Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-12-08
What the Unclean Fowls an
Creeping Things Typify
in Religion.
Many Professed Christians
Who Have Vultures in
Their Souls.
Cannot stand StiIl-its Danger
Is Stagnation-Driye Out
All Cncleanness.

BROOKLYN, Nov. 25.-At the Taber.
nacle this evening, the great congregation
sang the hymn beginning:
awake my soul to joyful lays,
And sing the great Rcdeemer's praise"
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, ID. ID.
preached, taking for his text: "And
these are they which we shall have in
abomination among the fowls; the owl,
the v~ulturc, and the bat. These also
shall be unclear to you among the creep
ing things that creep upon the earth; the
the chameleon and the snail, "-Leyiticus,
xi 13, 30.
Following is the discourse in full:
The Bible offers every possible variety
of theme, Of argument, and of illustration.
We care not much in what kind of a
pitcher the water of life is brought, if il
is only the clear, pure water. God gave
the ancients a list of the animals that
they might cat, "a n "A list Of Iimals that
they might not eat. These people lived
in a hot climate, and certain forms of
animal food corrupted their blood, and
disposed them 10 scrofulous disorders,
depr2ved their appetites, and bemeaned
their souls. A mans food, when he has
the means and opportunity Of selecting
it, suggests his moral nature. The rea-
son the wild Indian is as cruel as a 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 correspond with theirs,
his temperament was entirely changed.
There are certain forms of food that have
a tendency to affect the moral nature.
Many "A Christian is trying to do by
PRAYER that which cannot be done except
through 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 not
w~ithstanding. The Gadarene swine
were possessed of the devil, and ran
down a steep place into the sea, and all
the swine ever since seem 20 have been
similarly possessed. Ia Leviticus, God
struck this meat off the table Of his people,
and placed before them a bill Of fare at
once healthful, nutritious and generous.
REsCRrmN FOOD o I%sRAELITEs.
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 and
animals, by reason of their habits, have
always been suggestive OF moral quail
ties. BY the list of things from which
they were to abstain, Tod wished to
prc ,udice 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
meant to drive out of his people all the
sins that were thus emblemiZed.
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. 1t is dole
full and hideous. When it sings, it sings
through its nose. 1t loves the gloom of
night better than the brightness OF the
day. Who has not slept in the cabin
near the woods ana been awakened in
the night by the dismal "too-hoo' Of the
owl? Melancholy is the owl that is
perched in many a Christian soul. 1t is
an ~unclean bird, and needs to be driven
,o, ~rl1oa. Gin. . ,orJnnoI
and who is on the road to heaven, has no
right to be gloomy. He says: II have
so many doubts" That is because you
are lazy" Go actively to work in
Christ's cause and your doubts will van
ish. You say: Il have lost my prop
erty;' but I reply: you have infinite
treasures laid up in heaven" Then be
congratulated that you are so near eternal
health and perpetual gladness. Catch a
few morning larks for your soul, and
stone this owl Oft your premises.
TIE DELIGHTS OF CHEERFuLNEss.
AS a little girl was eating, the sun
dashed upon her spoon, and she cried:
con. mamma | have swallowed a spoon
full Of sunshine Would God that we
might all indulge in the same beverage.
CheerfulncsS; it makes the homeliest
face handsome; it makes the hardest
mattress soft, it runs the loom that wcaves
buttercups, and rainbows, and auroras.
God made the grass black? No; that
would be too sombrc. 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 a few inches apart, ard what affects
one affects the other. A historian records
that by the sound of great laughter in
Rome, Hannibal's assaulting army was
frightened away in retreat. And there is
in the great outbursting JOY of a Christian
soul that which Can drive back any in
fernal b~csiegement. Rats love dark
closets, and Satan loves to burrow in a