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
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saved bys boris
to land too soon, they
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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.
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Dissolves Gravel,
! unne, pens x
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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