Democratic messenger., 1893-12-30
THEYTAKE THE PREY
REV. DR.. TALMAGE breaches WORDS
OF HOPE TO THE WEAK.

1
A Sermon Full OF encouragement to Those
who Labor Under Disadvantages In the
Struggle of fLife-Eioaaent Plea 20 Those
who Arc Cnconverted.
NASHVILLE Dec. I1-Dr Talmage. who
Is now In This city on his western lecture
tour. selected as his topic for today text
full Of spiritual encouragement for those
who labor under disadvantage in the str,ig.
gle of life. The text chosen was Isaiah
xxxiii. q. The lame take the prey"
The utter demolition Of the Assyrian host
was here predicted. Not only robust men
should go forth and gather the spoils of con
quest, but even men crippled of arm and
crippled Of foot should go ont and capture
much that was valuable. Their physical
disadvantages should not hinder their great
enrichment. So 1t has been i'm the past, 50
1t IL now. so II will he In the future, so il
is in all departments. Men laboring under
seemingly great disadvantages and amid
the most unfavorablc circumstances, vet
making grand achievements. getting great
blessing for themselves great blessing for
Ill.
| And so 'tbe lame take the prey"
Do you know that the three great poets
Of the world were totally blind-Homer,
Ossian. John Miltoni DO you know that
Mr. Prescott, who wrote that enchanting
book. "The Conquest Of Mexico" never
saw Mexico. could not even see the paper
on which he was writingi A framework
across the sheet. between which, up and
1 dnvvn fhn inn n N,
know that Gsmbassio. the sculptor, could
not see the marble before him. or the chisel
| with which he cut it into shapes bewitch-
ingi Do you know that Alexander Pope,
whose poems will last as long as the Eng
lish language, was SO much Of an invalid
| that he had to be sewed mp every morning
in rough canvas i'm order to stand on his
| feet at all,
SUCCESS DESPITE DISADVANTAGES.
DO you know that Stuart. the celebrated
painter. did much Of his wonderful work
under the shadow Of the dungeon. where he
had been unjustly imprisoned for debti Do
you know that Demosthenes by almost su-
perhuman exertion first had to conquer the
lisp of his own speech before he conquered
assemblages with his eloquence' Do you
know that Bacon struggled all through in
Vulnerable sicknesses, and that Lord Byron
and Sir Walter Scott went limping on club
foot through all their life. and that many
Of the great poets and painters and orators
and historians and heroes Of the world had
something to keep them back, and pull
them down, and impede their way and Grip
pie their physical or their intellectual
movement. and yet that they pushed on
and pushed up until they reached the spoils
of worldly success. and amid the huzza of
nations and centuries "the lame took the
preyi"
You know that vast multitude of these
men started under the disadvantage of OBJ
scure parentage- Columbus. the son of the
weaver; Ferguson, the astronomer, the son
of the shepherd. America the prey of the
one; worlds on worlds the prey Of the other
But what is true in secular directions is
more true in spiritual and religious direc-
tions, and proceed to prove it.
There are in all communities many inva-
lids. They never know u well day. They
adhere to their occupations. hut they go
painting along the streets with exbaustions,
and at eventime they lie down ON the lounge
with achings beyond all medicaments.
They have tried all prescriptions. they have
gone through all the cures which were pro
claimed infallible. and they have come now
To surrender to perpetual ailments. They
consider they are among many disadvan-
tageS. and when they see those who are
buoyant in health pass by they almost
envy their robust frames and easy respira-
tion.
But ! have noticed among that invalid
class those who have the greatest knowl-
edge of the Bible. who are in nearest init
macy with Jesus Christ, who have the
most glowing experiences of the truth, who
have had the most remarkable answers TO
prayer. and who have most exhilarant an
ticipations of heaven. The temptations
which weary MS who are in robust health
they have conquered.
Many who are alert aud athletic and
swarthy loiter in the way. The lame take
the prey-Robert Hall nm invalid, Ed
ward Payson an Invalid. Richard Baxter
an invalid. Samuel Rutherford an invalid.
This morning. when you want To call to
mind those who are Christlike. you think
of some darkened room in your fathers
house from which there went forth an in
fuence potent for eternity.
A step farther: Through raised letters the
art Of printing has been brought to the at
tention of the blind.
You take up the Bible for the blind, and
you close your eyes. and you run your fin
gers over the raised letters. and you say:
why. I never could get any information in
this way. What a slow. lumbrous way of
reading! God help the bindr'
And yet find among that class Of per
sOns-amOng the blind. the deaf and the
dumb-the most thorough acquaintanc.
with Gods word. Shut out from all other
sources Of information. no sooner does their
hand touch the raised letters than they gath
er prayer. Without eyes, they look of
upon the kingdoms Of Gods love Without
hearing. they catch :he minstrelsy of the
skies. Dumb. yet with pencil or with ir
radiated countenance. they declare the glery
of God.
COMFORT FOR THE BLIND.
A large audience assembled In New York
at the anniversary OF the deaf and dumb
ON the black board wrote this question to
the pupils. DO you not find il very hard
to he deaf and dumb And one of the
pupils took the chalk and wrote on the
black board this sublime sentence in an
swer, When the song of the angels shall
burst upon our enraptured ear, we will
scarce regret that our ears were never
marred with earthly sounds Oh, the
brightest eyes in heaven will he those that
never saw ON earl. The ears most alert in
heaven will he 'iose that in this world
heard neither voice Of friend. nor thrum Of
harp, nor carol Of bird. nor doxology of
congregations
A lad who had been blind from infancy
was cured The oculist operated upon the
lad and then put very heavy bandage over
his eyes. and after IA few weeks had gone by
the bandage was removed. and the mother
said to her child. Willie. can you see'" He
said. "Oh, mamma, is this heaven The
contrast 5etw,en the darkness before and
the brightness afterward was overwhelm-
ing And tell YOU the glories of heaven
will be a thousandfold brighter for those
who never saw anything on earth While
many with good vision closed their eyes in
eternal light. and many who had good. nr-
tistic and cultured ear went down into eter-
nal discord, these afflicted ones cried unto