Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-10-21
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent Divino's Sunday
Discourso.
Subject: "Divine Chirography."

Ike IN 4 uroposci. came in much anxiety
10 This city and consulted with Prof. Joseph
EeDry. Of the Smithsonian Institution, about
the law OF acoustics. H. said: "0o ahead
M build your church in the shape pro-
posed. and l think It will be all right. /
hsve studiei the laws OF sound perhaps more
than any man of my time, and l have come
90 far as this: Two auditoriums may seem to
he exactly alike. and in one the acoustics
may be good and In the other bad In the
same unsatisfactory stage Is ehtrography,
although many declare they have reduced II
to n science. There are those who say they
can read character by handwriting. 1t 70
said that the way one writes the letter "I'
decides his egotism or modesty, and the way
one writes the letter 30" decides the height
aud depth of his emotions. II Is declared
eramped hand means H cramped nature and
an easy, flowing hand a facile and liberal
spirit but II there be anything 10 this science.
there must be some rules not yet announced,
for so ne of the bodest aud most aggressive
men have delicate and small penmanship,
while some of the most timid sign their
names with the height aud width and scope
OF the name Of John Hancock on the tmmOr-
tai document. But wnlle the chirography
OF the earth is uncer. ain, our blessed Lord
in our text presents the chirography celes-
tia. Wher addressing the seventy disciples
standing before Him. He said: "Rejoice be-
cause your names are written In heaven"
or course, the Bible, for the most part,
when speaking Of the heavenly world, speaks
figuraively while talking about books and
about trumpets, and about wings and about
gates ami about golden pavements and about
orchards with twelve crops Of fruit--one
crop each month-ani about the white
horses OF heavens cavalry; but We do we'll to
follow ont these inspired metaphors and reap
from Them courage and sublime expectation,
and consolation and victory. We are told
that In the heavenly library there Is a Book
OF Life. Perhap3 there are many volumes In
1t. When We say a book, We mean all writ
ten by the author on that subject. / cannot
tell how large those heavenly volumes are
nor the splendor of their binding, nor the
number Of their pages, nor whether they are
pictorialized with some exciting. scenes Of this
world. l only know that the words have not
been impressed by type. bur written out by
some hand. and that all those who, like the
seventy disciples to whom the text was
spoken, repent and trust the Lord for theii
eternal salvat on, surely have their name;
written in heaven. 1t may not be the same
name that We carried on earth. We may
through thu inconsiderateness of parents
have n name that is uncouth or that wa,
afterward dishcnored by one after whom ",
were called. / do not know that the seventy
entrances of the names of the seventy dis
ciples correspond with the record in tn,
genealoG Gicai table. 1t may not be the nam,
by which We were called on earth, but il viii
be the name by which heaven will know US
an we will have it announced to us as w
pass in, and we will know it so certainly tha
We will not have to be called twice by it, a.
in the Eibe times the Lord called some peo
pie twice by name; saul. Saull' Samuel
Samuel" Martha! MarthaI'
In examination OF your name In thS
heavenly archives, II you find it there al
all, YOU will find IT written with a bold hand
You have seen many signature that because
of sickness or old age had a tremor in 1t, yet
1t was rs bold as the man who wrote it.
Many an order written on the battlefield and
amid the thunder of the cannonade has had
evidence OF excitement in every word ant
every letter and In the speed with which II
was folded and handed to the officer As he
put his foot in the swift stirrups, and ye
tn At commander, notwithstanding his trem
bling hani. gives boldness of order thai
shows itself In every word written. You dc
not need to be told that a trembling hand
does not always mean cowardly hand.
was with very trembling hand Charlie:
Carroll, of Carrollton, signed his name TO
the Declaration of American Independence,
but no signer had more courage and when
some one said, There are many Chsrlea
CAROLS, and it will not be known which one
It Is, he resumed the Pen and wrote Charles
Carroll OF Carroilton. Trembling hand no
sign of timidity. The daring and defancs
seen In the way your name Is written IN
heaven is a challenge to all earth and hell to
come on If they can to defeat your ransomed
soul.
Again, If according to the promise OF tbs
text, you are permitted to look into the
volumes Of eternity and see your name there.
you will find it written in lines, In words, in
letters nnmistakahie. Some people have
come to consider indistinct and almost un-
readable penmanship a mark Of genius, and
so they affect it. Because every paragraph
that Thomas Chalmers, and Dean Stanley,
and Lord Byron, and Rufus Choate and
other potent men wrote was puzzie, imtta-
tors make their penmanship puzzle. Alex.
Rnder Dumas says that plain penmanship Is
the brevet of incapacity. Then there are
some who, through too much demand upon
their energies and through lack Of time, lose
the capacity Of making the pen intelligible,
and much OF the writing OF this world Is in
decipherabie. We have seen piles OF inex-
plicable chirography, and We ourselves have
helped augment the magnitude. We have
not been sure Of the name signed. or the
sentiment expressed, or whether the reply
was Affirmative or negative. Thr ugh in
distinct penmanship last wills and te3ta-
ments have been defeated. widows and
orphans robbed Of their inheritance, railroad
dim words OF telegram put into the hand
OF a conductor. and regiments, in this wise,
mistaking their instructions, have-been
sacrificed In battle. I asked Bishop
Cowie, In Auckland. New Zaland, the
Bishop having been in many of the wars,
what what Tennyssn to ,hs his inns i%@srts,
meant by the wor g, "Soms one had
blunderej," and the Bishop said that
the awful carnage at Balaklava was the
result Of an indistinctly-written and
wrongly-read military crder. "Some one
written in the Lambs Book OF Life. will be
30 unmistakabls that all heaven can read 1t
at the first glance. 1t will not be taken for
the name Of some other, so that In regard to
It there shall come to be disputation. Not
one of the millions and billions and quad
It means You and only you. Oh, the
glorious, the rapturous certitude Of that
entrance on the heavenly roll. Not saved in
Q promiscuous way. Not put into a
glorifle1 mob. No, mol Though you came
up. the worst sinner that was ever saved,
and somebody who knew you in this world
at one time rs absolutely abandoned and
dissoluie should say: 81 never heard OF
your conversion and do not believe you
have a right to be here" you could just
laugh laugh of triumph, and, turning over
the leaves containing the names OF the re-
deemed. say: 'Read it for yourself. That
Is my name. written out in full, and do you
not recognize the handwriting2 No young
scribe of heaven entered that. No annony-
nous writer put II there. Do you not see
the tremor in the lines? Do you not also see
the boldness of the letters? Is it not as plain
as yOnder throne, as plain as yonder CATER
Is it not the name nnmistakable and the
handwriting unmstakable2 The crucified
Lord wrote it there the day repented and
turned. Hear ii! Hear it! My name is
written there! Therei'
There is not on earth an autograph letter
or signature Of Christ. The only time He
wrote out n word on earth. though He knew
60 wetl how to write, He wrote with refer.
snce to having It soon stunned out by human
foot, the time that He stopped down aud
With His finger wrote on the ground the
hypocrisy of the Phariseee. But when He
writes your name In the heavenly archives.
a I believe He has, or hope He may. It Il to
stay there from age to age from Cycle to
cycle, from eaon to eaon. And 70 for all you
Chustian people do what John q. Whittier.
the dying poet, said he wanted done in his
home. Lovely man he was! feat With him
n haymow . whole summer afternoon. and