The Globe-republican., 1892-11-11
At the Tabernacle.

| DR.. Talnage's sermon was on the text
Exodus viii, 10, 1.-The Finger of God"
| Pharaoh was sulking in his marble
throneroom at Memphis. Plague after
| plague had come, and sometimes the
| Egyptian monarch was disposed to do
| better, but at the lifting Of each plague
| he was as bad as before. The necroman-
GERS of the palace. however. were COM
| PEELED to reco2n iZe 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 fin
ger 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 Scripture from
which to-day speak. l told him no,
and said right away, THAT is good
text for 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 admired his dexterity. But
have you thought how the hand Of God
keeps millions and millions Of round
| worlds vastly larger than our world fly
ing for centuries without letting one fall?
Wondrous power and skill Of Gods hand!
| But about that l am not to discourse.
My text leads me to speak of less than a
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 arc basalt and very hard
stone. Do you imagine it was q cbisel
that cut the ten commandments 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"
The only instance that Christ wrote a
word He wrote not with pen on parch-
ment, but with his finger on the ground.
Yet though so seldom reference is made
in the Bible to a part of Gods hand, if
you and keep our eyes open and our
hearts right. we will be compelled often
to cry out, ''This is the finger of GOd!'
1t is my intention before loag to begin a
series of sermons on The Astronomy of
the Bible. or God Among the stars"
1.-The Ornithology of the Bible, or God
Among the Birds;' 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 Conchol-
ogy of the Bible, or God Among the
Shells;' 1.-THE Botany of the Bible, or
God Among the Flowers" THE Chro-
nology of the Bible, or God Among the
Centuries" and I want this coming WIN
ter to get you and get myself into the
habit of seeing the finger of God every
where and in every thing: but this morn
ing l want to induce you to look for the
finger of God in your personal affairs.
TO most of us gesticulatiOn is natural.
If 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 foreinger this way or that. Not one
out of 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 REINFORCED and translated by your
finger. Now God in the dear old Books
says to US innumbcrable things by the
way of direction. He plainly tells us the
way to go. But in every exigency of our
life, if we will only look. we will find a
providential gesture and a providential
pointing, so that we may confidentially
say, ''This is the finger OF God" Two
or three times in my life, when perpleXed
on questions of duty after earnest prayer,
have cast lots as to what should do.
In olden times the Lords people cast
L. % J;,,sl ol
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
solemn thing you can do. 1t should
never be done except with solemnity
like that OF the last Judgment 1t is a
direct appeal 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 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 l think you have right to
take that indication as the finger of God.
But do not do that except as the last re-
u
absolutely all with God.
For much that concerns US we have no
responsibility, and we need not make ap-
peal to the Lord for direction. We are
not responsible for most of our surround
ings. We are not responsible for the
country of our birth, nor for whether we
are Americans or Norwegians or Scotch
men or Irishmen or Englishmen. We
are not responsible for the age in which
we live. We are not responsible for our
temperament, be it nervous or phleg-
matte, bilious or sanguine. We are not
responsible for our features, be they
homely or beautiful We are not re-
sponsible for the height or smallness Of
cur stature. We are not responsible for
the fact that we are mentally dull or
brilliant. For the most of our environ
ments we have no more responsibility
than we have for the mollusks at the
bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Oh, l am so glad that there are about
FIVE hundred thousand things that We
are not responsible for! Do not blame
US for being in our manner cold as An
iceherp or nervous as cat amid a pack