The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-07-08
pR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
THE BLACK SERVANTS OF
THE SKY.

ToIt; "And the ravens brought Him
bread and flesh in the morning, and bread
and flesh in the evening. VI Kings, xvii, q.
The ornthology of the Bible is most in
tcrestiug study. The stork in tho heavens
Switch kuoweth her appointed time. The
common sparrows, suggestive of the Divine
Providence. The ostriches of the desert, by
careless incubation reminding one of the
reckleSsness of some parents in regard TO
their children. The eagle, suggesting tho
riches that take wings and fly away. The
pelican emblemizing solitude The bat,
flake of the darkness. The night hawk, the
ossifrage, the cuchoo, the lapwing, the
osprey, by Gods command in Leviticus flung
out of the worlds bill of fare | wish | could
have been with Audubon as he went through
the forests with gun and pencil, bringing
down and sketching the fowls of heaven, his
,mfoded portfolio thrilling all Christendom.
What wonderful creatures the birds are.
Their voices this morning seemed like songs
of heaven let loose and bursting through the |
gates Look at their feathers, which
are clothing and conveyance at tho
same time. Consider the niue vertebre OF |
the mock. Consider the fact that each bird |
has TO each eye three eyeiet', the third eyelet
n curtain for gradual ng the light of the day. |
some of these birds Scavengers and some of |
them orchestra. Thank God for quails' |
whistle and larks' carol, and the twitter of |
the wren, by the ancents called the king OF |
birds, because when the fowls OF heaven went
into contest as to which could fly the high |
est and the eagle swung under the sun,
wren on the lack of the eagle sprung up still
higher, and so was called the king of birds
Consider those birds that have golden crowns
and crcsts, showing that they are feather i'm
perials Hear the humming- bird serenaIe
tho ear of the honey suckle Look at tho
belted king fisher striking like dart from SKY
to water Hear the voice of the owl giving
the keynote to all croakers Look at the con-
dor amid the Andes battling down the rein
deer, when, its eyes destroyed, the poor crea-
tTe goes tumbiing over the rocks. cannot
tell whether aquarium or aviary is the best
altar from which to worship God. But in
my text there is an instance that battles all
the pathological wonders of the world. Tho
grain crop had been cut OF. Famine was in
the land A minister of God, Elijah, sat at
the mouth of a cave by the brook Cherith,
waiting for something to eat. Why
didn't he go out to the neighbors! There
were no neghboTs 1t was a wilderness
Why didn't he go out and pick berrieSi
There were no berries, and if there had been,
'hey would have been dried up by the
drought. One morning this man of God,
teated at the mouth of the cave, is looking
up into the pitiless heavens when he seas
flock of birds approaching. Oh, If they were
only cartridges and he had an arrow with
which to bring them down! But, as they
come nearer, he finds they are not comeStible,
hut unclean, and their eating would be spirit
nal death. The length of their wings the
strength of their beak, the blackness of their
color the loud, harsh ''cruck, crucz' of their
vote prove them to be ravens. They fly
around the prophets head, rorad and round,
Gni then on fluttering wing come to the
level of his lip, and one r&fen brings the
bread and another raven brings the meat,
and having discharged their tiny cargo, their
wheel away and other flocks of ravens come
until the prophet is satisfied and these black
servants of the wilderness table are gone.
81 he
Tel, sounded for six months, and
some say for twelve months, calling the
prophet up to get his food, while these ravens
flung the sounds on the air: ''Cruck, cruck,
cruck." Guess where they got the food
from. Some say that they got it from the
Kitchen of King Ahab. Some say that they
got it from Obadiah Some say that these
ravens brought the food to their young in
the nests in the tree tops, and Elijah had
only TO climb up and get it. Some say the
whole story is improbable, and that this
flesh must have been the torn flesh of living
animals, and therefore unclean, or it was car
rion, and then unfit for the prophet. Some
say that the word in my text translated
ravens ought to have been translated
"Arabs;" so that the text ought to have
read: 'And the Arabs brought bread and
flesh to HIM in the morning, and bread and
flesh to him in theevening." Anything but
admit the Bible to be true Hew away at
this miracle until all the miracle is gone; go
on with your work of depicting; but, my
brother, know that you rob only one man,
and that is yourself, of one of the most beau
tiful, comforting, blessed, triumphant lie sons
of all the ages. l can tell you who these
p,.rvey%rs We're. They we're ravens. |
provisions. God. I can tell you who
launched them. God. l can tell you who
told them which way to fly. God. | can
tel you who told them at what cave to
swoop. God l can tell you who it was that
introduced raven to prophet, and prophet to
raven. God. Here is passage Of scripture
which I ought to give in a whisper lest, ut
tering it in louder tone, some one might
drop down under its power. The passage is
THISTLE that taketh away from the words
of the prophecy of this book, God will take
away his part out of the Book of Life, and
out of the Holy City" Standing then this
morning and watching the ravens feed
Elijah, hope the dove of Gods spirit may
swoop down the sky, and with out-spread
wing, pause at the lip of every soul hungry
for comfort On the banks Of what river
have the great battles of the world been
fought! While you are examining the map
OF The world to answer that l will tell you
on what banks the great conflict of o-day is
being fought. On the Thames, on the Hud-
son, on the Mississippi, on the Kennebec, on
the Savannah, on the Rhine, on the Rhone,
on the Me, on, the Ganges, on the
.1oangho. 1t is battle of six thousand
years. Eleven hundred million troops are
engaged, and the number of the fallen is
vaster than the number of those who march.
1t is the battle for bread. Sentimentalists,
seated in arm chair in pictured study, with
siippered feet on damask ottoman tell us
this world is a great scene Of avarice and
greed. / don't believe it. Take all the
necessities out of the case, and nine-tenths of
the stores, the shops the factories, the bank
irg houses of the earth would be closed to-
morrow ] say take the necessities out of the
tl,,i s bat foil in, oil IL
mine, OR in New England factory, or count
ing out the roll of bills in the bank, or meas
uring the fabric on the counters He is q
champion going forth for some home circle
that needed to be cared for; or in behalf Of
church of God that must be supported
CT in behalf of an asylum of mercy
that must be sustained. Who is that
woman bending over the sewing machine, OIL
carrying the bundle, or mending the gar
ment, or sweltering at the wash tub. That
is a Deborah, that is one of the Lords heroine.
going out against Amalakitish want thai
comes down with iron chariot to crush hel
and hers. The great question of this day il
not the question of Home Rule but whether
there will be any home to rule; not a ques
ton of tariff, but whether there shall be any
thing to tax. With the vast ma iority of PEG
pie it is question of chow shall | supper
my family? how shall meet my wants? hov
shall pav my rent! how shall clothe anC
shelter and educate those dependentupon mef
If God viii help me to assist you in the solu
ton of that question, the happiest man in thi
hou will be your preacher. l have gon
out on a cold morning with expert sportsme
t. hunt for pigeons. have gone out on tn
meadow to hunt for quail / have gon
down with some of my friends on the marshe
to hunt for reed birds, but this morning al
out for ravens
Notice, in the first place, in regard to thes
winged caterers that they were sent direct
from God to Elijah. II have commando
the ravens to feed thee" says God in an az
joining passage. They did not come out {
some other cave, they did not Just happen
fly that way they did not just happen to me,
Ilijah, they did not just happen to drop Il
,ood INTO his mouth. They cam, direct
rom God. The Bible says so. The same G.,
who is going to supply you. He is your fathe
it would take great while to make calcu,
ton OF how many pounds of food, and no
many yards of cloth you will require durir
Your life, even though you know how maa
years You were to live. very elabora
calculation. God can tell without any ca
culation. He has great family and he h
everything methodized, and there is pla