The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1892-11-04
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Finger Of God and the Way
It Points Us.
The BROOKLYN Preacher Instructs Us Z
Follow the Pointing of the Divine
Finger-Natfona and Tndivldu-
ais should Heed 1t.


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 a good thing. An old Philadel-
phia friend visiting me the other day
asked me if had ever noticed this pas
sage of Scripture from which to-day
speak. told him no, and said right
away: THAT Is a good text for SER
mon"
We all recognize the hand of God and
know it is a 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 forseveral min
utes, and you have admired his dex-
terity. 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 let
ting one fall? Wondrous power. and
skill of Gods handl But about that /
am not to discourse. Ny text leads me
to speak of less than a fifth of the
Divine hand. This is the finger of
God" 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 commandments in that basalt?
No, in Exodus we read that the tables
of stones were written with the fin
ger of God" Christ saws that He
cast out the devils with ''the
finger of God" The only instance
that Christ wrote a 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
heart right, we 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 1.-THE Astronomy
of the Bible, or God Among the Stars"
1.-THE ORTHODOXY of the Bible, or God
Among the Birds" 1.-THE Pomology of
the Bible, or God Among the Or
chards;" 1.-THE Ichthyology of the BIZ
bic, or God Among the Fishes" "The
Geology of the Bible, or God Among
the Rocks" The Waters of the Bible,
or God Among the Seas;'' ''The FOOL.
ogy of the Bible, or God Among the
Beasts" The Precious Stones of the
Bible, or God Among the Amethysts;;'
1.-THE COnchology of the Bible, or God
Among the Shellsr' 1.-THE Botany of the
Bible, or God Among the Flowers
1.-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 fin
ger of God everywhere and in every
thing; but this morning want to in
duce you to look for the finger of God
in your personal affairs.
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 forefinger 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 re-enforced and
translated by your finger. Now, God
in the dear old book, says to us in
Vulnerable things by the way of direc-
ton. 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 a providential
pointing, so that we may confidently
= e e a.
or three times in my life, when per-
picked on questions of duty after earn
est prayer, / have cast lots as to
what 1 should do. In olden times.
the Lords people cast lots. The
land of Canaan was divided by lot.
The cities were divided among the
priests and Levites by lot. Matthias
was chosen to the apostleship by lot.
Now, casting lots is about the most sol
emn thing you can'do. It should never
be done except with, solemnity like
that of the last judgment II is di-
rect appeal to the Almighty. If. after
earnest prayer you do not seem to get
the Divine direction, think you might, i
without sin, write upon one slip of pa
per yes, and upon another mo" or
some other decisiveiwords appropriate
to the case, and then obliterating from
your mind the identity of the slips of
paper, draw the decision and act upon
it. In that case think you have a
right to take that Indication as the
finger of God. But do mot do that ex-
cept as the last resort, and with a de-
voutness that leaves absolutely all with
God.
For much that concerns us we have
no responsibility, and we need not
make appeal 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 Americans, or Norwe-
gians, or Scotchrnen, or Irishmen, or
Englishmen. We are not responsible
for the age in which we live. We are
not responsible for our temperament,
be IL nervous or phlegmatic, bilious or
sanguine. We are not responsible for
our features, be they homely or beauti-
full. We are not responsible for the
heighth or smallness of our stature.
We are not responsible for the fact
that we are mentally dull or brilliant
For the most Of our environments we
have no more responsibility than we
have for the mollusks at the bottom
of the Atlantic ocean. Oh. am
SO glad that there are about FIVE hun
dred thousand things that we are mot
responsible for. Do not blame US for
being in our manner cold as an iceberg,
or nervous as a cat amid a pack. of