New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1890-04-09
NOBLE AND MEAN.
DR.. Tamlage Considers a Lily-
Ing Dog Better Than a
Dead Lion.
And Then Directs Attention to
Some Of the Mean Men
of the World,

subject was GA Dead Lion and his text
Ecclcs. tx: A. ga living dog is better than a
dead lion." Following is a report of the SER
mon:
The Bible is the strangest, the loyeliest, the
mightiest, the weirdest, the best of books
Written by Moses the lawyer Joshua the
soldier, Samuel the judge, Ezra the build
err, Job tho poet. David the shepherd,
Daniel the prime minister, Amos the herds
man, Matthew the custom-house officer,
Luke the doctor, Paul the scholar, John
the exile; and yet complete har-s
mony from the middle verse Of the
Bible, which is the Sth verse of the.
117th Psalm, both ways to the upper and
lower lids, an d from the shortest passage,
which is the 35th verse of the 18th chapter
of John, to the longest verse, which is the
9th verse OF the Sth chapter OF Esther. ard
yet not an imperfection in all the 773, 693
words which it is composed of. 1t not only
reaches over the past, but over the fu-
ture; has in it terryboat, as in H. Samuel
and q telegraphic wire, as in Job; and rail
road train, as in Nahum; and introduces US
to a ioundryman by the name OF Tubai Cain.
and a shipb uilder by the name Of Noah, and
all architect by the Aholiab, and tells us how
many stables Solomon had to care 0: his
horses, and how much he paid for those
horses. But few things in this versatile and
comprehensive book interest me SO much as
it's apothegms, those short, terse, senten-
tious, epigrammatic sayings, of which my
TEXTS one-A Giving dog is better than a
dead lion.'' Here the lion stands FOR nobil-
ity, and the dog for meanness. You must
know that the dog mentioned in the text is
not one of her American or European or
Scottish dogs, that, in our mind, is a sy-
nomyn for the beautiful, the graceful, the
affectionate, the sagacious, and the true. The
St. Bernard dog is a hero. and if you doubts
it, ask the SHOWS of the Alps, out of which hes
picked the exhausted traveller. The Shep-
herd dog is poem and if you doubtit, ask
the Highlands Of Scotland. The Artic dog is
the rescue of explorers, and if you d oubt it,
ask DR.. Kanes: expedition. The watchdog
is living protection. and if you doubt it,
ask 1O, 900 homesteads over whose safety he
watched last night. But Solomon, the au-
thor OF my text, lived in Jerusalem, and the
dog he speaks of in the text was a dog in.
Jerusalem, Last December ! passed days
and nights within a srone's-throw of where
: Solomon wrote this text, and from what l
saw OF the CANNES OF Jerusalem by day, and
heard of them by night, can understand the
E slight appreciation my text putupon the dog
OF Palestine 1t is lean and snarly and dis
gushing, and afflicted with parasites and
takes revenge on the human race by filing
the nights with clamor. All up and down the
Bible. the ost ofwhich was written in P ale
stine or Syria, contiguous lands, the dog
is used in contemptuous comparison. Hazel
said: SIS thy servant.a dog that he should
do this thing?" In self abnegation the Syro.
Phnnican woman said: even the dogs eat
of the crumbs which fall from the masters
table Paul says in Philippians, "Bewarc
fdogs;' and St. John, speaking Of Heaven,
y Gays: Without are dogs.
no ia heal NV
strong and loud voiced, and at its roar the
forests echo and the mountains trem BILE
1t is marvellous for strength, and when it's
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 Palestine and
the use of fire arms, OF which the lion is par
ticulary afraid. they have disappeared from
places where once they ranged, but they were
bold in olden times. They attacked an army
of Aerzes while marching through Macedonia
They were SO numerous that ], 900 lions were
slain in 40 years in the amphitheater Rome
The Barbary lion. the Cape lion, the Senegal
lion, the Assyrian lion, make up most eX-s
citing chapter in natural history. As most
L o. che Bible was written in regions lion haunt
ed, this creature appears in almost all parts
OF the Bible as a simile. David understood
its habits OF night-prowling and day
slumberng. as is seen from his description:
The young lions roar after their prey
and seek their meat from God. The sun
eriseth, they Gather themselves together, and
ay them - dens." And again
'mong lions
Judah is
them,
OF a slain
saws, s'The
ion'' and
There is alton
m, and says in
all eat strawlike
land says. 'sThe
:. lion" Paul knew
as delivered out of the
no, - Peter knew them and
says, ~ no IL a roaring lion walketh
i about St. John knew them. and says OF
Christ 'sBelsold the Lion Of the tribe of Ju-
dah!'
Now, what does my text mean when it puts
living dog and a dead lion side by side,
and says the former is better than
the latter? 1t means that small faculties
actively used are Of more value than great
faculties unemployed How often you see it?
Some man with limited capacity vastly use
full. He takes that which God has given him
and says "My men tai endowment is not large
and the world would not rate me high formy
intelligence and my vocabulary is limited,
and my education was detective but here goes
what [ have for God and salvation, and
the malingo the world good and happy. y
He puts in a word here and a word there,
encouraging a faint-hearted man, gives
a. scripture passage in consolation to some
bereit woman picks up q child fallen in
the. and helps him brush off the dust
and puts ive-cent piece in his hand, tell
ing him not to cry, SO that the boy is
singing before he gets around the corner;
e waiting on everybody that has a letter to
carry ora message to deliver; comes into
\ rail train, or astage-coach ordepot, or shop,
L 18th smiling face that sets everybody to
&H linking, IF that man can. with what APP
g ,ars small equipment in life, be happy, why
If mot |, possessing far more than he has,
HID equally happy Onelay of.this kind of
#sI ,iTg things may not amount TO much. but
81 rtyyears of that-no one but God Himself
Ne nappreciate its immensely.
Il q There are tens of thousands of such peo-
s. 9pie.sl Eheir circle OF acquaintance is small
The 1n3en is known over at the store. He is
clerk an weigher or drayman, and he is
known Slnong those who sit near him clear
back in the church under the galleries,
81 and at She errY gates where he comes
y lin knocking the snow from his shoes, and
4 ithreshing alis arms around his body to re-
svive circulation, on some January morning.
put. If he SlAould die fo-m0rrOW thpra would