The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-12-12
SHUT In BY DISASTER
DR.. TALMAGE TALKS ON THE CON-
PENaATIoNS or SICKNESS.

FENoAIIONo Of S1CNNeSo.
The Case OF Noah and the Ark-DSS-
asters Are Gods Designs For Our
Bett Saved by Being
Shut ina Sermon to Invalids.
copyright. 1885, b. b|,t American Press Asso-
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11.-This discourse
of DR.. Talmags, which is helpful to all
who find life struggle, ia especially ad-
dressed to class OF persons probably new.
or before addressed In sermon. Tho text
is Genesis vii, 16, "The Lord shut him
in."
CosmoGony has no more Interesting
chapter than the ono which speaks Of that
catastrophe Of the ages, the submersion Of
our world in time of Noah. the first ship
carpenter. Mary Of the nations who new.
er saw Bible have a flood stOry-EgyN-
tian food story, Grecian food story, II
which Ducalion was the Noah; Hawaiian
food story, New Zealand flood story, Chi
ness food story American Indian food
storv--all Of which accounts agree In the
immersion Of the continents under uni
vernl rains, snd that there was a ship
floating with select few OF tho human
family and with specimens of geological
and ornithologioal and reptilinn worlds,
although could have wished that these
last had been shut out Of the ark and
drowned.
All Of these food stories represent the
ship thus afioat as finally stranded on
mountain top. Hugh Miller In his "Tes-
timony Of tho Rookie thinks that all these
food stories were inhrm traditions Of the
Biblical account, and believe him. The
worst thing about that great freshet was
that 1t struck Noah's Great Eastern from
above and beneath. The sens broke the
chain Of SHELLS and crystal and rolled over
the land, and the heavens opened their
clouds for falling columns of water which
roarsd and thundered on the roof OF the
great ship for . month and ten days.
There was one door to the ship, but there
were three parts to that door, ono part for
each of the three stories. The Bible &C.
count says nothing about parts Of the door
belonging 70 two Of tho stories, and do
not know on which floor Noah and hts
family voyaged, but my next tells us that
the part Of the door Of that particular floor
on which Noah staid was closed after he
had entered. !'The Lord shut him In"
30 there arc many people now In the world
who are a. thoroughly shut III, some by
sickness, some by old age, some by special
duties that will not allow them to 60
forth, some surrounded by deluges Of mis-.
fortune and trouble, and for them often
receive messages, and this sermon, which
I hope may do good to others, Is more e.
pecially intended for them. To-day adj
dress the.shut in. 1.-THE Lord shut him
in."
u The Closed Door.
Notice first of all who closed the door 60
that they could not get out. Noah did not
do 1t, nor his son Shem, nor did Ham, nor
did Japheth, nor did either of the four
married women who were on ehipboard,
nor did desperadoes who had scoffed at the
idea of peril which Noah had been preach
ing close that door. They had turned
their backs on tho ark and had In disgust
gone away. will tell you how It was
done. A hand was stretched down from
heaven to close that door. 1t was divine
hand as we'll as kind hand. "The Lord
shut him In"
! And the same kind and sympathetic be.
ing has shut you In, my reader or my
nearer. You thought II was an accident,
asoribable to the carelessness or misdoings
Of others, or a mere "happsn So" No,
mol God had gracious design for your
betterment, for the cultivation Of your
patience, for the strengthening Of your
faith, for tho advantage you might gain
by scolusion, for your eternal salvation.
He put you In q schoolrooin, where you
could learn In six months or year more
than you could have learned anywhere
else in lifetime. He turned the lattice
or pulled down the blinds of the siokroom,
or put your swollen foot on an ottoman,
or held you amid tho pillows Of couch
which you could not leave, for some rea-
son that you may not now understand, but
which be has promised he will explain to
you satisfactorily, II not in this world,
then In tho world to come, for he has
said, "What l do thou knowest not now,
but thou shalt know hereafter!'
The world has no statistics as to the
number OF invalids. The physicians know
something about It, and the apothecaries
and the pastors, but who can tell us the
number Of blind eyes, and deaf ears, and
diseased lungs, and copgested livers, and
tangled nerves, and neuralgia temples,
and rheumatic feet, or how many took no
food this morning because they had no ap-
petite to eat or digestive organs to assim-
ilate, or have lungs 80 delicate they can.
not go forth when the wind is in the east,
or there is q fog rising from the river, or
there Is dampness on the ground or
pavement because Of the frost coming QUIT
It would be easy to count the people who
every day go through street, or the num-
Der Of passengers carried by railroad
company In year, or the number OF those
who cross the ocean in ships. But who
can give us tho statistics Of the great null
titudes who are shut inp l call the atten
ton of all such to their superior oppor-
tunities Of doing good.
Consolation Of the Sick.
Those Of lis who arc well, and can see
CLEARLY, and hear distinctly, and partake
Of food Of all sorts, and questions of diges-
tion never occur to us, and we can wade
the snowbanks, and take an equinox in
our faces, and endure the thermometer at
zero, and every breath of air is tonic
and stimulus, and sound sleep meets us
WlUhiu uFo IuiHuVon oltcf ouT Aethu touCLeS
the pillow, do not make so much of an i'm
preston when we talk about the consola-
lions of religion. The world says right
away: II guess that man mistakes buoy
anoy Of natural spirits for religion. What
does he know about itp He has never been
tried" But when one goes out and reports
to the world that that morning on his way
to business he called to see you and found
you, after being kept in your room for
two months, cheerful and hopeful, and
that you had not one word of complaint
and asked all about everybody and rejoiced
in the success of your business friends, al
though your own business had almost
como to stnndstill through your absence
from store Or office or shop, and that you
sent your love to all your old friends and
told them that II you did not meet them
again In this world you hoped to meet
them in dominions seraphic, with quiet
word Of advice from you to the man who
carried the message about the Importance
of his not neglectlng his own SOUL but
through Christ seeking something better
than this world could give him-why, all
the business men in the counting room
say, "Goodi Now, that Ia religion" And
the clerks get hold Of the story and talk 1t
over, SO that the weigher and cooper and
standing on the doorstep, say:
"That Is splendid! Now, that is what
Gull religion"
1t Is good thing to preach on Sun