Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1892-10-27
1.-THE FINGER OF GOD"
A WONDERFUL SERMON BY DR..
TALMAGE.
The Hand of God Is Everywhere and 1t
Can BE Seen on the Hillside and In
the vallcy-It Can he Seen In Our
Daily Lives Shaping Our Destinies.

ity of the tabernacle was tested this
morning by the vast crowd that filed
it in every part, as soon as the doors
were opened. After reading and com
merting on several passages of scrip
ture illustrative of Gods providential
dealings, DR.. Talmage gave out the
hymn beginning,
God moves in mysterious way
His wonders TO perform.
His sermon was on the text Exodus
s:l9, The finger of God "
Pharaoh was sullxing in his marble
throne room at Memphis. Plague after
plague had come, and sometimes the
Egyptian monarch was disposed to do
better, but at the lifting of each plague
he was as bad as before. The NEGRO
mancers of the palace, however, were
compelled to recognize the divine
movement, and after one of the
most eXasperating plaques of
all the series. they cried out in the
words of my text: This is the finger
of God''-not the first nor the last time
when bad people said good thing
An old Philadelphia friend visiting me
the other day, asked me if | had ever
noticed this passage of scripture from
which / to-day speak. told him no,
and ! said right away, That is good
text for sermon
We all recognize the hand of God and
know it is mighty hand. You have
seen man keep two or three rubber
balls flying in the air, catching and
pitching them so that none of them
fell to the floor, and do this for several
minutes, and you have admired its
dexterity. But have you thought how
the hand of God keeps millions and
millions of round worlds vastly
larger than our world flying for
centuries without letting one fall?
Wondrous power and skill of Gods
Sand. But about that am not to dis
course. NY text leads me to speak of
less than a fifth of the divine hand.
This is the finger of God" Only in
JHo other places does the bible refer
to this division of the Omnipotent
land The rocks on Mount Sinai are
basalt and very hard stone. Do you
imagine it was a chisel that cut the
ten commandments in that basalt?
No, in Exodus we read that
the tables of stone were written with
the finger of God" Christ says that he
cast out devils with the finger of God"
The only instance that Christ wrote Il
word, he wrote not with pen on parch
ment, but with his finger on the ground.
Yet though so seldom reference is made
IN the bible to part of Gods hand. if
you and | keep our eyes open and our
heart right, will be compelled often
to cry out, This is the finger of God"
1t is my intention before long to begin
a series of sermons on the Astronomy
of the Bible, or God Among the Stars;
the ORTHODOXY of the Bible, or God
Among the Birds; the POmology of the
Bible, or God Among the Orchards; the
IchthyolOgy of the Bible. or God
Among the Fishes: the Geology of the
Bible, or God Among the Rocks; the
Waters of the Bible, or God Among
seas; the Zoology of the Bible.
or God Among the Beasts; the
Precious Stones of the Bible, or God
Among the Amethysts; the COnchOlOgy
of the Bible, or God Among the Shells;
the Botany of the Bible, or God Among
the Flowers: the Chronology of the
Bible, or God among the Centuries, and
want this coming winter to get you
and get myself into the habit of seeing
the finger of God everywhere and in
everything; but this morning l want
to induce you to look for the finger of
God in your personal affairs
1t is a remarkable thing that some
| times no one can see that finger but
yourself. A year before Abraham Lin
coin signed the Proclamation of Eman-
/ cipation, the White House was
! thronged with committees and laymen,
/ advising the President to make that
/ Proclamation. But he waited and
waited, amid scoff and anathcma, be-
cause he did not himself see the finger
! of God. After awhile and at just the
! right time. he saw the divine pointing
and signed the Proclamation. The
I distinguished Confederates, Mason
and Slidell, were taken of
an English vessel by the
United States government. Don't
give them up" shouted all the
Northern States. Let us have wal
with England rather than surrender
them" was the almost unanimous cry
of the North. But William II. Seward
saw the finger of God leading in Just
the opposite direction and the Con
federates were given up, and W,
avoided war with England; which a
that time would have been the demoli
ton of the United States government
In other words the finger of God as it di
reefs YOU, may be insensible to everyod,
else. Follow the divine pointing, a
You see it, although the world ma,
call you fool. There has never beer
Il man or woman who amounted to any
thing that has not sometimes bee
called Il fool. Nearly all the mistake
that you and | have made have com
from our following the pointing O
some other finger, instead of the finge
of God. But, now, suppose all form
Of disaster close in upon a man. Sur
pose his business collapses. Suppos
he buys goods and cannot sci
them. Suppose by II new inventio
others can furnish the same goods a
,css price. Suppose cold spring or
ate autumn or the coming of an ep
dcmic corners a man, and his note
comes due and he cannot meet then
and his rent must be paid and there
nothing with which to pay it, and tn
wages of the employees are due an
here is nothing with which to NEE
that obligation, and the bank will nc
discount, and the business friends I
whom he goes for accommodation al
in the same predicament, and he beai
up and struggles on, until, aftt
while, crash goes the who
concern. He stands wondering an
saying: 81 do not see the meaning {
all this. have done the best ! coulC
God knows would pay my debts if
7 ould, but here / am hedged in an
= stopped" What should that man d
5 in that case? Go to the scriptures an
read the promise about all thing