Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-05-16

of fiim."'-The Spirit stin Abroad.
! BROOKLYN, May BIN his sermon to
day Rev. Dr.. Talmage illustrated, in po-
tent and convincing language, the duty
incumbent upon Christians Of embracing
every opportunity that offers in this life to
do good and to advance the cause Of the
kingdom Of Christ by "A bold acknowledn
ment Of their principles before men The
text selected was Mark tx, g, Thou dumb
and deaf spirit, ! charge thee, come out of
him"
Here was case Of great domestic an
guish. The son of the household was pos
.sessed Of an evil spirit which, among other
things paralyzed his tongue and made
him speeches.. When the influence was
on the patient, he could not say word
articulation was impossible. The spirit
that captured this member of the house
hold WIS dumb spirit-so called by
Christr-a spirit abroad today and as lively
and potent as in New Testament times
Yet In all the realms of sermonology,
cannot find discourse concerning this
dumb devil which Christ charged upon
my text, saying, Come out of him"
There has been much destructive super
stition abroad in the world concerning pos
session by evil spirits. Under the form of
belief In witchcraft this daiusion swept the
continents. Persons were supposed to be
possessed with some evil spirit which
made them able to destroy others. In the
Sixteenth century, in Geneva, 500 persons
were burned to death rs witches Under
one judge in Lorraine 900 persons were
burned todeath rs witches. In one neigh
horhood of France 1000 persons were
burned. In two centuries 100000 persons
were slain as witches.
So mighty was the dclusion that it in
cluded among its victims some of the
greatest intcllects of NIL time, such rs Chief
Justice Matthew Hale and Sir Edward
Coke, and such renowned ministers of re-
hgion asoGotton Mathcr, one of whose
books Benjamin franklin said shaped his
life, and Richard Baxter and Archbishop
Cranmer and Martin Luther, and among
writers and philosophers, Lord Bacon.
That belief. which has become the laugh
ing stock OF all sensible people, counted its
disciples among the wscBt and best people
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 dia-
bolicnl agencies abroad In the world
While there arc mlnistering spirits TO bless,
there are internal spirits to hinder, to poi
son and To destroy. Christ was speaking
to n spiritual existence, when standing be
fore the afflicted one Of tho text, he said,
'"rhou dumb and deaf spirit, come out Of
him"
A TIMELY WARNING.
Against this dumb devil Of the text
put you on your guard DO not think that
thfa opant of pNriI Ipy mt Lilo I,Ii,,bt on
those who by omission Of the vocal organs
have had tho golden gates Of speech boltcd
and barred. Among those who have never
spoken n word arc tho most gracious and
lovely and talented souls that were ever
incarnated. Tbb chaplains of the asylums
for tho dumlS can tell you enchanting
stories offho6e, who never called the name
of father or mother or child, and many Of
the most devout and prayerful souls win
never in this world speak the name of God
or Christ. Many deaf mute have seen
with tho angel Of intelligence seated at the
window OF the eye who never came forth
from the door Of the mouth.
What n miracle of lovelihcss and llnowl-
edge was Laura Bridgman, of New 1Iamp-
shirei Not only without faculty OF speech,
but without hcHriug and without sight,
all these faculties removed by sickness
when two years of age, yet becoming Il
wonder ut needewoCR, mt the piano, mt the
sewing machine and M intelligent student
of the Scriptures, and ConfUunllnG phIo5
ophers, who came from all parts Of the
world to study the phenomenon Thanks
to Christianity for what it has done for the
amclioration of the condition Of the deaf
and the dumb. Back In the ages they were
put to death as having no right with such
pauCity of equipment to live, md for cen
turtles they were clusSCd among the idiOtC
and unsafe.
But in the Sixteenth century came
Pedro Ponce, the Spanish monk; ma i'm
the Seventeenth century came Juan Pablo
Bonet, another Spanish monk, with dac,
tyloloGy or the finger alphabet; and in ouI
own century we have had John BraidWOod
and Drs. Mitchell and Acllerly and Poet
and GallaudCt, who have given to I'M
counted thousands of those whose tongues
were forever silent the power 60 spell out
on tho Dir 10y manual alphabet their
thoughts about this world and their hopes
for the next. We rejoice in the brilliant
inventions in behalf of those who were
born dumb.
One of the most impressive audiences !
ever addressed was I'm the far west two or
three years aEo-an audience of about GEO
persons, who had never heard sound on
spoken word, Hnintcrprcter standing be
side mo while ! addressed them. | con
graduated that audience ON two Hdvan
tages they had over the most Of us the
ono that they escaped hearing great
many disagrecable things, and on the other
fact that they escaped saying things they
were sorry for aftcrwnrd Vet after all
The alloviations n shacked tongue - annp
pnlling limitation. But we arc not this
morning speaking of congcnital muteS.
We mean those who are born with all the
faculties of vocaliAation md yet have hcet
struck by the evil one mentioned in the
text-tho dumb devil TO whom Christ
called when he said, "Thou dumb and deaf
spirit, charge thee, como out Of him"
SILENCE MAY BE A CRIME
Therchas been apothcosiaation Of silence.
Some one has said silence is golden, and
sometimes the greatest triumph is to keep
your mouth shut. But sometimes silence
is n crime, aud the direct result of the
baleful influence of the dumb devil of our
text. There Is hordly man or woman in
this house today who has not been pres
cnt on some occasion when the Christian
religion became u target for aiIlcTy. Per.
haps 10 was over in the store some day
when there was not much going on, and
4he clerks were in group; or it was IN che
factory at the noon spell; or II was out ON
the farm under the trees while you were
resting; or it was in the clubroom' or II
was In social circle; or it was IN TIE
street ON the way home from business; or
81 was on some occasion which you rcmom
Der without my describing it.
Some one got the laugh ON the Bible aud
caricatured the profession of religion as
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