Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-02-11


WASHINGTON, Feb. 10.-In this dis
course Dr.. Talmage calls for n more
demonstrative religion and a hearty
speaking out on the right side of every
thing; text, Mark tx, %, Thou dumb
and deaf spirit, charge thee, come out
OF him.
Here was q 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 speeches.. When
the influence was on the patient, he
could not say a word-articulation 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,
I cannot find a discourse concerning
this devil which Christ charged upon
in my text, saying, Come out of him.
There has been much destructive
superstition abroad in the world con-
corning possession by evil spirits. I'm
der the form of belief in withcraft this
delusiOn swept the continents. Per-
sons were supposed to be possessed
with some evil spirit which made them
able to destroy others. In the sixteenth
century in Geneva 1000 persons were
burned to death as witches. Under
one judge, in Lorraine, 900 persons
were burned to death as witches. In
one neighborhood of France 1000 per-
sons were burned. In two centuries
100000 persons were slain as witches.
So mighty was the delusion that it in
Guided among its victims some of the
greatest intellects of all time. such as
Chief Justice Matthew Hale and Sir
Edward Coke, and such renowned min
listers of religion as Cotton Mather, one
of whose books Benjamin Franklin
said shaped his life-and Richard Bax-
ter and Archbishop Cranmer and Mar
tin 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 England. But while
we reject witchcraft, any man who be-
lieveS the Bible must believe that there
are diabolical agencies abroad in the
world. While there are miniStering
spirits to bless there are Internal spir-
its to hinder, to poison and to destroy.
Christ was speaking to a spiritual eX-
istence when standing before the af-
dicted one of the text he said, 'SThou
dumb and deaf spirit. come out of
him.
blight of Evil.
Against this dumb devil of the text
put you on your guard. Do not think
that this agent i evil has put his
blight on those who by omission of the
vocal organs have had the golden 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 incarnat-
ed. The chaplains of the asylums for
the dumb can tell you enchanting sto-
rieS 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 l seen with
the angel of intelligence seated at the
window of the eye, who never came |
forth from the door of the mouth. What
q miracle of loneliness and knowledge
was Laura Bridgman Of New Hamp-
shire, not only without faculty of
speech, but without hearing and with |
out sight, all these faculties removed
by sickness when 2 years Of age, yet i
becoming q wonder at needlework, at |
the piano, at the sewing machine and
an intelligent student of the Scriptures
and confounding philosophers, who
came from all parts of the world to
study the phenomenon Thanks to
Christianity for what it has done fol
the amelioration of the condition of
the deaf and the dumb. Back in the
ages they were put to death as having |
no right, with such paucity Of equip
nent, to live, and for centuries they |
were cIassed among the idiotie and un
safe. But in the sixteenth century |
came Pedro Ponce, the Spanish monk. |
and in the seventeenth century came |
Juan Pablo Bonet, another Spanish |
monk, with dactylology. or the finger |
alphabet, and in our own century we |
have had John Braidwood and Drs. |
Mitchell and Ackerly and Peet and Gal |
3audet, who have given to uncounted !
thousands of those whose tongues We're |
forever silent the power to spell out On |
the air by a manual alphabet their |
thoughts about this world and their |
hopes for the next. We rejoice in the |
brilliant inventions in behalf of those |
who We're born dumb. One of the most |
impressive audiences ever addressed |
was in the far west, an audience of |
about 600 persons, who had never |
heard a sound or spoken a word an
Inflammation Standing heSidn mo rrhfio |