Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-10-13
!, ThLMhGE'S SERMON.

Washington, d. c., Oct. 4, 1S96.-We
sermons DR.. Talmage ever preached.
1t is as novel as wide-sweeping and
practical. His subject is, Divine
Chirography," the text being: Luke,
10: 90: Rejoice because your names
are written in heaven"
Chirography, or the art of handwrit-
ing, like the science of acoustics, is in
very unsatisfactory state. While con-
structing church, and told by some
architects that the voice would not be
heard in a building shaped like that
proposed, / came in much anxiety to
this city and consulted with Professor
Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian In
stitution, about the law of acoustics.
He said: GO ahead and build your
church in the shape proposed, and
think it will be all right. have stud
ied the laws OF sound perhaps more
than any man of my time, and have
come so far as this: Two auditoriums
may seem to be just exactly alike, and
IN one the acoustics may be good and
In the other bad" In the same unsat-
isfactory stage is chirography, although
many declare they have reduced 1t to
science. There are those who say
they can read character by handwrlt-
ing. It is said that the way one writes
the letter or decides his egotism or
modesty, and the way one writes the
letter 20" decides the height and
depth of his emotions. 1t is declared
a cramped hand means cramped ma
ture, and an easy, flowing hand facile
and liberal spirit; but if there be any
thing in this science, there must be
some rules not yet announced, for
some Of the boldest and most agrees
sive men have a delicate and small pen
manship, while some of the most timid
sign their names with the height and
width and scope of the name OF John
Hancock on the immortal document.
Some of the cleanest in person and
thought present their blotted and spat-
tered page, and some of the toughest
put before us an immaculate chirog-
raphy. Not our character, but the
copy-plate set before us in our school
boy day, decides the general style OF
our handwriting. So also there is
fashion in penmanship, and for one de-
cade the letters are exaggerated, and
in the next minified: now erect and now
aslant, now heavy and now fine. An
autograph album is always a surprise,
ndyou find the penmanship contradicts
the character of the writers. But while
the chirography of the earth is I'M
certain, our blessed Lord in our text
presents the chirography celestial.
When addressing the seventy disciples
standing before him, he said: Rejoice
because your names are written in
heaven"
When you come up and look for
your name in the mighty tones of eter-
nifty and you are so happy as to find
1t there, you will notice that the pen
manship is Christ's, and that the let
tiers were written with trembling
hand. Not trembling with old age, for
he had only passed three decades when
he expired. 1t was soon after the thir-
tieth anniversary Of his birthday. Look
over all the business accounts you kept
or the letters you wrote at thirty years
of age, and if you were ordinarily
strong and well, then there was no
tremor in the chirography. Why the
tremor in the hand that wrote your
name in heaven? Oh, it was a COM
preston OF more troubles than ever
smote anyone else, and all of them
troubles assumed for others. Christ
was prematurely old. He had been ex-
posed to all the weathers of Palestine.
He had slept out of doors, now in the
night dew and now in the tempest. He
had been soaked in the surf of Lake
Galilee. Pillows for others, but he had
not where to lay his head. Hungry, he
could not even get fig on which TO
breakfast; or have you missed the pa
thos of that verse, I'm the morning, as
he returned to the city, he hungered,
and when he saw fig tree in the way,
he came to 1t and found nothing there
on" Oh, he was hungry Christ, and
sothing makes the hand tremble
horse than hunger, for 1t pulls upon
the stomach, and the stomach pulls
upon the brain, and the brain pulls
upon the nerves, and the agitated
nerves make the hand quake. On the
top of all this evaporation came abuse.
What sober man ever wanted to be
called a drunkard? but Christ was
called one. What man, careful of the
company he keeps, wants to be called
the associate of profligates? but he was
no called. What loyal man wants to be
charged with treason? but he was
charged with it. What man of devout
speech wants to be called BIAS
phemer? but he was so termed. What
man of self-respect wants to be struck
sn the mouth? but that is where they
struck him. Or to be the victim of
yiIest expectoration? but under that he
stopped. Oh, he was WORKOUT Christ
That is the reason he died so soon upon
the cross. Many victims of crucifxion
lived day after day upon the cross;
but Christ was in the courtroom at II
o'clock of noon and had expired at 3
o'clock in the afternoon of the same
day. Subtracting from the three hours
between IL and o'clock the time taken
to travel from the courtroom to the
place of execution and the time that