Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1898-12-12
LIGHT IN DARKNESS
oA' TAlmAeE COMFORTS THE s,ox
AND HELPLESS

the Lord For AN All W., =" b1
The "Withouts" ana ,r,,,. rpose
'o0pyr'sht. 1893. by American Pres, A,..
ciatonl e'' Asso'
WASHINGTON, Dec. l1.-Tb;s -.
course OF DR.. Talmage, which il he,n us
10 an who find life a strnoo,. D:.plu1
pec,aIly addressed to class Of perso v'
probably never before addressed 'i Is :
..rl Inc text is Genesis vii -
Inc Lord shut him in." 49,
Oosmogony has no more ;n,oros.;.-
cnapter than the one which snoaLa -
.na1 catastrophe of the ages, the suhme y.
s'on OF our world in time of Noah Tho
nrsl snip carpenter. Many of the nations
s wno never saw Bible have a flood
story-Egyptian food story Grac;.u u
nooa story, of which Ducalion was tha
i Moan; Hawaiian food story, New Zea.
iand Hood story, Chinese food storv
american Indian food story-all ~
"nich accounts agree in the immersion
OF the continents under universal rains
ana That there was ship floating. with
select few of the human family and
win specimens Of geological and or.
nl'noloelcal and reptilian worlds. al.
.nough could have wished that these
last had been shut out of the ark and
drowned. anu
All of these food stories REPRESENT tho
ship thus afioat as finally stranded on
mountain top Hugh Miller, in bis
testimony Of the Rocks" thinks that
an these flood stories were infirm tradi.
lions OF the Biblical account. and I ba.
heve him. The worst thing about that
great freshet was that it struck Noab's
Great Eastern from above and beneath
The seas broke the chain Of shells and
crystal and rolled over the land. and
the heavens opened their clouds for fall
Ing columns of water which roared 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, one part for
each of three Stories The Bible account
says nothing about parts of the door be-
longing to two of the stories and I do
not know on which floor Noah and his
family voyaged, but my text tells us
that the part of the door of that partic-
ular floor on which Noah staid was
closed after he had entered. "The Lord
shut him in" So there are many peo.
pie now in the world who are as thor
oughly shut in, some by sickness, some
by old age, some by special duties that
will not allow them to go forth, some
by deluges of misfortune
and trouble, and for them my sympathies
are aroused, and from them l often re-.
,eive messages. and this sermon, which
hope may do good to others, is more
specially intended for them. Today
address the shut in. 1.-THE Lord shut
lin in"
The Divine Hand.
Notice, first Of all, who closed the
loor so that they could not get out.
Noah did not do it, nor his son Shem,
lor did Ham, nor did Japheth, nor did
ither of the four married women who
we're on shipboard, nor did desperadoes
Who had scoffed at the idea of peril
TAlCh ANO0h huu UCOA "a CuNdlu6 OiOo0 |
hat door. They had turned their backs
q the ark and had in disgust gone
way. / will tell you how it was done.
band was stretched down from heaven
, close that door. 1t was divine hand
we'll as kind hand. "The Lord shut
i'm in"
And the same kind and sympathetic
cling has shut you in, my reader or my
carer. You thought it was an acct
ent ascribable to the carelessness or
lisdoings of others, or mere "happen ,
D." No, no! Gcd had gracious design
u your betterment, for the cultivation
your patience, for the strengthening
your faith, for the advantage you !.
light gain by seolusion, for your eter. :
al salvation. He put you in a school ..
,om where you could learn in six
onths or year more than you could
ave learned anywhere else in life :
me. He turned the lattice or pulled
own the blinds of the sickroom, or put
our swollen foot on an ottoman, or :
cid you amid the pillows of a couch .
hich you could not leave, for some :.
JASON that you may not now under a
and, but which he has promised he !,
i'll explain to you satisfactorily, If not :.
this world, then in the world to y
,me, for he has said, "What do thou r
lowest not now, but thou shalt know =
3reafter u A
The world has no statistics as to the !;
,mber Of invalids. The physicians r
low something about it, and the =
and the pastors, but who 4
N tell us the number of blind eyes, !,
I'd deaf ears, and diseased lungs, and :,
pgested livers, and tangled nerves. -
ID neuralgia temples, and rheumatic ?
ct, or how many took no food this h
oruipg because they had no appetite :,
eat, or digestive organs to assimilate, n
have lungs so delicate they cannot n
forth when the wind is in the east, n
there is fog rising from the river i,
there is dampness Oh the ground or n
because of the frost coming a,
a? 1t would be easy to count the peo- h
Q who every day 60 through street. Il
the number Of passengers carried oy q,
railroad company in year, or the NJ
mber of those who cross the ocean III II
ms. but who can give us the statistics Al
The great multitudes who are shut IN!
,all the attention Of all such to their Il
nerior opportunities Of doing good. III
Those Of us who are we'll and can see q
,arly, and hear distinctly, and par. SC
xe Of food of all sorts, and questions tn
digestion never occur to u.s. ana we to
n wade the snow banks and take an m
!. V.@ o.,di1ro flA IL