The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-08-29
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
The Noted Divines Sunday Sermon.
Subject; "Kindness for Another's
Sake.n

ness for Jonathan's sake2 So Mep-
hibcsheth dwelt In Jerusalem, for he did eat
continually at the kings table and was lame
on both his feet. III Samuel tx, and 13.
Was there ever anything moro romantic
and chivalrous 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
bereft family OF the one that dies, so David
and Jonathan had made a covenant, and
now that Jonathan is dead David IL inquiring
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 homely name of
Mephibosheth is found. His nurse, in his In
fancy, had let him fall, ana the fall had put
D beo an s 'a s 81 PCe and they had
brought into the palace OF King David.
David gazes upon him with melting tender
ness, no doubt seeing in his face q resem-
blance to bis old friend, the deceased Jona-
than. The whole bearing of King David
toward him seems to say, "How glad / am
to soc you, Mephiboshethl How you remind
me OF your father, my old friend and bene-
io~'oAs Iiddo u udrSdlu Will your Idll0f q
good many years ago, AMI am going TO
keep It with you. What can do for you,
Mephibosheth? lam resolved what to do
l will make you rich man. will restore to
you The conascatad property Of your grand
father Saul, and You shall be guest of mine
Us long RS you live, and you shall ba seated
at my table among the princes" 1t was too
much for Mephibosheth, and he cried out
against 1t, calling himself dead dog. "Be
still, says David; 81 don't do this on your
account; / do this for your father Jonathan's
sake. l can never forget his kindness
remember when was bounded from place
to place how he befriended me. Can ever
forget how he stripped himself of his
coursier apparel aud gave 1t to me instead
OF my shepherds coat, and how he took of
his own sword and belt and gave them to
me instead OF my sling2 Oh, can never
forget himl I feel as il couldn't do enough
for you, his son. don't do It for your
sake; l do 1t for your father Jonathan's
sake" So Mephibosheth dwelt In Jerusa-
lem, for 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 aud Jonathan make you think of?
Mephibosheth, in the first place, stands for
the disabled human soul. Lord Byron de.
scrlbss sin as charming recklessness, as
gallan,ry, 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 POPULARITY; but
the Bible presents 1t es Mephibosheth, lame
on both feet. Sin, like the nurse in the con.
text, attempted to carry US ana let us fall,
and we have been disabled, and In our whole
moral nature we are decrepit. Sometimes
theoiogans haSgle about O technicality.
| They use the words total depravity," aad
some people believe in the doctrine, uni
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 1t has scarf
| het and wounded and crippled our en-
tire moral nature until We cannot walk
straight and ere lame In beth feet2
Ihen admit your proposition: There is
not SO much difference in an African Jungle
with barking. bowling, Kissing, fghing
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 as the COW and the condor as tame as
| 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-
msntalists or the poets say In regard to sin.
In the name OF God declare to you to-day
tnat sin Is Reorganization, disintegration,
CHASTITY designation, 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
rectifcation. Religion Is a good thing to
have; 1t might some day come into use. Man
Is partially wrong, not all wrong. He is
lame in one foot. Bring the salye OF divine
grace and the ointment and the pain extrao-
tor, and we will have his one foot cured.
Man Is only half wrong, not altogether
wrong. In what IL mans nature right In
his will, his affections, his judgmentr 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 go 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 timeeyou came to midlife you believed
| that man was throe-fourths wrong. But
within these past few years, sinoa you have
been so lied about aud swindled 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
- no uOuith III u.s. NOW you Dellevo 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. humbled and re-
stored. When this invalid Of my text got q
command to come to King David's palace he
| trembied. The fact was that the graEdfa. her
OF Mephibosheth had treated David most
snockingly. and now Mephibosheth says TO
himself: What does the king want of me2
Isn't 1t 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, Saul? It's too bad" But go
TO the palace Mephibosheth must, since the
king has commanded it, With staff and
clutches and helped by his friends. I
SEQ Mephibosheth going up the stairs Of
The palace. l hear his staff and crutches
rafting on the tesse!lated 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
ne uttcrs the utmost term of self-abnegation.
1t Is not term so strong In this country,
where, ifa dog has fair chance, he some
times shows more nobility of character than
| 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. aud dead at that.
Consider the anaiovv Whap tho oo,,