The morning news., 1888-09-24
SUPERFLUITIES OF LIFE.
TALMAGE TAKES A LESSON FROM
THE FATE OF A GIANT.

]
Witt Talmage, ID. preached in the Brook
lyn Tabernacle this morning ON the subject,
"Superfluities a Hindrance." Several ocean
steamers arrive in port Sunday mornings
and many of tho passengers, Drowned by
the sea, come directly from the wharf to
tho Brooklyn Tabernacle. The great con
gregation, led by Prof. Ali's cornet and ac-
companied by the organ, at which Prof.
Browne presides, joined in the opening
hymn:
We are thy people we thy care,
our souls and all our mortal frame.
What lasting honors shall we rear,
Almighty Maker, to thy name
Dr. Talmages text was: [ Chronicles.
XXX, 81: "a man of great stature,
whose fingers and toes were tour aud twen-
ty. six on each hand, and six on each foot;
and lie also was the son of the giant But
when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son Of
Shimea, DaYidNs brother, slew him.
Mallormation photographed, aud for what
reasonf Did not this passage slip in by mis-
take into the Sacred Scrirtur, 5. as some-
times paragraph utterly obnoxious to the
editor gets into his newspaper during his
| absencei Is not this Scrlptural erratal No.
no; there Is nothing haphazard about the
Bible: This passage of Scripture was as
certainly Intended to be put in the Bible al
the passage, in the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth" or, "God 80
loved the world that he gave his only be-
COTTON SON"
And | select it for my text to-day be-
cause II is charged with practical and tre-
| mendous meaning. BY the people of God
the Philstines had been conquered, with
the exception of a few giants. The race Of
giants is mostly extinct. I am glad to say.
There is no use for giants now except to
enlarge the income OF museums. But there
were many of them in olden times. Go.
hath WAS, according to the Bible, II feet AZ
inches high. Or, il you do not believe the
Bible, the famous Pliny, secular writer,
declares that at Crete by an earthquake "a
monument was broken open, discovering
the remains of giant g6 cubts long, or 10
feet high So, whether you prefer sacred
or prcfans history, you must come to the
conclusion that there were in tfioss oldeu
times cases of human altitude mou-
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 sub
dued, 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
was annexed an additional finger and the
foot had also a superfiueus addendum. He
had twenty four examinations to hands and
feet where others have twenty. 1t was not
the only instance of the kind. Tavernier,
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 fami-
lies near Berlin similarly equipped of hand
and foot. All of which can believe, for I
have seen two eases of the same physical
superabundance. But this giant of the text
is in battle, and as David, the dwarf war
tad a tnha H.
OF David slays this monster of my
text; and there he hes after the
battle in Gath, dsad giant. His stature
did not save him and bis superfuous ap-
pendices 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 prostrate and
malformed 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; and he also was the son Of
the giant But when he dehsd Israel,
Jonathan, the son Of Shimea, David's
brother, slew him."
Behold how siperfuities are hindrance
rather than a helpl In all the battle at
Gath that day there was not man with
ordinary hand and ordinary foot and ordis
nary stature that ISIS not better off than
this physical curiosity of my text. As
physical size is apt to run in families tho
probability is that this brother of David
who did the work was OF an alb
breyiated stature. A dwarf ON the
right side is stronger than giant
on the wrong side, and all the body, and
mind, and estate and opportunity that you
cannot use use for God and the betterrnent
of the world is sixth finger and sixth
toe, and a terrific hindrance. 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 One Doctor Duff among mis-
sionaries, but three thousand 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 a big noise, but musketa
Of ordinary caliber and shells of ordinary
heft did the execution. President Tyler
day TO experiment with the Peacemaker, q
great iron gun that was to alright with its
thunder foreign navies. The gunner
touches It off and IL explodcs and leaves
cabinet ministers dead ON the deck, while
at that time all up and down our coasts
were caQpon OF ordinary bore able TO be the
defense 81 the nation and ready at the Hrsn
N1uch W Wdhcn W odty Ino 0ufeB VI tno
world Is big guns. After the politicians
who have made all the noise go toue hoarse
from angry discussion on the evening Of the
first Monday in November. the next day
the people with the silent ballots will settle
everything and settle it right, a million 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 by the shoemaker
at the end Of the lane, rocking babies thai
are to be the Martin Luthers, and the Fara-
days, and the Edisons, and the BismarcKs,
and the 9ladstones, aud the Washingtons
and the George Whit6eldsof the year 1888,
and who will make the twentieth century
so bright that this much lauded nineteenth
in comparison will seem part OF the dark
ages The longer / live the more l like
common folks. They do the worlds work,
bearing the worlds burdens, weeping tho
worlds sympathies, carrying the WORLDS
consolation. Among lawyers we see r'so
ND Rufus Choate, or a William Writ, ora
Samuel l.. Southland. but society would go
10 pieces tomorrow If there were not thou
sands Of common lawyers to see that men
and women get their rights. A Valentine
Mott or Willard Parker rises