Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-02-12
THE EYE.
The DiYineIy-Formed Window Of
f the Soul. >
Human Organs, Which Reveal the Wondrous
Works of the Creator, and That AL
Seeing Eye Which BehOlds the Evil
and Good of Earth.
SERMON BY REV. T. De WITT TALMAGS.


NEW YORK, February 1.-THE Brooklyn
Tabernacle contained its usual large con-
gregation this morning, assembled to listen
To- DR.. Talmage's discourse. The opening
hymn was:
sour God. our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come.'
DR.. Talmage read and expounded the
ninth chapter of John, concerning the man
born blind.
subject OF the Sermon:
"The Eye"
I Text, Psalms xciv.; 9:-"He that formed the
eye, shall He not see?"
The imperial organ OF the human system
| is the eye. All up and down the Bible Sod
eulogizes, honors and extols it. Five hun
dred and thirty-four times does that book
speak OF the eye. Omnipresence: "The
eyes of the Lord are in every, place"
Divine case: "As the apple OF the eye"
| The Clouds "As the eyelids of the morn
| ing" Irreyerence: The eve that mock
eth at it's father" Pride: "Oh, how lofty
are their eyes," Benevolence: "As eyes
TO the blind" Inattention: "As the eye
OF the fool in the ends of the earth"
Providential management: wheels full
of eyes" Suddenness: "The twinkling
| of the body is the eye." This mornings
text: "He that formed the eye, shall He
not see?" The surgeons, the doctors, the
Psychologists, and the anatomists know the
wonders of these two great lights OF the
| human face, but the vast multitudes 60
from cradle to grave without any apprecia-
tion Of these
Two Great Master Pieces
| OF the Lord God Almighty. Had God lacked
| the smallest part OF infinite wisdom he
must have failed in the attempt to create
eye. We walk the world over to see great
| oities, not realizing the instrument with
which We see them. have for thirty years
been wondering why some great scientist
with elOquence and magnetism enough did
not come forth and with illustrated lecture
on canvass thirty feet square startle and
| thrill and Overwhelm Cnristendom with the
| wonders of the human eye. We need this
subject shaken out from all the teChnicali-
ties OF the schools by men who lay aside
| their talk about the sclerotica and the
| chiasma of the optic nerves, and in common
parlsnce such as you and and all the peo-
| ple of the race can understand unroll these
wonders. While our learn ed men have for
| many years been trying to tell US what we
came from, why does not some one advance
| from the disseCting table and the class room
of the university and take the platform and
asking the help of the Creator OF all things
show US
what we Physically Are:
If | discuss the physiological facts in the
| former part OF my text it is only to bring
out the theological lessons in the latter
| part of the text. My text evidently refers
| 10 the human eye, because it eIcels all
| others in structure and adaptation. The
visual organs of fish and reptiles and moles
and bats are very shall things, for they do
| not have very much use for them. Some
| insects have more than hundred eyes, and
all Of them with less capacity than one
human eye. The black beetle that floats
| the pond has four eyes, two under the
water and two above the water, but the two
human eyes can take in more than the
four eyes of the insect. Man at the head
Of all living creatures needs highest equip.
ment, while the blind fish Of the Mammoth
cave have only undeyeOped apparatus of
sight, a mere apology for the organ which
might, if through some Crevice of the
mountain they should escape into day
light, develop into vision. In Genesis, the
first chapter you find that God the Father
without any consultation made the light,
and made the trees, and made the stars,
and made the fowl and made the fish, but
a convention of divinity was called for the
making Of man--as much as to imply that
it took the entire Godhead for this achieve
ment-"Let us make man." Put a ton OF
emphasis on the word "us.' And il all the
three persons of the GOdhead were in the
convention at the fashioning of our E1enic
progenitor, think that
The Chief Subject
Of that conference was, first, how to make
the soul, and secondly, how to make a
window for the palace of that eternal en-
T.NI
honOred the eve in the fact that before He
made it He cried till chaos irradiated with
the uttersnce, Let there be light" In
other words. he illumined the great tenn
| pie Of the world before man entered it,
| and that after the last human eye is de.
| stroyed in the worlds demolition, the stars
are 10 fall and the sun cease its shining
| and the moon be turned into blood. No
more human eye to profit by the shining,
| all the chandeliers of heaven will be turn
| ed out. To please and instruct the eye it
seems that God set up on the mantle OF the
| heavens gold lamp and a silver lamp, the
one for the day and the other for the night.
To show how much God thinks of the
| ewes notice how He builds two halls for
| their residence, these halls each made out
| Of seven bones curiously fastened to-
| gether. Kingly halls OF ivory are consid-
| cred rich, but the halls built for the eyes
residence are richer by so much as the hu-
| man bone is more sacred than elephantine
| tusk. To show still further how much
| God thinks of the eye, He projects roof
| over it The sweat of toll must not smart
| or obliterate it, and the rain dashlng
agairst the forehead must hot drop into 1t,
and so the eyebrows do not bend over the
| eye, but lay off to the right and left so that
| the rain and the sweat are compelled to
| drop on either cheek, and may not touch
the divinely protected organ OF vision. To
show what God thinks of the eye, | have
| to tell you that according to Psychologists
| it has
500 Distinct Contriyances.
| For window shutters, the eye-lid which is
| closed 80, 900 times a day. The lashes OF
| the eye so constructed that they can make
selection of what shall be admitted, say
| ing 10 the dust: Stay OUT and TO the
| iris, or the pupil OF the eye, according to
greater or less light contracting or dilat-
| ing. The owls eye is blind in the day
time, and ether birds are blind at night;
| but the human eye is so constituted that it
can fully see by day and partially see by
| night. The eyes of some creatures have
only motion from side to side or up and
| down, but the human eye hath a muscle to
| lift il and another to lower il and another
! 10 Nuttl IL " the IlEub anu dlONucA ~
| wheel il TO the left, and another passing
through a pulley to turn it round and
round, an elaborate gearing of six muscles
moving in chorus beyond comprehension.
Something called the retina which takes
the rays of light and passes the visual i'm
preston through the optic nerve, about
like tape for thickness, to the sansorium
and into the soul. What delicate lines!
What marvellous screen! What soft cusa.
ions! What strange chemistry of the eye,
The globe of the eye washed perpetually
by slow stream OF moisture when we
sleep and when we wake, rolling imper.
ceptibly over the pebble OF the eye and
emp'ying into bone of the nose. The
whole machinery Of the eye so Constructed
that il can see the sun ninety-fye million
miles away and see the point OF pin, tele-
scope and microscope in the same contriS-
| auCe.
But the value Of the eye is best app-ecia-
ted b.
Those Who Have Lost 1t.