The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-06-02
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

A Sermon That Mostly Concerns This Life,
Yet Spiritual and Physical Conditions
Are Largely Dependent Upon Each
Other-A Warning Against Dissipation.
TEXT: "Till dart strikes through his
liver" Proverbs VIII, %.
Solomon's anatomical and physiological
discoveries were so very great that he was
nearly 5000 years ahead of the scientists Of
his day. He, more than 1000 years before
| Christ, seemed to know about the circula-
tion Of the blood, which Harvey discovered
1919 years after Christ, for when Solomon
in Ecclesastes, describing the human body,
speaks of the pitcher at the fountain he
evidently means the three canals leading
from the heart that receive the blood like
| pitchers. When he speaks in Ecclesiastes
of the silver cord OF life, he evidently means
the spinal marrow, abou: which in our day
Drs. Mayo and Carpenter and Dalton and
Flint and Brown-Sequard have experiment.
ed. And Solomon recorded in the Bible,
thousands Of years before scientists discov-
cred it.. chat In his time the spinal cord re-
laxed in old age, producing the tremors OF
hand and head, COR the silver cord be
| loosed."
In the text he reveals the fact that he had
| studied that largest gland OF the human
system, the liver, not by the electric light
OF the modern dissecting room, but by the
dim light of a comparatively dark age, and
yet had seen its important functions tn the
God built castle Of the human body, its Sc
lecting and secreting power, Its curious
cells, its elongated branching tubes, a di-
vine workmanship in central and right and
left lobe and the hepatic artery through
which flow the crimson tides. Oh, this
vital organ is like the eye of God in that it
never sleeps!
Solomon knew of it and had noticed
either in vivisection or post mortem what
awful attacks sin and dissipation make
upon it, until the fiat Of Almighty God bids
| the body and soul separate, aud the one it
eommends to the grave and the other it
sends to judgment. A javelin of retribu
tion, not glancing of or making a slight
wound but piercing it from side to side
"till dart strike through his liver"
liver the most of the worlds moral depres-
sion, and the word melancholy means black
bile.
| preach to you the gospel Of health. In
caking diagnosis Of diseases Of the soul
you must also take diagnosis of diseases
Of the body. AS If to recognize this, one
whole book OF the New Testament was
written by a physician. Luke was a
medical doctor, and he discourses much Of
|
good Samaritans medication Of the
wounds by pouring in oil and wine, and
recognizes hunger as hindrance to hear
| Ing the gospel, so that the 5000 were fed.
He also records the sparse diet Of the
prodigal away from home and the extin-
guished eyesight OF the beggar by the way
side, and let's US know Of the hemorrhage
of the wounds OF the dying Christ and the
miraculous post mortem resuscitation. ANY
estimate Of the spiritual condition that
ioes not include also the physical condition
| ls incomplete.
When the doorkeeper OF Congress fell
dead from excessive joy because Burgoyne
| had surrendered at Saratoga, and Philip
r., OF Spain, dropped dead at the news Of
MS country's defeat in battle, and Cardinal
Wolsey faded away as the result Of Henry
| VIII. g anathema, it was demonstrated that
The body and soul are Siamese twins and
when you thrill rhe one with Joy or sorrow
you thrill the other. We may as we'll recog-
nize the tremendous fact that there are two
mighty fortresses in the human body, the
heart and the liver, the heart the fortress
Of the graces, the liver the fortress Of the
turies. You may have the head filled with
Ill intellectualities, and the ear with all
musical appreciation, and the mouth with
Ill eloquence, and the hands with oil in
iustries, and the heart with all generosities,
md yet 80 dart strike through the liver"
First, let Christian people avoid the mis-
take that they are all wrong with God be-
cause they suffer from depression ofspirits.
Many q consecrated man has found his
spiritual sky 5efogged and his hope Of
heayen blotted out and plunged chin deep
q the slough Of despond and has said "My
heart Is not right with God, and I think
[ must have made a mistake and in
stead Of being q child Of light am child
,f darkness. No one can feel as gloomy as
( feel and be Christian" And he has
gone to his master for consolation, and he
nas collected Flavel's books and Cecils
books and Baxter's books and read and
read and read and prayed and prayed and
prayed and wept and wept and wept
ind groaned and groaned and groaned. My
brother, your trouble is not with the heart;
It is gastric disorder or rebellion OF the
liver. You need physician moro than you
10 clergyman. 1t is not sin that blots
,ut your hope Of heaven, but bile. It not
,nly yellows your eyeballs, and furs
Tour tongue, and makes your head ache,
but swoops upon your soul in objections
ind forebodings. The devil is after you.
de has failed to despoil your character,
and he does the next best thing for him
he ruffles your peace OF mind. When he
yays that you are not a forgiven soul, when
ne says you are not right with God, when
le says that you will never get to heaven,
40 lies. If you are in Christ you are just as
ure Of heaven as though you were there
already. But satan, finding that he cannot
! Keep you out Of the promised land OF
/ Canaan has determined that the spies shall
lot bring you any Of the Eschol grapes be-
,orehand, and that you shall have nothing
but prickly pear and crabapple. You are
lust as much Christian now under the
cloud as you were when you were aecus-
| toned to rise in the morning ut o'clock to
! pray and sing "Halleluiah, 'tis done"
My friend, Rev. DR.. Joseph F. Jones, OF
| Philadelphia, a translated spirit now, wrote
book entitled, Man, Moral and Physi-
| .al," in which he shows how different the
,ame things may appear to different peo-
2le He says: After the great battle on
The Mincio in 1859, between the French and
:he Sardinians on the one side and the Aus
, .rians on the other, so disastrous to the
latter, the defeated army retreated, fol-
lowed by the victors. A description OF the
march OF each army is given by two CORE
,pondents of the London Times, one Of
whom travelled with the successful host, the
| other with the defeated. The difference in
| views and statements Of the same place,
scenes and events is remarkable. The for
ner are said to be marching through
beautiful and luxuriant country during the
1ay ana at nlSnL encumpluS Wnere lucy afe
supplied with On abundance of the best
provisions and all sorts of rural dainties.
There Is nothing OF war about the proceed
| Ing except its stimulus and excitement.
| On the side Of the poor AuStrians it is just
| The reverse. In his letter Of the same date,
describing the same places and march
over the same road. the writer can scarcely
| and words to set forth the suffering i'm
| patience and disgust existing around him.
What was pleasant to the former was in
!olerable to the latter. What made oil this
difference? asks the author. One condi-
lion only. The French are victorious, the