Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-11-03
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DR.. TALMAeE SPEAKS OF THE
FINGER or GOD"

Fh%0IN VT 0OO.
An Extremely Interesting and Instructive
Sermon. Preceded by the Hymn. 'God
Moves In . Mysterious Way His Won
ders TO Perform"
BRooKLYS, Oct. 23.-The capacity of the
Tabernacle was tested this morning by the
vast crowd that filled 1t In every part as
soon AZ the doors were opened. After read
ing and commeRting upon several passages
Of Scripture illustrative OF Gods provi-
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 wifi,
10, ''fhe Finger Of God"
Pharaoh was sulking in his marble
throDeroom 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 ns 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 nv
text, This Is the finger of God,'-not the
first nor the last time when bad people
said a good thing. An old Philadelphia
friend visiting me the other day asked me
II had ever noticed this passage of Scrip
ture from which l 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. Bat 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 falli Wondrous power and skill
Of Gods handi But about that am not to
discourse. My 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"
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 q 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 Godf It is my In
tention before long to begin series of ser
mons on 1.-THE Astronomy of the Bible, or
God Among the Stars" 1.-THE OrnitholoRy
of the Bible, or God Among the Birds"
"The Pomology of the Bible, or God
Among the Orchards" "The Ichthyology
of the Bible, or God Among the Fishes;''
"The Geology Of tho Bible, or God Among
the Rocks" "The Waters of the Bible, or
God Among the Seas" ''The Zoology of the
Bible, or God Among the Beasts" -The
Precious Stones of the Bible, or God
Among the Amethysts;;" "Thc Conchology
of the Bible, or God Amoag the Shells;"
"The Botany of the Bible, or God Among
the Flowers" "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 to look for the finger of God in your
personal affairs.
THE FINGER OF GOD.
To most of US gesticulation is natural.
II 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 wEy or that. Not one out
of thousand of you would stand with
your hands by your side and make no mo-
tion wish your finger. Whatewer you may
say with your lips is emphasized and re-en-
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 CO. But in
every exigency Of our life, If we will only
look, we will find a providential gesture
and providea,il pointing, so that we
may confidently say. This is the finger of
God" Two or three 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 east lots. The land of Canaan was
divided by lot The cities were divided
among the priests and 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 a solcmnitv like that
Of the last judgment. 1t is 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 eyes" and upon another
NO" or some other decisive words appro-
pirate to the case, and then obliterating
from your mind the identity of the slips of
paper draw the decision and act aeon 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 devoutness that leaves abso-
lutely 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 surroundings.
We are not responsible for the country OF
our birth, nor for whether we are Ameri
cans or Norwegians or Scotchmen or
Irishmen 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 or beautiful.
We are not responsible for the height or
smallness Of our stature. We are not re-
sponsible for the fact that we are mentally
dull or brilliant. For the most Of our en-
vironnents we have no more responsibility
than we have for the mollusks at the bot
tom of the Atlantic ocean.
Oh, lam SO glad that there are about five
hundred thousand things that we are not
responsible forl Do not blame us for being
in our manner cold as an iceberg, or nerv-
Gus as a cat amid pack Of Fourth of
July firecrackers. If you are determined