Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-19
SPIDERS IN PALACES
Prove that There Are Infinite Won
derS in DeSpised Objects.
CREDIT is DUE TO HUMBLE WORK
The Tower Of Perseverance Taught by
SolOmons Illustration.
TLLNAGFS LAST SERMON IN ENGLAND

1dTSNeAi sermon IO-udN Vi as pI6ACueQ from
the text Proverbs xxx, %: 'sThe spider
taketh mold with her hands and is in kings
palaces"
Permitted as 1 was a few days ago to at
tend the meeting of the British Scientific
Association, at Edinburgh, L found that no
paper read had excited more interest than
that by Rev. DR.. McCook, of America, on the
Subject OF spiders. 1t seems that my tai
ented countryman, banished from his pulpit
FOR a short time by ill-health, had in the
fields and forests given himself to the study
OF insects. And surely if il is not beneath
the dignity Of God to make spiders it is not
beneath the dignity of man to study them.
We are all watching for phenomena. A sky
Sull Of stars shining from January to Jan.
uary calls out not so many remarks as the
blazing of one meteor. A whole flock of
robins take not so much OF our attention as
one laundering bat darting into the window
on q summer eve
Unheeded Lessons in Common Things.
Things Of ordinary sound, and sight, and
occurrence, fail to reach Us, and yet no
grasshopper ever springs up in our path, no
moth ever dashes into the evening candle,
no mote ever floats in the sunbeam that
pours through the crack of the window
shutter, no barnacle on ships hull, no burr
on a chestnut no limpet clinging to a rock,
no rind OF an artichoke but would teach US
lesson If we were not so stupid. God in
his Bible sets forth for our consideration the
lily, and the snowflake. ana the locust and
the stork's nest and the kinds foot and the
aurora borealis, and the ant hills.
IN my text inspiration opens before US the
gate OF a palace and we are inducted amid
SLe pomp o the throne and the courtier, and
~lll.e we are looking around upon the mag
nlncence, inspiration points us to a spider
plying its shuttle and weaving its net on the
wall 1t dues not call us to regard the grand
surroundings OF the palace but to a solemn
and earnest consideration of the fact that
the spider tal1eth hold with her hands and
as IN kings palaces
1t Is not very certain what was the par
tlcular species OF insect spoken of in the
1eNt, bur L shall proceed to learn from it the
SNGulslTeness OF the Divine mechanism.
ne hlng ; Chamberlain comes into the pal
ace and looks around and sees the spider on
THe wall and says: Away with that in
Iuder.' ana the servant of SoIomon's palace
ONES with his broom and dashes down the
insect, saying: What a loathsome thing it
But under microscopic inspection /
M It more wondrous of construction than
ne etIbroderies ON the palace wall, and
1e Upholstery about the windows.
The Wonders of the Spider.
All the machinery of the earth could not
iake anything so delicate and beautiful as
he prehensile with which that spider |
lutcnes its prey, or any of its eight eyes.
'e do not have to go so far up to see the |
over of God in the tapestry hanging |
orses or chariots of fire with which the dy- |
u day departs, or to look at the mountain |
TlnglnE out its swOrd-arm from under the |
antle OF darkness until it can strike with |
sclmetar OF the lightning. love better |
study God in the shape of a iy's wing, in |
Le formation OF a ish's SCALE in the snowy |
fhlteness OF pond lily. love to track His |
oCtSteps in the mountain moss, and to hear 4
lis voice in the hum of the rye fields and /
nseover the rustic Of His robe of light in
he south wind.
build a habitation for God in an apple bios
som, and tune bees voice until it is fit for 4
JLe S, eternal orchestra, and can say to fire.
NY Let there De llTht;' and from holding |
sn ocean in the hollow of his hand goes |
forth to find heights, and depths, and |
length, and breadth of onanipotency in a |
0ewdrop, and dismounts from the chariot of
midnight hurricane to cross over on the sus- |
pension BRIDE of q SPIDERS web. You may |
take your telescope and sweep it across the
heavens in order to behold the glory OF God; |
but shall take the leaf holding the spider |
and the spiders web, and shall bring the
microscope to nv eve, and while gaze and |
look, and study. and am confounded, will
hneel down in the grass and cry: Great and
marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Al |
mighty"
A Lesson of Humble Industry.
Again, my text teaches me that insignif-
cance is no excuse for inaction. This spider
that solomon saw on the wall might have
said: Il can't weave web worthy of this
great palace; what can l do amid all this
gold and embroidery? l am not able to
make anything fit for so grand place, and
so viii not work my spinning jenny" Not
so said the spider. 1.-THE spider taketh hold
with her hands," Oh, what a lesson that is
FOR you and me! You say ii you had some
great sermon to preach, If you only had
great audience to talk TO, If you had a great
army to marshal, if you only had q constitu-
tion to write, if there was some tremendous
thing in the world for you to do-then you
would show us. Yes; you would
show us! What il the Levite in
tie ancient temple had refused
TO SnUn the candle because he could not be |
a high priest? What if the humming bird |
should refuse to sing its song into the ear OF |
the honey suc6le because it cannot, like the
eagle, dash its wing into the sun? What ii l
the rain drop should refuse to descend be- /
cause ii is not a Niagara? What if the spider |
OF the text should refuse to move its shuttle
because it cannot weave Solomon's robe? |
Away with such folly. If you are lazy
with the one talent, you would be lazy with |
the ten talents. If Milo cannot lift the calf
he never VIII have strength to lift the OK. !
In the Lords army there is order for promo !
tOn; but You cannot be General until you
have hoen Captain, a Lieutenant and a
s stroke by stroke that our Christian char
acter Is hnildcd. Therefore be content 20
DO what God commands you to do. God is
not ashamed 70 do small things
responsiveness No Bar to Aspiration.
Again. my text teaches me that repulsive-
climb up into very elevated places. You |
would have tried to have killed the spider
that solomon saw. You would have said:
This is no place for it, If that spider is de-
to weave a web let it do so down
in the cellar of this palace, or in some dark
dungeon All! the spider of the text could |
not be discouraged. 1t clambered on. and
climbed up higher and higher, and higher,
until after awhile 1t reached the Kings Wis.,
ion.
The Church of Christ is a palace. The
King OF heaven and earth lives in it, 1t is a
glorious paiace-the Church of Go is: and
pet, sometimes, unscemv and loatnsome
5hings creep up into it-evil-speakinE, and
'ancOr, and SANDER, and backbiting and
Ibuse, crawling up the walls of the
Church, spinning web from arch to arch,
aud from the top OF one communion tankard
10 the top OF another communion tankard (
Glorious palace in which there ought only
TO be light, and love, and pardon, and grace. |
yet q spider in the palace!
Home ought to be a castle. 1t ought TO be |
the residence OF everything royal. Kind
ness love, peace, patience and forbearancc |
ought 70 be the princes residing there; ard
ret sometimes dissipation crawls un into |
that home and the jealous eye comes up |
md the scene OF peace and plenty becomes |
ho scene Oi domestic jargon and disson-
luce. You say: Nv hat is the matter with |
lie home?'' l. will tell you what is the
natter with it. A spider in the palace
What Perseverance Will Do.
Again, my text teaches me that persever-
nee VIII mount INFO the Kings palace 1t
must have seemed long distance for that
picer to climb in Solomon's splendid resi-
ence, but it started at the very foot OF the |
vail and went up over the panels of Lebanon =
edar, higher and higher, until it stood =