The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-07-29
REV. DIR. TAIMAGE.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: "Kindness for Another's
Sake.'

continually at the kings table and was lamt
on both his feet. III Samuel ix., and l3.
Was there ever anything more romantic
and chivairous than the love Of David anC
Jonathan? At one time Jonathan was W
and David was down. Now David is up ant
Jonathan's family is down. As you have
often heard of two soldiers before going into
battle making covenant that If one is shot
the survivor will take charge of the body
the watch, the momentos and perhaps OF the
berett family OF the one that dies, 80 David
and Jonathan had made a covenant, and
now that Jonathan is dead David is inquirine
about his family, that he may show kind
ness unto them for their father Jonathan's
sake.
Careful search is made, and son of iona.
than by the exceedingly homey name OF
Mephiboshethi is found. His nurse, in his in.
fancy, had let him fall, and the fall had put
both his ankles out of place, and they had
never been set. This decrepit, Door man is
brought into the palace OF King David.
David gazes upon him with melting tender
ness, no doubt seeing In his face resem.
blance to his old friend, the deceased Jona-
than. The whole bearing of King David
toward him seems to say: "How glad I am
to see you, Mephibosheth! How you remind
me OF your father, my old friend and bene-
factor! made q bargain with your father a
good many years ago, and am going 70
keep 1t with you. What can I do for you,
Mephibosheth? lam resolved what to do
will make you rich man. will restore to
you the confscated property of your grand
father Saul, and you shall be guest Of mine
as long as you live, and you shall be seated
at my table among the princes" 1t was too
much for Mephibosheth, and he cried out
against it, calling himself dead dog. "Be
still" says David; ~ don't do this on your
account; I do this for your father Jonathan 8
sake. I can never forget his kindness.
remember when I was bounded from place
to place bow he befriended me. Can ever
courtier apparel aud gave II to me instead
of my shepherds coat, and how he took Off
his own sword and belt and gave them to
me instead OF my sling? Oh, I can never
forget him! feel as If couldn't do enough
for you, his son. / don't do 1t for your
sake; do it for your father Jonathan's
sake" So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusa-
lem, for he did eat continually at the kings
table and was lame on both his feet"
There is so much gospel in this quaint in
cident that am embarrassed to know where
to begin. Whom do Mephibosheth and
David and Jonathan make you think of?
Mephibosheth, in the first place, stands for
the disabled human soul. Lord Byron de-
scribes sin as charming recklessness, as a
gallantry, as Don Juan; George Sand de-
scribes sin as triumphant In many intricate
plots; Gavarni, with his engraver's knife,
always shows sin as great iocularity; but
the Bible presents 1t as Mephibosheth, lame
on both feet. Sin, like the nurse in the con-
text, attempted to carry us and let US fall,
and we have been disabled, and in our whole
moral nature we are decrepit. Sometimes
theo!ogans haggle about q technically.
They use the words 'total depravty," and
some people believe in the doctrine, AMI
some reject 1t. What do you mean by
total depravitY? Do you mean that every
man Is as low as he can be2 Then. do
not believe it either. But do you mean
that sin has let US fall; that it has scarf
tire moral nature until We cannot walk
straight and are lame in both feet?
Then I admit your proposition. There Is
not so much difference In an African jungle
with barking. bowling, Kissing. fghing
quadruped aud reptile, and paradise, with
Its animals coming before Adam, when he
patted them and stroked them and gave
them names, so that the panther was as
tame as the COW and the condor as tame as
disabled and that soul as God originally con-
structed it. do not care what the senti.
mentalists or the poets say in regard to sin.
In the name OF God declare to you to-day
that sin Is disorganiZation, disintegration,
ghastly disaguration. hobbling deformity.
Your modern theologian tells you that
man is little out OF sorts; he sometimes
thinks wrong; he sometimes acts wrong; in
deed, his nature needs little moral surgery,
an outside splint, slight compress, little
rectihcation. Religion Is good thing to
have; it might some day come into use. Man
is partially wrong, not all wrong. he is
lame in one foot. Bring the salve of divine
grace and the ointment and the pain extrac-
tor, and we will have his one foot cured.
Man Is only half wrong, not altogether
wrong. In what is mans nature right In
his will, his affections, his judSmenty No.
There is an old book that says: 1.-The whole
head is sick and the whole heart faint"
Mephibosheth lame IN both feet. Our belief
OF the fact that sin has scarifled and deformed
our souls increases as we 60 on In years.
When you started life you thought that man
was little marred by sin and he was about
one tenth wrong. BY the time you had gone
through the early experience Of your
trade or occupation or profession you be-
Level that man was about half wrong. By
the time you came to midlife you believed
that man was three-fourths wrong. But
within these past few years, since you have
been so lied about and swlndled and cheated,
you have come to the conclusion that man
Is altogether wrong, and now you can say
with the prayer book and the Bible, "There
Is no hath in u.s." Now you believe with
the prophet. "The heart is deceitful, above
all things, and desperately wicked" What
ever you may have believed before. now YOU
believe that Mephibosheth is lame on both
feet.
Again. Mephibosheth In the text stands for
the disabled human sou: hunbled and re-
stored. When this invalid Of my text got a
m q n n fn lnn hn
trembled. The fact was that the grandfather
OF Mephibosheth had treated David most
shockingly. and now Mephibosheth says to
himself: "What does the king want Of me?
Isn't it enough that am lame? Is he going
to destroy my life? Is he going to wreak on
me the vengeance which he holds toward my
grandfather, Saul2 It's too bad" But go
to the palace Mephbosheth must, since the
king has commanded it. With staff and
crutches and helped by his friends. I
see Mephibosheth going up the stairs Of
the palace. I hear his staff and crutches
| rattling on the tessellated floor of the
throneroom. No sooner have these two
persons confronted each other-Mephib
osheth and David, the king-than Mep-
hibosheth throws himself fiat On his face be-
fore the king and styles himself dead dog.
In the east when man styles himself dog
he utters the utmost term OF fself-abnegation.
1t is not a term so strong in this country,
where. ifa dog has fair chance, he some-
times shows more nobility Of character than
some human specimens that We wot of. but
the NANCY ours Of the oriental cities, as I
know by my own observation, are utterly
detestable. Mephibosheth gives the utmost
term of self-loathing when he compares him
self TO a dog. and dead at that.
Consider the analogy. When the COM
mand is given from the palace Of heaven to
the human soul 10 come, the soul begins to
tremble. 1t says: "Whst Is God going to
do with me now2 Is He going to destroy me?
Is he going to wreck His vengeance upon
me?" There Is more than one Mephibosheth
trembling now because God has summoned
him to the palace OF divine grace. What are