REV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN. DAY SERMON, Subject: “The Finger of God." of TEXT: “The finger God.” — Exodus wili,, 9, Pharoah was sulking in his marble throne. room at Memphis. Plague after plagus had come, and sometimes the Egyptian monarch was disposed to do better, but at the lifting | of each plague he was as bad as before. The necromancers of the palace, however, were corapelled to recognize thedivine movement, and after one of the most exasperating plagues of all the series thoy cried out in the words of my text, “This is the finger of God"-not the first nor the last time when bad people said a good thing. An old Phil. adelphia friend visiting me the other day | asked me if I had ever noticed this passage of Scripture from which [ to-day speak, I told him no, and I said right away, “That ig a good text for a sermon.” We all recogniza the hand of God and know it isa mighty hand. You have seen a man keep two or three rubber balls flying in the air, catchin that none of them fell to the floor, and do this for several minutes, and you have ad- mired his dexterity, how the hand of God keeps millions and | millions of round worlds vastly larger than | and pitching them so | all forms of disaster eloss in uson a man, Suppose his business collapses, SBupoose he buys goods and cannot sell them, Nuns pose by a new invention others can furnish the same goods at less price, Buppose a cold spring or a late autumn or the coming of dn epidemic corners a man, and his notes come due and he cannot meet them, and his rent must be paid aod there is nothing with to pay it, and the wages of the employes are due and there is notning with which to mest | that obligation, and the bank will not dis | count, and the business friends to whom he | Roes for accommodation are in the same | predicament, and ha bears up and steu zgles | on, until after awhils crash goes ths whole I oancern, He stands wondering anl saying, “I do not see the meaning of all this. I have done | the hest [ could. Gol knows 1 would pay | my debts if I could, but here | am hedged in | and stopped.” What should that man do in | that case—go to the Soriptures and read the forget the mercy of God that has kept us from being blotted ous for our crimes, and that still multiplies our temooral prosper. ities, Forward and upward! Base you not the finger of Gol in this protecting mercy? If we love the Lord and trust Him--and you may all love Him ani trust Him from this moment on--we ro more underztand the good things ahead of us than the child at school stuaying his A B C can under. stand what that has to do with his reading John Ruskin's “Sven Lamps of Architec- ture,” or Dante's "Divina Commedia,” The satisfactions and joys we have as vet had are like the music a boy makes with his first lesson on the violin compared what was evoked fro n his great orchestra by my dear and illustrious and transcend. ent but now departe! friend, Patrick Gil more, when he }ifted his baton and all the strings vibrated, and all the trumpets pealed forth, and all the flutes caroled, and all the drums rolled, and all the hoofs of the cavalry charge, which he imitated, were in rowise about all things working together Be gool and kindred passages? at is well, But he needs to do something beside reading the Seriptures. He nseds to look for the finger of God that is pointing toward better treasurass; that is | pointing toward eternal release; that Is | urging him to higher realms, No buman | finger ever pointed to the east or west or north or south so certainly as the finger of God is pointing that troubled man to higher and better spiritual resources than he has ever enjoyed. There are men of vast wealth who are as rich for hsaven as they are for But have you thought | this world, but they are ecoeptions. If a man grows in grace it is generally before he gets $100,000 or after he loses it our world flying for centuries without let. | If 8 man bas plenty of railroad securities ting one fall? of God's hand ! discourse, My text leads me to speak of less than a fiith of the divine hand. “This is the finger of God.” Only in two other places does the Bible refer to this division of the omnipotent hand. The rocks on Mount Sinai are basalt and very hard stone Do you imagine it was a chisel that cut the ten commandments in that basalt? No: in Exodus we read that the tables of stone were "‘written with the fluger of God.” Christ says that He cast out devils with “the finger of Goi.” The only instance that Christ wrote a word He wrote not with pen on parchment, but with His finger on the ground. Yet though ssdom reference is made in the Bible to a part of God’s hand, if you and I keep our eyes open and our hearts right w will be compelled often to cry out, “This is the finger of God!” It is my intention be- fore long to begin a series of sermons on “The Astronomy of the Bible, or God the Stars.” “The Ornitk le, or God Among the Bird God Am b thyology An the Fi the t Bible, or God “The Waters of the "Tae Zool Wondrous power and skill of the bie, or oe let 2 B ane thea Sa Dg thie or Botany he Flowors:"” } nology God Among the Centuries,” an | [ want tais ening winter to get you and get mysel! lato the babit of seeing ths fluger of Gol sverywhere and in everything; this morning I want to induces you to look for the flager of God in your personal affiirs. The mostof tha gesticu ation is natural I a stranger accost you on the street and ask you the way to 1 it is as level your "nt one out God but that, uld stand with your ake no motion wit I Whatever your lips i hamized and re-enforced at translated by your finger, Now God in th dear old Book says to us innumerable by the way of dire the of we : and a ;m confldeu : you may say with 4 * - ~ tio Ha 11 “on. ei is way to go. i us iter earnest the divine t sin write u and upon anot NO risive words appropriat en obliterating from ¥ of the slips of paper draw the decision ani act upon it. In that cass | think you bh a right to take that indica tion as the finger of God. But do not do that excapt as the last resort sad with a de. voutoess toatl leaves absolutely all with God. For much that concerns us we have no re- sponsibility, and we need not make appeal to the Lord for direction, We ars not re sponsible for most of our surroundings We are not responsible for the country of our birth, nor for whether wo are Americans or Norwegians or Scotchmen or Irishmen or Eoglishmen, Weare not responsible for the age in which we live, Wo are notre sponsible for our temperament, be it ner- Yous or phlegmatic, billous or sanguioe, We are not responsible for our features, be they homely or beautiful, We ars notre #pousibie for the height or smallness of our stature. Wo are not responsible for the fact that we are mentally dull of brilifant, For the most of our environments we havo BO more responsibility than we nave fort .e molisis at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, Ob, [ am wo glad that there are about five hundred thousand things that we ars not re- sponsible for! Do not vlame us for being in our manner cold as an losberg, or nervous as a cat amid a pack of Fourta of July fire. crackers. If you are determine! to blame somsbody, blame our great-grandfathers, or L-grandmothers, who died before the volutionary war, and who may have had habits depressing and ruinous, There are wrong things about us all, which make me think that one hundred and lity years ago there was somo terrible crank in our ances tral line. Ralizs that, and it will be a re. Hef semi-infinite. Lot us take ourselves as wo are this moment, and then ask “Which way” Get all the direction you can from earelul and constant study of the Bible, and then look up and look out and look around, and see If you can find the fluger of God, It is a remarkable thing t sometimes no one can se that finger but yourself, year befors Abraham Lincon signed the oclamation of emancipation the White Ouse was thronged with committess and the proclamation, The distin. Confederates, and I. wera taken off an English wvossel the United States Govern. ment, ‘Don’t ve them up” shoutel all the northern States, “Lot y+ have war up, and we at that demolition of the Government, other words, the flager of God as it die a may be invisible to body Follow the Mir divine pointing, as the world may call you a There has never Bat about that I am uot to | Just before locking up at night; it he be A | and has applied to his banker for more; if the lots he bouzht have gone up fifty per { cent. in value; if he had hard work to get the door of his fireproof safe shut because | of a new roll of securities he put in there speculating into falling market or a rising market and things take for him a right turn, be dos not grow in grace very much that week. Do you know what made the great revival of 1857, when more pe ple ware converted to God probably than in any year sincs Christ was born? It was the defaleitions and bankruptey that American prosperity so flat that it could tall no flatter, 1 am speaking of whole souled msn, Such men as are #0 broken by calamity that are humbled and fly to God for relief, who have no spirit and never expec thing are not much afficled 2 changes, They are as apt to kingdom under one set of circa: an r. Theyare deadbeats wh are. The only way to get rid of them fs to lend them a dollar rou them again k hat financial into the | As er they | by will never sso pian and it { the affect igh sp men. Noth- ira such men from i aly through clouds larkness.and whirlwind of disaster suc man can see the finger of God A most interesting as well as 8a mos fal study is to watea pointing finger of God. In the seventssnth th Carolina was yielding rosin and watine and tar as her chief productions Bat Thomas Smith noticed that the ground near his houss in Charleston was very much like the places in Madagascar where he had raised rice, and soms of the Madagascar rice was sovn there and grew so rapidly that South Carolion was Iad to make rics her isl production. Can you not ses the finger of tod in that sident? Rev, John Fletcher, will know, was one of slars o earth mi £ use tha pe th of the tury tur cen of England, many the most usefal min. preached. Be Joined the army and hal N n g ¢ v8 801p jor South the Gospel who ever mn wang te was 7 a Xeilie 3 BRL » { water, and he t go. Hs was tis ship he was a» VO INaKe aT 1ghter was Ill, was it of that dog one nigh ’ « {nt hat acjuaintan the dragoons and his lif served him for a communi spon liag o and re alp wprisition will resound for all time and all eternity. Why did not Columbus sink when in sarly manhood he was afloat six miles from the bee to sustain him till he could swim to land but a boat's oar? [ won. ler if his preservation had anything to do with America. Had the storm that diverted the Mayflower from the mouth of the Hud. son, for which it was sailing, and seat it ashore at Cape Col, no divine supervisal? Does anarchiy rule this world, or God? St Felix escaped martyrdom by crawling through a hole in the wall across waich the spiders immediatoly afterward wove a web, His persecutors saw the hole in the wall, but | the spl ler’s web put them off the track, A | boy was lost by his drunken father and comnid not for years find his way home, Nearly grown he went into a Fulton street prayer 123 for Gr meeting and asked for prayers that he might | find his parents. His mother was in the room and rose ani recognized her long lost son, Do you say that thes: things “only happened sof Tell that to thosy who do not believe in a God and have uo faith in the Biblaa Do not tell it to me, I said to an aged miaister of much experi. ence hava beeu divinely counscted, Do yon sup pose it is 90 in all lives? He answered, * Yes, | not notices the divins leading I stand here this morning to say (rom my own experience that the safest thing in all the world to do is to trust ths Lord I never had a mis fortune, of a pers:cation, or a trial, or a disappointment, however excruciating at the time, that Gol did not make turn out for my good. My one wish is to follow the divine leading. [ want to watch the flager of Gol. Nations aiso woald do well to watoh for the finger of God, What does the cholera but“ most people do | soare in America mean? Nome say it moans | Is | also been burned to a depth of two or | three feet and the raias of winter had | oy ter. Four or five summars ago thers were those | filled it with water that the plagus will sweep our land next summer, I do not believe a word of it There will be no cholera hare next summer, | who said is would surely be here the follow. ieg summer becattse It was on the wavy, jut it did not come. The sanitary | precautions established here will make next su nmer uousually healthful, Cholera | never starts from where {8 | the season belors, but always starts in the | flith of Asia, and If It stein next summer, it | will start there again it will not start from | New York quarantine, But it is evident to | me that the dnzer of Gol is in this cholera scare, and that He iv pointing this Nation to something higher and better. It ha been demonstrate | as never before that we are in the hands of Gol, He allowsd the plagne to come to our very gates and then halted it, The quarantine was right and necessary, but, oh, how easily the plague could have leaped the barriers lifted against it! Thanks to the presifent of the United States, and thanks to the health oMours, and thanks to the Thirtesuth regiment, and thanks to all who stool between this evil and our | until this world that was once so brig | The finger of God is pointing forward. | and sermon and | try to get into a frame of mini that will be swept | Of gree | waters, | Christ all | “All the events of my life seem to | full beat, Look ahead! The fluger of God points forward “Oh, but” says some one, “I am getting old, and I have a touch of rheumatism in that foot, and I 'helieve something is the mat- ter with my heart, and 1 cannot stand as much as I used to,” Well, 1 congratulate you, for that shows you ars getting nearer | to the time when you are going to enter im. mortal youth and be strong enough to hurl off the battlements of heaven any bandit who by unheard of burglary might break into the Golden City. *‘But.” says some one, *'l feel 50 lonely, The most of my friends are gone, and the bersavementsof life have multiplied be to mo has lost its charm.” ! congratulate you, for when you go there will ba fewer here to hold you back and more there to pull you in, Look aheadl We sit hers in church, and by hymna and prayer Christian association we neceptable to God and pleasant to ourselves, But what a stupid thing it all is © ared with what it will bs when we have beyond psalmbook and sermon snd and we stand, our last Impers , in the presence of that charm universe essed Christ m look in our face and say: “I have you and sympathizing you all th year } ». Go whers you please a wrrow and never shed a tear, ther n ya wd thers father, and children, down and on the banks of MT. «tha b ani NT va ng is coming to in there are your Sit £ life, bs more ian in fifty ve ahead! IL. und know that 3 avon. Look up the healthiest nd, and know you will yet y the one who has the eyesight of aay ons you have ever heard and know you w wave better vision, y the prima donna that and know that in A MOTre enrapluring sor y au iit friends, 1 do not know how we are go- y stand it mean the full inrush that splendor. Lut summer | saw M cow, in some respects the most splendid city under The emperor alterwarl asked me if [ bad som for Moscow is the pride of Ruwia. I told him yes, and that | had seen Moscow burn. 1 will tell you what | sisant After examining nine hun- dred brass cannons which were picked out f the mnow alter Napoleot i from Mow each swerlest hantel earth rium the sun, ww, retreated cannon deed cut with the letter “N.” | and ascanded a tower fifty Juss stiorm there wera € agst {ool bree meadows, The mingling mis Was so many odlors with = An entran almost sh for human nerves, of human eyes, or bh I expect to see nothing to equal it until you and | see heaven, But that will surpass it and make the memory of what I saw that July evening in Moscow al most tame and insipid, All heaven aglow and all heaven a-ring. not ia the sunset, but in the sunrise. Voices of our own kin dred mingling with the doxologzies of em- pires, Organs of eternal worship respond. ing to the trumpots that have wakened the dead, Nations in white, Centuries in cor onation. Anthems like the voice of many Circle of martyrs, Circle of Circle of prophets. Thrones of cherubim, Thrones of saraphim. Throne of archangel, [nrons of Christ. Throne of God, nrones! Thrones! The finger of God points that way, Stop not ust you reaca that placa rough the atoning spaak of and more may be Do you not now hear the many ament too mu ff human ears sou aposties, yours and mine | chime of the balls of that metropolis of the universe’ D> you not see the shimmering of the towers! Good morning. ——— A Bear's Nataral Bathtub. H. N. Price, a Washington State land ‘eruiser,” who has just retaraed from a trip through the unsettied parts of Clarke and Cowlitz Counties, reports bears quite plentifal in the wilds of those counties. He and his brother ran into a regular bear's bathtub on the top of a ridge several miles back from the Cowlitz River. A great fir treo fully six feet across had buraed within two feet of the ground, and the ceatre had Lisading up to this natural bathtub wat a well-beaten bear track and the animals must have made frequent vimts to the tub, for its bottom contained the settlings of dirt washed off by Bruin during his many baths. When the Price brothers saw the tril it was still wet from a recent visit of old Bruin, San Francisco Examiner, Batons and Combs Made of Blood. There is a large factory at a small town near C employing about 100 to 150 workers, which is wholly given over to the manutacture of useful articles from wasto animal blood. At certain seasons of the year this unique factory uses from 10,000 to 15,000 gallons of fresh blood per day. It is first converted into thin sheets by evaporation and ocer- tain chemical and afterwards worked up into a variety of useful arti. cles, such as combs, buttons, earrings, clas Tond of these with | SABBATII SCLovl., INTEENATIONAL LESSON NOVEMBER ©, ron Lesson Text “Peter Delivered From Prison” Acts xit, 1-17 Text: Psalm xxxiv,, 7 Commentary, Golden 1. “Now about that time Horo 1, the king, stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church,” Herod represents the world, and the world is always at enmity with God and the people of God, If the people of God are not found suffering more or less persecution from the world it must be be. cause thoy are greatly conformed to it. Nes Jax iv. 4; Rom, xii, 1, 2; 11 Tim, 1% John xv,, 18.20 2. “And he lod James, the John, with the sword.” James was one of the first to follow Jesus, and with Peter ani John bad been His special o I pAnion on sev- eral occasions, as on the Mount of Transfig- uration and in the Garden of Geths mane, and now he ix first to see his Lord in glory the first of the twelve, Jesus hal t saght them to be ready for (Math, x., 28; John xvi. 2, “And because i, brother of this He saw it pleased the Jews, He proceeded further to take Poter also.” Being passover time city would be full of people, and Herod by pleasin would have nity to them make himself He did not 41 ! Wwn ne and se opport i popular, know that itis God tteth up an like Pllate, he saw Peter soldiers, four « ty at safe keepin men teeth guarded by sixteen a time, I» surely speaking: but in mnly when take ! against God He that sit. in the heavy ne §] } " » XXX: - ' Pot to be wd Bleep! ther wise I Him, it u id. As Answer K gladness that shy ran back 10 te Great joy strangely, and bring them ne ity seta them wi after Peter they she was saving he caring for him. “And they But she constantly afi even so. Then sald they, angel.” The prayer meeting gives plac a discussion, while the answer to thelr prayers is kept waiting outside the 8 it not possibile that answers Lo prayer are still kept outside while discussion instead of TORN ay going om in arch? Consider the following texts in reference to prople who are scoounted mad: le, lix, marging Hos, ix, 1 shin x i xxvii, 44 How slow we are t ) EXPOCE OF 40 knowledge answers to prayer! 16. “But Peter continued knocking, and whe they had opened the door and saw him they wereastonishe! How gracious of our God to have the answers ta our prayers cone tinue knocking! Perhaps there are some at your door even now waiting to be received and scknowledged, Answers often come, not As we expect, but in some unlooked for form and way, Lot us pray that we may recognise the answers when they come and quickly acknowindge them 17. "Noldily they chattered, hand he stilled then and then told how the Lord bad brought him out of prison.” Why do we not hear more testimony as to what the Lord bas done for His people (Pe Ixvi,, 16.) or is He not doing much these days be cause of our unbeliel’ Having given the tes timony be would have them paws it on to James on of Alpheus, Math, x, 3 and the brethren. All gool tidings of the grace of God are to be passed on to others as fast as possible. He departed and went to another place, so that when Herod sought for him in the morning he could not be found, There is a moraing coming when believers shall not be found, but the enemies of the Lord shall be found and slain (verses 10.93; compare Heb, xi, §; 11 Thess. i, 10), = Lesson Helper, i ——— Dox Miouxr, the Portuguese pre tender, who has long been an exile in Austria, has made up his mind to work for his alleged rights. Owing to the financial troubles prevailing in Portugal, and believing that a repub lic is imminent, his old party Is being reorganized. Don Miguel was the Don Carlos of Portugal, but, owing to bis long retirement and that of his party, thelr existence has almost been forgotien, I —-— a A LICK In time sometimes disap points the town cow and saves the shrubbery. Galveston News. RT was there art mt it 1s his . 15 said unto he } md, was door, ving in the « tut by his ——— Acts | A Tideless Sen. For practical purposes the Mediterran- ean may be accepted as being what it is popularly supposed to be, a tideless sea, but it 1s not so in reali.y. In many places there is a distinet rise and fall, though this is more frequently due to winds and currents than to lunar attrac- tion, At Venice thers is a rise of from to two feet in spring tides, according to the prevalence of winds up or down the Adriatic, In muny straits and narrow arms ot the sea there is a periodical flux and reflux, but the only place where the tidal influence, properly so called, 18 un mistakably observed is in the Gulf o where the tide runs at two or three knots an hour and the rise and fal to eight feet, Ont Gabes, varies from thre - —— I — in Boston has a Mexican bec », thou h year A man still al for i eaten nothing A son of n Lon lon. the lale A - we —————— Just Think Of It! In Olden Times ! A is Fl Heart | , | Ir RFR E i erin, | tiv 1 URALG IT HAs ~NO EQUAL. i 1at you i vou a book on fre C. 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