The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-16
CASTING OUT A DEVIL.
REV. TALMAGE ON THE DUTY OF
CHRISTIANS.

dom of Heaven-Silence Not Always
Golden in Religious Matters.
BROOKLYN. n. Y. May 15.-In his SER
mon to-day, Rev. DIR. Talmage illustrated,
In potent 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 tho
kingdom of Christ by a rold acknowledge
ment Of their principles before men, The
text selected was Mark TX, 25: "Thou
dumb and deaf spirit, charge thee. como
out Of him"
Here was case of great domestic
| anguish. The son of the household was
possessed OF an evil spirit which, among
other things paralyzed his tongue and
| made him speechless. When the influence
was on the patient, he could not say a
| word-articulation was impossible. The
spirit that captured this member Of the
| household was a dumb spirtb-so called by
| Christ--a spirit abroad to-day and as lively
| and potent as in New Testament times.
| Yet in all the realms Of sermonology, can-
| not find discourse concerning this dumb
devil which Christ charged upon In my
| text. saying: Come out of him."
| There has been much destructive supersti-
tion abroad in the world concerning possess
| sion OF evil spirits. Under the form of be-
| lief In witchcraft, this deusion swept the
continents. Persons were supposed to be
| possessed with some evil spirit, which made
them able to destroy others. In the six
teenGh century, in Geneva, one thousand
| five hundred persons were burned to death
| as witches. Under one judge in Lorraine
niue hundred persons were burned to death
| as witches. In one neighborhood in France
one thousand persons were burned. In two
| centuries two hundred thousand persons
we're slain as witches. So mighty was the
delusion that it included among It's victims
! some or the greatest intellects of all
| time, such as Chief Justice Matthew
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 Richard
Baxter and Archbishop Cranmer and Mar
thu Luther; and among writer's and ph1los-
! ophers, Lord Bacon. That belief which
has become the laughing stock of all sensi-
| BILE people. counted its disciples among the
wisest 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 diabolic alagenoies abroad in the
| world. While there are ministering spirits
| to bless, there are Internal spirits TO hinder,
to poison aud destroy. Christ was speak
/ ing to a spiritual existence when, standing
| before the afflicted one of the text, he said,
Thou dumb and deaf spirit, come out
| OF him."
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 word are the most gracious, and
| lovely and talented souls that were ever iu-
| carnated. The ohaplains 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
devout 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 miracle of
| loveliness and knowledge was Laura Bridg-
man OF New Hampshire, not only without
| faculty of speech, but without hearing and
without sight. all these faculties being re-
| moved by sickness when two years OF age,
yet becoming a wonder at needIe-
work, at the piano. at the
| sewing machine, and an intelligent
student OF the scriptures, and confounding
| philosophers, who came from all parts OF
| the world to study the phenomenon. Thanks
| TO Christianity for what 10 has done for the
amelioration Of the condition of the deaf
| and dumb. Back in the ages they were put
| to death as having no right, with such
paucity OF equipment, to live, and for
| centuries they were classed among the
century came Pedro Ponce, the Spanish
monk; and in the seventeenth century came
| Juan Pablo Bonet, another Spanish monk,
! with dactylology or the finger alphabet; and
In our own century we have had John
| Braidwood and Drs. Mitchell and Ackerly
| and Peet and Gallaudet, who have given to
uncounted thousands OF those whose
| tongues were forever silent the power to
| spell out on the air by manual alphabet
| their thoughts about this world and their
hopes for the next. We rejoice in the
brilliant inventions in behalf Of those who
| who were born dumb. One of the most
| impressive audiences ever addressed was
| in the far west two or three years ago
| an audience of about six hundred persons,
| who had never heard a sound or spoken
| word, an interpreter standing beside me
while / addressed them. I congratulated
| that audience on two advantages they had
| over the most OF us-the one that they had
escaped hearing great many disagreeabe
| things, and, on the other fact, that they
had escaped saying things they were sorry
| for afterward Yet. after all the allevia-
tions a shackled tongue is an appalling
| limitation. But, we are not this morning
speaking OF congenital mutes. We mean
| those who are born with all the faculties
| of vocaliZation, and yet have been struck
1 by the evil one mentioned in the text-the
| dumb devil TO whom Christ called when he
| said, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, charge
/
There has been apotheosization of silence.
some one has said silence is golden, and
sometimes the greatest triumph is to keep
| your mouth shut But sometimes silence is
| q crime and the direct result of the baleful
influence OF the dumb devil of our text.
| There is hardly man or woman in this
house to- day who has not been present on
some occasion when the Christian religion
became a target for raillery. Perhaps it was
over in the store some day when there was
not much going on and the clerks were in
| a group; or il was in the factory at the
| noon spell; or it was out on the farm under
| trees while you were resting; or it was in
the club room; or it was in a social circle;
| or 1t was in the street on the way home
| from business; or 1t was on some occasion
| which you remember without my describing
| ii. Some one got the laugh on the Bible
and caricatured the profession of religion
as hypocrisy, or made pun out OF some
thing that Christ said. The laugh started
and you joined in. and not one word of
| protest did you utter. What kept you
silent, Modestyl No. Incapacity to
answerl No. Lack of opportunitys No.
1t was a blow on both your lips by the wing
| OF the dumb devil. II some one should
malign your father or mother, or wife, or
husband. or child. you would flush up quick
and either with an indignant word, or
| doubled IN fist make resDOnsa And VET