The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1898-11-03
JONATHAN SLEW HIM.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Talks to Men
with Unhealthy Ambition.
me Dangers of Overmuch Richcs-A Com
potency with Content NJ cnt Better
Than Millions with Nerv-
Ous Dyspepsia.

ulseoulse, sctS lOftn truth very ap-
propriate for those who have un-
healthy ambition for great wealth or
fame. The text is: .
IA 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 detied Israel, Jonathan,
the son of Shimca, David's brother,
Slew him. Chron., XN., 6-7.
Maltormation 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: Is 1T not this Scr1ptural 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:
''ln 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
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, II feet 4is inches high. Or, if
you doubt this, the famous Pliny de-
clares that at Crete, by an earthquake,
monument was broken open. discov-
ering the remains of a giant 46 cubits
long, or 60 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
yet subdued, and one of them stands
in my text. He was not only of Al
pine stature, but had a surplus of dig
its. To the ordinary fingers was an
neXed an additional finger, and the
foot had also a supertiuous addendum.
He had 2i terminations to hands and
feet, where others have 20. 1t was not
the only instance of the kind. Tayer-
nier, the learned writer, says that the
emperor of Java had son endowed
with the same number of eXtremities.
Nolcatius. 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
giant of the text is 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,
a dead giant. His stature did not save
him, and his superfluous appendices of
hand and foot did not save him. The
probability was that in the battle his
clumsy in the use of his weapon, and
his sixth toe crippled his gait. Be-
hold the PROSTATE and malformed gi-
ant 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 superf1uities are a him
drance rather than a help! In all the
battles at Gath that day there was not
man with ordinary hand and ordi-
nary foot and ordinary stature that
was not better off than this physical
curiosity of my text. 4 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
betterxent e.f the world is a sixth fin
ger and n Skin toe, and a 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
dinary people. Count the fingers of
their right hand. and they have just
five-no more ard 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 "Swamr
Angel was big gun that during the
civil war made a 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
mcnt with the "Peacemaker," a great
iron gun that was to alright with its
thunder foreign navies. The gunner
touches it off. and it explodes, and
lcsyes cabinet ministers dead On tie