The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-06-02
REV.>DR TALMAGE.
THE DROOKLYN DTVL&E'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "rhe Dumb Spirit"

TEXT: "yhou dumb and deaf spirit,
charge Chez, come out Of him. MARX TX,
25
Here was case of greet domestic an
gush The son of the household was pos
| sessed of an evil spirit which, among other
things, parslyzed his tongue and made him
| speeches. When the influence was on the
patient he could not say word-articuia-
ton was impossible The spirit that cap
tured this member of the household was a
dumb spirit-so called by Christ--a spirit
abroad to-day and as lively and potent as in
New Testament times, Yet in all of the
realms Of sermonology I cannot find a dis
course concerning this dumb devil which
Christ charged upon my text, saying,
"Come out OF him"
There has ben much destructive supersti-
ton abroad in the world concerning posses
sion by evil spirits. Under the form of belief
in wtc lcraft this deiusion swept the
continents. Persons were supposed to be
possessed with some evil spirit which made
them abs TO destroy others. In the six
teenth century in Geneva 1900 persons were
birned to death as witches. Under one
judge in Lorraine 800 persons were burned
TO death as witches. In one neighborhood of
France 1000 persons were burned, In two
centuries zoo Coo persons were slain as
witches. So mighty was the delasien that
it included among its victims some OF the
greatest intellects of all time, such as Chief
Justice Mathew Hale and Sir Edward Coke,
and such renowned ministers of religion as
Cotton MatherI one Of whose books, Benjamin
Franklin said shaped his life-and Richard
Baxter ard Archbishop Cranmer and Mar
tln Guther, and among writers and philoso-
pliers, Lord Bacon. That belief, which has
become the laughing stock of all sensible
people, counted its disciples er,Sng the wissst
and best people of Swe3eii, Germany, Eng
land France, Speia and New England. But
while we reject witchcraft any man who be-
lieves e'a9 Bible must believe that there are
uiaoolical agencies abroad in the world.
While there are miniSteriDg spirits to bless
there are Internal spirits to hinder, to poison
and destroy. Christ was speaking to spir
itual existence when, standing before the
afflicted one of the text He said, "rhou
dumb and deaf spirit con,e ojtt OF him.
Against this dumb devil Of the text, l put
you on your guard Do not think that this
agent of evil has put his blight on those who.
by omnlssion 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 tai
ented souls that were ever incarnated. The
chaplains 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
prayertui souls will never i'll this world
speak the name OF God or Christ, Many
deaf mute have seen with the angel of in
telligenee seated at the window of the eve,
who never came forth from the door of the
mouth.
What miracle of loneliness and knowl-
edge was Laura Bridgman, of New Hamp.
SHIRE! Not only without faculty of speech,
but without hearing and without sight, ali
these faculties removed by sickness When
two years OF age, yet beeoihing wonder at
needlework, at the piano, at the sewing ma
chile, and an intelligent student of the
Scriptures and confounding philosophers
who came from all parts OF the world to
study the phenomenon. Thanks to Christi
aplty for what it has done for the anchor
aton 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, and for centuries they
were classed among the idiotic and unsafe
But In the Sixteenth century came Pedr 0
Ponce, the Spanish monk, and in the Seven
teenth century came Juan Pablo Bonet
another Spanish monk, with dactylo logy or
the finger alpha bet, and in our own century
we have had John Braidwood and Drs
Mitchell and Ackerly and Peet and Gallau-
det who have given uucounted thousands of
those whose tongues were forever silent tho
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 ehalf of those 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 600
persons who had never heard sound or
spoken word, an interpreter standing beside
me While L addressed them. / congratulated
thaV audience on two advantages they had
anu over the most OF us-tne one that they
escaped hearing great many disagreeao Die
things, and on the other fact that they es.
capped saying things they were sorry for af-
terward. Yet after all the alterations
shackled tongue Is an appalling limitation.
But we are not this morning speaking of
conSenital mutes. We mean those who are
born with all the faculties of vocalization
ana yet have been struck by the evil one
mentioned in the text-the dumb devil to
whom Christ called when He said Thou
dumb and deaf spirit, l charge thee, come
out of him.
There has been administration of silence
some one has said that silence is golden, and
sometimes the greatest triumph is to keep
your mouth shut But sometimes silence is
crime and the direct result of the baleful
influence of the dumb devil of our text.
lhere Is hardly man or woman in this
house to-day who has not been present on
some occasion when the Christian religion
became target for raillery. Perhaps it was
over in the store some day when there was
not much going on and the clerks were in
group, or it was in the factory at the noon
Spell, or it was out on the farm under the trees
while you were resting, or it was in the
clubfoom, or 1t was In social circle. or it
was in the street on the way home from
business, or it was ON some occasion which
you remember without me describing it.
Some one got the laugh on the Bible
and car.catured the profession of re.
hgion as hypocrisy. or made pun out
of something that Christ said. The laugh
started and you joined in, and not one word
of protest did you utter. What kept you
silent? Modesty? No. Incapacity to
answer No. Lack of opportunity? No.
1t was blow on both your lips by the wing
OF the DUMB devil. II some one should ma
Ign your father or mother or wife or hus-
band or child you would flush up quick, and
either with an indignant word or doubled
up fist make response. And yet here is our
Christian religion which has done so much
for you and so much for the world that it
Will take all eternity to celebrate it, and yet
when it was attacked YOU did not so much
as say: II differ, object, am sorry to
hear you say that. There is another side to
this"
You Christian people ought in such times