HEY. DB. TALMAGE The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun. day Sermon. Sn—— falject: “God Among the Birds” Text: “Behold the fowls of the air— Matthew vi., v6. ’ / au There is silence now in all our January forests, excopt as the winds whistle throuzh the bare branches. Our northern wools are deserted concert halle, The organ lofts in the temple of nature are hymnless. Trees which were full of carol and chirp and chant are now waiting for the coming back of rich plumes and warbling voices, solos, duets, quartetes, cantatas and Te Deums, But the Bible is full of birds at all seasons, and provhets and patriots and apostles, and Christ Himself, employ them for moral and religious purposes. ¥ text is an extract from the sermon on the mount, and perhaps it was at a moment when a flock of birds flew past that Christ waved His hand toward them and said, “Behold the fowls of the air * And so in this course of sermons on Gol everywhere [ preach to you this third ser- mon concerning the Ornithology of the Bible; or, God Among the Birds, Most of the other sciences you may study or not study as you please, Use your own judgment, exercise your own taste. But ubunt this science of ornithniogy we have no option. The divine command is positive when it says in my text, *‘Benold she fowls of the air” That is, study their habite. Examine their colors. Notice their spead. See the hand of God in their construction. 1t is easy for me to obey the command of the text, for I was brought up among the race of wings and from boyhood heard their matins at sunrise and their vespers at sun- set, Their nests have been to ma a fascination, and my satisfaction is that [ never robbed one of them any more than [ would steal a <hild from a cradle, for a bird isa child of the sky, and its nest is the cradle. They are almost human, for they have their loves and rursnere, save, *'I am hunted as a nartrides on the mountaine.” Speaking of his forlorn condition, he says, *'1 am like a nalican in the wilderness.” Deseribing his loneliness, ha save, *'[ am a swallow alons on the hou - ton.” Hezekiah, in the emaciation of his sickness, comparex himself to a crane, thin and wasted, Joh had go much trouble be conld not sleep nighte, and he describes his incomuia by saving, *'l am a companion to owls” JIeniah compares the desolations of bepishad Israel to an owl and bittern and cormorant among a city's ruins, Jeremiah, describing the crusty of pa. rente toward children, compares them to the ostrich, who leavas its eggs in the sand un- eared for, erying, *‘The danghter of mv peo- ple is become like the ostriches of the wilder. nese.” Among the provisions piled on Solo- mon's bountiful table he speaks of *‘Iatted fowl.” The Israelites in the desert got tired of manna and they bad qualls—quails for breakfast. quails for dinner, quails for sup- per, and thay died of quails, The Bible re- fers to the migratory habits of the birds and says, “The stork knoweth her appointed time and the turtie and the cranes and the swallow the time of their going, but my pro. ple know not the juigments of the Lori.” Would the prophet illustrate the fate of fraud, he points to a failure at incubation and save, "An a partridge sitteth on eres and hatcheth shem not, so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his days and as his end shall be a fool.” The partridze, ths most caralese of all birds in choles of its placa of nest, build. ing it on she ground and often naar a fre quented road or in a sligut depression of ground, without raference to safety, and soon a hoof or a soythe or a cart wheel ends all, Bo says the prophet, a man who gathers under him dishonest dollars will hateh out of them no peace, no satisiaction, no happi- ness, DO MSOUrPY, What vivid similituds! The quickest way to amass a fortune is by iatquity, bus the very hour of avery day some such partridge is driven off she nest, Panios are only a flatter of partrideee. It is too tedious work to hesome rich in the old fashionsd way, and if a man can by oue falsebicod make as mueh as by tan vears of hard labor, why not wall it? And if one counterfeit check will bring the hates, affinities and antipathies, understand Joy and grief, have conjugal and maternsl instinct, wage wars and entertain jealou ses, have a language of their own and powers of association. Thank God for birds and skies | full of thee! It is useless to exoect to un - derstand the Bible unless we study natural history. | Five bundred and ninety-three times does | the Bible aliude to the facts of natural his- tory, ‘and 1 do not wender that it makes so many allusions ornithologioal. The skies and the caverns of Palestine are friendly to the winged creatures, and so many fly and | roost and nest and hatch in that region that inspired writers do not have far to go toget ornithological illustration of divine truth. | There are over forty species of birds recoz- | nized in the Scriptures, Ub, what a variety of wings in Palestine! The dove, the robin, the eagie, the cormo- rant or plunging bird, huriiny itself from sky to wave and with jong beak clutching its prey; the thrush, which especially dis- | likes a crow; the partridges; the hawk, | bold and ruthless, hovering head to wind- | ward while watching for prey: the swan, at home among the marshes and with feet so constructed itean walk on the ieaves of wa- ter plants; the raven, the lapwing, malodor ous and in the Bible dencunced as inedible, though it has extraordinary headdress; the stork; the ossilrage, that always had a habit of dropping on a stone the turtle | it had lifted and so killing it for food, and en one occasion mistook the bald head of ZEschylus, the Greek poet for a white stoue, and dropped a turtle upon it kiliing the famous Greek; the cuckoo, with crestad bead and crimson throat and wings snow tipped, but too lazy to build its own nest, and so having the habit of depositing its eggs in nests belonging to other birds; the biuejay, the grouse, the plover, the magpie, | the kingfisher, the pelican, which is the cari- eature of all the feathered creation; the ow], the goldfinch, the bittern, the harrier, the bulbul, the osprey; the vulture, that king of scavengers, with neck covered with repulsive down instead of attractive feathers; theiquar- | relsome starling ; the swallow flylag a milea minute and sometimes teu hours in succes sion; the Leron, the quail the peacock, the os | trich, the lark, the crow, the kite, the bat the biacklird and many others, with sli colors, all sounds, all styies of flight, al babite, ail architecturs of nests, leaving nothing wanting in suzgestiveness. They were at the creation piaced ali around on the rocks and in the trees and on the ground fo serenade Adam's arriva'., They took their places on Friday, as tue first man was made on Saturday. Whatever else he had or did not have, he should have rausic. The first sound that struck the human sar was a bird's voice, Yes, Christian geology—{or you know there is a Christian geology as weil as an in- fidel geoiogy—Christian geclogy comes in and helps the Bible show what we owe to | the bird creation. Before the human raos | cams into this world the world was cocupied | by reptiles and by all sorts of destructive monsters— millions of creatures, loathsome snd hideous, God sent buge birds to clear the earth o! these creatures bLefore Adam | and Eve were created, The remaing of theses birds bave been found imbedded in the rocks. The skeleton of one eagle has been found twenty feet in height and fifty feet from tip of wing to tip of wing. Many ar- mies of beaks and claws were nacowmary to clsar the earth of creatures that would have destroyed tne human racs with one clip, 1 | like to find this harmony of revelation and wience, and to bave demonstrated that the God who made the world made the Bible, Moses, the greatest lawyer of all time and a great man for facts, had enough seati- | went and poetry and musical taste to wel. | come the illuminated wings ani the voices | divinely drilled into the first chaoter of | Genises. How should Noab, the old ship. | nter, 500 years of age, find out when the world was fit again for human residence after the universal freshet? A bird will tell, and nothing eles can. No man can come down from the mountain to invite Noah and his family out to terra firma, for the mountaing were submerged. As a bird | first heralded the human race into the | world, now a bird will help tas hamaa racs | back to the world that had shipped a sea that whelmed everything i Noah stands on Sunday morning at the | window of the ark, in his hand a cooing dove, so gentle, so innocent, so affectionate, and be said: “Now, my little dove, fly away over these waters, explore and come back and tell us whether it is safe to land.” After a Jong flight it returned hungry and weary and wet, and by its looks and manners said to Noah and bis family: * Ihe world is not fit for you to disembark.” Noah waited a dove fly again for a second exploration, and Bunday evening it came back with a leaf that pad the mgn ol just having been plucked from a living fruit tree, and the wird r the world would do tolerabl well for a bird to live In, but not yet ’ ciently recovered for human residence, Noah waited another week, and next day morning he sent out the dove on the rd exploration, but it returned not. for it the world »o attractive now it did not to be and then the the antediluvian world told 3hain when i ! : i i i 2 § saved bys boris to land too soon, they { i it 5 £ | = £ : i i i t E g 23 - : £5 3 dollars as easily as genuine issma, why not make it? One year's frau! will be equal to a half a lifetime's sweat. Why nit live A fortune thu bulit will be firm and everiasting., Will 1? will taun ier. There are estaine which hava been coming Many vears ago that estate startad in a husband's industry It grew from gen- | eration to generation by ¢00d habits and Old fashionsd in- was dug, and God will keep the deeds of such an estate in His tuciler. Forecloss your | mortgage, spring your snap judgments, plot | manent damage, Detter than warrantee deed and better than fire insurance is the But bere is a man today as poor sa Job after ha was robbed by satan of everything but his boils, yet suddenly to-morrow be is | a rchman. There is no azcouating for his suddeg affiasnce, He has not yet failad | often snough to becomes wealthy. No one pretends to account for his princely ward. robe, or the chased silver, or the full curbs} steeds that rear and neiga like Baecapbaius in the grasp of his coachman., Did he come No. Did be make | on purchases and sale? No, Every- | body asks where did that partridge bath, Toe devil suldenly threw him up, and the devil will su ldeniy let him come down, That hidden scheme God saw {rom the first concsption of the plot, [bat partridge, swift disaster will shoot it down, and the | higher it flies the harder it falls. The proph- etsaw, as you and I have often seen, the awful mistake of partridges, But from the top of a Bivie fir tree [ hear | the shrill ery of the strork. Job, Easkiel, | Jeremiah, speak of it. David cries out, "As tor the store, the fir trea ix her house” This large white Bible bird is sunpossd, | without alighting somelimas $0 wing way from the region of the Haine to Africa, As winter comes all the storks fly to warmer | climes and the last ons of their number that | arrives at the spot to which they migrate is | killed by them, What bavoe it would make in our species if those men wore killel wao | are niways behind! In oriental cities the stork ks domesticated and walks about on the street and wll follow its kesper, In the city of Eohesus I saw a loans row of pillars, on th? wp of each pillar a stori's | pest. But the word “slorg” ordinarily means mercy aod affection, from the fact that this bird was distinguished for its great | love for its parents. It never forsakes thom, and even aftsr they become feeble protects In migrating the old storks lean their necks on the young | its young ones cary them on their baods more heart than we, Blessed is that Sable at which an old father and mother sis; blessed that altar at which an old father and mother kneei! Whag it is to have a mother they know beat who have lost her, God osly knows the agony she suffered for us the times she wapt over our cradle and the anxious sighs sick nigats when she watche! us long after every one was tire out but God and herself, | imaze lives in our feces. That man is graces. loss me a cannibal who i'l treats his parents, and he who begrudges them daily bread ana clothes then but shabbily, may God have pa- tienes with him; I canno:, heard a man once say, “1 now have my old mother on my hands.” Ye storks on your way with | food to your aged parents, shams him! But yonder in this Biole sky fies a birl that is speckled. The prophet describing the churen cries out, "Mine heritage is unto me ns a speckled oird; ths bi round Bo it was then: so Holiness pickel at. Consscra- Benevolence picked at, A speckled bird is a peeuliar bird; and that arouses the antip- | athy of all the beaks o. the fores:, The church of God is a peculiar instita- tion, and that is enough to evoke atiack ol of the world, for it is a spackied bird to be picked at. Tae inconsistencies of Christians are a banquet on which mmumititader got fat, They ascribe everything you do to wrong motives, Put a dollar in the poor bax and they will say that you dropped it there only that you might hear it ring. Invite them to Christ and they will call you a fanatic, Lat thers be contention among Caristians, and they will say: “Hurrah! The church is in Seenionas " Christ intended that His church should always remaina speckied bird. Lat birds of another feather piciat her, but iiay cannot rob her of a siogle plums, Like the albatross, she can sleep on the bosom of a tempest. Ste has gone through the fires of Nebucoadnesgar’s furnace and not got burned; through the waters of the Red sea and not been wned | Shean a the ground of the truth, not prevail agamst ner.” The black brown of Me back. ani the white of ita lower feathers, and the firs of its aye, and the long flap of its wine make glimpse of it as it swings down into the val- lev to plek un a rabbit, or a lamb, or a child and then swings back to ite thrones on the rock something never to he forzotten. Seat terad about its evrisof altitudinon« solitude ura the bones of its conquests, Bat while the bank and the claws of the eazle ars tie terror of all the travelers of tha wir, the mother eagle is most kind and gentle to her young, Gol compares Histreatment of His pronle to the ear" care a ——— A ————— bearath them on alone did lead.” then takes it on har back and flies with it lke falling quickly flies under it and takes it on her wine azain, Mo God doss with ur, Disastar, fallare shakin us out of our confortabla nest in order that was may leara how to fly. You who are comolaining that you have ao faith or courage of Chrivtian 2m! hava had it too ary. comfortable nest Like an eagle, Christ has earrisi uvon His hack. Af times we hava bean shaken off, under*is again and brought us out of the gloomy walley to the sunny mountain, Naver an eagle broo led wish such love and cars over her vouag as Gols wings have heen over us. Acros< what oesns of trouble wa have gone in safety upon the Almighty wings! From what mountains of sin wa have been carried ani at timas have been borns up far above the gunshot of the world and the arrow of the devil! When our time on sarth is closed on these great wings of God we shall spead with in- finite quickness from earth's mountains to heaven's hills, ani as from the eazie's cir- cuit under the sun men oa the ground seem small and insignificant as ligwr is on a roe’, so all earthly things shall dwindle lato a soeck, and the raging river of death so far beneath will seam smooth and glassy as a Swiss lnke. [t was th uzht in saclent times that an eagle could not only molt its feathers in old sxe. but that after arriving to great ages it ite strength and become ens tire.y young again. renew their streagib, Evan sa ual streagth. He shail be young in ardor fails the soul will grow in elasticity till at Yeu, in this ornithological study I ses hasteth to his prey.” Tha speed of a hungry engio when it saw iti pray a scores of miles distant was unimazioable. It went like a so fly Sixty minutes, sach worth a heaven, sinca we aswmblel in this place haves shot like lHizataing into eteraity. The is rent and cracked under the swift rush of days and months and year: and ages, ‘Swift as an sagio that hastath to his prey Hahold the fowls of the air! Have you cousidarad that they have, as you eyes no that ons minute they may be tale something a mile away and by telescopic the ground, able to see it closes by and with microscopic eyesight? Bat waat a senseless passage of Boriptare “Tas asarrow bata found a housy ani the swallow a nest for hermifl, Waste soe mar iay her young, oven thine a'tars, OU Lord of Hoste, my King and my God" What has the Ab, vou know that awallows are all the worli over very tam: and in summer tims they use i to ly into thy win- dows and doors of ths temple at Jerosiem oa the allar wheres the Thess swallows brought leaves and sticks and fashions] nests ou the altars of the tem- ple and hatohed the young sparrows in thow pests, and David had seen the young binds ploking their way oat of the shell waile the id swallows watehe!, and no one in the distarb either the old swallows or the youug swallows, and she may Inv her young, even Caine alters * What what what Oats of! what small resourcs they makes = eox- quisite a home, carved, plliarsd, wreathed Oat of mosses, out of stices, out of Hooens, carpenters RFONE, wife, out of the wool of the sheep frou the pasture field. Uponoistered by leavas actually sawed together ny iti owa sharp bill. Cah. jones] with feathers from its own breast, Mortared togetuer with tue gum of frees and the saliva of its own tiny Lil. Nuh symmetry, such alaptation, sued convani- ence, such geometry of stracture. Surely these nests ware built by sony plan, They did not happen just so. Who draftsd the plan for the birles nest? God! And do you not thing that il He plans suo: a house for a chaffineh, for an oriole, for a bobolink, for a sparrsw, He will ses to it that you always haven hone’ Ye are of mors valus than many sparrows” Waat. evar sles surrounds you, you can have what the Bible calls “ths featasrs of ths Al mighty.” Just thing of a nest live that, the warmch of it, the soltosss of it, the safety of it—"'the feathers of the Almighty.” No flamingo outfl whing tae tropical sun sot ever hat suca orilhaney of pinion: no robin relbreast ever hal plumage dashsd with such erimesos anl purple ani orange and gold—""the feathers of the Almighty.” Do vou not fesl the vous of then now on foreasad and cheek and adirit, and was there ever such tenderness of oroodiag-—‘'‘the feathers of the Almigaty?’ Soales in this ible Gol keeps im- pressing us with the anatomy of a biri's wing, Over fifty timass dos tha old Boo aliuis to the wing—*" Wings o/ a dove” “Wing« of the morning.” "Wing: of tas wind,” “Bun of righteous with healing in hie wings, “Wings of thy Almighty,” “All fowl of every wing.” Whaat dos it all mean® It suggests uplifting. It telis you of flight upward. It means to remind you that you yourself have wings. David oried I migat fly away and bs at rest’™ Thaak God that you have better wings than any dove of longest or swiitest flignt. Cagel now in bars of flash are thoss wings, but the day comes when they will be liberated, Get ready for ascension. Take the wor ls of the oid hymao, and to the tune uno waleh that hyasu is married sing : Ries, my soal and streteh thy wing; Thy oetisr porto. trace. Up out of these lowlands into the heavens of higher ex ani wider prospect, Bat how we rise? Oaly as Gols hoy spirit gives us Bat that is coming trom a Chimboraz) pein neglected, may become i RHEUMATISM, NEURALGIA, SCIATICA, LUMBAGO. SPRAIN may make a cripple, just a little ust a little BRUISE may make serious inflammation. Just a little BURN may make an ugly scar. COST will get a bottle of ST. JACOBS OIL, A PROMPT AND PERMANENT CURE Years of Comfort against Years of Pain for JUST A LITTLE. A copy of the "Official Portfolio of the World's Columbian Exposition,’ descriptive of Buildings and grounds, beautiiully illus. trated in water pl effects, will be sent to any address upon receipt of loc. in postage just a little stamps by Tua Cuanres A. Voourex Co. Bavvisong, Mo. rup’ I simply state that]l am Druggist and Postmaster here and am there- I have oy og «qual to Boschee's German Syrup. I have given it with the most Every mothers , Druggis , Texas. tg satisfactory results. hould have it. J. H. t and Postmaster, We present facts, 2 Germ body. Take no substitute, One of Emperor Willinm's Toys. Fon ¥ He wv ‘ ivy smperor of Germany has wall of which he upon the raph of is 5 , an guard. tands 6 feet hig § AiEN 5 {8, und when he pre- fs “ 10r ex- r sid Dusseldorf sa ————————————— A ——— hich to take 1} iis inaestractinle Wood. The most the Jarrah liga, w te Cay ¢ structi r 3 4 of It do not n indestructible wood of west rn ch defies all known nd touched by \ y © nse 3? wood i forms 8 ub $ Sq 4 that ships «d tol ppered. ie { Lady Henry Was Corlous, J hen Lady Somerset first came to America, she was particularly anxious | the | American customs and to in everything American. i ! take part | Her appre- | “Now, will you tell me,” sald she | nut has been selected nut, and why it is so dear to the | hearts of every one? 1 notice that | all, be they old or young, boy or girl, | man or woman, speak of the chestnut | frequently, and always pleasantly, | and even affectionately. “To-day, as I was seated In one om your horse cars, a little boy began | telling another one some short anec- | 45 a national | boy sprang to his feet and ‘Oh, chestouts!" Later in the day 1 to which “Oh, what 3a the ear of a friend, friend only replied, chestnut!’ “How pleasant to have something is so fond. But explain the cause of the liking. Why was that particular nut selected? Why not the almond or the pecan? Is it that the chestnut grows more *aely here?” New York World. senimn — sin Ir 1s noted that in delivering the new armor plates for the battle ship Massachudetts one flat car is required for each sheet, which conveys a fair idea of their weight, Their thickness is fourteen inches a —— ce CE wncAas County Frank J. Cheney makes oath partner of the firm of F doing business in ihe City of : unly and Sta foresaid, and that sac vay the su if SVE for each and ev cane of catarrh that cannot be cured © sf Hall's Catarrh Cure Frnasg J, Cnexey me ard Lis 6th day of Decer A. ft "mn th 2 ’ thai he % y Le Ewarn 1o before uresenos, hast © 2: ow sutmcribed 1 mber, A. D.. & FLEASOK $s BEAL { Wh » Neary Pubite Hall's Catarrh Cure is taken internally and sclis directly on us surfaces of the system testimonials, free the blood and nn send for F.J.Cneszey & Co. Toledo, O. $F Bold by Druggists, 350. - I'he mother tor 4 guage of Mars money wpp— overnment Report on Baking being 33 per cent. less. ARE 28 FRAUD. J sverywhere, } a he 8 ONE ENJOYS Both the method and results when Syrup of Figs is taken; it is pleasant renily yet promptly on the Kidneys, Fw and Bowels, cleanses wy in Byrup of Figs is the duced, pleasing to the taste and ae- eeptable to the stomach, prompt in its action and truly beneficial in its effects, prepared only from the most to all and have made it the most popular remedy known. Syrup of Figs is for sale in 50c and $1 bottles by all leading drug- gists. Any reliable druggist who | may not have it on band will pre | cure it promptly for any one who | wishes to try it. Do pot accept any | substitute. | CALIFORNIA FIG SYRUP CO. i BAN FRANCISCO. CAL, LOUISVILLE, *¥ KEW YORK, BY. THE aL’ KIDNEY. LIVER 2 BLADDER Dissolves Gravel, ! unne, pens x pain in baek page of waler wilh pressure. ght’s Disease, Prove Lio, plaint bw Tal BER » Liver rid or end ine scanty urine, Ss troubie Ce arged ¥ us Beaasch $s wnd Kiduey difficu yin er 5 wl breath, bition ws, bil i «Poor digostien, goul. ‘atarrh oe: Bladder, fSammation, irritation, uloeration nt calls, pass bio > { bY i’ i dribbling, i$ OT pus, Guarentee Use rontonts « Med, Druggisis wil yef you thee pr go At Druggists, 50c, Size, LOG Size. nvaiids’ je to Healld ralie tion free Du, Kuen & Co. ironanton, N. Y. Unlike the Dutch Process Gh No Alkalies & Othe a Guid » free r Chemicals are uaed in preparation the of W. BAKER & CO.8 \BreakfastCocoa which {zs absolutely pure and soiuble, 5 It has more than three times 8d the strength of Cocoa mixed with Starch, Arrowroot or Bagar, and is far more eco nomical, costing less than one cent a cup. It is delicious, sourishing, and EASILY MGRETED, w———— Sold by Grocers everywhere. W. BAKER & C0., Dorchester, Mass with Paster, Enamels and Paints which stain the § bande, Injore the ron and burn red. The Rising Sun Stove Polish is Brilliant Odon leas, Durable, and the consumer pays for no Un or gine package with every hn Cures Consum an, © ughe, Rare Throat. Sold rn Drugsios on rg
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers