Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-12-06
DIETAND MORALITY.
God Gave the Ancients Food Which
Was Suggestive of Moral Quail
ties.

ties.
BsopWLyN, N. Y.,-Nov. 25-Rev. T. De.
Witt Talmage, D. d., preached, taking for
his text: "And these are they which We
shall nave in abomination among the fowls;
the owl, the %vulture, and the bat. These
also shall be unclean TO you among the
creeping things that creep upon the earth;
the chameleon and the snail."-Leviticus, xi.
1890. Following is the discoursein full:
The Bible offers every possible variety of
theme, of argument, and of illustration.
We care notin what kind OF n pitcher the
water of life Is brought, If itis only the clear,
pure water. God gave the ancients a list Of
the animals that they might eat, aud a list Of
animals that they might not eat. These
people lived in a hot climate, aud certain
forms of animal food corrupted their blood
and disposed them 10 serosulous disorders,
depraved their appetites and bemeaned their
souls. A mans food, when he has the means
and opportunity of selecting ii, suggests his
moral nature. The reason the wild In6ian is
as cruel as the lion is because he has food
that gives him the blood of the lion. A mis-
sionary 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 ma
ture. Many a Christian is trying to do by
prayer that which can not be lone 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 Notwithstanding.
The Gadarine swine were possessed of the
devil, and ran dow a steep piece into the
sea, and all the swine ever since Deem to have
been similarly possessed. In Leyiticus, God
struck this meat of the table of His people,
and placed before them a bill of fare ut once
heaIthful, nutritious and generous.
But, higher than this physical reason,
there was a spiritual reason why God chose
certain forms of food for the ancients. God
gavea peculiar diet to his people, not only be-
cause he wantedthem to b~edistinguished from
the surrounding nations, but b~,,iause certain
birds and animals, by reason Oh their habits,
hoNOa AWAY " bhlfStoAihS VI hlOih1 utiuil-
ties. By the list of things from which they
were to abstain God wished to prejudiee their
minds against certain evils; and in the list OF
lawful things given, he wished to suggest Ger
tain forms OF good. When God solemly for.
bade his people to eat the owl, tbn v~ulture,
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 uncleHn things the Chris
tan needs to drive out of his soul is the owl.
The owl is the melancholy bird of night. 1t
matches out whole broods ofsuperstitions Ii
is doleiul and hideouS. Whenit sings, il sings
through it's nose. II loves the gloom OF
night better thar the brightness fday. 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 n Christian soul.
IL is an unclean bird, and needs TO he driven
away. A man whose sins are %pardoned, and
who Is on the road to heaven, has no right
to be gloomy. He says. Il have so many
doubts. That liz because you are lazy"
Go actively to work in Christ's cause, and
your doubts will vanish. You say: II have
'ost my property but | reply: YOU have
infinite treasures laid up in heaven" You
say: ] am weak and sickiy and goingt to die"
Then be congratulated that you are so near
eternal health and perpetual gladness.
Catch O few morning iarks for your soul, and
stone this owl of your premises.
As q little girl was eating, the sun dashed
upon her spoon, and she cried out: 90,
mamma, | have swallowed n spoonful of sun
shinel" Would God that We might all in
1ulge in the same beveragel Cheerfulness-
Il makes the homliest face handsome; it
makes the hardest mattress soft; IL runs the
iftap, that rno.ro. A,4Nara,r. ,,l n,.ub-u.
and auroras. God made the grass, black?
No; that would be too sombre. God made
the grass re1P No; that would be too CANDY.
God made the grass green, that by this para
BILE all the world might be led to a subdued
cheerfulness. Read your Bible in the sun
shine. Remember that your physical health
is closely allied to your spiritual. The heart
and the liver are only n few inches apart, and
what afTeets one affects the other. A histori-
an records that by the sound of great laugh
ter in Rome, Hanhibal's ass~rrltinearmy was
frightened away in retreat. And there Is In
the great ~outbursting joy of q Christian soul
that which can drive back any Internal be-
siegement. Rats love lark closets, and Sat
an loves TO burrow in a gloomy soul. ere
ioice in the Lord, ye r~ighteousl and again
| say. r~ejoieei'
Hoist the window of your soul in this the
II O'Clock of your spiritual night. Put the
gun to your shoulder, aud aim at the black
jungle from which the hooting comes, pull
the trigger, and drop that croaking, loath-
some, hideous owl OF religious 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. II lives
on earcasses; il fattens among the dead; with
leaden wing it circles about battle fields.
Wilson, the American ornithologist, counted
231 voltures around one carcass. Ifcrossing
the desert when there is no sign of wing in
the air, a camel perish out OF the oarevan,
Immediately the air begins to darken with
vultures. There are many professed Chris
tians who have n yulture in their souls.
They pray upon the character and feelings
OF others. A doubtful reputation is n BAN
quet for them. Some rival in trade or pro-
fession falls, and the vulture puts out it's
head. These people revel in the details of q
mans ruin. They say: 81 told you So"
They rush into some store and say; "Have
you heard the news? just as l expected
Our neighbor has gone all to piecesl Good
for himl'
That professedly Christian woman. having
heard OF the wrong doing Of some sister In
the church, instead of hiding the sin with the
mantle of charity, peddles it along the
streets. She takes the afternoon to make
her long neglected calls. She tells the story
20 times before shutdown, and every time
tells it larger. She rushesinto the parlors to
btl IT, duu iitO lut nuIrefN 10 tell IT, duu lHEO
the kitchen to tell il. She says: "Would
you have thought it2 Well, | always said
there was something wrong abouther. Why,I
should not speak to her il saw her in the
street. Is it not horrible? But better not
say anything about it, because there may be
some mistake. i do not van my name in
yolved in the matter. j guess / will just go
over and ask them at No. 6 whether they
have heard it. Guess it must be so, for
Mary Ann says that her husband saw q man
who heard from his business partner that
his blind old grandmother had seen some
thing that looked very suspiciousl"
The most loathsome. miserable, God
forsaken wretch on earth is a gossip. /
can tell her on the street, though | have
never seen her before. She walks fast, and
has her bonnet strings loose, for she has not
had time to tie them since she heard that
last scandal. She ook both ways as she
passes, hoping to see new evidences of de
pravity in the windows. | think that when
Satan has a job SO infinitely mean that in ali
the pit he cannot find n devil mean enough
to do it, and all brides and threats have
failed to get one ready for the Internal
crusade, he says to one of his sergeants:
@ up to Brooklyn, n in such astreet. on
such q corner, get that gossipping woman,
and she will be glad to do IT," And sure
enough, like a hungry fish, she takes the
hook in her mouth and Satan slaekens the
line, and let's her run out farther and
farther, until after while he says: at is
time to haul in that line" and with q few
StrOnC pulls he brings her TO the beach of