Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-11-04
REI. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: The Finger of God"

~
was disposed to do better, but at the lifting
of each plague he was as bad as before. The
neCromancers OF the palace. however. were
compelled to recognize the divine movement.
and after one of the most exasperating
pla cues of all the series they cried out in the
words OF my text, This Is the finger or
Go-"-nOt the first nor the last time when
bad people said good thing. An old mil
adeirhla friend visiting me the other day
asS i me if had ever noticed this passage
OF Scripture from which l to-day speak. L
told him no. and said right away, That
l. - rood text for a sermon"
We all recognize the hand or God and
knc it is mighty hand. You have seen
a man keep two or three rubber balls flying
IN the air, catching and pitching them 80
that none of them fell to the floor, and do
this for several minutes, and you have adj
mired his dexterity. But have you thought
how the hand OF God keeps millions and
millions of round worlds vastly larger than
our world hving for centuries without let
ting one fall? WOndrous power and skill
of Gods ham! But about that | am not to
discourse. My text leads me TO speak OF
less than fifth of the divine haDi. This
is the finger OF God OILY IN two other
places does the Bible refer to this division
of the omnipotent hand. The rocks on
Mount Sinai are basalt and very hard stone.
Do you imagine it a chisel that cut the
ten commandments in that basalt? No; in
Exodus we read that the tables OF stone
Christ say that He cast out devils with "the
finger of Goi"
The only instance that Christ wrote a
word He wrote not with pen on parchment,
but with His finger on the ground. Yet
though seldom reference is made IN the
Bible to part OF Gods hand, il you and l
keep our eyes open and our hearts right we
will be compelled often to cry out, This Is
the finger of Godr' 1t is my intention be-
fore long to begin a series OF sermons on
al N1I
Among the Stars" The Ornitholog7 of
the Bible, or God Among the Birds" The
Ponology Of the Bible or God Among the
Orchards" The Ichthyology OF the
Bible, or God Among the Fishes" The
Geology Of the 9Biole, or God Among the
Goi Among the 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 ShelIs;'' The
Botany of the Bible, or God Among the
Flowers" "fhe Chronology of the Bible, or
God Among the Centuries" and l want this
coming winter TO gel you and get myself
into the habit of seeing thu 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 aft airs.
The most OF the gestiCulation IS natural
Ii stranger accoSt you on the street and
ask you the way to some place it is, as
natural as to breathe for you to level your
fOretnger this way or that. Not one out
of a thousand Of you would stand with your
hands by your side and make no motion with
your finger. Whatever you may say with
your lips is emphasized and REINFORCED and
translated by your finger. Now God in the
10y the way of direction. He plainly tells US
the way to go. But in every exigency
OF our life. if we will only look,
we will find providential gesture
and providentiat pointing SO that we may
confidently say, "Tnis is the finger OF God"
Two or three times in my life, when per-
picked on questions OF duty after earnest
prayer, l have cast lots TO what should
do. In olden times the Lords people cast
lots. The land of Canaan was divided by
priests and Levites by lot. Matthias was
chosen to the apostleship by lot.
Now casting lots is about the most solemn
thing you can do. It should never be done
except with a solemnity like that OF the last
judgment. 1t is direct appeal to the AL
mighty. If after earnest prayer you do
not seem to get the divine direction, think
you might without sin write upon one slip
of paper Yes" and upon another NO." or
some other decisive words appropriate to
the case, and then obliterIating from your
mind the identity of the slips OF paper draw
the decision AMI act upon it. In that case
think you have right to take that indica-
ton the finger OF God. But do not do
that except as the last resort AMI with de-
VOutne5s that leaves absolutely all with
God
For much that concerns US we have no re-
spOusibillty, and we need not make appeal
to the Lord for direction. We are not re-
SpOnsble for most of OR surroundings. We
are not responsible for the country of our
birth, nor for whether we are Americans or
NOrwegianS or Scotchmen or 1rishmen or
EngishmeD. We are not responsible for
the age in which we live. We are not re-
Sponsible for our temperament, be it ner-
vOus or phlegmatic, bilious or sa 1guine.
We are not responsible for our feat res, be
they homely or beautiful. We are not re-
SpOnSlble for the height or smallnesS OF our
stature. We are not responsible for the
fact that we are mentally dull of brilliant.
For the most OF our environments we have
no more responsibility ehan we have for tae
moltusIS at tho botto n of the Atlantic
ocean.
On, am so glad that there are about five
hundred thousand things that we are not re-
sponsible for! Do not blame us for being in
our manner cold as an iceberg, or nervous
as cat amid a pack Of Fourth or July fire.
crackers. II you are determined to blame
somebody. blame our great grandfatherS or
great-grandmcthers, who died before the
Revolutionary war, and who may have had
habits depressing and ruinous. There are
wrong things about us all, which make me
think IT, one hundred ami fifty ears ago
there was some terrible cTana III our ances-
tral line. Realize that. and it will be a re-
lief semi-iuhnite. Let Us take ourselves as
we are this moment, and then ask Nv hich
way| Get all the direction you can from
careful and constant study OF the Bible, and
then look up AMI looS out AMI look around,
and see if you can find the finger OF God.
1t is a remarkable thing That sometimes
no one can see that finger out yourself. a