Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-09-24
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
Tae Eminent Brooklyn Divins's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject Heavens Glories."-Rarewcli
Sermon in London.l

TEXT: 1.-THE spider tnteth hold Nth her
hands and is IN kings palaces PROV
cribs xxx, IS.
Permitted as l was few DAYS ago 10 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 American, on
the subject of spiders. 1t seems that my
talented couDtryman, banshel from his
pulpit for short time by i'll health. had in
the fields and forest given himself to the
study Of insects. And surrey if it is not be-
meath the dignity of God TO make spiders it
is not beneath the dignity of man to stuiy
them.
We are all watching for phenomena. A
sky full. of stars shining from January to
January calls out not so many remaks as the
blazing of che meteor. A whole flock of
robins take not SO much OF our attention as
one laundering bat darling into the window
ON summer eve. Things of ordinary sound
and sight and occurrence fail to reach us.
and yet no grasshopper ever springs, upon
our path, no moth ever dashes into the
evening candle, no mote ever floats in the
sunbeam that polirS through the crack of the
window SHUTTER, no barnacle on ships hull,
no burr on chestnut no limpet ciinging to
arock, no rind OF an artichoke but would
teach us lesson if we were not SO stupid.
God in His Bible sets forth for our consider
dlOu tn- lllN, ana tDe SNOWFLAKE, and the
locust, and the storks nest. and -the hiua's
foot and the aurora boreaIis and the ant
hills.
In my text inspiration opens before US the
gate of palace and we are indicted amid
the pomp OF the throne and the courtier
and While we are looking around upon the
magniticence inspiration points us TO a
spider PLYING its shuttle ami wearing its net
ON the wall. 1t does not call us to regard
the grand surroundings OF the palace, but 10
solemn and earnest consideration of the
fact that The spider taketh hold with her
hands and is in kings palaces"
II is not very certain what waa the par
hcular species of insect spoken of in the text,
but shall proceed to learn from it the ex-
qulsiteness of the divine mechanism. The
kings chamberlain comes into the palace
and looks around and sees the spider on the
wall ami says, Away with that intruder
and the servant of So.omon's palace comes
with his broom and dashes down the insect,
saying, What lonthsoms thing it is"
But under the microscopic inspection l fin
it more wondrouS of construction than the
embroider4es on the palace wall and the up
holstery about the windows.
All the machinery of the earth could not
make anything so delicate and beauti.u I'll as
the prehensle with which that spider
clutches its prey, or as any of its eight eyes.
We do not have TO go so far up to see the
around the windows of heaven, or in the
horses or chariots OF fra with which the
dying day departs, or to look at the noun
tain swinging out its sword arm from under
the mantle of darkness uatil it can strike
with its scmeter of thelightning.
love better to study Col In the shape of
iy's wing, in the formation of a fish's
scale, in the snowy whiteness of pond lily.
| love to track His footsteps in the mount
ain moss. and to hear His voice in the hum
OF the rye fields, and discover the rustic of
His robe of light in the south wind. Oh
this wonder of divine power that can build
habitation for God in an apple blossom and
tune bee's voice until it is fit for the eter-
nal orchestra, ard can say to FREELY, LET
there lie Light and from holding an ocean
in the hollow of His hand, goes forth
to find heights and depths au1 length aud
breadth OF omnipotency in a dewdrop, and
dismounts from the chariot of midnight
hurricane to cross over on the suspension
bridge of 9 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 hold
ing the spider and the spiders web. and
snail bring the microscope to my eye, and
while l gaze and looS and study and am
COMPOUNDED l will kneel down in tho grass
and cry, Great AMI marvellous are Thy
worxs, Lord God Almiehtym
canoe is no excuse for inaction. This spider
that Solomon saw on the wall might have
said: II can't weave web worthy of this
great palace; what can | do amid all this
gold em6roi tery? / am not able to make
anything fit for SO grand a place. and so [
will not work my spinning jenny" Not 50
said the spider. "The spider taketh hold
with her hands" Ga, what a lesson that is
for you and mel You say if you had some
great sermon to preach, it you only had a
great audience to talk to, if you had great
army to marshal, if you only had con
stitutioa TO write il there was some
tremendous thing in the world for you to dc
then you would show us. Yes, you would
show Us!
What if the Levine in the ancient temple
had refused to snuff 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 honeysuckle because i
cannot, like the eagle, dash its wing into th'
sun? What is the Taindroo should refuse t
descend because it is not Niagara? VIVA
if the spider OF the text should refuse t,
move its shuttle because it cannot weave
Solomon's robef Away with such folly l
you Gis laz7 WITH the one talent. you woulC
Jbe lazy with the ten talents If Milo can
snot lift the calf he never will have strength
to lift the OK. In the Lords army there i.
4 iorder for promotion, but you cannot be {
general until you have been a captain, {
lieutenant and colonel. 1t is step by step
1T Is inch by inch, it is stroke by stroke that
our Christian character is builded. There
! fore be content to do what God command.
you 70 do.
l God is not ashamed to do small things. He
/ rs not ashamed to DO found chseling grain
! OF sand, or helping honeybee to construct
1 its eel with mathematical accuracy, OF
/ tngeing shell in the surf or shaping the
/ bill of clafinch. What God does He doe.
well. What You do do vel, be it a great
worl; or small work. II ten talents, employ
all the ten. If five talents employ all the
/ five If one talent employ the one. IL only
/ The thouSandth part of a talent. employ
that. BE thou faithful unto death, and ]
/ Will give thee the crown of life.n | tell you il
\ you are not faithful to God in small sphere,
/ you would be iudolent and insignificant in a
| large sphere
/ Again, my text teaches me that repulsive-
ness aud loathsomeneSS will sometimes
climb up into very elevated places. You
would have tried to kill the spider that So,-
ONION saw. You would have said: This is
/ no place for it. Ii that spider is determined
to weave web, let it do so down in the eel
lar of this palace or in some DARK dungeon. "
! Ali the spider of the text could not be dis
I couraged. 1t clam5ered on au1 climbed up.
higher and higher and higher. until after
awhile it reached the kings vision, and he
said, The spider taketh hold with her
hands, and is in kings palaces" AMI 50 it
| often Is now that things that are loaths0us
and repulsiye get u into very elevated
/ places.
The church of Christ, for instances, is a
I palace. The King OF heaven and earth liv IS
in it. According to the Bible, her beams
are Of cedar, and her rafters of fir, and her
windows of agate. aud the fountains OF sal
walton dash a rain OF light. 1t is glorious
| palace-the cSurcA OF Col is and vet some.
times unseemly and loathsoms things creep
up into it-eviI speaking and rapcor and
SANDER and backbiting and abuse, crawling
up on the walls of the church. spinning "A
web from arch to arch, and from the top of
one communion tankard to the top OF an
| other communion tankard. Glorious pal
ace in which there ought only TO BE- light
ami love aud pardon aud grace; yet spider
/ in the palace