The Russellville Democrat., 1888-10-04
TALMAGE's SERMON.
opportunities Hinderance Rather
than a Help.
The Possession OF Too Much of the Worlds
Goods Not Conducive to Spiritual
wealth-Divtno Triumph In
the Human Anatomy.


lnsn Of great statare whose ingers and
toes we're four and twenty. sir on each hand.
and six on eaeh foot: and ne also was the son
otshe giant. Br' rEea lie deasd Israel. iona.
than fe- Ton OF Shimea- Dayid's brother. slew
si4n. Chronicles, XIX. o.
Maitormation photographed, aud for
what reasons Did not this passage slip
in by mistake into the sacred Scriptures,
as sometimes a paragraph utterly OBJ
noxious TO the editor gets iuto his news
aaper during his absencef Is not this
Scriptural erratg5 No, not there Is moth
ing haphazard about the B Bile. This
passage Of Scripture was rs certainly In
tended to be put ia the Bible as the pas
sage, elm ths beginning God created the
heavens and the earth.D or, ssc5od 50
loved the world that He gave His only
begotten SOM
And 1 select 1t for my text to-day be :
cause II Is charged with practical and
tremendous meaning. By the people Of
God the Philistiues had been conquered,
with the exception ~ a few giants. The
race 81 giants Is mostly exenct, I am
glad 70 say. There Is no use tor giants
now except to enlarge the income OF
museums. Bat there were many OF them
Ia olaen times. Goliath was, according
to the Bible eleven feet four aud one
quarter inches high. Or, IL you do not
believe the BibIe, the famous Pliny, q
secular writer, declares that at Crete, BIZ
an eartllquake, monument was broken
open, discovering the remains % a giant
forty-six oubits long, or sixty-nine feet
high. 50, whether you prefer sacred or
profane history you must come -
conclusion that there W. n sb5se olden
times cases .r rrman altitude rnonstroi,s
-4u appalling. David had smashed the
skull Of one af these Plants ind
thsrs we're other giants that the Dxvidean
wars had not subduea, and one OF ihem
stands in M text He was not only OF
Alpine stature, but had surplus Of
digits. To the ordinary fingers was an
nexed an additional finger, and the foot
had also superfuous addendurn. He had
twenty -tour examinations to hands an
feet where others have twenty Il wes
not the only instaa6s Of the kind Taver-
niar, the learned writer, says that the
Emperor Of Java had son endowed rith
the same number of extremities. yol-
catus, the poe. had six I'm gers on each
baud. daupetius, in his celebrated let
tiers, speaks OF two families near Berlin
similarly equipped OF hand and foot ALI
OF which / can believe, for have seen
two cases Of the same physical super
abundance.
But this giant OF the text is in battle,
and as David, the dwarf warrior, had dis
patched one giant, the brother OF David
Stays this monster Of my text, and there
he lies after the battle In Gath, dead
giant his stature did not save him, and
his superfuous appendices OF hand and
foot did not save him. The probability
was that the sixth fnger on his hand
made him clumsy in the use Of his weap-
on, and his sixth toe crippled his gait.
Behold the PROSTATE and malforrped
giant OF the text
man great OF stature whose fingers and
toes were four and twenty, six on each hand
and six on each foot; and he also was the son
OF the giant. Bat whenhe defed Israel. iona
than. the son OF Shimea, David's brother, slew
him.
Behold how supsrfulties are a hinder
ance rather than a help. In all the battle
at Gath that day there was not man
with ordinary hand and ordinary foot
and ordinary stature that was not better
off than this physical curiosity OF nv
text. As physical size is apt to run n
families, the probability is that this
Brother OF David, who did the work, vas
Of an abbreviated stature. A dwarf on
the right side is stronger than giant on
the wrong side, and all the body, aud
mind, and estate, and opportunity that
you can not use for God and the better
ment Of the world Is sixth finger and a
sixth toe, and terrible intolerance. The
most OF the good done in the world, and
the most Of those who win the battles for
the right, are ordinary people Count the
fingers Of their right hand and they have
Just FIVE, no more and no less. Oae Dr..
Duff among missionaries, but three thou
sand missionaries that would tell you
they have only common endowment One
Florence Nightingale to nurse the sick in
conspicuous places but ten thousand
women who are just as good nurses
though never heard Of. The Swamp
Angel was big gun that during the war
made big noise but muskets OF ordi-
nary caliber aud shells of ordinary heft
did fac execution. President Tyler and
his Cabinet go down the Potomac on .
day TO experiment with the peacemak er,
a great iron gun that was TO alright with
its thunder foreign nayiss. Tie gunner
touches it Of ana it explodes and leaves
Cabinet Ministers dead on the deck
our coasts, were cannon Of ordinary bore
able to be the defense OF the nation, and
ready at the first touch to wakeu 70 duty.
The curse OF the world is big guns. After
the politicians who have made all the
boise 90 homo, hoarss from angry dis
cussion, on the evening Of the first Mon-
day in November. the next day the peo-
pie with the Silent ballots will settle
a uusf fr,h4
Of the white slips OF paper they drop
making about as much noise as the fall
OF an apple blossom.
Clear back in the country to day there
are mothers in plain apron, and shoes
fashioned on q rough last BIZ the shoe.
maker at the end Of the lane, rocking
babies that are to be the Martin Luthers,
and the Faradays, and the Eiisons, aud
the Bismarcks, and the Gladstones, and
the Washingtons, and the George w hite-
fields OF the year 1888 aud who Will make
the twentieth century 50 bright that this
much-lauded nineteenth in comparison
will seem part of the dark ages. The
longer / live the more / like common
folks. They do the worlds work, be triug
the worlds burdens, weeping tao worlds
sympathies, carrying the worlds conso-
q Rufus Choate or William Writ OF
Samuel L. Southland, but society wosld
20 to pieces tomorrow IL there
were not thousands Of common law
yors 70 see that men and women
get their rights. A Valentine Mott
or a willard Parker rises up eminent IN
the medical profession, but what au un-
limited sweep would pneumonia, aud
diphtheria and scarlet fever have in the
world IL Il were not for ten thousand
common doctors The old physician Ia
his rig rolling up the lane Of the farm
house, or riding on horseback, his
medicines in the sad lie. bags, arriving on
the ninth day Of the fever, aud coming in
10 take hold Of the pulse OF the patient
while the falaily, pale with anxiety, are
looking op suil waiting for mis- decision
in ega rd 10 thsFatlent, and hearing him
say; 9Th ank God, l have mastered the
~. q