Democratic messenger., 1888-09-29

Several ocean steamers lrrived In port on
Sunday mornings, and many of the pass
cngers, Drowned by the sea, come directly
from the wharf 10 the Brooklyn Taberna
Gle. The great congregation. led by Pro
fcssor Ais cOrnet and accompanied b,
the organ, at which Professor Brown,
presidcs, Joined in the opening hymn
We are Thy people, We Thy care,
Our souls an all our mortal frame
What lasting honors shall we rear.
Almighty Maker, to Thy name?
DIR. Talmage's text was l. Chronicle.
xx., 81: ~ man OF great stature, whose
fingers and toes were four and twenty
six on each hand, and six on each foot
and he was also son Of the giant. But
when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son
Of Shimca, David's brother, slew him."
Malformation photographed, and fol
what reason? Did not this passage slip
in by mistake into the Sacred Scriptures,
as sometimes paragraph utterly obnox.
ious to the editor gets into his newspaper
during his absence! Is not the Scriptural
crrata? No. no; there Is nothing haphaz.
ard about the Bible. This passage Of
Scripture was as certainly intended to be
put IN the Bible as the passage "In the
beginning God created the heavens and
earth," or God 30 loved the world that
He gave his only bcgotten son."
And | select 1t for my text to-day be.
cause il is charged with practical aud
tremendous meaning. BY the people Of
God the Philistincs had been conquered
with the exception of ia few giants. The
race Of giants is mostly extinct, am glad
to say. There is no use Of giants now ex-
ccpt TO enlarge the income OF museums.
But there were many Of them In olden
times. Goliath was, according to the
Bible, eleven feet, four and a.half inches
high. Or. II you do not believe the Bible
the famous Pliny, secular writer, de-
clares that at Crete by an earthquake a
monument was broken open, discovering
the remains Of great giant 40 cubits
long, or 90 feet high. So, whether you
prefer sacred or profanc history, you must
come TO the conclusion that that were In
those olden times cases of human altitude
monstrous and appalling. David had
smashed the skull of one of these giants,
but there were other giants that the David
can wars had not yet sublued, and one Of
them stands in my text He was not only
OF Alpine stature, but had surplus Of
digits. To the ordinary fingers was an.
ncxed an additional finger, and the foot
had also supcriluous addlendum. lie
had "a examinations to hands and feet,
where others have 20. II was not the on
~ instance Of the kind. Tavernier, the
learned writer, say. that the Emperor Of
Java had u son endowed with the same
number Of cxtremitics. Volatins, the poet,
had six fingers on each hand. Maupetius
in his celebrated letters speaks of two
families near Berlin similarly equipped Of
hand and football 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 dispatched one giant,
the brother of David slays the monster Of
my text, and there he lies. after the battle
Gath, a dead giant. His stature did not
save him and his superiluous appendices
of hand and foot did not save him. The
probability was that In the battle his
sixty finger on his hand made him clumsy
In the use Of his weapons. and his sixth
toe crippled his gait. Behold the pros.
trate and malf0rmmated 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. But when
he deied Israel, Jonathan, the son Of
Shimea, David's brother, slew him."
WHEN DwARFs ARE STRONGER THAN
GIANTS.
Behold how superiluitics are hinder
ancc rather than help! In all the battle
Of Gath that day there was not man
with ordinary hand, and ordinary foot,
and ordinary stature that was not better
of than this physical curiosity of my text.
AS physical size Is apt to run In families
the probability Is that this brother of Da.
vid who did the work was Of an abbrevi.
atcd 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 for God
and the bctterment Of the world Is sixth
finger and sixth toe, and aterrible hind.
erance. 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 missionaries, but
5000 missionaries that would tell you
they have only common endowment. One
Florence Nightingale TO nurse the sick In
conspicuous places, but 10000 women
who are just rs good nurses though never
heard Of. The Swamp Angel was big
gun that during the war made big noise,
but muskcis OF ordinary calibre and shells
OF ordinary heit did the execution. Prcsi.
dent Tyler and his Cabinet go down the
Potomac one day TO experiment with the
Peacemaker, great iron gun that was to
alright with It's thunder foreign natives.
The gunner touches II of and II explodes
and leaves Cabinet ministers dead on the
deck, while al that time all up and down
our coasts were canon of ordinary bore
able 10 be the defense Of the nation, and
ready ut the first touch 10 waken TO duty.
The curse Of the world is big guns. After
the politicians who have made all the noise
go home hoarse from angry discussion ON
the evening OF the first Monday In Nov.
ember, the next day the people with the
silent ballots win settle everything, and