The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-10-05
DANGER OF WEALTH.
UANGEA ( UF " EALIH.
Eminent Divine Says too Many
Riches Cause Misery.
uSELESSNESS OF THE GIANT.
Services of the Commonplace.
They Who Do the Worlds
Work. Divinity of
Service.
uSELESsNESS OF THE GIANT.

preached from Rev. DR.. Talmage in this
discourse sets forth a truth very ap-
propriate for those who have unhealthy
ambition for great wealth or fame The
text is | Chronicles xx, 6, ::
"a man Of great stature, whose fng
ers and toes We're four and twenty, six
on each hand and six on each foot, and
he also was the son Of Il giant. But
when he deied Israel, Jonathan, the
son of Shimea, David'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
newspaper during his absence? Is not
this Scriptural errata? No, no; there
is nothing haphazard about the Bible.
This passage of Scripture was as Ger
tainly 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 today be-
cause it is charged with practical and
tremendous meaning. By the people
of God the Philistines had been con-
quered, with the exception of a few
giants. The race Of giants is mostly
extinct, l 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, II
feet q inches high, or, if you doubt
this, the famous Pliny declares that at
Crete by an earthquake a monument
was broken open, discovering the re-
mains of giant 46 cubits long, or So
feet high. So, whether you take sacred
or profane history, you must come to
the conclusion that there we're 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 subdued, and one Of them stands
in my text. He was not only OF Al
pine stature, but had surplus OF dig
its. To the ordinary fingers was an
ne1ed an additional finger, and the foot
also superfuous addendum. He had
"a examinations to hands and feet,
where others have 20. It was not the
only instance of the kind. Tavernier,
the learned writer, says that the en-
peror of Java had son endowed with
the same number Of extremities. Vol
catius, the poet, had six fingers on each
hand. Maupertuis, in his celebrated
letters, speaks of two families near
Berlin similarly equipped Of hand and
foot. All Of which l can believe, for |
have seen two cases Of the same physi.
cal superabundance. But this giant OF
the text is in battle, and as David, the
STRIPPING warrior, had dispatched one
giant the nephew of David slays this
monster of my text, and there ne hes
after the battle in Gath, dead giant.
His stature did not save him, and his
superfuous 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. Behold the prostrate and
malforned giant Of the text: "A man
of great stature, whose fingers and toes
were four and tSenty, six on each
hand and six on each foot, and he also
was the son Of giant. But when ne
de6ed Israel, Jonathan, the son of
Shimea, David's brother, slew him.
Behold how surperfuities are a him
drance rather than help! In all the
battle at Gath that day there was not a
man with ordinary hand and ordinary
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 giant on the wrong
side, and all the body and mind and
estate and opportunity that you cannot
use for God and the betterment OF the
world are a sixth finger and sixth
toe and terrible 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
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 muskets
Of ordinary caliber and shells Of ordi-
nary heft did the execution. President
Tyler and his cabinet go down the Po-
tomac one day to experiment with the
stPeacemaker," a great iron gun that
vas to alright with its thunder foreign
nayies. The gunner touches it off, and
it explodes and leaves cabinet minis
ters dead on the deck, while at that
time, all up and down our coasts, were
cannon of ordinary bore, able to be the
defense of the nation and ready at the
Is 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 dis
! cussion 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, a
million Of the white slips Of paper
they drop making about as much noise
as the fall Of an apple blossom.
Disraeli says that king OF Poland
abdicated his throne and joined the
people and became porter to carry
burdens. And some one asked him
why he did SO, and he replied: Upon
my honor, gentlemen, the load which |
cast of was by far heavier than the
one you see me carry. The welghtlest