The Brookhaven leader., 1888-12-06
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Unclean Things that Pollute the
Boy and Dwarf tho Soul.
The Infiaence of Diet on Temperament,
ana the Influence of Good and Evil
Thoughts on Our Spirit
ual Natures.


sermon at the Brooklyn Tabernacle on
"Unclean Things" took for his text;
And these are they which yc shall have In
abomination among the fowls: The owl, the
Nuliure and the bat These also shall he uu'
clean TO you among the creeping things that
creep upon the earth: The chameleon and the
snaiL.Levitcus XII 1850
The Bible offers every possible variety
OF theme, of argument and Of illustration
We care not much in what kind of o
pitcher the water Of life Is brought, IL IL
is only the clear, pure water. God gave
the ancientS list of the animals tn at
they might eat and list of animals that
they might not eat These people lived
IN hot climate, and certain forms of
animal food corrupted their blood and
disposed them to scrofulous disorders,
depraved their appetites and bemeaued
their souls. A mans food, when he
has the means and opportunity of
selecting it suggests his moral
nature. The reason tho wild In
dian is as cyrel as the lion is because he
has food fLat gives him the blood of the
Hon A missionary among the Indians
saws 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 at
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 liturgics
and catechisms notwithstanding. The
Gadarene swine were possessed o. the
devil, and ran down deep place into the
sea, and all the swine ever since seem to
have been similarly possessed, ia Le-
viticus, God struck this meat off the table
of His people, and placed before them
bill of fare at onGe healthsul, nutritious
and generous
But, higher than this physical reason,
there WIS q spiritual reason why God
chose certain forms of food for the an
Clients. God gave peculiar diet to His
people, not only because He wanted them
TO be distinguished from the surrounding
nations, but because certain birds un1
animals, by reason of their habits Nave
always been suggestive 81 MORAL quail
ties. BY the list OF things from which
they were to abstain, God wished to
prejudice tb3ir minds against certain
evils; and in the list of lawful things
given, lie wished to suggest certain forms
OF good. When God solemnly forbade
His people to eat the owl, the vulturo, the
bat, the chameleon ard tho snail, He
meent to drive out of His people all the
sins that were thus emblemiged.
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. It is doeful 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-ho OF the owl? Melancholy is
the owl that is perched in many q 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 il
because you are lazy" to actively tC
work in Chris2s cause, and your doubts
will vanish. "You say: II have lost my
property" but l 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
axe 50 near eternal health and perpetual
gladness. Catch few morning larks for
your soul, aud stone this owl off your
premises,
AS n little girl was eating, the sun
20, mamma, ] have swallowed q spoon.
full of sunshinel" Woald God that we
might all indulge in the same beverage
Cheerfulness, it makes tho homeliest
face handsome; it makes the hardest
mattress soft; II runs the loom that
weayes buttercups and rainbOws and au.
rorSs. God made the grass black? No,
that would be too somber. God made
the grass red? No, that would be toe
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 Hannibal's as
saulting army was frightened away in
retreat And there is in the great out
bursting joy of Christian soul that
which eau drive back any Internal be-
siegement Rats love dark closets, and
Satan loves to burrow in gloomy soul
snejoice in the Lord, o we righteous
and again l say, rejoiceP'
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
Tic DldCk Jungle from WHICH Tue uOOllnB
comes, pull the trigger, aud drop that
croaking loath5ome, hldeous owl OF re-
: ligiors melancholy into the bushes.
Again, taking the suggestion o; 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 it cir
cles about battle fields. Wilson, the
American ornithologist counted two
hundred and thirty-seven vultures
around one carcass. II crossing the
desert when there is no sign of
wing in the air, camel perish out Of the
caravan, Immediately the air begins to
darken with vultures. There are many
professed Christians who have a vulture
in their souls They prey upon the char
acter and feelings OF others. A doubtful
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 luin. They
say: ~ told you So" They rush into
some store and say: 'Have you heard
the news! Just as l expected! Our neigh
Dor has gone ell to pieces! Good for
him."
Il That professedly Christian woman, hav-
ing heard OF the wrOng doing of some
sister in the church, instead OF hiding the
sin with mantle of charity, peddles it