The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-06-01
DUMB DEVILS.
informal Spirits to Poison and De-
stroy Mankind
There Are Alse Ministering Angels TO Bless
-Don't - Ashamed TO Boldly Ac-
knowledge Your, Principle
DR.. TaImage's Sermon.

There Are Als0 Ministering Angels 70 Bless
-Don't - Ashamed TO Boldly Ac-
knowledge Your, Principle
Or. Talmage's Sermon.
The text selected by Dr.. Talmage
Sunday was: Mark TX, 25. 'Thou dumb
and deaf spirit, l charge thee, come out
of him" ~
Here was case of great domestic an
guish. The son of the household was
possessed OF an evil spirit which, among
other things, paralized his tongue and
made him speechless. When the infiu-
ence was on the patient, he could not
say word articulation was impossi-
BILE. The spirit that captured this mem
Der of the household was dumb spirit
--so-called by Christ--a spirit abroad
to-day and as lively and as potent as in
New Testament times. Yet in all the
realms of sermonology, ! can not find q
discourse concerning this dumb devil
which Christ charged upon in my text,
saying: Come out of him."
There has been much destructive
superstition abroad in the world con-
corning possession by evil spirits. I'm
der the form of belief in witchcraft this
delusion swept the continents. Per-
sons were supposed to be possessed
with some evil spirit, which made them
able to destroy others. In the six
teenth century, in Geneva, 1900 per-
sons were burned to death as witches.
Under one Judge, in Lorraine, 900 per-
sons were burned to death as witches.
In one neighborhood of France 1000
persons were burned. In two centuries
zoe, 900 persons were slain as witches. So
mighty was the delusion that it included
among its victims some of the greatest
intellects of all time, such as Chief
| Justice Matthew Hale and Sir Edward
Coke, and such renowned ministers Of
religion as Cotton Mather, one OF
whose books, Benjamin Franklin said,
shaped his life--and Richard Baxter, and
Archbishop Cramner, and Martin Luther;
and, among writer's and philosophers,
Lord Bacon. That belief, which has
become the laughing-stock Of all sensi-
BILE people, counted its disciples among
the wisest and best people of Sweden,
Germany, England, France, Spain and
New England But while we reject
witchcraft, any man who believes the
Bible must believe that there are dia-
bolical agencies abroad in the world.
While there are ministering spirits to
bless, there are internal spirits to him
der, to poison and to destroy. Christ
was speaking to spiritual existence,
when, standing before the afflicted one
OF the text, he said: "Thou dumb and
deaf spirit, come out of him."
Against this dumb devil Of the text I
put you on your guard. Do not think
that the agent of evil has put his blight
on those, who, by omission of the vocal
organs, have had the golden gates of
speech bolted and barred. Among
those who have never spoken word
are the most gracious and lovely and
talented souls that were ever in
carnated. The chaplains Of the
asylums for the dumb can tell
you enchanting stories Of those who
never called the name Of father or
mother or child, and many of the most
devout and prayerful souls will never,
in this world, SPEAK the name of God
or Christ. Many deaf mute have /
seen with the angel Of intelligence
seated at the window of the eye, who
never came forth from the door of the
mouth. What a miracle of loneliness
and knowledge was Laura Bridgman,
of New Hampshire, not only without
faculty of speech, but without hearing
and without sight, all these faculties
removed by sickness when 2 years of
age, yet, becoming wonder at needle
work, at the piano, at the sewing ma
chine, and an intelligent student of the
Scriptures, and confounding philoso-
piers, who came from all parts of the
world to study this phenomenon.
Thanks to Christianity for what it has
done for the amelioration of the condi-
ton of the deaf and dumb. Back in
the ages they were put to death as hav-
ing no right, with such paucity of
equipment, to live, and for centuries
they were classed among the idiotic and
unsafe. But in the sixteenth century
came Pedro Ponce, the Spanish monk,
and in the seventeenth century came
Juan Pablo Ponet, another Spanish
monk, with dac tylology or the finger
alphabet, and in our own century we
have had John Braidwood and Drs.
Mitchell and Ackerly and Peet and
Sallaudet, who have given to uncount-
ed thousands of those whose tongues
were forever silent the power to spell
out on the air by a manual alphabet
their thoughts about this world and
their hopes for the next. We rejoice in
the brilliant inventions in behalf OF
those who were born dumb.
One of the most impressive audiences
ever addressed was in the far west
two or three years ago-an audience Of
about 600 persons, who had never heard
a sound or spoken, a word, an inter-
prefer standing beside me while l ad-
dressed them. I congratulated that
audience on two advantages they had
over the most of us-the one that they
escaped hearing great many disagree
able things, and, on the other fact, that
they escaped saying things that they
were sorry for afterward. Yet, after
all the alterations a shackled tongue
is an appalling limitation. But, we are
not this morning speaking of congenital
NUTS. We mean those who are born
with all the faculties of vocalization,
and yet have been struck by the evil
one mentioned in the text--the dumb
devil to whom Christ called, when he