The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-10-05
vALUELESs GIANTS.
Dr.. Talmage on the Good Accom-
plished by the Common People.

Dr.. Talmage on the Good Accom-
plished by the Common People.
Giants That Were Overthrown by Ordinary
Men-Grest Things Not Always Best
Dangers OF Too Much wealth-Using
the Hands and Feet Well
In . recent sermon on the subject
@Superfluities Hindrance," DR.. Talmage
took his text from Chronicles XIX. 81: "A
man Of great 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 . giant. But when he defied
Israel, Jonathan, the son Of Shimea,
David's brother, slew him." He said:
Malformation photographed and for
what reason? Did not this passage slip in
my mistake into the sacred Scriptures. as
some times paragraph utterly obnoxious
to the editor gets into his Newspaper dur
ing his absence? Is not this scriptrral
errata? No, no; there is nothing hap
hazard about the Bible. This passage OF
Scripture was as certainly intended to he
put in the Bible as the passage, I'm the
beginning God created the heavens and
the EARTH" or, ''God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten son." And
l select it for my text to-day because it
is charged with practical and tremendous
meaning.
By the people of God the Philistines had
been conquered, with the exception of a
few giants. The race of giants is mostly
extinct, am glad to say. There is no use
for giants now except to enlarge the in
come of museums. But there were many
of them in olden times. Goliath was, ac-
cOrding to the Bible, II feet A.. inches
high. Or, Il you do not believe the Bible,
the famous Pliny, q secular writer, de-
clares that at Crete by an earthquake a
monument was broken open, discovering
the remains of giant 40 cubits long, or
60 feet high. So, whether you prefer sa-
cred or profane history, you must come to
the conclusion that there were in those
olden times cases Of human altitude mon
strous and appalling. David had smashed
the skull Of one of these giants, but there
| were other giants that the Davidean wars
had not yet subdued and one of them
stands in my text. He was not only of
Alpine STATURE but had a surplus of digits.
To the ordinary fingers were annexed an
additional finger, and the foot had also
| Q superfluous addendum. He had twenty
four ternlinatiOns to hands and feet
where others have twenty. It was not
the only Instance of the the kind. Tavern.
| Ter, the learned writer, says that the
Emperor Of Java had son endowed with
the same number of extremities. Volcatius,
the poet, had six fingers on each hand.
Maupetius in his celebrated letters speaks
of two families near Berlin similarly
equipped of hand and foot. All of which
can believe, for have seen two cases of
the same physical superabundance.
But this giant of the text is in battle. and
as David, the dwarf warrior. had dis
patched one giant, the nephew of David,
Stays this monster of my text, and there he
lies after the battle in Gath, q dead giant.
His stature did hot save him and his SUI
perfuOus appendices of hand and foot did
not save him. The probability was that in
the battle his sixth finger on his hand
made him clumsy IN the use of his weapon,
and his sixth toe crippled his gait. Behold
the PROSTATE and mathematical giant of
the text. "A man great of stature, whose
fingers and toes Were four and twenty, six
on each hand and six on each foot; aud he
also was the son of the giant. But when
he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shi-
mea, David's brother, slew him."
Behold how superhuiies are hindrance
rather than help! In all the battle ut
Gath that day there was not a man with
ordinary hand and ordinary foot and Or
binary stature that was not better off than
this physical curiosity of my text. As
physical size is apt to run in families the
probability is that this brother of David
who did the work was of an abbreviated
stature. A dwarf on the right side is
stronger than a giant on the wrong side,
and all the body, and mind, and estate,
and opportunity that you can not use for
God and the betterment of the world is a
sixth finger and sixth toe and q terrific
hindrance.
The most of the good done in the world,
aud 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. One
DR.. Duff among missionaries, but 5000
missionaries that would tell you they have
only common endowment. One Florence
Nightingale to nurse the sick in conspicu-
Gus places, but 10000 women who are
just as good nurses though never heard
Of The Swamp Angel was q big gun that
during the war made a big noise, but mus
kets of ordinary caliber and shells of ordi-
nary heft did the execution. President
Tyler and his Cabinet go down the Potomac
one dayto experiment with thePeacemaker,
q great iron gun that was to Alright with
its thunder foreign navies. The gunner
touches it OFF and it sxplodes and leaves
Cabinet Ministers dead on the deck, while
at that time all up and down our coasts
were cannon of ordinary bore able to be
the defense Of the Nation and ready at the
first touch to waken to duty. The curse of
the world is big guns. After the politi.
clans who have made all the noise 20
home hoarse from angry discussion on the
evening Of the first Monday in November,
the next day the people with tho silent
ballots will settle every thing and settle
it right, q million Of the white slips of pa.
per 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 fash. |
toned on q rough last by the shoemaker at !
the end Of the lane, rocking babies that |
are to be the Martin Luthers, and the Far. |
adays, and the Edisons, and the Bis |
and the Gladstones, and the |
Washingtons, and the George Whitflelds |
Of the year 1893, and who will make the |
twentieth century 30 bright that this much |
lauded nineteenth century in comparison |
will seem a part Of the dark ages.
The longer live the more l like COM
mon folks. They do the worlds work,
bearing the worlds burdens, weeping the
worlds sympathies, carrying the worlds
Among lawyers we see rise
up Rufus Choate, or William Writ, or
q Samuel L. Southland, but society would
60 to pieces tomorrow il there were not
thousands of common lawyers to see that