Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-02-23
TALMAGEo SERMON.
PLEADS FOR A MORE DEMON
STRATIvE RELIGION.
The Duty of Christian. to Speak Ont
Heartily the Side of Righteous
ness and to Stag with Joyous Hsarts
Gods Praise.

Copyright. 1901. by Louis Kiopsch. N. W
Washington, FeD. 10-In this dis
course Dr. Tcimage calls for more
demonstrative religion and a hearty
speaking out on the right side of ev-
erything; text Mark 9: 25. Thou
dumb and deaf spirit, 1 charge thee,
come out of him.
Here was case of great domestic
anguish. The son of the household
was possessed of an evil spirit, which,
among other things, paralyzed his
tongue and made him speechless
When the influence was on the patient
he could not say word-articula-
tion was impossible. The spirit that
captured this member of the household
was dumb spirit-so called by Christ
"a spirit abroad today and as lively
and potent as in New Testament times.
Yet in all the realms of sermonology
l cannot find a discourse concerning
this dumb devil which Christ charged
upon in my text, saying, Come out of
him.
Destructive Superstition.
| There has been much destructive
superstition abroad in the world con-
cerning possession by evil spirits.
| Under the form of belief in witchcraft
| this delusion swept the continents
Persons were supposed to be possessed
with some evil spirit, which made them
able to destroy others. In the six
| teenth century in Geneva 15O0 persons
were burned to death as witches. In
one neighborhood of France 900 per-
! sons were burned In two centuries
| zoe, 900 persons were slain as witches
So mighty was the delusion that it
| included among it's victims some of
| the greatest intellects of all time,
| such as Chief Justice Matthew Hale
and Sir Edward Coke, and such re-
nowned ministers of religion as Cotton
Mather, one of whose books, Benjamin
Franklin said shaped his 1ife-and
/ Richard Baxter. and Archbishop Gran
:. mer and Martin Luther; and among
writer's and philosophers, Lord Bacon.
| That belief, which has become the
| laughing stock of all sensible people,
counted its disciples among the wisest
and best people of Sweden, Germany
England, France. Spain and New Eng
land. But while we respect witchcraft
any man who believes the Bible must
believe that there are diabolical agen-
cies abroad in the world. While there
are m1nistering spirits to bless there
are internal spirits to hinder, to poison
and to destroy. Christ was speaking g
to a spiritual existence when, standing
before the afflicted one of the text he
said, Thou dumb and deaf spirit
come out of him."
Dumb and Deaf Spirit.
Against this dumb devil of the text
l put you on your guard. Do not
! think that this agent of evil has put
his blight on those who, by omission
! of the vocal organs, have had-the gold
en- gates of speech bolted and barred
Among those who have never spoken
a word are the most gracious and
lovely and talented souls that were
ever incarnated. The chaplains of the
asylums for the dumb can tell you en-
chanting stories of those who never
| called the name of father or mother
or child, and many of the most devout
and prayerful souls will never in this
world speak the name of God or
Christ
Many a deaf mute have / seen with
the angel of intelligence seated at the
| window of the eye, who never came
forth from the door of the mouth
What miracle of loveliness and
knowledge was Laura Bridgman of
New Hampshire. not only without fac
ulty of speech, but without hearing
and without sight, all these faculties
| removed by sickness when 2 years of
age, yet, becoming a wonder at needle
| work. at the piano, at the sewing ma
chine and an Intelligent student of the
i Scriptures and confounding philoso-
pliers, who came from all parts of the
world to study the phenomenon
Thanks to Christianity for what it
has done for the amelioration of the
condition of the deaf and dumb Back
in the ages they were put to death as
| having no right with such paucity of
equipment to live, and for centuries
they were classed among the idiotic
Great Beoefactors.
and unsafe But in the sixteenth CEN
tury came Pedro Ponce, the Spanish
monk, and N the seventeenth century
came John Pablo Bonet, another Span
ism monk, with dactylology -or the
| finger alphabet, and in our own coun-
tHry we have had John Braidwood and
Drs. Mitchell and Ackerly and Peet and
Gailaudet, who have given to uncount-
were forever silent the power to spell
out on the air by manual alphabet
their thoughts about this world and
their hopes for the next We rejoice
In the brilliant inventions in behalf of
those who were born dumb One of
the most Impressive audiences / ever
addressed was in the far west an au-