Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-12-04
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
DR.. TALMACE breaches ON
THANKSGIVING.
America Offers the Grandcst Spectacle
Of Kings that VIII Reign for Year.

Thanksgiving day services were still in their
places. Cotton, rice. wheat sugar-cane, rye,
oats, corn, and fruits, and products from the
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 l4s: 10, Il and l3: Beast
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"
What scene II was when last Thursday at
the call OF tho President and Governors, this
nation assembled to chant the praised 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
Io'clock that morning, and II set O'Clock and
thirty five minutes that evening. What u small
space OF time in which to mediate upon twelve
months OF benefactions. SO add TO that day
this sabbath morning service, and with the
fruits and harycsts OF the earth still clarifying
the pulpit and the galleries, ask you 10 continue
the rehearsal OF the Divine goodness.
BY n sublime egotism man has come TO appro-
pirate this world 10 himself, when the fact Is
that our race is In small minority. The In
stances OF human life, as compared with the in
stances Of animal life, are not one TO a million
We shall enlarge our ideas of Gods goodness
and come 10 better understanding OF the text
II, before We come TO look at the cup OF our
blessing, we look at the goodness OF God 10 the
Irrational creation.
Although nature IL out OF joint, yet even in
its disruption am surprised 10 find the almost
universal happiness Of the animal creation. On
q summer day, when the air and the grass are
most populous with life, you will not hear II
sound OF distress unless, perchance, heartcsS
! school-boy has robbed birds nest or "A hunter
has broken birds wing, or a pasture hos been
robbed OF q lamb, and there goes up q bleating
from the focks. The whole earth is filled with
animal delight-ioy feathered, and scaled
and horned. and hO~ied. The lee
huns IL; the frog croaks IL, :hc
squirrel chatters it; the qIail whistles IL; the
! lark carols 1t; the whale spouts It, The snail
the rhinoceros, the grizzly bear, the toad. the
wasp. the spider, the shell-hsh, have their
homely del!ghts-joy as great TO them as our
10y is to us. Goat climbing the rocks; anacon-
IA crawling through the jungle; buffalo piung
J Ing across the prairie: crocodile baskinR in
tropical SUM- 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 filled with good
The worm squrming through tho sod up-
turned OF plowshare, and the ants racing up
md down the hillook, are happy by day and
happy by night Take up drop of water I'M
Der the microscope. and you find that within IL
/ there are millions OF creatures that swim in q
halleluIah OF gladness. The sounds In nature
Mat are repulsiye TO our cars are often only Ut
ser1noes OF toy7ths growl ,he eroak. the
these creatures, thinks OF them ever and will
! BOT let a ploughShare turn up mole's nest, or
! eternal decree, its time has come. Gods hand
/ feeds all these troods, and shepherds all these
! focks, and tends all these herds. He sweetens
! the clover-top for the oxens taste; and pours
| out crystalline waters, In messed cups Of rock,
] for the hind 10 drink out OF on his way down
the erags, and pours nectar into the cup
/ humming bird; and spreads ban
! quet OF q hundred fields OF buckwheat and let's
| the honey-bee put his mouth 10 any cup OF all
she banquet and tells the grasshopper To go any
where he likes, and gives the focks OF heaven
| the choice OF all the gran-helds. The sea ane-
none, half-animal half-fiower, clinging 10 the
rock in nid-ocean, with its tentaoles spread TO
catch its food, has the owner OF the universe 10
| provide for il. We are repulsed at the hideous
| ness OF the elephant, but God for the comfort
! and convenience Of the monster. puts 40
/ ~ distinct muscles in Its professors.
go down on the barren sea-shore and say
mo animal can live in this place Of desolation,"
but all through the sands are myriads OF little
| insects that leap with happy life. go down by
/ the marsh and say, lin this damp place, andi
! these loathsome pools Of stagnant water, there
/ will be the Quietness OF death, but, lol see
the turtles on the rotten log summing Themselves,
and hear the boys quake with multtudinous
life. When the unfiedged robins are hungry
| God shows the old robin where she can get food
70 put into their open mouths Winter Is not
allowed 10 come until the ants have granaried
their harvest aud the squirrels have flied their
! cellar with nuts. God shows the hungry
ichneumon whore It may End the
siines there are animals that God
80 lavishly clothes that they can afford TO
walk through snow storms Ia the finest sable,
and ermine, and chinchilla, and no sooner is
enc set OF furs worn out than God gives them
o new one. He helps the spider in its archi-
lecture Of It's gossamer bridge, and takes care
Of the color Of the butterfiy'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 rep
tile its tooth; the bear it's paw the dog It's
nuzzle; the elephant its tusk; the fish its
scales; the bird It's swift wing the raindeer its
! antlers; the roe it's feet foot We are repealed
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 his care for
these orders OF creation. He says that he has
heayed up fortihcations for their defense
| Psalm civ, ~: THE high hills are a refuge for
| the wild goats, and the rocks for the comics
! He watches the bird ncst-Psalm civ, IL: las
| for the stork, the irtrees are her house" He
| sees that the cattle have enough grass-Psalm
| civ, II: "He causeth the grass TO grow for the
sattle." He sees 10 IL that the cows, and sheep,
! end horses have enough TO drink-psalm civ,
/ t0:li HE sendeth the springs into the valleys
| which run along the hills; they give drink 10
every beast OF the field; tho Wild asses quench
| Amid the thunders OF Sinai God uttered the
! rights OF cattle, and said that they should have
sabbath. Thou shalt not do any work. thou,
| nor thy cattle He declared with infinite EN-
| phaSis that the OK or the threshing floor should
! have the privilege of eating some of the grain
| as he trod IL out, and muZZling was forbidden
/ II young birds were taken from the nest for
/ food the dospoilers life depended on the mother
| going free. God would not let the mother bird
| suffer in one day the loss OF her young and her
| swn liberty. And he who regarded in oldCn
! time the conduct Of man toward the brutes, to-
| day looks down from heaven and is interested
l In every minnow that SwimS the stream, and
every rock that cleaves the air, and every herd
That bleats, or neighs, or lows in the pasture.
| why Clu COu make all THESE, ana why make
| them 80 happy How account for all this sing
| ing, and dancing, and friSking amid the IRA
Eonal creationy Why this heaven for the
anmalcule In "a dewdrop2 Why for the condor
/ @ throne on Chimborazoi Why the glitter OF
! the phosphorus in tho ships wake on the sea,
which is said TO be only the frolic OF millions Of
insectsp Why the perpetual chanting OF so
many voices from the irrational creation in
earth, and air. and ocCan--beasts and all cattle,
creeping things, ana flying fowl, permitted 10
Join in the praise that goes up from seraph and
! archangely Only one solution, one explanation,
enc answcr-tiod As good. 1.-THE earth is full OF
| the goodness OF the Lord"
take step higher. and notice the adapta.
ton OF the word TO happiness of man. The six tn
day Of creation had arrived. The place of the
world was made but their was no king TO live
/ In It, Leviathan ruled the deep; tho eagle the
air; the lion the field: but where was the
sceptre which should rule air A new style OF
being was created. Heaven and earth were
represented in his nature. His body from the
/ earth beneath; his soul from the heaven above
The one reminding him Of his origin, the other
! speaking OF his destiny-himsef the connecting
link between the animal creation and angelic
Intelligence. In him a strange comm!ngling OF
the temporal and the eternal, the finite and
/ she Infinite; dust and glory The earth for his
floor. and heaven for his roof God for his
Father; eternity for his lifetime.
The Christian anatomist, gazing upon the
conformation OF the human body, exclaims: