St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-10-29
JONATHAN SLEW HIM.
Rev. Dr.. Talmage Talks to Men
with Unhealthy Ambition.

The Dsngors ef OveFnach Riches-A Con.
pstssey with Conts.tmsat Better
TAan lAIllons with Nsrv-
sss Dyspepsia.
Rev DR.. Talmage. In the following
discourse, sets forth n truth very ap-
propriate for those who have un-
healthy ambition for great wealth or
fame. The text is:
"a man of great stature, whose fin
gers and toes were four and twenty, six
on each hand, and six ON each foot;
and he also was the son of giant.
But when he defied Israel, Jonathan,
the son of Shimea, David's brother,
slew him. Chron., Xx., 81.
Malformation photographed. and for
what reason? Did not this passage
slip in by mistake into the sacred
Scriptures, as sometimes paragraph
utterly obnoxious to the editor gets
into his newspaper during his abb
sence? II it not this Scuptural er-
rata? No, NO; there is nothing hap
hazard about the Bible. This passage
of Scripture was as certainly intended
to be put in the Bible as the verse:
"In the beginning God created the
Heavens and the earth," or, God SO
loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son."
And / select it for my text to-day
because it is charged with practical
and tremendous meaning. By the
people of God the Philistines had been
conquered, with the exception OF q
few giants. The race of giants in
mostly extinct, I am glad to say.
There is no use for giants now except
to enlarge the income of museums
But there were many of them in olden
times. Goliath was, according to the
Bible, IL feet ~ inches high. Or, If
you doubt this, the famous Pliny de-
clares that 1t Crete. by an earthquake.
4 monument was broken open, discov-
ering the remains of a giant 46 cubits
long, or 50 feet high. So. whether
you take sacred or profane history,
you must come to the conclusion that
there were in those times cases of hu-
man altitude monstrous and appal-
ling.
David had smashed the skull of one
of these giants, but there were other
giants that the Davidean wars had not
vet subdued, and one Of them stands
in nv text. He was not only of Al
pine stature, but had surplus of dig
"a r. a. c~xl;uoxsr Rnu0rS xvaS an-
nexed an additional finger, and the
foot had also superfuous addendum.
| He had "a Examinations to hands and
feet, where others have 20. 1t was not
the only instance of the kind. Taver-
nier, the learned writer, fays that the
emperor of Java had SON endowed
with the same number of extremities.
volcatius, the poet, had six fingers on
each hand. Maupertuis, in his cele-
brated letters, speaks of two families
near Berlin similarly equipped ofhand
and foot. All of which can believe,
for have seen two cases of the same
physical superabundance. But this
riant of the text IL in battle, and as
David, the stripping warrior, had dis
patched one giant the nephew OF Da-
vid slays this monster of my text. and
there he lies after the battle in Gath.
= dead eiant. His stature did not save
him, and his superHuous appendices OF
hand and foot did not save him. The
probability was that in the battle his
sixth finger on his hand made him
clumsy in the use of his weapon, and
his sixth toe crippled his gait. Be
hold the PROSTATE and malformed gi-
mt Of the text: "a man Of great
stature, whose fingers and toes were
four and twenty, six ON each hand
six ON each foot; and he also was the
son Of a giant. But when he defied
Israel. Jonathan, the son OF Shimea,
David's brother, slew him"
Behold how superfuities are him
drapce rather than a help! In all the
battles at Gath that day there was not
q man with ordinary hand and ordi-
nary foot and ordinary stature that
was not better OF than this physical
curiosity of my text. A dwarf on the
right side is stronger than a giant on
the wrong side, and all the body
and mind and estate and opportunity
that YOU can not use for God and the
betterment of the world is sixth fin
rer and a sixth toe, and terrible him
drance. The most of the good done in
the world, and the most of those who
win the battles for the right, are or
binary people. Count the fingers of
their right hand, and they have just
five-no more and no less. One DR..
Duffie among missionaries. but 5000
missionaries that would tell you they
have only common endowment. One
Florence Nightingale to nurse the
sick in conspicuous places, but 10000
women who are just as good nurses,
though never heard of. The "Swamp
Angel was big gun that during the
civil war made big noise, but mus
kets of ordinary caliber and shells OF
ordinary heft did the execution.
President Tyler and his cabinet go
down the Potomac one day to expert
ment with the 'Peacemaker," great
iron gun that was to alright with its
thunder foreign navies. The gunner
touches it OF, and it explodes, and
leaves cabinet ministers dead on the
deck, while ut that time, all up end
down our coast, were cannon of ordi-
nary bore, able to be the defense o1
the nation, and ready at the first
touch to waken to duty. The curse o1
the world is big guns. After the politi
clans, who have made all the noise, ge
home hoarse from an angry discussion
ON the evening of the first Monday il
November, the next day the people
with the silent ballot, will settle every
thing, and settle it right, 1000, 600 O
the white slips Of paper they droI
making about as much noise n tn,
fall Of m apple blossom.
Clear back in the country to-da,
there are mothers in plain apron, an,
shoes fashioned on = rough last by
shoemaker 1t the end Of the lame
rocking babies that are to be Marti1
Luthers and the Faradays and the Ed
isons and the Bismarcks and tn
Gladstones and the Washingtons am
the George Whitehelds of the future
The longer live the more like com
, \