The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1896-07-30
REV. DIR. TAIlMAGE
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject; "Kindness for Another's
Sake.o

nlboShefh dweif IN Jerusalem, iOr ne ulu tek
continually at the kings table and was lame
on both his feet. III Samuel tx, and 13.
Was there ever anything more romantic
and chivalrous than the love OF David and
Jonathan2 At one time Jonathan was up
and David was down Now David ID DIP and
yonathan's family is down. As you have
often heard OF two soldiers before going into
battle making a covenant that II one is shot
the survivor viii 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 covenant, and
now that Jonathan is dead David is inquiring
about his family, that he may show kind
ness unto them for their father Jonsthan's
sake.
Careful search is made, and SOB OF iona:
than by the exceedingly homely name OF
Msphibosheth 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 gazes upon him with melting tender
ness, no doubt seeing in his face resem-
blance to his old friend, the deceased iona;
! than. The whole bearing Of King David
toward him seems to say: How glad | am
| 10 see you, Mephibosheth, How you remind
re Of your father, my old friend and bene-
factori l made bargain with your father
good many years ago, and l am going 10
| keep 1t with you. What can l do for you,
| Mephiboshetb? lam resolved what to do
l will make you rich man, l will rsstore TO
| you the confscated property of your grand
father Sail, and you shall be guest of mine
| a. 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 1t, calling himself dead dog. "Be
still, - says David; ~ don't do this on your
account; l do this for your father Jonathan's
sake. | can never forget hi. Kindness. l
remember when l was bounded from place
| to place hc* he befriended me. Can l ever
forget how he stripped himself Of his
| courtier apparel 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, l can never
forget himl feel as If couldn't do enough
for you, his son. 1 don't do it 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 a charming reoklessness, rs q
| gallantry, as a Don Juan; George Sand de-
scrihes ain as triumphant in many intricate
| plots; Gavarni, with his engraver's knife,
always shows sin as q great POPULARITY; but
the Bible presents it as Mephiboshsth, 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
| theologians haggle about a technicality.
| They use the words total depravity," and
some peopls believe in the doctrine. AMI
seme reject it. What do you mean by
total depravity2 Do you mean that every
man is as low as he can be2 Then. l do
not believe it either. But do you mean
| that sin has let us fail; that it has scarf
| fed and wounded and crippled our en-
tire moral nature until we cannot walk
straight and are lame in both feet2
| Then L admit your proposition. There il
I not 30 much difference in an African Jungle
with barking, howiiAg, Kissing. aghiRg
| 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 AZ
| the deve-as there lie between the human sotl
disabled and that soul AS God originally con-
| structed ii. | 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,
| CHASTITY designation. hobbling deformity.
Your modern theologian tells you that
man is little out OF sorts; he sometimes
| thinks Vrongi he sometimes acts wrohp. in
deed, his nature needs little moral surgery,
an outside splint. slight compress little
rectificatton. Religion is 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 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 judzmepty No
!hefe is an old book that says: 1.-THE whole
head Is sick and the whole heart faint -
Mephibosheth lame in both feet Our belief
oil the TACT 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 y0u be-
lievei 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 saw
with the prayer book and the Bible, hThere
Is no health In u.s." Now you believe with
the prophet 1.-The heart Is deceitfuI above
| "'- NA'AAoSi "AN tSoPCiatciy WiChcu. what
ever you may have believed before, now Won
believe that Mephibosheth is lame on both
feet.
Again, Mephibosheth In the test stands for
the disabled human sou! humbled and re.
Stored When this invalid Of my test got n
command to come to Hihd David paiaoe he
treabted. Tho fact was that the grandfather
OF Mephlbosheth had treated David most
shockingiy, and now Mephibosheth saws to
himself What does the king want Of me?
isn't 1t enough that am lame? Is he going
10 destroy my life2 Is he going to wreak on
me the vengeance which he holds toward nv
grandfather, saul2 It's too bad" But 90
20 the palace Mephibosheth must, since the
King has commanded it. With staff and
orutches and helped BY his friends. |
see Mephihosheth going DIP the Stair Of
the palace. l hear his staff and crutches
rafting on the tesssllatsd floor Of the
thronetooin, No sooner hays these two
persons confronted each other-1tephih.
osheth and David, the king-than Mep-
hi6osheth throws himself fiat on his face be-
lore the king and styles himself dead dog.
In the east when man styles himself dog
ne utters the utmost term OF self-sbnegation.
IL Is not 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
know by my own observation, are utterly