The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-31
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LIVE DOG AND DEAD LION
TALMAGE breaches FROM a FA-
VORITE QUOTATION.

Small Faculties Actively Used Bet
ter Than Great Ones Unemployed.
BROOKLYN, March 30-There was the
usual difficulty in getting seats, or even
standing-room, in the Academy of Music
this morning when the service commenced,
the ordinary Tabernacle congregation be-
ing increased by throngs OF persons eager
to listen TO the eloquent preacher. The
service opened with the singing Of the long
meter doxoiogy by the immense audience.
DR., Talmage's subject was, "a Dead Lion,"
and his text, Eccles. tx, 4, "A living dog ia
better than dead lion." Following is a.
Uerbdtinl report of the sermon:
The Bible Is the strangest, the lovelest,
the mightiest, the weirdest, the best of
books Written by Moses tho LAWYER.
Joshua the solder, Samuel the Judge Ezra
the builder, JOB the poet, David the shep-
herd, Daniel the prime minister, Amos the
herdsmau, Matthew the custom-house
officer Luke the doctor, Paul the scholar,
John the exile; and yet a complete harmony
from the middle verse of the Bible, which
is the eighth verse of the one hugdred aud
seventeenth Psalm, both ways to the upper
and lower lids, and from the shortest pas
sage, which is the Jhirty-fifth verse Of the
eleventh chapter OF John, TO the longest
chapter of Esther, and yet not an imperfec-
tion III all the 1886 words which it IS
composed of. IL not only reaches over the
past, but over the future; has in it ferry
boat, as in second Samuel: a telegraphio
wire, as in job; and railroad train, as in
Nahum; and introduces us TO foundry
man by the name Of Tubal Cain, and ship-
builder by the name of Noah, and an archf-
tect by the name Of AhOliaU, and tells us
how many stables Solomon had to take caro-
of his horses, and how much he paid for
those horses. But few things in this versa
tile and comprehensive book interest me 50
much as its apothegms, those short, terse,
sententious, epigrammatic sayings, of which
my text is one-''A living dog s better than
dead lion"
Here the lion stands for nobility, end the
dog for meanness. You must know that
the dog mentioned in the text is not one Of
our American or European. or Scottish
dogs that. in our mind is n synonym for
the beautiful, the graceful, the afRec Tomato.
the sagacious, and tho true The ST. Bern
ard dog is a hero, and if you doubt it ask
the SHOWS of tho Alps, out of which be
picked the exhausted traveller. The shep-
herd dog is a poem. and if you doubt it, ask
the highlands Of Scotland. The Arctic dog
Is the rescue of explorers and il you doubt
it, ask DIR. Kaue's expedition. The watcl
dog Is living protection, and il you doubt
it. ask ten thousand hOmesteads over
whose safety he watched last
night. But Solomon. the author of my
text, lived in Jerusalem, and tho dog he
speaks OF in the text was dog in slerusa-
lem. Last December / passed days and
nights within stones throw Of where SOL
omon wrote this text, and from what saw
of the CANNES Of Jerusalem by day, ard
heard of them by night, | can understand
the slight appreciation my text pats upon
the dog Of Palestine. 1T is lean and snarly
and disgusting. and afflicted with para4
sites, and takes revenge on the hu-
clamor. All up and down tsas
Bible, the most Of which was written in
Palestine or Syria, or contiguous lands, the
dog is used in contemptuous comparison.
Hazael said, us thy servant dog that he
should do this thingp In self-abnegation
the Syro-PhGnician woman said. Even
the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from
the masters table" Paul says. in Philip
plans, Beware Of dogs;" and ST. John,
speaking Of heaven, says, "Withouu are
dogs.n
On the other hand the lion is healthy,
strong and loud-voiced, and at its roar the
forests echo and the mountains tremble. 1t
is marvellous for strength and when its
hide is removed the muscular compactneSs
is something wonderful, and the knife of the
dissector bounds back from the tendons.
By the clearing off Of the forests of Pales-
tine and the use OF firearms, of which the
lion is particularly afraid, they have dis
appeared from places where once they
ranged, but they were very bold in olden
times They attacked an army of Xerxes
while marching through MACEDONIA,
They we're so numerous that one
thousand lions were slain in forty years in
the amphicheatre OF Rome. The Barbary
lion, the cape lion, the Senegal lion, the AS
syrian lion, make up most a, e',sorDing and
exciting chaDter in natural p tory As
most Of the Bible was written in regions
lion-haunted, this creature appears in
almost all parts Of the Bible as a simile.
David understood its habits Of night-prowl--
ing and day-SlumberlDg, as is seen from his
description: "The young lions roar after
their prev and seek their meat from God.
The sun arissth, they gather themselves
together and lay them down in their dens."
And again he cries out: my soul is among
lionsn Moses knew them and said: "Judah
is couched like a lion" Samson knew
them for he took honey from the
carcass Of slain lion Solomon
knew them and says. "The kings
wrath is as the roar Of a lion," and again,
'Tne slothful man says, There is a lion in
the way" Isaiah knew them, ana says, in
tho millennium, "Tae lion shall eat straw
like an OK" Ezekiel knew them, and says:
'rhe third was as the face OF Il lion."
! Paul knew Them, and says: u was delivered
| out Of the mouth of the lion" Peter knew
them, and says, 1.-The devil as a roaring
lion walketh about" st. John knew them,
AID says Of Christ, "Behold the Lion Of the
tribe Of Judabp
Now, what does my text mean when il
puts living dog and a dead lion side by
side. and says the former is better than the
latterl 1t means that small faculties actively
used are OF more value than great faculties
unemployed. How often you SEQ It'll Some
man with limited capacity vastly useful.
He takes that which God has given him and
says: "Aiy mental endowment IS not large
ana the world would not rate me high for
my intelligence, and my vocabulary is linn
ited aud my education was detective. but
here goes what have for God and saliva
tioa, and tho making Of the world good aud
happy" lie puts In word here and a
word there, encourages faint-heartei man,
gives scripture passage IN consolation to
some bereft woman, picks up Child fallen
IN the street and helps MIN brush oT ths
dust and put hYe-cent piece Ia bis band,
telling him not y y, 30 that tie boy Is
singing before ho gets round tbs corner;
Gilng on everybody that has a letter 10
carry Or a ineA4age 10 deliver: cones Into
rail train, Or a stage coach. Or depot. Or
shop With a smiling face that sess every
body - thinking, 'if that man cGu, witi
what appears small equlpnelt Ia iife, b.
happY. why cannot J. nufsestiHQ far more