The defender., 1900-01-27

"Ibuom OF the OFeatOr-D1Vlnely Oon'
structed Lighthouses of the Soul.
Copyright, Louis KIopsch, 1sOOl
WASHINGTON, D. C.-In this discourse DR..
Talmage, in his own way, calls attention
TO that part of the human body never
perhaps discoursed upon IN the pulpit and
challenges US all to the study OF omnIs-
cience. Text, Psalm xciv., 9, "He that
formed the eye, shall He not see?"
The imperial organ OF the human system
Is the eye. All up and down the Bible God
honors it, extols it, illustrates it or ar
raigns it. Five hundred and thirty-four
times Is 1t mentioned in the Bible. Omni-
presence-"the eyes Of the Lord are in
every place" Divine care-"as the apple
of the eye" The clouds-'the eyelids of
the morning." Irreverence-"thee eye that
mocketh at its Father" Pride-''ob, how
lofty are their eyes" Inattention-"the
fools eye in the ends Of the earth" Divine
inspection-"whees full of eyes," Sud-
denness-''in the twinkIing of an eve at
the last trump Olivetic sermon-"the
light OF the body is the eye" This morn
ing's text, she that formed the eye, shall
He not see7'
The surgeons, the doctors, the anato-
nists and the psychologists understand
much OF the glories OF the two great
lights of the human race, but the vast
multItudes go on from cradle to grave
masterpieces of the Lord God Almighty.
II God had lacked anything of infinite
wisdom, he would have failed in creating
the human eye. We wander through the
earth trying to see wonderful sights, but
the most wonderful sight we ever see is
not so wonderful as the instruments
through which we see 1t.
Q It has been strange thing to me foI
thirty years that some scientist with
nlnnnannn m
go through the country with illustrated
lecture on canvas thirty feet square to
startle and thrill and overwhelm Christen-
dom with the marvels of the human eye.
We want the eye taken from all its tech
nicalities and some one who shall lay aside
all talk about the pterygomaxillary fls-
sures, the sclerotica and the chiasma OF
the optic nerve and in plain, common par
lance which you and l and everybody can
understand present the subject. We have
learned men who have been telling US
what our origin is and what we were. Oh,
II some one should come forth from the
dissecting table and from the classroom
OF the university and take the platform
and asking the help of the Creator
demonstrate the wonders of what we arel
II 1 refer to the physiological facts sug-
gested by the former part Of my text, 1t is
only to bring out In palmer way the
theological lessons OF the latter part of
my text, ''He that formed the eye, shall
He not seer"
suppose my text referred to the human
eye since 1t excels all others In structure
and adaptation. The eyes of fish and rep
tiles and moles and bats are very simple
things because they have not much to do.
There are insects with hundred eyes, but
the hundred eyes have less faculty than the
two human eyes. The black beetle swim
ming the summer pond has two eyes under
the water and two eyes above the water,
but the four insectile are not equal to the
two human. Man placed at the head of
all living creatures must have supreme
equipment, while the blind fish In the Nam
poth cave of Kentucky have only an un-
developed organ of sight, an apology for
the eye, which IL through some crevice of
the mountain they should go into the sun
light might be developed into positive eye.
sight.
y In the hrst chapter of Genesis we find
that God without any consultation created
the light, created the trees, created the fish,
created the fowl. but when He was about
to make man He called a convention of di-
Vinity, as though to imply that all the
powers of 6odhead were to be enlisted in
the achievement. "Let US make man."
Put a whole ton of emphasis on that word
"us.' "Let US make man." And II God
called a convention of divinity to create
=
conference were how to create soul and
how to make An appropriate window for
that emperor to look out of.
See how God honored the eye before He
created 1t. he cried until chaos was irrad-
lated with the utterance, 'tLet there be
lightl" In other words, before He intro
dueed man into this temple of the world
He illumined 1t, prepared 1t for the eye-
sight. And so after the last human eye
has been destroyed In the final demolition
of the world stars are to fall, and the sun
Is to cease its shining, and the moon is to
turn into blood. In other words, after the
human eyes are no more to be profted by
their shining the chandeliers OF heaven are
to be turned out God to educate and to
bless and to help the human eye set on the
mantel of heaven two lamps-a gold lamp
and silver lamp-the one for the day and
the other for the night.
To show how God honors the eye look at
the two halls built for the residence of the
eyes. Seven bones making the wall for
each eye, the seven bones curiously wrought
together. Kingly palace of ivory is consId-
cred rich, but the halls for the residence of
the human eyes are richer by so much as
human bone is more sacred than elephan-
tine tusk. See how God honored the eyes
when Ha made roof for them, so that the
sweat of toll should not smart them and
the rain dashing against the forehead might
NOT drip l0IO Iu6uls lu6 ty6DEoWS not D6Hu-
ing over the eye, but reaching to the right
and to the left, so that the rain and the
sweat shonld be compelled to drop upon
the cheek instead of falling into this di-
vinely protected human eyesight.
See how God honored the eye in the fact
presented by anatomists and Psychologists
that there are 800 contrivances in every
eve. For window shutters, the eyelids
opening and closing so, 900 times a day, the
eYelashes so constructed that they have
their selection as to what shall be admitted,
saying to the dust, "Stay ont" and saying
to the light, "Come in" For inside cur
tain the iris or pupil of the eye, according
as the light is greater or less, contracting
or dilating. The eye Of the owl is blind in
the day time, the eyes of some creatures
are blind at night, but the human eye so
marvelously constructed it can see both by
day and by night.
Many of the other creatures OF God can
move the eye only from side to side, but the
human eye, so marvelously constructed,
has one muscle to lift the eye, and another
muscle to lower the eye, and another mus
Gle to roll it to the right, and another mus
Gle to roll it to the left, and another mus
Gle passing through pulley TO turn Il:
round and round, an elaborate gearing of
six muscles as perfect as God could make
them.
There is also the retina gathering the
rays of light and passing the visual i'm
preston along the optic nerve about the
thickness of the lampwlck, passing the
visual impression on to the sensorium and
on into the soul. What a delicate lens,
what an exquisite screen, what soft
cushions, what wonderful chemistry of the