The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-11-30
SERMON
RSv. TALMAGBS TExFIY KEEPING
WITH TIE sEASoN.


in the Animal Kingdom That Testify
to Gods Goodness.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, Nov. 29-Dr. Tall
mage's sermon this morning had a dis
tiuotly Thanksgiving character. The ap-
pearance of the Tabernacle was In keeping
with it. The specimens Of fruits, and har-
vest products with which the pulpit and
galleries were decorated for the Thanks
giving day service were still In their places.
Cotton, rico, wheat, sugar cane, rye. oats,
corn and fruits, aud products from north,
south, east and west put before the audience
as by an object lesson the abundance of the
national harvest. The doctors text was
taken from Psalm cxlvin. 10, 10 and 13:
beasts and all cattle; creeping things and
flying fowl; both young men and maidens;
old men and children; let them praise the
name of the Lord y
What scene it was whom last Thursday.
at the call OF the President and governors.
this nAtton assembled to chant the praises
OF God. But the day was too short to ceIe-
brate the divine goodness of such a 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 five min
utes that evening. What small space OF
time in which to mediate upon twelve
months Of benefaotions. SO | add TO that
day this Sabbath morning service, and with
the fruits and harvests OF the earth still glo-
rifylng the pulpit aud the galleries, ask you
to continue the rehearsal of the divine good
ness.
By a sublime egotism man has come to
appropriate this world to himself, when
the fact Is that our race is in small minor
n fnofu unfk
pared with the instances OF animal life, are
nokone to million. We shall enlarge our
ideas OF Gods goodness and come to a better
understanding of the text IL, before wei
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 | ain 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 !
perchauce, q heartless school-boy has robbed
a birds nest, or q hunter has broken a
birds wing, or pasture has been robbed OF
lamb, and there goes up a bleating from
the flocks. The whole earth Is filed with
animal delight-joy feathered, and scaled /,
and horned, and hoofed. The bee,
huns 1t; the frog croaks it, the
squirrel chatters it; the quail whistles it :,
the lark carols 1t; the whale spouts it, The
snail, the rhiuoceros, the grizzly bear, the
toad, the wasp, the spider, the shell-hsh.
have their homsly delights-joy 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 the tropical SUI seal
putting on the ice; ostrich striding 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 racing
up and down the hillock, are happy by day
and happy by night. Take up O drop Of
water under the microscope, and you findi
that within it there are millions of creatures
that swim In hallelujah OF gladness. The
sounds In nature that are repulsive 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 aud will not let a plowshare turn
up mole's nest, or fisherman'a hook trans
fix worm, until, by eternal decree, its
time has come, Gods hand feeds all these
broods, and shepherds all these hocks, and
tends all these herds. He sweetens the clover
top for the oxens taste; and pours out
crystalline waters. in mossed 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 hundreds
fields Of buckwheat, and let's the honey bee
put his mouth to any cup of all the banquet
apd tells the grasshopper 30 60 anywhere he
likes, and gives the fiocks OF heaven the
choice of all the grain fields. The sea aue-.
none, half animal half flower, clinging to
the rock in mid-ocean. with Its tentacles
spread TO catch its food, has the owner OF
the universe to provide for it. We are re-
pulsed at the hideousness Of the elephant.
but God, for the comfort and convenience
Of the monster, puts forty thousand distinct
muscles in Its proboscis.
i go down on the barren seashore and
say. ''No animal can live in this place Of
desolation;" but all through the sands are
myriads OF little insects that leap with
happy life. l go down by the marsh and
say, SIN this damp place and In these
will be the quietness of death;n but.
lol see the turtles on the rotten log sun
ming Themselves, and hear the bog quake
with multitudinous life. When the uu-
hedged 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
granaried their harvest, aud the squirrels
have filed their cellar with nuts, God,
may find the crocodile's eggs, and in
arctic climes there are animals thaz
God so levlshly clothes that they can afford
to walk through snow-storms in the fnest
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 it's architecture Of its gossamer bridge,
and takes care OF the color Of the buttertiy's
wing, and tinges the cochineal, and helps
the moth out of the chrysalis. The animal
creation also has its army and navy. The
most Insignificant has its means OF defense;
the wasp its sting, the reptile its tooth, the
bear it's paw, the dog its muzzle, the ele-
phant its tusk, the fish its scale, the bird its
swift wing, the reindeer its antlers, the roe
its fleet foot. We are repelled at the thought
of sting, and tusk, and hoof, but Gods
goodness provides them for the defense OF
the animals rights.
Yea, God in the Bible announces bis care
for these orders Of creation. He says that
he has heaved up Notifications for their de-
fepse-Psalm CIV, Is: "The high hills are
refuge for the wild goats. and the rocks for
the conies.n He watches the birds nest
Psalm CIV, II: ''As for the stork, the fir
trees are her house." He secs 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 60 drink-Psalm civ,
10-11: "He sendeth the springs into the val-
leys. which run among the hills; they give
drink to every beast OF the field; the wild
asses quench their thirst
Amid the thunders of Sinai God uttered