The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-11-09
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIyINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "The Finger Of God

Wit, 9.
Pharoah was sulking in his marble throne.
room at Memphis. Plague after plague had
come, and sometimes the Egyptian monarch
was disposed to do better, but at the Hitting
OF each plague he was as bad as before. Inc
,necromancers Of the palace. however. were
compelled to recognize the divine movement.
and after one Of the most exasperatlng
plaques Of all the series they cried out in the
words of my text, ''This is the finger OF
God'-not the first nor the last time when
bad people said good thing. An old Phil
adelphia 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. aud said right away, "That
is y rood text for a sermon"
We all recognize the hand Of God and
know it Is q mighty hand. You have seen
aman keep two or three rubber balls flying
In the air, catching and pitching them 30
that mono Of them fell to the floor. and do
this for several minutes, and you have ad-
mirsd his dexterity. But 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 falls Wondrous power and skill
Of Gods hann! But about that am not to
discourse. My text leads me to speak OF
less than a fifth Of the divine hand ''fhis
is the finger Of God" 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 commandments in that basalt? No; in
Exodus we read that the tables OF stone
were "written with the finger OF Cod
Christ says that He cast out devils with the
finger or God."
The only instance that Christ wrote q
word He wrote not with pen on parchment,
but with His finger on the ground Yet
though seldom reference is made In the
Bible to part of Gods hand, il you and l
keep our ewes open and our hearts right we
will be compelled often to cry out, This ls
the finger Of Godp It is my intention be-
fore long to begin a series Of sermons on
.sThe Astronomy OF the Bible, or God
Among the Stars" "The Ornithology OF
the Bible, or God Among the Birds" the
Pomology of the Bible. or God Among the
Orchards "rhe lchthyol93gy OF .vths the
Bible, or God Among the Fishes" The
Geology Of the Bible, or God Among the
God Among the Seas" ''Tne Zoology of the
Bible, or God Among the Beasts" The
Precious Stones of the Bible, or God Among
the Amethysts;" "rhe Conohology OF the
Bible, or God Among the Shells" The
Botany of the Bible, or God Among the
Flowers" 'tThe Chronology Of the Bible, or
God Among the Centuries" and want tnls
coming winter to get you and get myself
into the habit Of seeing tbs finger OF Coz
everywhere and in everything; but this
morning want to induce you TO look Tor
the finger of God in your personal aft airs.
The most OF the gesticuiatlon 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
foreiuger 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 wlt9
your lips is emphasized and REINFORCED and
translated by your finger. Now God In the
by the way Of direction. BE plainly tells US
s6e way to CO.. But in every exigency
OF our life, If we will only look,
we will find a providentiai gesture
aud a provideutial pointing. so that we may
confidently say, ''fhis is the fager OF God"
Two or three times in my life, when per-
picked on questions OF duty after earnest
PRAYER, have cast lots as TO what should
do. In olden times the Lords people cast
lots. Ths land Of Canaan was divided oy
lot The cities were divided among ths
priests and Lsvites by lot. Matthias was
chosen to the apostleship by lot.
Now casting lots Is about tho most solemn
thing you can do. It should never bs dons
except with solemnity like that OF the last
Judgment. It is dlreot appeal to the Al
mighty. Il after earnest prayer you 90
not seam to get the divine direction, think
YOU might without sin writs upoa one slip
Of paper "Yes'' aud upon another mo, or
some other decisive words appropriate TO
the casa and then oblitsratin{ from your
mind the identity Of the slips OF paper draw
the decision ami act upon it. In that ease
think you have right to take that indica-
ton as the finger OF God. But do not do
that except as toe last resort and with de-
voutness that leaves absolutely all with
God.
For much that ooncsrns us We have no re-
sponsibility, and we need not make appeal
to the Lord for direction. We are not re-
sponsible for most of our surroundings. we
are not responsible for the country OF our
birth. nor for whethur wc are .Anecicans or
Norwegians or Scotchnen or Irishusn or
Englishmen. We are not responsible for
the age in which we live. We are not re-
sponsibie for our temperament, DO 1t ner-
yous or pnlegmatic, bilious or sauguine.
We are not responsible for our features, DO
they homely or beautiful. We are, not re-
sponsibls for tue height or smatness OF our
stature. We are not responsible for the
fact that we are mentally dull OF brilliant.
no more responsibility than NO have FOR tine
moltusks at the bottom Of the Atlantic
ocean.
Oh, am SO glad that there are about five
hundred thousand things that we are not re-
sponsible fori Do not olnms us for being In
our manner cold ss an icsberG, or nervous
az cat amid pack Of Fourth OF July fire.
crackers. II you are determined to blame
somebody, blame our great.grandfathers or
great-grandmothers, who died before the
Revolutionary war, and who may have had
habits depressing and ruinous: There are
wrong things about US all, which make me
think that one hundred and fifty years ago
there was some terrible crank In our ances-
tral line. Realise that and 1t will be o re-
lief semi-infnite. Let US take ourselves as
we are this moment, and then hsk (which
wayy Got all the direction you can from
careful and constant study OF the Bible, and
then look up and look out and look around,
and see II you can lind the finger OF God.
It is remarkable thing that sometimes
no one can see that finger but yourself. A
year before Abraham Lincoln signed the
proclamation OF emancipation the White
House was thronged with committees and
associations, ministers and laymen, advising
the president to make that proclamation.
But he waited and waited, amid scof and
anathema, because he did not himself seq
tho finger OF Goi. After awhile and at just
the right time he saw the divine pointing
and signed the proclamation. The distin-
guished Confederstes Mason and
Slideli. were taken OF au English
vessel by the United States Govern
ment. "Don't give them up shouted
all the northern States. 'Lst Us have war
with England rather taan surrender them,"
was the almost unanimous cry Of the north.
But William Il. Seward saw the finger OF
God leading In just the opposite direction