The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-09-28
/ TABERNACLE SERVICES.
REV. DR.. TALMAoE's DISCOURSE
LAST SUNDAY MORNING.

. perfiuities q Hinderancc Rather Than q
Hcip-we All Have Fingers Enough
The Most beautiful Foot.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 23.-The Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, d. D., preached in the
Brooklyn tabernacle this morning on the
subject, 'Superfuities Hinderance. "
Several ocean steamers arrive in port
Sunday mornings, and many Of the pas
sengers, Drowned by the sea, come di-
rectly from the wharf to the Brooklyn
tabernacle. The great congregation, led
by Professor Ali's cornet, and accom-
panied by the organ, at which Professor
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 manner
DR.. Talnaage's text was I Chron. Xxx,
6, 7: IA 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 the giant.
But when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the
son of Shimea, David's brother, slew
him."
Malformation photographed, and for
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 this script
ural errata9 No, no; there is nothing
haphazard 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 the EARTH" or "God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten
Son."
And I select it for my text today be-
cause it is charged with practical and
tremendous meaning. By the people Of
God the Philistines had been conquered,
with the exception of 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 mu-
seums. But there were many Of them
in olden times Goliath was, according
to the Bible, eleven feet, four and half
inches high. Or, if you do not believe
the Bible, the famous Pliny, secular
writer, declares that at Crete, by an
earthquake monument was broken
open, discovering the remains Of giant
forty-six cubits long, or sixty-nine feet
high. So, whether you prefer sacred 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 surplus of
digits. To the ordinary fingers was an
nexed an additional finger and the foot
had also superfuohs addendum. He
had twenty -four examinations to hands
and feet Where others have twenty. It
zsas oAo.- the oaly instance of the kind.
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 dispatched
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
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 NAL
formated giant of the text: ga 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 de-
fed Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimea,
David's brother, slew him."
Behold how superfuities are hinder
ence rather than help! In all the bat
tie 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 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 giant on
The wrong side, and all the body and
mind and estate and opportunity that you
cannot use for God and the betterment
Of the world is sixth finger and a sixth
toe, and terrific 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 fin
gers of their right hand and they have just
Eve, no more and no less One 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 thou
sand 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 and shells of ordinary heft |
lid the execution. President Tyler |!
and his cabinet go down the Potomac one |
lay to experiment with the Peacemaker,
! great iron gun that was to alright |
with its thunder foreign navies. The
gunner touches it off and it explodes and
caves cahinet ministers dead IN tho |