Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-01-02

DR.. Talmage took as the subject Of his
sermon, ga Bad Boil Cured" The text
was: 81 have heard thy prayer; behold,
will heal thee. And Isaiah said: Take a
lump of figs. And they took and laid it on
the boil, and he recovered" 2 Kings Xxx,
ST..
Luxurious living is not healthy. The
second generation of kings and queens and
lords and princes is apt to be brainless and
invalid. The second crop of grass is almost
always stort. Roy al blood is generally
scrofulous. You will not be surprised, then,
to hear that Kipg Hezekiah had disorders
which broke out ia csrbuncle, virulent
and ,deathful. The Lord told him he must
die: he did not want to die. He turned his
face to tho wall SO that his prayer would
not be interrupted, and cried to God for his
life. God heard the prayer and answered
it, saying: 'iBebold, will heal thee" But
there was human instrumentality TO be en-
ployed. This carhuncle needed a ''cata-
plasm." That is a tough word we use to
show how much wo know. If in the pulpit
we always used words the people under
stood we never shonld have any reputation
for learning. Well, this carbuncle needed
cataplasm. which is a poultcc. Your old
mother, who doctored her own children in
the time when physicians were lot as plenty
as they are now, will tell you that the very
best poultice is fig and that was what was
,1oed upon the carbupcle of King Hezekiah.
The power of God, accompanied by the hu-
man instrumeUtality, cured the King.
In this age of discovery, when men know
30 much it almost kills them, and write SO
wisely it almost kills US, it has been found
out that prayer to God is dead failure
A - f,.,
able law. There is no use in praying to
God for rain in time of drought. The
"veath er probabilities'' in the morning pa
and the whole nation in prayer before God
would not bring down single drop. am
not now speaking Of in imaginary theory,
but of that which is believed by ten thou
sand times ten thousand men.
If sickness comes to your household, it
will depend entirely upon ventilation, good
diet and the skill OF the doctors as to whe,h-
er your child gets well. The father might
pray all day, and the mother might pray all
night-it would not have any effect upou
the case. II squills, belladonna, paregoric
and cruel do the work, your child will get
we'll; if not, not. There is east Iron God
seated at the head Of the universe, holding
in the cold grasp of His metal fingers a
band of law from which nothing can break
away.
Men and women OF God, at this point the
great battle of Christ anity is to be fought.
The great foe CT Ch istianity to-day is ra-
tionslism, that comes out from our schools,
and universities, and magazines and news
papers, to scott at Bible truth and carica-
ture the old religion CT Jesus. 1t says Jesus
is not God, for it is impossible to explain
how he can bs divine and human at the
same time. The Bible is not inspired, for
there are things in it that they don't like.
Regeneration Is a farce; there is good
enough in us, and the only thing is to bring
it out Developm ent is the word-develop-
ment. The Garden of Eden is a fairy story,
and no more to be believed than the Ara
bian Nights, or GULL ver's Travels, or Rob
inson Crusoe. We all started as baboons,
and are blood relati ons TO that monkey
squirniDg about on the top OF that hand
organ. Lazarus was aot dead when Christ
preteuded to raise him; he was only playing
dead The water eas not changed into
zine at the wedding, but Christ brought IN
some wine that he had found elsewhere to
make up the deficieI cy. Christ did not
walk on The sea, but On the shore, SO near
that it seemed as if ho really were on the
water.
What is still more alarming is that Chris
tian men dare not meet this rjdicule. There
is not one Christian man in five that can,
unbanched, stand 10 the presence of all
tlis raillery, saying: 81 believe in the whole
Bible, and in every single statement that it
makes" Christian men try to soften the
Bible down to suit the skeptics. The
skeptics sneer at the dividing Of the Red
Sea; and the Christian goes to explaining
that the wind blew hurricane from one
direction a good while, until all the water
piled up; and besides, that it was low water
ANYHOW, and SO the Israelites went through
without any trouble. Why not be frank
and say: 81 believe the Lord God Almighty
came to the brink of the Red Sea, and with
his right arm swung back the pillows on the
right side, and with his left arm swung
back the pillows on the left side, and the
abashed water stood up hundreds Of feel
high, while through their CLASSY wall the
sea monsters gazed with affrighted eyes OF
the passing Israelites? The rationalists
comes to you saying:' "How about JONAH
and the whale? DO you really believe thai
fish story" Thsrs were never SO many
Nantucket fisherman after one whale a
there have been rationalists finging her.
poons at the Mediterranean sea-monstsr:
and from that one whale they have col
enough oil to light ten thousand souls g
perdition. A skeptic tells you that Jonai
would have been killed in the process o.
swallowing and that he could not, anyhow
have lived three days in such close quarters
but wonld b We been smothered by the poo
ventilation. AeM the good Christians Y.