The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1898-10-15
DR.. TALN,AGE'S SERMON.
lBR.EF SYNOPSIS OF THE OIVNe'S sun
O4Y DISCOURSE.
Subject: enough Better Than Too Much"
Certain Superfluities, Both Physical
and Mental, Are HindranCe Rather
Than Help In Life.


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 a giant. But when he
dehed Israel Jonathan, the son of Shimea,
Davids brother, slew him, Il Chron. XXX,
81.
Maformation photographed, and for
what reason? Did not this passage slip in
by mistake into the sacred Scriptures, as
sometimes a paragraph utterly obnoxious
to the editor gets into his newspaper dur
ing his absence2 Is not this Scriptural err
rata? No, no: there Is nothing haphazard
about the Bible. This passage of Scripture
was az 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 1t for ny text to-day because
it is charged with practical and tremendous
meaning By the people OF God the PILLS
tines had been conquered, with the excep-
ton OF 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, ac-
half inches high. Or, II you doubt this,
the famous Pliny, declares that at Crete,
by an earthquake, a monument was broken
open, discovering the remains Of q giant
forty-siX cubits long, or sixty-nine feet
high. SO, whether you take sacred or pro-
fame history, you must come to the cOnclu-
sion that there were in those times cases OF
human altitude mOnstrous and appalling.
David had smashed the skull of one of
these giants, but there were other giants
that the Davidean wars had not yet sub
dued, and one OF them stands in my text.
He was not only Of Alpine stature, but had
surplus OF digits. To the ordinary fingers
was annexed an additional finger, and the
foot had also a superfiuous addendum.
He had twenty-four examinations to hands
and feet, where others have twenty. 1t was
not the only instance OF the kind. Taver-
nier, the learned writer, says that the En-
peror Of Java had son endowed with the
same number OF extremties. Volcatius,
the poet, had six fingers on each hand.
Maupertuls, in his celebrated letters speaks
Of two families near Berlin similarly
equipped Of hand and foot. All of which l
can believe, for Ihave seen two cases of the
same physical superabundance. But this
giant of the text Is in battle, and as David
the STRIPPING warrior, had despatched ono
giant, the nephew Of David Stays this mon
ster Of my text, and there he lies after the
battle In Gath, dead giant. His stature
did not save him, and his superduous ap-
pendices 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. Behold the PROSTATE
oil NJ ha
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 defed Israel,
Jonathan, the son of Shimea, David's
brother. slew him.
Behold how superfuities are a him
drance rather than help In all the bat
tie at Gath that day there was not a 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 a
giant on the wrong side, and all the body
and mind and estate and opportunity that
you cannot use for God and the better.
ment OF the world Is q sixth finger and a
sixth toe, and terrible hindrance. The
most Of the good done in the world, and
the most Of those who win the battle for
the right are ordinary people. Count the
fingers of their right hand, and they have
Just tiye-nO more and no less. One Doc
tor Duff among missionaries, but three
thousand missionaries that would tell YOU
they haze only common endowment. One
Fiorence Nightingale to nurse the sick in
conspicuous places, but ten thousand
women who are just as good nurses.
though never heard Of. The "Swamn
Angel" was a big gun that during the Civil
War made a big noise, but muskets of ordi-
nary calibre and shells of ordinary heft
did the execution. President Tyler and
and his Cabinet go down the Potomac one
day to experiment with the "peace-
maker, great iron gun that was to
alright with its thunder foreign navies
Inc gunner touches 1t off, and it explodeS.
and leaves Cabinet Ministers dead on the
deck, while at that time, all up and down
our coast, were cannon Of ordinary bore
able to be the defense OF the nation. and
ready at the first touch to waken to duty.
Inc curse OF the world Is big guns. After
the politicians, who have made all the
noise, go home hoarse from angry discus
sion 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. million Of the white
oHpS vi paper lucy u[Op making ABOUT as
much noise as the fall Of an apple-blossom.
Clear back In the country to-day there
are mothers in plain aprons, and shoes
fashioned on rough last by shoemaker
Mt the end OF the lane, rocking babies that
are to be the Martin Luthers and the Fara.
days and the Edisons and the Bismarcks
and IL" Gladstones and the Washingtons
and the George Whitenelds of the future
Inc longer 1--we the more like common
iolks. They do the worlds work. bearing
lne worlds burdens, weeping the worlds
ssympathies, carrying the worlds consola-
non. Among lawyers we see rise up
hulus Choate, or William Writ. or Sam.
uei Il. Southland, but society would 90 to
pieces tomorrow II there were not thou
SANDS OF common lawyers to see that men
ana women get their rights. A Valentine
MOTT or Willard Parker rises up eminent
Ia the medical profession; but what an un-
limited sweep would pneumonia and diph.
theria and scarlet fever have in the world
IaH were not for ten thousand common
doctors! The old physician In hts gig
driving up the lane of the farmhouse. or
rlolng on horseback, his medicines In the
saddle bags, arriving nm tho ninth d., al