Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-09-30
THE LIMITS OF LIFE.
DR.. TALMAGE TALKS ON THE DANGER
OF HAVING TOO MUCH.
The symbol of the Gfant-He Is Not
Always the Strong Man-The Ev-
eryday Man Does the WOrk-The
Worry of Useless Addcndn.


eryday Man Does the WOrk-The
Worry of Useless Addcndn.
copyright. 1895. by American Press Asso-
ciatOn.l
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.-From a
passage Of Scripture that probably no
other clergyman ever preached from
Rev. DIR. Talmage in this discourse sets
forth a truth very appropriate for those
who have unhealthy ambition for great
wealth or fame. The text is Chron
Xxx, 8, Z:
" 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 a giant. But,
when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son
of Shimea, Dayid's brother, slew him. !"
Malformation photographed, and for
what reason? Did not this passage slip
by mistake into the sacred Scriptures,
as sometimes a paragraph utterly OBJ
noxiOus to the editor gets into his news.
paper during his absence? Is not this
Scriptural errata? No, no; there is moth
ing haphazard about the Bible. This
passage of Scripture was as certainly in
tended 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 today be-
cause it is charged with practical and
tremendous meaning. By the people Of
God the Philistines had been conquered,
with the exception Of a few giants. The
race of giants is mostly extinct, 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 4 inches high,
or. if you doubt this, the famous Piiny
declares that at Crete, by an earthquake,
a monument was broken open, discover
ing the remains of a giant as cubits
long, or 90 feet high So, whether you
take sacred or profane history, you must
come to the conclusion that there were
in those times cases Of human altitude
monstrous and appalling.
The Giant In History.
David had smashed the skull Of one
Of these giants, but there were other
giants that the Dayidean wars had not
yet subdued, and one Of them stands in
my text He was not only Of Alpine
stature, but had a surplus Of digits
To the ordinary fingers was annexed an
additional finger, and the foot had also
a superfiuOus addendum. He had "a
examinations to hands and feet where
others have 20 1t was not the only in
stance Of the kind Tavernier, the
learned writer, says that the emperor
Of Java had a son endowed with the
same number of extremities Volcatius
the poet, had six fingers on each hand
Maupertuis, in his celebrated letters,
speaks of two families near Berlin sim
ilarly equipped of hand and foot All Of
which | can believe, for | have seen
two cases Of the same physical super
abundance But this giant of the text
is IN battle. md as David, the stripping
warrior, had dispatched one giant the
nephew Of David slays this monster Of
my text, and there he lies after the bat
tie in Gath, a dead giant. 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 bis hand made
him clumsy in the use Of his weapon
and his sixth toe crippled his gait Be-
hold the prostrate and malformed giant
Of the text: "A man of great stature,
whose fingers 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, Jona
than, the son of Shimea. David's broth
er, slew him.
The Common Man.
Behold how superfuities are a him
drance rather than a help In all the
battle at Gath that day there was not
man with ordinary hand and ordinary
foot and ordinary stature that was not
better Off than this physical curiosity Of
my text A dwarf on the right side is
stronger than giant on the wrong side,
and all the body and mind and estate
and opportunity that you cannot use for
God and the bettermeut of the world Is
a sixth finger and sixth toe. and n ter
rible hindrance The most Of the good
done IN the world and the most Of those
who win the battles for the right are
ordinary people Count the fingers OF
their right hand, and they have just
fve-no more and no less. One Dr. Duff
among missionaries, but 3, 600 mission
aries that would tell you they have
only common endowment One Florence
Nightingale to nurse the sick in con-
spicuous places, but 10000 women who
are Just as good nurses, though never
heard Of The Swamp Angel" was a
big gun that during the civil war made
a big noise. but muskets Of ordinary
caliber and shells of ordinary heft did
the execution. President Tyler and his
cabinet go down the Potomac one day
to experiment with the Peacemaker,
a 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 at that time, all up and
Lown our coasts, were cannon Of Ordi-
nary bore, able to be the defense Of the
nation, and ready at the first touch to
waken to duty. The curse Of the world
is big guns After the politicians, who
have made all the noise, go home hoarse
from angry discussion on the evening Of
the first Monday In November, the next
day the people, with the silent ballots,
will settle everything and settle it right,
1000, 600 of the white slips Of paper
they drop making about as much noise
as the fall of an apple blossom.
Clear back in the country today there
are mothers, in plain apron and shoes
fashioned on a rough last by shoe
maker at the end of the lane, rocking
babies that are to be the Martin Luthers
md tho Faradavs and the Edisons and