Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-12-03
TABERNACLE PULPIT
DIR. TALMAGE breaches ON
THANKSGIVING.
America Offers the Grandest Spectacle
In All the Worlds History--A Race
of Kings that VIII Reign for Year.

BRooKLYN, N. Y, Nov. CDR. Talmagc,
| ssrmon this morning had distinctly Thanks
| giving character. The appearance Of tn,
| Tabernacle was in keeping with IL. The speci
mems of fruits and harvest products with which
| the pulpit and galleries were decorated for thu
Thanksgiving day services were still in thei
places Cotton, rice wheat, sugarcane, rye
oats, corn and fruits, and products from the
| North, South, East and West put before thu
audience as by an object lesson the abundance
| of the national harvest The Doctors text wa:
| taken from Psalm 49, 10, II and -: "Beas
and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl
| both young men and maidens; old men anC
children: let them praise the name OF thu
| Lord
! the call OF the 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
z o'clock that morning, and ii set o'clock and
| thirty-iive minutes that evening What 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 harvcsts of the earth still clarifying
the pulpit and the galleries, ask you to continue
| the rehearsal of the Divine goodness.
By sublime Cgotism man has come TO appro
| pirate this world TO himself, when the fact is
| that our race is In a small minority. The in
| stances OF human life as compared with the in
stances of animal life, are not one to million.
| We shall enlarge our ideas Of Gods goodness
and come to better Understanding 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
| It's disruption am surprised to find the almost
universal happiness of the animal creation. On
! D summer day, when the air and the grass are
most populous with life, you will not hear a
sound OF distress unless, perchance heartleSs
echOol-bOy has robbed a birds nest, or hunter
has broken a birds wing or pasture has been
robbed Of u lamb, and there goes up bleating
from the tOckS. The whole earth Is filled with
animal delght-jOy fCathered and scaled
and horned, and hoofed The bee
huns it; the frog ,croaks it, the
squirrel ChattcrS it; the quail whistles it: the
lark carols it; the whale spouts il. The snail
the rhinOceros, the grizzly bear the toad, the
wasp, the spider, the shell-tish, have their
hOmely delghtS-joy as great to them as our
JOY is 10 us. Goat climbing the rocks; anacon-
da crawling through the Jungle buffalo plung.
ing across the prairie; crocodile baSling in
striding across the desert, are so many bundles
of Joy; they do not 60 mOping or melancholy:
they arc not only half supplied; God says they
are filled 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 drop of water UNI
der the microscope, and you find that within ii
there are millions OF creatures that swim in a
hallelujah Of gladncss. The sounds in nature
that are repulsive TO our ears are often only ut
bark, the howl The good God made
these creatures, thinks of them ever, and will
not let plOughShare turn up mole'S nest, or
tishermans hook transtiX worm, until by
eternal decree its time has come. Gods hand
feeds all these broOds, and shepherds all these
tiOcks, and tends all these herds. He Sweetens
the clOVcr-tOp for the OXcn'S taste; and pours
out crystalline waters, in messed cups OF rock,
for the hind to drink out of on his way down
the craSS' ana ana pourS nectar into , the cup
OF the honcysuckle to refresh the
quct of hundred fields of huckwheat, and lets
the honcy-bcC put his mouth 10 any cup of all
the banquet and tells the grasShOpper to go any
where he likes, and gives the Hooks of heaven
the choice of all the grain-felds The sea anc-
none, half-animal half-hower, clinging to the
rock in mid-ocean, with its tCntacles spread TO
catch its food, has the owner Of the universe TO
provide for it. We are Tepulscd at the hdeOuS.
ness of the elephant, but God, for the comfort
and convenience of the monster, puts 49,
OOO distinct muscles in its prohoScS.
l 60 down on the barren sCaShore and say,
ono animal can live in this place of desolation,
but all through the sands are myTiads Of little
insects that leap with happy life. j go down by
the marsh and say, I'm this damp place, audi n
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 hogs quake with multitudinOus
life When the Unfedgcd 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. God shows the hungry
ichneumon where it may lind the
CrOcOdile'S eggs, and in artiC
climcs there are animals that God
so lavishly clothes that they can afford TO
walk through snow-stOTms in the finest sable,
and crmlne, and chlnchilla, and no sooner ls
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 butterty's wing and tinges
the Cochneal 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
muZZlc; the elephant its tusl; the fish its
scales; the bird its swift wing; the raindeer its
antlers; the roe its fleet foot We are repealed
at the thought of sting, and tusIS, 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
hcavcd up Notifications for their defense
Psalm civ, IS: 1.-The high hills are a refuge for
the wild goats, and the rocks for the comics. .
He watches the birds nest-Psalm civ, Il; las
for the stOrk, the tir-trces are her house" He
sees that the cattle have enough grass-Psalm
civ, IA: He causcth the grass to grow for the
cattle" He sees TO ii that the cows, and sheep,
and horses have enough to drinR-PSalm civ,
lO:ll: He sendeth the springs into the valleys,
which run along the hills; they give drink to
every beast of the field; the wild asses quench
their thirst
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 on the threshing- floor should
have the privilege of eating some of the grain
as he trOd II out and muzZling was forbidden.
If young birds were taken from the nest for
food 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 and her
own liberty. And he who regarded in oldcn
time the conduct Of man toward the brutes, to-
day looks down from heaven and is interested
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 did God make all these, and why make
them so happy How account for all this sing
ing, and dancing, and frisking amid the ira.
tional creation! Why this heaven for the
animalcule in dcwdropf 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
insects5 Why the perpetual chanting of SO
many voices from the irrational creation In
earth, and air, and Ocean-beasts, and all cattle,
creeping things, and flying fowl, permitted to
Join in the praise that goes up from seraph and
archangelF Only ono solution, one explanation,
one answer-GOd is good. THE earth is full OF
the goodness Of the Lord
take step higher, and notice the adapta-
ton OF the world TO happiness OF man. The sixth
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; the eagle the
air; the lion the field; but where was the
sceptre which should rule all? 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 otheI
speaking of his destiny-himself the connecting
link between the animal creation and angelic
Intelligence. In him strange cOmmingling o
the temporal and the eternal, the finite anC
the 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
| "Fearfully and wonderfully made" No EN-
| broidery so elaborate, no gauZe so delicate, NJ
| color so exquisite, no mechanism so graceful
| no handiwork so divine. So quietly and mys
| teriously does the human body perform Its
| functions, that IL was not until five Thousand
| years after the creation of the race that the
! circulation OF the blood was discovered; and al
| though anatomists OF all countries and ages
| have been so long exploring this castle Of life
| they have only begun TO understand it.
| Volumes have been written OF the hand
! WOndrous instrument. With il we give friendly
| recognition, and grasp the sword, and climb this
! rock, and write, and carve and build 1t con
| ctructed the Pyramids, and hOisted the Par
thcnon. 1t made the harp, and then struck on
of IL all the worlds minstrelsy. In 1t the whit,
! marble Of Pentclicon mines dreamed itsel
! away into immortal sculpture 1t reign!
| in the swift engine; it holds the steamer
! to its path in the sea: IL snatches tn,
| fire from heaven; il feels the pusI
! OF the sick child with its delicate touch, anC
| makes the nations quake with its stupendoui
| achievements. What power brought down tn,
! forests, and made the marshes blossom, anC
| burdened the earth with all the cities that thun
| der on with enterprise and pOwer2 Four finger.
and thumb, hundred million dollars woulC
| not purchase for you machine as eXquisit,
| and wonderful as your own hand. Mighty
H.