The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-01-02
ABOUT A FIG P0ULTICE.
TALMAee ON THE CASE OF HezEkIAH.
The Brooklyn Divine Draws Some Practi-
cal Lessons From the Treatment of
Bcil-Remarks on the Efficiency
of Prayer.


there last Sunday morning. Late corners
did not get standing room. DIR. Talmage
preached from this text: II have heard
thy prayer; behold, will heal thee. And
Isaiah said take lump of figs, and they
took and laid it on the boil and he recov-
cred" III Kings, XXX, Z. Among other
remarks, he said:
! have Just returned from a visit to
some fourteen or fifteen OF the large cities
OF the West, aud / have met vast null
tudes OF people, and | have to report to
YOU that there is a state OF expectancy of
national prosperity among the people
such as | have never witnessed. Among
people OF all political parties and OF all oc-
equations and OF ali professions there is q
good cheer, which is something to fill my
heart and your heart with a great glad
ness, and to make us thankful before
God. And with this spirit OF gratitude
TO the Lord. and rejoicing that l again
confront YOU in the work of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, [ am
now ready TO speak TO you upon this most
interesting scene spoken of in the text, in
which King Hezekiah takes so important
part, Luxurious living is not healthy.
The second generation of kings and queens
and lords and princes is apt to be brain
less and invalid. The second crop of
grass is apt to be short. Royal blood Is
almost ALWAYS scrOfulous. We are not
surprised that this King Hezekiah breaks
out in a carbuncle virulent and deathful.
The Lord tells him he must die. He does
not want to die. He turns his face to the
wall that his prayers may not be inter
yupted, and cries for his life.
God hears and answers, saving
70 I v-rin hnn pt1f
instrumentalitv was to be EMPLOYED. This
Carbuncle needed a cataplasm. That Is
tough word we use to show our learning.
III we only used words that the people un-
derstood we should never have any repu-
tation for learning. Upon this carbuncle
they placed cataplasm, which is poul-
tlce, and your old mother, who dOctOred
her own children when they were not so
many physicians as there are now, will
tell you there is no better poultice
for a boil than figs. These figs
were put upon the carbuncle,
and it was healed. The power of God
and fig poultiee together accomplished
the work. In this age of discovery, when
men are so wise that it almost kills them,
and write so wisely that it almost kills us. it
is found out that prayer to God is dead
failure. All things are controlled by in
exorable law. If there came a drought,
an entire nation PROSTATE before God in
PRAYER, and all the churches and cathedrals
In supplication, would not bring down one
drop of rain. / am not speaking OF an alb
straction, but of the theory of thousands
and hundreds of thousands of people,
The weather probabilities decide every
thing for them. If sickness comes to
your house, it will depend upon ventila-
ton, style of diet, skill of the doctor, care
ful nursing atmospheric condition
whether your child gets well or not. The
father may pray all day and the mother
will pray all night; it will not make any
difference. If squills, and belladona, and
paregoric, and Cruel, and medicines, and
nursing, and atmosphere condition do not
effect a cure, nothing will. There is seated
at the head of the universe a cast-iron
God holding in cold fingers of metal a
band of law from which nothing can ever
break away. Ny friends, at this point
christianity is to fight its great
battle. RatiOnalists come out from
their schools and colleges and
they deny the bible because
there are things in it they do not like
They deny that Jesus Christ was God, be-
cause they cannot see how the divine and
human natures could have been conjoined
degeneration is a farce. There is good
out "Developuent' Is the word-''de-
velopment" We were all originally
baboons and are blood relations to that
monkey squirming on the top of q hand
organ. There never were any miracles.
Miracles were impossibie-are impossible
Christ did not turn water into wine, but
He went out among His friends and found
some wine and brought the supply in to
meet the deficiency. Christ did not walk
the waves of GenessaTet, but walked on
the shore SO near the water it seemed as
If He were walking on the water. And
what Is more remarkable, there are a great
many Christians who are so weakened
they Weld to all these suggestions and be-
gin to compromise the matter and explain
away the miracles The rationalists comes
and saws: The Red sea was not divided"
''Oh, yes" says the weak-kneed Christian
the Red sea was divided. That wasn't so
very remarkable. A hurricane blew from
one direction great while and drove the
water I'D IN one direction and then il was
the season OF the year when the water was
low. anyhow, and il wasn't very remarka-
bic that they should have crossed" In
stead of coming right out and saving: 81
believe the Lord God Almighty came
down 10 the Red sea and with His right
arm He swung back the waters on the
right side and with His left arm He swung
back the waters on the left side and the
waters rose in a wall of glass, through
which the sea monsters looked out with
afrighted gaze upon the passing Israel
ties" The nationalist comes out and he
says to the weakened Christian: "You
don't believe the story of Jonah and the
whale. You certainly can't adopt such
notion as that spoken of in the bible"
There we're never so many Nantucket fish
ermen after one whale as there have been
Tationalists pursuing that one Mediterran-
can sea monster, getting out of it enough
oil 70 light 10000 souls to perdition.
"Oh," SAYS the weakened Christian,
that isn't so very remarkable. Why, you
see that sea monster, the whale, is an air
breathing fish and comes from under to
the surface and it got enough air for itself
and enough for the prophet" Instead of
saying: God could have taken the
prophet through the jaws of the whale,
and lie could have kept Jonah down there
for five years without breathing if He
wanted to. Who made the whale? God.
Who made Jonah? God. Then | think
lie could do anything He wanted with
either Of them. You Just take all the su-
pernatural and all the miraculous out OF
the bible and you might rs well surrender
the bible. Then ] refer 70 the bible
.Esop's Fables" or "Gulliver's Travels"