to his