Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-12-11
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: THE LORDS MERcIEs.S


TEXT: "BeustS, and all cattle: creeptno
things and flying fotCL both voung men
and mdtdeRs; old men and children, lei
them praise the name of the Lord, Psalm
cxlvii'., 10, IL and l3.
What scene il 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 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-ive minutes that
evening. What a small space OF time In
which to mediate upon twelve months of
henefactions. So l aid to that day this
Sabbath morning service, and with the fruits
and harvests OF the earth still gloritying the
pulpit and the galleries, ask you to continue
the rehearsal Of the divine goodness,
BY sublime egotism man has come to ap
propriate this world to himself, when the
fact is that our race is in a small minority.
| Inc 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 a better un.
derstanding Of the text II, before we come
to look at the cup Of our blessing, we look
nt the goodness OF God to the irrational
| creation.
Although nature is out OF Joint, vet 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 VIII not hear sound Of distress unless,
perchance, heartless schoolboy has robbed
birds nest, or hunter has broken a birds
wing, or pasture has been robbed OF a
focks
The whole earth is filed with animal de-
hght-Joy feathered and scaled and horned
and hoofed The bee huns it: the frog
croaks 1t; the squirrel chatters it the quail
whistles it, 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
| cIlmOlng the rocks; anaconda crawling
through the jungle; buffalo plunging across
the prairie, crocodile basking in tropical sun:
seal putting on the ice; ostrich stridIng across
the desert are SO many bundles of JOY, thev
do not go moping or melancholy, they are
not only bali supplied God says they are
oiled with good
The worm squrming through the sod up
turned OF plowshare, and the ants racking
up and down the hillock aro happy by day
and happy by night. Take up a drop OF
water under the microscope and you lind
that within 1t there are millions Of creatures
that swim in hallelujah of glad
ness. The sounds in nature that are re-
puislve to our ears are often only utterances
OF Joy-the grow the croak, the bark. the
howl The good God made these creatures
thinks OF them ever, and will not let plow-
snare turn up moles nest or fisher
man shook transfX a worm, until by
eternal decree, its time has come Gods
hand feeds all these broods, and shep-
nerds all these flocks ard tends all
these herds. He sweetens the clover top
| Tor the taste mud out
talline waters in messed cups OF rock
Tor 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
bTd, and spreads a banquet OF a hundred
helds OF buckwheat ana lets 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 1t. We are repulsed
at the hideousness OF the elephant, but God,
Tor the comfort and convenience Of the mou-
ster, puts forty thousand distinct muscles in
his proboscis
l go down on the barren seashore and say,
mo animal can hive in this place OF desola-
ton" but all through the sands are myraids
OF little insects that leap with happy life
60 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 bogs
quake with multitudinous life When the
unnedged 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 and the
squirrels have filed their cellar with nuts
1od shows the hungry ichneumon where 1t
may nnd the CT ocodile's eggs; and in arctic
chimes there are animals that God so Law
lshIy clothes that they can afford to walk
through snowstorms in the finest sable and
ernlne and chlnchilla and no sooner Is one
set OF furs worn out than God gives them
new one. he helps the spider In Its archi-
lecture OF its gossamer bridge, and takes
care OF the color OF the butterfy's wing.
and tinges tue cochineal, and helps the
moth out of the chrysalis.
The animal creation also have its army
and navy The most Insignificant has its
means OF defense, the wasp its sting, the
reptile its tooth, the bear its paw, the dog
It's muZzle, the elephant its tusks, the fish
its scale, the bird its swift wing, tho REIN
deer its antlerS the roe its fleet foot. We
are repelled at the thought Of sting and
tusk and hoof, but Go1's goodness pro-
'.N~S sASha hOA bho ucAChooOl buo hhillul .
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, 1S "The high hills as
a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks
for the COMES" He watches the birds
nest-Psalm civ, IL, "As for the stork, the
fir trees are her house." He sees that the
cattle have enough grass-Psalm civ, IA,
4 | 'Hn Cangptl tha for the
, cattle" He sees TO it that the cows and
sheep and horses have enough to drink
Psalm CIV, 10, II: "He sendeth the springs
into the valleys which run among the
hills, they give drink to every beast OF the
, field. The wild asses quench their thirst. u
Amid the thunders of Sinai God uttered
the rights of cattle and said that they should
. have a Sabbath. THOU shalt not do any
work, thou nor thy cattle" He declares
!. with infinite emphasis that the OK on the
thrashing floor should have the privilege oi
1 eating some OF the grain as he trod it out,
3 and muzzling was forbidden. IL younS
birds were taken from the nest for food, thu
despoiler's life depended on the mother
going free. God would not let the mother
s bird suffer in one day the loss Of her young
and her own liberty. And He who regarded
In olden time the conduct of man towarC
, the brutes to-day looks down from HEAVIER
and Is interested IN every minnow tina
: swims the stream, and every rook tina
cleaves the air, and every herd that bleat
or neighs or lows in the pasture.
Why did God make all these, and VIII
= make them so heppyf How account for a
this singing and dancing and frisking ami
, the irrational creationi Why this heaven 70
, the animalcule in dewdropH Why for th
condor throne on Chimborazof Why th
, glitter Of the phosphorus in the ships wax
|, on the sea which Is said to be ONLY the froli
). Of millions Of insects' Why the perpetut
. chanting OF 30 many voices from the irri
o tional creation in earth and air and ocean
t beasts and all cattle, creeping things and fl
ing fowl, permitted to join in the praise tbs
goes up from seraph and archangelf Onl
one solution, one explanation, one answer,
" God Is good. THE earth is full OF the goot