Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-12-04
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine'S Sun
day Sermon.
Subject. "The Lords Mercies."

md fnaidenS. old men and children; let
hem praise the name Of The Lord. Psalm
cxlvii'., 10, ~ aud 10.
What scene it was when last Thursday,
at the call of.ths President and Governors,
this nation assembled to chant the praises Of
! Sod. But the day was too short to celebrate
the divine goodness of such year. The sun
lid not rise over Brooklyn until one minute
! before seven o'clock that morning. and it set
Jour O'Clock and thirty-five minutes that
! evening What a small space OF time in
which to mediate upon twelve months OF
henefactions. So | 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 a sublime egOtism mau has come to APP
propriate this world to himself. when the
/ fact is that our race Is in a small minority.
The instances OF human life, as compared
with the instances Of animal life are not
one to a million. We shall enlarge our ideas
| Of Gods goodness and come 10 a better UNI
! Outstanding os the text il, before we coma
TO look at the cup OF our Blessing we look
| at the goodness Of God to the irrational
Great on.
Although nature is out of joint, yet even
in It's disruption 1 am surprised 10 find thu
almost universal happiness OF the animal
/ creation. On summer day, when the air
and the grass are most poDulous with life,
you will not hear a sound Of distress unless,
perchance, a heartless schooiboy has 70 lbet
e birds nest, or a hunter has broken a birds
wing or n pasture has been robbed of
lamb and there goes up bleating from the
docks
The v hole earth is filed with animal de-
lght-ioy feathered and scaled ami horned
and hoofed. The bee huns it; the frog
croaks it: 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 shellfish have their homely delights-joy
rs great to them as our joy is to us. Goat
climbing the rocks; anaconda crawling
through the jungle; buffalo plunging across
the prairie; crocodile baSSingin tropical sun;
seal putting on the ice; ostrich stridlng across
the desert are so many bundles of joy; they
do not 60 mopng or melancholy; they are
not only halt 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 tae hilloc1 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 re-
pulsive to our ears are often only utterances
of joy-the grow, the croaE, the bark, the
howl. The good God made these creatures,
thinks Of them ever, and will not let plow-
share turn up a NOES nest, or fisher
man shook translix a worm, until, by
eternal decree, its time has come. Gods
hand feeds all these broods, and shep-
herds all these hocks, aid tends all
these herds He sWeetens the clover top
~
tGlline waters in messed cups Of rock
for the hind to drink out OF on his way down
The CragS aud pOurS nectar into the cup OF
the honeysucSle 10 refresh the hummng
tird, and spreads banquet OF a hundred
fields Of Luckwheat, ana lets the honey bee
put his mouth to any cup OF all the banquet,
and tells the grasshOpper TO 90 anywhere he
likes, and gives the focss OF heaven the
choice OF all the grain fields. The sea ane-
none, half animal, half flower, clinging to
the rock in miiOcean, with its tentaceS
spread to catch its food, has the owner OF TIE
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
90 down on the barren seashore and say,
"No animal can live in this place Of desOla-
ton" but all through the sands are myrai is
OF little insects that leap with happy life. L
| so down by tho marsh and say. In this
damp place aud in these loathsOme pO0.S OF
Stagnant water there will be the Quietness oil
DEATH but, 10 | see the turtles Oh the rotten
log summing themselves and hear the boys
/ quake with mutitudinous life. When the
] unhedged robins are hungry Col Sa)wS tine
/ old robin where she can get food TO pu- into
their open mouths.
Winter is not allowed to come until the
ants have granariei their harvest and th3
squirrels have filed their cellar with nuts.
| God shows the hungry ichneumon wnere 1t
may find the cIocodile's eggs; au1 IN arctic
chimes there are animals that COL so law
| ishly clothes that they can afford TO walk
through snOwStorms in the nnest sable aud
/ ermine and chinchilla. and no sooner IS oIe
set of furS Worn out than God gives them a
new one. he helps the spider in its aren't
lecture OF its gossamer bridge, aud takes
care OF the color of the butterfy's wing,
and tingeS the cochinell All helps the
moth out of the chrysalls.
The animal creation A.so have its army
and navy. The most Insignificant has its
means of deicnse, the wasp its sting, the
reptile its tooth, the bear its paw, the dog
/ its muzzle the elephant its tusks, the fish
its scale, the bird its swift wing the rem
deer its antlers, the roo its fleet foot. we
are repealed at the thought OF sting and
tusk and hoof but Gofs goodness pro-
vides them for the defense Of ths animals
rights.
Yea, God ia the Bible announces His care
| for these orders OF creation. He says that
He has heaved up Notifications for their
defsnse-Psalm civ, Is. The high hills as
refuge fer the will goats; AMI the rocis
for the COMES" He watches the birds
nest--Psalm civ, Il, LAS for the stOrS, tbs
! fir trees are her house." He sees tnat the
cattle have enough grass--Psalm CIV, a.
"de caussth the grass TO grow for tn5
cattle" lie sees to it that the COWS AMI
sheep and horses have enough to drink
Psalm civ, 10 IL: lie sendeth the springs
into the valleys whicA run among. tIe
/ hills; they give drink to every beast OF the
hel1. The wild asses quench their thirst y
Amid the thunders OF Sinai God uttered
the rights of cattle and said that they shoul
! have a Sabbath. Thou shalt not do any
work. thou nor thy cattle He declared
/ with infinite emphasis that the OK on the
| thrashing floor should have the privilege Of
eating some of the grain as he troll it out,
and muzzing was FORBIDDEN. lt young
birds were taken from the nest for fool, the
deSpoiler's life depended on the mother
going free. God would not let the mother
bird suffer in one day the loss OF her young
in olden time the coniuct OF man toward
the brutes to-day looks down from heaven
and is interested in every minnow that
swims the stream, and every rOok that
cleaves the air, and every herd that bleats
or neIghs or lows in the pasture.
Why did God make all these ana why
make them so happy? How account for all
this singing and dancing and friskinS amid
the irrational creations Why this heaven for
the animalcule in dewdrop: Why for the
condor a throne on Chimborazo? why the
glitter of the phosphorus IN the ships wake
on the sea, which Is said to be only the frolic
of millions of insects? Why the perpetual
chanting of so many voices from the IRA
tional creation in earth and air and ocean
beasts aud all cattle, creeping things and ny
ing fowl, permitted to join in the praise that
goes up from seraph and archangely Only
one solution one explanation, one answer
God is good. The earth is full of the good
ness of the Lord"
take a step bigger, and notice the adap-
tation Of the world TO the comfort AMI hap
piness OF man. The sixth day OF creation
had arrived. The palace OF the world was
made. but there was no king 10 live in Il.
Leviathan ruiei the deep; the eagle the air.
the lion the field: but where was the scepter
which should rue alf A new style OF being