The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-05-20
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DR.. TALMAGE DlscOURsEs ON THE
DUMB DEVIL

NHhSS biiO CauSV VI OHAiSN'
BROOKLYN, May l5-In his sermon
today Rev. DR.. Talmage illustrated, il
potent and convincing language, til,
duty incumbent upon Christians of EN-
bracing every opportunity that offers il
this life to do good and to advance tn
cause of the kingdom Of Christ by bolt
acknowledgement Of their principles DE
fore men. The text selected was, Marx
tx, %, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit,
charge thee, come ont OF him
Here was case Of great domestic an
guish. The son of the household was
possessed of IN evil spirit which, among
other things, paralyzed his tongue and
made him speechless. When the influ-
ence was on the patient he could not say
a word-articulation was impossible.
The spirit that captured this member of
the household was dumb spirit-so
called by Christ-a spirit abroad today
and as lively and potent as in New Tes-
lament times. Yet in all the realms of
sermonology | cannot find a discourse
concerning this dumb devil which Christ
charged upon my text, saying, Come
out of him
There has been much destructive su-
perstition abroad in the world concern
ing possession by evil spirits. Under
the form of belief in witchcraft this de-
fusion swept the continents. Persons
were supposed to be possessed with some
evil spirit which made them able to de-
stroy others. In the Sixteenth century
in Geneva 100 persons were burned to
death as witches. Under one judge in
Lorraine 900 persons were burned to
death as witches. In one neighborhood
of France 900 persons were burned.
In two centuries 100000 persons were
slain as witches. So mighty was the de-
fusion that it included among its vic
Tins some of the greatest intellects of
all time, such as Chief Justice Mathew
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 Rich
ard Baxter and Archbishop Cranmer
and Martin Luther, and among writers
and philosophers Lord Bacon. That be-
lief, which has become the laughing
stock of all sensible people, counted its
disciples among the wisest 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 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."
NOT A LITERAL BLIGHT.
Against this dumb devil of the text, / |
put you on your guard. Do not think |
that this 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 a word are the |
most gracious and lovely and talented |
souls that were ever incarnated. 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
1evout 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 B1idgman, of
New Hampshire! Not only without fac
atty of speech, but without hearing and
without sight all these faculties re-
moved by sickness when two years of
age, yet becoming a wonder at needle
work, at the piano, at the sewing ma
chine, and an intelligent student of the
and confounding philoso-
pliers, who came from all parts of the
world to study the phenomenon. Thanks
o Christianity for what it has done for
he amel1oration Of the condition of the
leaf and the dumb. Back in the ages
hey were put to death as having no
light, with such paucity of equipment I
% live, and for centuries they were |
'lassed among the idiotic and unsafe.
But in the Sixteenth century came '
Pedro Ponce, the Spanish monk, and in l
he Seventeenth century came Juan Pab- {
o Bonet, another Spanish monk, with
or the finger alphabet, and !
n our own century we have had John s
3raidwood and Drs. Mitchell and Ack- I
rly and Peet and Gallaudet, who have {
,iven uncounted thousands of those
whose tongues were forever silent the t
'ower to spell out ON the air by man. {
Ial alphabet their thoughts about this {
world and their hopes for the next. We '
ejoice in the brilliant inventions in be- &
af of those who were born dumb. /
One of the most impressive audiences
ever addressed was IN the far west two {
r three years ago-an audience of about 4
90 persons who had never heard sound '
T spoken word, an interpreter stand
1g beside me while | addressed them. c
congratulated that audience on two |
dvantages they had over the most of q
s-the one Lat they escaped hearing a t
reat many disagreeable things, and on v
be other fact that they escaped saying G
Kings they were sorry for afterward.
let after all the alleviations a shackled 7
1ngue is an appalling limitation. But q
"a are mt This morning cr,ao lriper Of