The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-05-27
CASTING OUT DEVILS.
DR.. Talmage Discourses on the Duty
of Christians.
They Should Speak Out Boldly For Christ
The Dumb Devils of Apathy and In
difference ShouId BE Cast Out
Present Work Needed.

L. De Witt Talmage illustrated in po
tent and convincing language the duty
incumbent upon Christians of embrac
ing every opportunity that offers in
this life to do good and to advance the
cause of the kingdom of Christ by q
bold acknowledgement of their prin
ciples before men. The text selected
was Mark tx. 25: ''Thou dumb auC
deaf spirit, charge thee come out Of
him." The preacher said:
Here was cause of great domestic
anguish. The son of the household was
possessed of an evil spirit which, among
other things, paralyzed his tongue and
made him speechless. When the influ
ence was on the patient he could moi
say aword-articulation was impossible
The spirit that captured this member OF
the household was a dumb spirit-so
called by Christ-a spirit abroad to-day
and as lively and potent as in
! New Testament times. Yet in all the
realms of sermonology cannot find a
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-
cerning possession by evil spirits.
Under 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 sixteenth
century, in Geneva, 1,5OO persons were
h,1r ,D1 -,
judge. in Lorraine, 900 persons were
burned to death as witches. In one
neighborhood of France 1000 persons
were burned. In two centuries 200, 600
persons were slain as witches. So
mighty was the delusion that it in
cluded among its victims some of the
greatest intellects of all time, such as
Chief Justice Matthew Hale and Sir Ed
ward Coke and such renowned minis
ters of religion as Cotton Mather, one of
whose books, benjamin Franklin said
shaped his life-and Richard Baxter,
and Archbishop Crauncr. and Martin
Luther: and, among writers and philo-
sophers, Lord Bacon. That belief
which has become the laughing stock
of all sensible people. counted its dis
ciples among the wiscst and best peo-
pie 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 diabolical agencies
abroad in the world. While there are
ministering spirits to bless there are
internal spirits to hinder, to poison and
to destroy. Christ was speaking to
spiritual existence, when, standing be-
fore the afflicted one of the text, he
said: "Thou dumb and deaf spirit come
out of him."
Against this dumb devil of the text l
put you on your guard. Do not think
this agent of evil has put his blight on
these who, by omission of the vocal or
gans, have had the golden gates of
speech bolted and barred. Among
those who have never spoken Il word
are the most gracious and lovely and
talented souls that were ever incar-
mated. The chaplains for 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 devoted and prayer
full 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 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 two
years of age, yet becoming a wonder at
needlework, at the piano, at the sewing
machine. and an Intelligent student of
the Scriptures, and confounding philoso-
pliers, who came from all parts of the
world to study the phenomenon.
Thanks to Christianity for what |
it has done for the amelioration |
of the condition of the deaf and |
dumb. Back in the ages they were put to |
death as having no right, with such |
paucity of equipment, to live, and for |
centuries they were classed among the |
idiotic and unsafe. But we are not this |
morning speaking of congenital mutes. |
the faculties of vocalization, and yet |
have been struck by the evil one men
toned in the teXt-the dumb devil to |
whom Christ called when he said: |
''Thou dumb and deaf spirit, charge
thee come out of him"
There has ceen apotheosization of
silence. Some one has said silence is
golden and sometimes the greatest tri
umph is to keep your mouth shut But
sometimes silence is crime and the
direct result of the baleful influence of
the dumb devil of our text. There is
hardly a man or woman in this house
to-day who has not been present on
some occasion when the Christian re-
Iigion became a target for raillery.
Some one got the laugh on the
Bible and caricatured the profes-
sion of religion as hypocrisy, or
made a pun out of something that
Christ said. The laugh started and you
Joined in, and not one word of protest
lid you utter. What kept you silent?
Modessy? No. Incapacity to answer?
No. Lack of opportunity? No. 1t was
4 blow on both your lips by the wing of
the dumb devil. If some one should
nalign your father, or mother, or wife,
or husband, or child, you would flush
up quick, and either with an indignant
word, or doubled fist, make response.
And yet here is our Christian religion,
which has done SO much for you and so
much for the world that it will take ell
eternity to celebrate it, and yet, when
t was attacked. you did not so much as
'ay: Il differ. l object. l am sorry
20 hear you say that There is another
,ide to this" You Christian people