The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-07-23
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
rME NOTED DIVINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject: "Kindness for Anothcr's
Sake.o

continually at the kings table and was lame
on both his feet. III So nuel ix., and IS.
Was there ever anything more romantic
and chivairous than the love of David and
Jonathan? At one time Jonathan was up
and David was down. Now David Is up and
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
| bereit family OF the one that dies, so David
| and Jonathan had made a covenant, and
| now that Jonathan is dead David is tnquiring
about his family. that he may show kind
| ness unto them for their father Jonathan's
| sake.
Careful search is made, and son of Jona-
| than by the exceedingly homelv name of
| Mephibosheth 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, poor man Is
brought into the palace of King David
David gazps upon him with melting tender
ness. no doubt seeing in his face a resem-
| btanco to his old friend, the deceased Jona-
| than. The whole bearing of King David
| toward him seems to say: Chow glad [ am
to see you, Mephihosheth! How you remind
me OF your father, my old friend and bene-
factor. L made IL bargain with your father a
! Sooo many years ago. AMI | am going TO
| keep it with you. What can do for YOU
| Mephibosheth? lam resolved what to do
Will make you rich man. | will restore to
you the conllscatcd property of your grand
father Saul. AMI you shall be a guest of mine
as long as you live, and you shall be seated
ut my table among the princes" 1t was too
much for Mephibosheth. and he cried out
against it, calling himself dead dog, "Bs
still, Says David; 81 don't do this on your
| account; do this for your father Jonathan's
sake. can never forget his kindness. l
| remember when | was bounded from place
to place how he befriended me- Can 1 ever
| forget how he stripped himself of his
c"urtier apparel and gave it to me instead
OF my shepherds coat, and how he took off
MS own sword and belt and gave them to
me instead Of my sling? Oh, l can never
| forget him! ! feel lis if couldn't do enough
| Tor you, his son. l don't do it for your
sake; do it for your father Jonathan's
sake. SO Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusa-
lem, Tor he did eat continually ut 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
galianiry, as Don Juan; George Sand de-
scrioeS SIN as triumphant III many intricate
plots; Gavarni. with his engraver's knife
always shows sin as u great POPULARITY; but
the Bible presents ii as a Mephibosheth, lame
on both feet Sin. like the nurse in the con-
| text, attempted to carry us and let US fall
ana we have been disabled, and in our whole
moral nature we a"e decrepit. Sometimes
tneoloSians haggle about q technicaity.
Ihey use the words total depravty," and
some people believe in the doctrine, an
| some Whof ID
total depravity? Do you mean that every
man Is as low as he can be? Then, 1 do
not believe 1t either. But do you mea
that sin has let us fall; that it has scarf
nea and wounded and crippled our en-
tire moral nature until we cannot walk
Straight and are lame in both feet?
Ihen admit your proposition. There is
not SO much difference in an African jungle
| with barking. howling. kissing, tighng
quadruped and 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 rs the COW and the condor as tame IA
| the dove-as there is between the human soul
disabled and that soul as God originally con-
structed 1t. L do not care what the senti-
mentallsfs or the poets say in regard to sin.
In the name of GOD declare to YOU to-day
that sin is Reorganization, disintegration.
ehastIy dlstl guration, hobbling deformity
-FOUR 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 IL good thing to
nave; II 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, ana We will have his one foot cured.
man Is only half wrong. not altOgether
wrong. In what is mans nature right! In
ms Will, his affections, his Judgment! No.
mere is an old book that says: THE whole
nead Is SICK and the whole heart faint. y
Mephibosheth lame in both feet. Our belle
OF the fact that sin has scarif1ed and deformoG
our souls increases as we 60 on in wears
Whec you started life you thought that mar
was little marred by sin and he was about
one tenth wrong. By the time YOU had gone
through the early experience of YOU
trade or occupation or profession you be-
neved that man was about half wrong. B,
the time you came to midlife you believed
that man was three-fourths wrong. Blu
within these past few years, since Won hav,
been SO lied about and swindled and cheated
you have come to the conclusion that MAJ
Is altogether wrong, and now YOU can sa,
with the prayer book and the Bible, ether
is no health in us. Now you believe will
the prophet, 1.-The heart is deceitful, abov,
all things, and desperately wicked" What
ever you may have believed before, now yo,
believe that Mephibosheth is lame on botl
feet.
Again. Mephibosheth in the text stands TO
the disabled human sou. humbled and re
stored. When this invalid of nv text got
command to come to King David's palace h,
trembled. The fact was that the grandfathe
OF Merhibosheth had treated David mos
shockingIy. and now Mephibosheth saws t,
himself what does the king want of me
Isn't 1t enough that l am lame? Is he goin.
to destroy my life? Is he going to wreak OF
me the vengeance which he holds toward N,
grandfather, Saul? It's too bad" But o
TO the palace Mephibosneth must, since tn
king has commanded it. With staff an,
clutches and helped by his friends.
see Mephibosheth going up the stairs O
the palace. [ hear his staff and crutche
rafting on the tesselated floor of tn
throneroom. No sooner have these tw
persons confronted each Other-Mephib
osheth and David, the king-than Men
mboshetb throws himself flat on his face be
lore the king and styles himself dead dog
In the east when a man styles himself a do
ne utters the utmost term of elf-abnegation
1t Is not term 50 strong in this country
where, ifa dog has fair chance. he some
times shows more nobility of character tina,
some human specimens that we wot of I'm
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