Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-06-08
THE LAME TOOK TIE PREY.
Dr.. Talmase Says That in the Army
Of Christ Too MaLy Want to
Be Commanders.
The Church Needs More Earnest
Workers. Sermon Dcliv-
cred i'll Brooklyn.
zsrt-.rhe lame tnlke the prey =

conquest, but even men crippled OF arm
and crippled of foot should go out and
capture much that was valuable. Their
physical disadvantages should not hinder
their great enrichment. So it has
been in the past, so it is now, so it will be
in the future. So it is in all departments.
Men labor under seemingly great disad-
vantages, and amid the most unfavorable
circumstances, yet making grand achieve
ments, getting great blessing for them
selves. great blessing for the world, great
blessing for the church, and so 1.-The lame
take the prey"
Do You know that the three great poets
of the world were totally blind? Homer,
Ossian, John Milton. Do you know that
MIR. Prescott, who wrote that enchanting
book, "The Conquest of Mexico" never
saw Mexico, could not even see the paper
on which he was writing? A framework
down, went the pen immortal. Do you
know that Gambassio, the sculptor, could
not see the marble before him, or the
chisel in which he cut it into shapes be-
witching? DO you know that Alexander
Pope. whose poems will last MS long as the
English Language, was 30 much of On in
valid that he had to be sewed up every
morning in rough canvas in order 10 stand
on his feet at all?
Do you know that Stuart, the celebrated
painter, did much of his wonderful work
he had been unjustly imprisoned for debt?
Do you know that Demosthenes by almost
superhuman exertion first had to conquer
the lisp of his own speech before he con-
quered assemblnges with his eloquence?
Do you know that Bacon struggled all
through innumernble sicknesses, and that
Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott went
! limping on clubfoet through all their life,
and that many of the great poets and
painters and orators and historians and
heroes of the world had something to keep
them back, and pull them down, and inn
pede their way, and cripple their physical
or their intelligent movement, and yet that
| they pushed on and pushed up until they
reached the spells of worldly success, and
amid the huZZa of nations and centuries,
'sthe lame took the prey?"
| You know that vast multitude of these
men started under the disadvantage of OBJ
scure parentage. Columbus, the son of
the weaver, Ferguson. the astronomer, the
son of the shepherd. America the prey of
the one, worlds on worlds the prey of the
tions is more true in spiritual and religious
directions, and proceed to prove it.
There are in all communities many inva-
lids. They never know we'll day. They
adhere to their occupations, but they go
painting along tho streets with exhaustion,
and at eventlme they lie down on the lounge
with achings beyond all medicament. They
have tried all prescriptions, they have gone
through all the cures which were proclaimed
infallible, and they have come now TO sur.
render 10 perpetual ailments. They con-
and when they see those who are buoyant
in health pass by they almost .envy their
robust frames and easy respiration.
But l have noticed among that invalid
class those who have the greatest knowl-
edge of the Bible, who are in nearest in
timacy with Jesus Christ, who have the
most glowing experiences of the truth, who
have had the most remarkable answers to
prayer, and who have the most exhilarant
anticipations of Heaven. The temptations
which weary us who are in robust health
they have conquered. They have divided
among them the spoils of the conquest.
Many who are alert and athletic and
swarthy loiter in the way. These are the
lame that take the prey. Robert Hall an
invalid, Edward Payson an invalid, Rich
ard Baxter an invalid. Samuel Rutherford.
IN invalid. This morning, when you want
to call to mind those who are most Christ
like, you think of some dnr1ened room in
your fathers house from which there went
4oItu III lnHueuce pOteut lOr eternlty.
A step further: Through raised letters
the art of printing has been brought to the
attention of the blind.
You take up the Bible for the blind. and
you close your eyes, and you run your fin
gers over the raised letters, and you say:
"Why, l never could get any information
in this way. What slow, Humorous way
of reading! God help the blind"
And yet find among that class Of per-
sons, among the blind, the deaf, and the
dumb, the most thorough acquaintance
with Gods word. Shut out from all other
sources of information, no sooner does
their hand touch the raised letter than they
gather Il prayer. Without eyes, they look
off upon the kingdom of Gods love. With
out hearing, they catch the mnstresy of
the skies. Dumb, yet with pencil, OF with
irradiated conntenance, they declare the
glory of God.
A large audience assembled in New York
at the anniversary of the Deaf and Dumb
Asylum, and one Of the visitors, with
chalk, on the blackboard wrote this aues-
ton to the pupils "Do YOU not find it
very hard to be deaf and dumb" And one
of the pupils took the chalk and wrote on
the blackboard this sublime sentence in
answer: "When the song of the angels
shall burst upon our enraptured ear we
will scarce regret that our ears were never
marred with earthly sounds" Oh! the
brightest eyes in Heaven will be those that
never saw on earth. The ears most alert
in Heaven will be those that in this world
heard neither voice of friend. nor thrum
of harp, nor carol of bird, nor doxology of
congregations.
A lad who had been blind from infancy
was cured. The oculist operated upon the
lad and then put very heavy bandage
over the eyes, and after few weeks had
gone by the bandage was removed and the
mother said to the child: willie. can YOU
see?" He said: "Oh, mamma, is this
Heaven?" The contrast between the dark
ness before and the brightness nfterward
was overwhelming. And l tell you the
glories of Heaven will be thousandfold
brighter for those who never saw anything
on earth. While many with good vision
closed their eyes in night. ard many who
had good, artistic and cultured ear went
down into discord, these afflicted ones cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and He
made their sorrows their advantage, and so
"ihe lame took the prey"
In the Seventh century there was a
legend of st. Modobert. It was said that
his mother was blind, and one day while
looking at his mother he felt 80 sympa.
thetic for her blindness that he rushed for
ward and kissed her blind eyes, and. the