The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1896-07-24
HUMAN GRATITUDE.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Presents the Case
Of David and Jonathan,
And In the Formers Generosity tn the De-
RcenGants of the Latter, Draws R
Lesson Of One of the Best At
tributes 81 Humanity.

Dewitt Talmage was delivered before
his Washington congregation. 1t was
based on the text:
Is there yet any that Is left Of the house of
| Saul. that may show him kindness for Jona-
| thRn's sakef 20 MephiboSheth dwelt
in jerusalem; for he did eat continually at the
| kings table; and was lame on both his feet
IL Samuel. TX, and Is.
Was there ever anything more ro-
mantle and chiyalrous than the love of
David and Jonathan? At one time
Jonathan was mp and David was
down. Now David is up and Jonathan's
family is down. AS you have often
heard of two soldiers before going in
TO battle making a covenant that if
one is shot the survivor will take
charge of the body, the watch, the
mementos, and, perhaps of the bereft
family of the one that dies, so
David and Jonathan had made a
covenant, and now that Jonathan is
dead, David is inquiring about his
family, that he may show kindness
unto them for their father Jonathan's
sake. Careful search Is made, and a
son of Jonathan by the dreadfully
homely name of Mephibosheth is
found. His nurse, in his infancy, had
let him fall, and the fall had put both
his ankles out of place, and they had
never been set. This decrepit, poor
man is brought into the palace of
King David. David looks upon him
with melting tenderness, no doubt
seeing in his face a resemblance to
his old friend, the deceased Jona-
than. The whole bearing of King
David toward him seems to say:
How glad am to see you, Mephi-
bosheth. How you remind me of your
father, my old friend and benefactor.
/ made a bargain with your father
many years ago, and l am going to
keep 1t with you. What can l do for
you, MephibOsheth? l am resolved
what to do: l will make you a rich
man; / will restore to you the con-
fscated property of your grandfather
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 a dead dog. "Be STILL" says
David, Il don't do this on your own ac-
count; / do this for your father Jona-
than's sake. l can never forget his
kindness. 1 remember when l was
bounded from place to place how he
befriended me. Can / ever forget how
he stripped himself of his courtier ap-
parel and gave it 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, can never forget him. 1
feel as If couldn't do enough for you,
his son. 1 don't do it for your sake;
I do it for your father Jonathan's
sake" $50 Mephibosheth dwelt in
Jerusalem; for he did eat continually |
at the kings table; and was lame on
both feet"
There is so much Gospel in this |
quaint incident that am EN- barrassed |
to know where to begin. Whom do |
Mephibosheth, and David, and Jona-
than make you think of?
ephibosheth, in the first place,
stands for the disabled human soul. |
Lord Byron describes sin as a charm
Ing recl1lessness, as a gallantry, as a |
Don Juan; George Sand describes sin
as triumphant in many intricate plots;
Gavarni, with his engravers knife, al
ways shows sin as great POPULARITY;
but the Bible presents it as a Mephib-
osheth, lame on both feet Sin, like
the nurse in the context, attempted to
carry us, and let Us fall, and we have
been disabled, and in our whole NOR
al nature we are decrepit. Some
times theologians haggle about a
technicality. They use the words
total depravity," and some peo-
pie believe in the doctrine, and some
reject it. What do you mean by total
depravity? Do you mean that every
man is as bad as he can be? Then !
do not believe 1t either. But do you
mean that sin has let us fall, that it
has sacrificed, and disabled, and !
crippled our entire moral nature, until
we can not walk straight, and are
lame in both feet? Then l admit
your proposition. There is not SO
much difference in an African jungle,
with barking, bowling, kissing, fight
Ing Quadruped and reptile, and
Paradise with its animals coming be-
fore Adam when he patted them and
Btroked them and gave them names, so
that the panther was as tame as the
cow, and the condor as tame as the
dove, as there is between the human
A4SdOISu anu bndG soul as GOd Or1g1-
naly constructed it. l do not care
what the sentimentalists or the poets
say in regard to SIM in the name of
God declare to you to-day that sin is
disintegration, ghast-
" disfguration, hobbling deformity.
Your modern theologian tells you
that man is little out of sorts; he
THINKS wrong; he some
times does wrong; indeed, his nature
needs little moral surgery, an out
side splint, slight compress, little
rectiication. 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 ONT
nent and the pain extractor, and we
will have his one foot cured. Man is I
only half wrong, not altogether wrong.
In what is mans nature right? In his ;
willP his affections? his Judgment?
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 sacrificed and deformed our souls
increases as we go on in years. When
Tou started life you thought that man
vas little marred by sin. and he was s
about one-tenth wrong. By the time '
you had gone through the early ex- j
oerience of your trade or occupation. Z
II profession, you believed that man