The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-04-16
DEAD LIONS.
The World is Full Of Magnificent
Opportunities,
While Many Look Backward for Those
That Are Lost-"A Live Dog ID
BettersThan Dead LiOn"-Dr.
Talmage's Sermon.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage's sermon last
Sunday was, "a Dead Lion and his
text, Eccles. TX, 4: IA living dog is bet
ter than dead lion"
The Bible is the strangest the love-
lest, the mightiest, the weirdest, the
best Of books. Written by Moses the
lawyer, Joshua the soldier, Samuel the
Judge, Ezra the builder, Job the poet,
David the shepherd, Daniel the Prime
Minister, Amos the herdsman, Matthew
the custom house officer, Luke the doc
tor. 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 hundred and
seventeenth Psalm, both ways to the
upper and lower lids, and from the short
est passage, which is the thirty-ffth
verse of the eleventh chapter of John,
b tAs longest verse, which Is the
ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Es-
Their, and yet not an imperfection in all
the 77S,693 words which it is composed
of. 1t not only reaches over the past, but
over the future; has in it a ferry-boat,
as in second Samuel; and Geographic
wire, as in Job; and railroad train, as
in Nahum; and introduces us to a foun-
dryman by the name Of Tubal Cain, and
ship-builder by the name of Moab. and
an architect by the name Of Aholiab,
and tells us how many stables Solomon
had to take care Of his horses, and how
much he paid for those horses. But few
things in this versatile and comprehen-
apothegms, those short, terse, senten-
tious, epigrammatic sayings, of which
nay text is one-"A living dog is better
than dead lion"
Here the lion stands for nobility, and
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 .
synonym for the beautiful, the graceful,
the affectionate, the saeacioas and the
true. The st. Bernard dog is q hero,
and If you doubt it, ask the SHOWS Of the
Alps, out OF which he picked the ex-
hausted traveller. The shepherd dog is
poem, and if you doubt it, ask the
Highlands of Scotland. The Arctic dog
is the rescuer of explorers, and If you
doubt it, ask DIR. Kane's expedition.
The Watchdog is living protection,
and if you doubt it, ask 10000 home
steads over whose safety he watched
last night. But Solomon, the author of
my text, lived in Jerusalem, and the dog
he speaks of in the text was dog in
Jerusalem.
Last December I passed days and
nights within a stone's-throw Of where
| Solomon wrote his text, and from what
saw of the CANNES of Jerusalem by
day, and heard of them by night, can
understand the slight appreciation my
text put upon the dog of Palestine. 1t
Is lean and snarly and disgusting, and
afflicted with parasites, and takes re-
venge on the human race by filling all
the nights with clamor. All up and
down the Bible, the most of which was
written in Palestine or Syria, or contig-
uous lands, the dog is used in contempt
uous comparison. Hazel said, us thy
servant dog that he should do this
thing?" In self abnegation the Syro-
Phenician woman said: SEVEN the
dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from
the Masters table" Paul says, in
Philippians: Beware of Dogs" and st.
John speaking of Heaven says: with
ont are dogs"
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 muscu-
lar 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 firearms, of which the lion is
particularly afraid, they have disap-
peared from places where once they
ranged, but they were very bold in old
en- times. They attacked an army OF
Xerxes while marching through Mace
donia. They were so numerous that
1000 lions were slain in forty years in
the amphitheater Of Rome. The Bar.
barry lion. the Cape lion, the Senegal
lion, the Assyrian lion make up a most
absorbing and exciting chapterin natural
history. AS most of the Bible was written
in regions lion.hunted, this creature ap.
pears in all parts of the Bible as q
smile David understood its habits Of
night-prowling and day .slumbering. as
is seen from his description: The
young lions roar after their prey and
seek their meat from God. The sur
ariseth. they gather themselves togeth
err, and lay them down in their dens.
And again he cries out: my soul i:
among lions" Samson knew them, fol-
he took honey from the carcass Of {
slain lion. Solomon knew them ant
says: 1.-THE Kings wrath is as the roa
of lion;" and again: 1.-The slothfu
man says. There is lion in the way
Isaiah knew them, and says, in the mil
lennium. ",rAe lion shall eat straw lik'
an OK" Ezekiel knew them, and says
1.-THE third was as the face Of lion.
Paul knew them. and says: II was de
livered out of the mouth of a lion.
Peter knew them and says: 1.-The devi
as a roaring lion wall1eth about" st
John knew them, and says of Christ
Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
Now what does my text mean when i
puts living dog and dead lion side
by side. and says the former is better
than the latter? Et lt.
1t means that small faculties activel,
used are of more value than great facul
ties unemployed. How often you see it
Some man with limited capacity vastl,