The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1888-12-07
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Unelean Things that PoTlute the
Body and Dwarf the Soul.
The Influence of Diet ON Temperament,
and the Influence of Good and Evil
Thoughts on Our Spirit
uaI Natures.

Vulture and the bat. These also shall be un-
olean to you among the creeping things that
creep upon the earth: The chameleon and the
snaiL-Levitcus XII. 1880.
The Bible offers every possible variety
of theme, of argument and of illustr alton.
We care not much in what kind of
pitcher tho water Of life Is brought, If it
IS only the. clear, pure water, God gave
the ancients a list of the animals that
they might eat and list of animals that
they might not eat. These people lived
in a hot climate, and certain forms Of
animal food corrupted their blood and
disposed them to scrofulous disorders,
depraved their appetites and bemeaned
their souls. A mans food, when he
has the means and opportunity of
selecting it, suggests his moral
nature. The reason the wild In
dian is as cruel as the lion is because he
has food that gives him the blood of the
lion. A missionary among the Indians
says that by changing his style of food to
CORES pond with theirs his temperament
was entirely changed. There are certain
forms of food that have a tendency to af-
feet the moral nature. Many a Christian
is trying to do by prayer that which can
not be done except through a corrected
diet. For instance, he who uses sWine's
flesh for constant diet will be diseased in
body and polluted of soul-all his liturgies
and catechisms notwithstanding. The
Gadarene swine were possessed OF the
devil, and ran down deep place into the
sea, and all the swine ever since seem to
have been similarly possessed. In Le-
viticus, God struck this meat off the table
of His people, and placed before them
bill of fare at once heaIthful, nutriciOus
and generous.
But, higher than this physical reason,
there was a spiritual reason why God
chose certain forms of food for the an
clients. God gave a peculiar diet to His
people, not only because He wanted them
to be distinguished from the surrounding
nations, but because certain birds aud
animals, by reason Of their habits, have
always been suggestive OF moral quail
ties. By the list of thugs from which
they were to abstain, God wished to
prejudice their minds against certain
evils; and in the list of lawful things
given, He wished to suggest certain forms
of good. When God solemnly forbade
His people to eat the owl, the vulture, the
bat, the chameleon and the snail, He
me9nt to drive out of His people all the
sins that were thus emblemized.
1 take the suggestion OF the text, and
say that one of the first unclean things
the Christian needs to drive out of his
soul is the owl. The owl is the melan-
choly bird Of night. 1t matches out whole
broods of superstitions. Tt is doIeful and
hideous. When it sings, it sings through
its nose. 1t loves the gloom of night bet
ter than the brightness of day. Who has
not slept in the cabin near the woods, and
been awakened in the night by the dis
NAL "too-hoo" of the owl2 Melancholy is
the owl that is perched in many Chris
tian soul. tits an unclean bird, and needs
to be driven away. A man whose sins are
pardoned, and who is en- the road TO
Heaven, has no right to be gloomy. He
says: 81 have so many doubts" That's
because ''you are lazy" Go actively to
work in Christ's cause, and your doubts
will vanish. "You say: 81 have lost my
property" but I reply: "You have in
finite treasures laid up in Heaven" You
say: 81 am weak and sickly, and going
to die" Then be congratulated that you
are so near eternal health and perpetual
gladness. Catch few morning larks for
your SOUL and stone this owl off your
premises.
AS a little girl was eating, the sun
dashed upon her spoon, and she cried:
80, mamma, 1 have swallowed a spoon
full of sunshiueW Would God that we
might all indulge in the same beverage
Cheerfulness, it makes the homeliest
face handsome; it makes the hardest
mattress soft; it runs the loom that
weaves buttercups and rainbOws and au-
roras. God made the grass black? No,
that would be too somber. God made
the grass red? No, that would be too
gaudy. God made the grass green, that
by this parable all the world might be
led to a subdued cheerfulness. Read
your Bible in the sunshine. Remember
that your physical health is closely allied
to your spiritual. The heart and the
liver are only few inches apart, and
what affects one affects the other. A
historian records that by the sound of
great laughter in Rome HannibaPs as
saulting army was frightened away in
retreat. And there is in the great out
bursting joy of Christian soul that
which can drive back any Internal be-
siegement Rats love dark closets, and
Satan loves to burrow in gloomy soul.
"Rejoice in the Lord, o ye righteousl
and again / say, rejoice ~
Hoist the window of your soul in this,
the twelve O'Clock of your spiritual night.
Put the gun to your shoulder and aim at
the black jungle from which the hoOting
comes, pull the trigger, and drop that
croaking, loathsome, hIdeous owl OF re-
ligious melancholy into the bushes.
Again, taking the suggestion of the |
text drive out the Vulture from your |
soul. God would not allow the Jews to |
eat it 1t lives on carcasses; it fattens |
among the dead: with leaden wing 1t cir
cles about battle fields. Wilson. the |
American ornithologist counted two /
hundred and thirty-seven vultures |
around one carcass. IL crossing the /
desert when there is no sign of |
wing in the air, a camel perish out of the /
caravan, Immediately the air begins to /
darIzen with vultures. There are many |
professed Christians who have vulture |
in their souls. They prey upon the char
acter and feelings OF others. A doubtful I
reputation is a banquet for them. Some |
rival in trade or profession falls, and the |
vulture puts out its head. These people |
revel in the details of a mans ruin. They |
say: II told you So" They rush into |
some store and say: fIave you heard /
the newsH Just as L expected Our neigh |
Dor has gone all TO piocesl Good for |
him!o
That professedly Christian woman, hav- |
ing heard OF the wrong doing OF some |
sister in the church, instead OF hiding the |
sin with a mantle Of charity, peddles It |
all along the streets. She takes the after |
noon to make her long neglected calls. |
She tells the story ten times before sua-
down, and every time tells II larger. Size (
rushes into the parlors 10 tell If. and into /
the nursery to tell it, and into the kitchen 1
10 tell il: She says: ''W0pld you have !
thought it2 Wei, / always said there /,
was something wrong abou. her Why, /
shculd not speak to her II saw her in TIE I
street. Is itnot horrible2 But better not Z
say any thing about II, because there may 1
be some mistake. / do not want my name /
involved in the matter. / guess / will I
just go over aud ask them at 10. 263 4
whether they have heard it, Guess it /
must be SO, for Mary Ann says that her 1
husband saw g man who heayd from his 4
business partner that his blind old grand /
mother Ind seen something thst looked 4
very suspicious"
7hs most !aa1nsous miserable Goas
fogsaksG Wtelea 81 galEB y 3 gossip. !