The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1898-09-28
THE LIMITS OF LIFE.
DR.. TALMaGE TALKS ON TIE DANGER
OF HAVING TOO MUCH.

The symbol Of the Giont-He Is Not
Always the Strong Man-The Ev-
eryday Man Docs the Work-The
Worry of Useless Addenda.
copyright. 1895, by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.-From
passage of Scripture that probably no
other clergyman ever preached from
Rev. DR.. Talmage in this discourse sets
forth truth very appropriate for those
who have unhealthy ambition for great
wealth or fame The text isl Chron.
Xxx, 6, {:
"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 giant. But,
when he defed 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 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 IS the
verse, I'm 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 fer my text today be-
cause it is charged with practical and
tremendous meaning. By the people OF
God the Philistines bad 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
huseums. But there were many Of them
IN olden times. Goliath was. according
to the Bible, II feet ~ inches high,
or. if you doubt this, the famous Pliny
declares that at Crete, by an earthquake,
a monument was broken open, discover
ing the remains of giant As cubits
long, CT 69 feet high. So, whether yon
take sacred or profaDe 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
statare, but had surplus Of digits.
To the ordinary fingers was annexed an
additional finger. and the foot had also
superluous sddendum. He had "a
Examinations to hands and feet, where
others have 90 1t was not the only in
stance Of the kind Tavernier, the
learned writer, says that the emperor
of Java had son endowed with the
same number of extremities. Volcaslus,
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. and 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 lat
tie 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. 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 superduities 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 off than this physical curiosity of
nv 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 is
a sixth finger and a sixth toe, and ter
rible hindrauce. 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
five-no more and no less. One DR.. Duff
among missionaries, but 5000 mission
aries that would tell you they have
only common endowment. One Florence
nightingale to nurse the sick in con-
spicuous places, but 10, 900 women who
are just as good nurses, though never
heard of. The Swamp Angel was a
big gun that during the civil war made
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, I"
great iron gun that was to alright
with It's thunder foreign navies. The
gunner touches it off, and it egplodes
and leaves cabinet ministers dead on the
deck. while at that time, all up and
down our coasts, we're 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,
I,OOO,Oo 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
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