Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-10-27
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DR.. TALMAcE SPEAKS OF THE
FINGER OF GOD"

An Extremely Interesting ana Instructive
sermon, Preceded by the Hymn. God
Moves in a Mysterious Way His Won
ders to Perform"
BROOKLYN, Oct 23.-The capacity 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 read
ing and commenting upon several passages
of Scripture illustrative of Gods proyi-
Dental dealings, Dr. Talmage gave out the
hymn beginning
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform.
His sermon was on the text Exodus viii,
49, "The Finger of God"
Pharaoh was sullxing in his marble
throneroom at Memphis. Plague after
plague had come, and sometimes the Egyp-
tian monarch was disposed to do better
but at the lifting of each plague he was as
bad rs before. The necromancers OF the
palace, however, were compelled to recog-
nize 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 Scrip
ture from which | today speak. ! told
him no, and said right away, "That is a
good text for a sermon"
We all recognize the hand of God and
know it is mighty hand. You have seen
a 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 adj
mired his dexterity But haveyou thought
how the hand of God keeps millions and
millions Of round worlds vastly larger than
our world flying for centuries without let
ting one fallS Wondrous power and skill
of Gods hand! But about that am not to
discourse. Ny text leads me TO speak OF
less than fifth of the divine hand This
Is the finger Of Cod Only 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 was chisel that
cut the ten commandants 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"
word he wrote not with pen on parchment,
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 hearts right
we will be compelled often to cry cut,
This is the finger Of Godp' 1t is my in
tention before long to begin series of SER
mons on 1.-The Astronomy Of the Bible, or
81 A 4 npa4i1 ssfrba IA nintry
OF the Bible. or Gcd Amcng the Birds;p
"The Pomology Of the Bible, or God
Among the Orchards" 1.-The Ichthyology
of the Bible, or God Among the Fishes"
1.-THE Geology of the Bible, or God Among
the Rocks" "The Waters of the Bible, or
God Among the Seas" 1.-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" 1.-The Chronology of the Bi-
BILE, 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 every
thing, but this morning want to induce
you 20 look for the finger of God in your
personal affairs.
THE FINGER OF GOD.
To most of us gesticulation is natural
If a 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
forefnger this wCy or that. Not one out
Of a thousand of you would stand with
your hands by your side and make no mo-
ton with your finger. Whatever you may
Il
forced and translated by your finger. Now
God in the dear old Book says to US in
Vulnerable things by the way of direction
He plainly tells US The way to go. But in
every eNigencv of our life, If we will only
look we will find a providential gesture
and provideafial pointing, so that we
may confidently say. This is the finger Of
God " Two or tbeee times in my life.when
perplexed on questions of duty after ear
nest prayer have cast lots as to what |
should do IN olden times the Lords peo-
pie cast lots. The land of Canaan was
divided by lot. The cities were divided
among tie priests aud Levites by lot. Mat
thias was chosen TO the apostleship by lot.
Now casting lots is about the most
solemn thing you can do. 1t should never
be done except with solemnity like that
OF tue ldSb luu2iltul. IL - "a dlitGb hllpchl
to the Almighty. 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 appro-
pirate to the case, and then ohliteratng
from your mind the identity Of the slips of
paper draw the decision and act upon it.
In that case think you have right to
take that indication as the finger of God.
But do not do that except as the last resort
and with a devoutness that leaves abso-
lutely all with God
For much that concerns us we have nc
responsibility and we need not make ap-
peal to the Lord for direction. We are not
responsible for most Of our surroundings
We are not responsible for the country OF
our birth, nor for whether we are Ameri-
cans or Norwegians or Seotchmen OF
lrishmen or Englishmen. We are not re-
sponsible for the age in which we live.
We are not responsible for our tempera
ment, he It nervous or phlegmatic, bilious
or sanguine. We are not responsible for
our features, be they homely OF beautiful