The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1901-02-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
PLEADS FOR A MORE DEMON
STRATiVE RELIGION.
The Duty of Christians TO Speak Out
Heartily on the Side OF Righteous
ness and to Sing with Joyous Hearts
Gods Praise.

|
demonstrative religion and a hearty
speaking out on the right side of ev
erything; text, Mark 8: %, "Thol
dumb and deaf spirit, l 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 n word-articula-
ton was impossible. The spirit that
captured this member of the household
was a 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
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-
corning possession by evil spirits.
Under the form Of belief in witehcraft
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 1900 persons
were burned to death as witches. In
| nQiOh hnrhno6 .nf 4
sons were burned. In two centuries
1000 persons were slain as witches.
So mighty was the delusion that it
included among its 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 life--and
Richard Baxter, and Archbishop Gran
mer and Martin Luther; and, among
writers 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 diabolcal agen-
cies abroad in the world. While there
are ministering spirits to bless there
are Internal spirits to hinder, to poison
and to destroy. Christ was speaking
to spir' ual 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
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
word are the most gracious and
lovely AM 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 deaf mute have l seen with
the angel of intelligence seated at the
window Of the eye, who never came
nrfh he -
What a miracle of loveliness and
knowledge was Laura Bridgman of
New Hampshire, not only without fac
llty of speech, but without hearing
md without sight, all these faculties
'emoved by sickness when 2 years of
lge, yet, becoming wonder at needle
work, at the piano, at the sewing ma
,hine and an intelligent student of the
and confounding philoso-
,hers, who came from all parts of the
world to study the phenomenon.
Thanks to Christianity for what it {
las done for the amelioration of the
ondition of the deaf and dumb. Back [
n the ages they were put to death as s
aving no right with such paucity OF
quipment to live. and for centuries J
hey were classed among the idiotic {
Great Benefactors. I
nd unsafe. But in the sixteenth CEN I
lry came Pedro Ponce, the Spanish
lonk, and in the seventeenth century a
anne John Pablo Bonet, another Span S
III monk, with dactylology, or the b
niger alphabet, and in our own coun- n
Try we have had John Braidwood and Il
rs Mitchell and Ackerly and Peet and b
who have given to uncount- p
| thousands of those whose tongues +
ere forever silent the power to spell s.
1t on the air by manual alphabet t
leir thoughts about this world and v
Ieir hopes for the next. We rejoice 81
the brilliant inventions in behalf of t.
lose who were born dumb. One of 81
e most impressive audiences ever d
dressed was in the far west, an au-
ence of about 600 persons. who had
'ver heard sound or spoken a word, cl
interpreter standing beside me dl
lille / addressed them. 1 congratu- ii
ted that audience on two advantages as
ey had over the most of us-the one pl
at they escaped hearing a great OF