Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-12-18
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 'sThe Lords Mercies."

and mdidens;; old men and children; let
then, praise the name of the Lord."-Psalm
cxlviii., 10, IL and ID.
What a scene it was when last Thursday,
at the call of the President and Governors
this nation assembled to chant the praises Of
God. But the day was too short to celebrate
the divine goodness of such year. The sun
did not rise over Brooklyn until one minute
before seven o'clock that morning. and it set
four o'clock and thirty-dve minutes that
evening. What small space Of time in
which to mediate upon twelve months of
oenefactions So 1 add to that day this
Sabbath morning service, and with the fruits
and harvests of the earth still clarifying the
pulpit and the galleries, ask you to continue
the rehearsal of the divine goodness.
BY Su OlIme egOtl5m man has come to ap-
propriate this world to himself, when the
fact is that our race IS in small minority.
The instances of human life, as compared
with the instances of animal life are not
one to million. We shall enlarge our ideas
of Gods goodness and come to better I'M
derstanding of the text if, before we come
to look at the cup of our blessing, we look
at the goodness of God to the irrational
creation.
Although nature is out Of joint, yet even
in its disruption [ am surprised to find the
almost universal happiness of the animal
creation. On summer day, when the air
and the grass are most populous with life,
you will not hear sound Of distress unless,
perchance, a heartIess schoolboy has robbed
birds nest, or hunter has broken birds
wing, or pasture has been robbed of
lamb and there goes up bleating from the
hOcks.
The whole earth is filled with animal de-
hght-jOy feathered and scaled and horned
and hoofed. The bee huns it; the frog
croaks it; the squirrel chatters it; the quail
whistles 1t; the lark carols it; the whale
spOuts it. The snail, the rhinoceros, the
grizzly bear, the toad, the wasp, the spider
the shelltish have their homely delights-ioy
as great to them as our joy is to US. Goat
climbing the rocks; anaconda crawling
through the Jungle; buffalo plunging across
the prairie; crocodile basking in tropical sun;
seal putting on the ice; ostrich stridlng across
the desert are SO many bundles of joy; they
do not go mOping or melancholy; they are
not only half supplied; God says they are
filed with good.
The worm squirming through the sod up-
turned of plowshare, and the ants racking
up and down the hiIlock are happy by day
and happy by night. Take up a drop of
water under the microscope and you find
that within it there are millions Of creatures
that swim in a hallelujah of glad
ness The sounds in nature that are
pulsive to our ears are often only utterances
of joy-the growl, the croak the bark, the
howl. The good God made these creatures,
thinks OF them ever, and will not let plow-
share turn up a mole's nest, or fisher
eternal decree, its time has come. Gods
hand feeds all these broods, and shop
herds all these fiocks, and tends all
these herds. He sUeetens the clover top
for the Ox's taste, and pours out crys-
talline waters in messed cups of rock
for the hind to drink out of on his way down
the crags, and pOurs nectar into the cup of
the hOneysuckle to refresh the humming
bird, and spreads banquet of a hundred
fields OF buckwheat, and let's the honey bee
put his mouth to any cup Of all the banquet,
and tells the grasshOpper to go anywhere he
likes, and gives the focks of heaven the
choice of all the grain fields. The sea ane-
none, half animal, half flower, clinging to
the rock in midocean, with its tentacles
spread to catch its food, has the owner of the
universe to provide for it, We are repulsed
at the hideOusness of the elephant, but God,
for the comfort and convenience OF the mon
ster, puts forty thousand distinct muscles in
his prObOscis.
go down on the barren seashore and say,
''No animal can live in this place of desola-
tion;" but all through the sands are myraids
of little insects that leap with happy life. l
go down by the marsh and say. In this
damp place and in these lOathsOme pools OF
stagnant water there will be the quietness Of
DEATH" but, 10! | see the turtles on the rotten
log summing themselves and hear the boys
quake with muItitudinous life. When the
unhedged robins are hungry God shows the
old robin where she can get food to put into
their open mouths.
Winter is not allowed to come until the
ants have granarie1 their harvest and the
squirrels have filed their cellar with nuts.
God shows the hungry ichneumon where 1T
may find the cIOcodile's eggs; and in arctic
chimes there are animals that God so law
ishly clothes that they can afford to walk
through snOwStorns in the finest sable and
ermine and chinchilla, and no sooner Is one
set of furs worn out than God gives them a
new one. He helps the spider in its archi-
lecture of its gossamer bridge, aud takes
care of the color Of the butterhy's wing.
and unges the cochineal, and helps the
moth out of the cnrIsallS
he animal creation: also have its army
an navy. fhe most insignificant has its
means OF defense, the wasp its sting, the
reptile its tooth, the Dear its paw, the dog
its muZzle, the elephant its tusks, the hsh
its scale, the bird its swift wing, the rem
deer its antlerS the roe its fleet foot. We
are repealed at the thought of sting anC
rusk and hoof, but GODS goodness pro
vides them for the defense CT the animals
rights.
Yea, God in the Bible announces His care
for these orders of creation. He says that
He has heaved up Notifications for their
defense-Psalm civ, IS The high hills as
refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks
for the COMES" EEe watches the birds
nest-Psalm civ, II, LAS for the stork, the
fir trees are her house" He sees that the
cattle have enough grass--Psalm civ, IA
HE causeth the grass to grow for the
CATTLE" He sees to it that the cows and
sheep and horses have enough to drink
Psalm civ, 10. Il: ''He sendeth the spring:
into the valleys, which run among the
hillss they give drink to every beast of TIT
field. The wild asses quench their thirst.
Amid the thunders OF Sinai God uttered
the rights of cattle AMI said that they shoulC
have a Sabbath. ''Tnou shalt not do any
work, thou nor thy cattle He declared
with infinite emphasis that the OK on thu
thrashing floor s0oIld have the privilege Of