The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-09-29
THE KINGS PALACES,
DR.. TALMAGE'S FAREWELL SERMON
LONDON.

OF Preaching in Great Britain-Pre-
sCntsd with a Gold wstch.-Takes tho
Work OF tho Spider as an illustration.
LONDON, Sept. 1S.-The closing week
ot Rev. DR.. Talmage's preaching tour
vas marked by several gatherings which
n magnitude and enthusiasm eclipsed
all that had preceded them. At one
meeting in this city there were over 30
OOO persons present. His tour here has
been great ovation, and 50 great has
been his success here that his admirers
presented hun with a handsome gold
watch. After the presentation. he
preached his farewell ser1aUi1, and shook
hands Yithsh hlitrndieds at the close. The
teSs ss6lected for today is from proverbs
xxx, %, ''The spider taketh hold with
her hands and is in kings palaces"
Permitted as l was few days ago to
attend the meeting Of the British Sclenti.
tic association at Edinburgh, found
that no paper read had excited more In
terest than that by Rev. DR.. McCook of
America, on the subject OF spiders, 1t
seems that my talented countrymen,
banished from his pulpit for short time
by i'll health, had in the fields and forests
given himself TO the study Of insects
And surely if it Is not beneath the digni.
ty of God to make spiders it is not be-
meath the dignity of man TO study them.
We are all watching for phenomena.
A sky full Of stars shining from January
TO January calls out not so many re-
marks as the blazing of one meteor. A
whole flock of robins take not so much
of our attention as one blundering bat
darting into the window on summer
eve. Things OF ordinary sound and sight
and occurrence iail to reach us, and yet
no grasshopper ever spring up in our
path, no moth ever bushes into the
evening candle, no mote ever iloats In
the sunbeam that pours though the crack
in the window shutter, no balnacle on
ships hull, no limpet clinglng to rock,
no rind of an artichoke but would teach
us lesson if we were Rotso stupied.
God in his Bible sets forth for our con-
sideration the lily, and the snowflake,
and the locust, and the stork's nest, and
the hind's foot, and the aurora bDrealis,
and the ant hill.
One OF the sacred writers sitting amd
the mountains sees hind skipping over
the rocks. The hind has such peculiar
ly shaped loot that it can go over the
steepest places without falling, and rs
the prophet looks upon that marking Of
the hind's foot on the rock and thinks OF
the divine care over him he says, "Thou
makest my feet like hinds' feet that i
may walk on high places.' And an
other sacred writer sees the ostrich leav-
Ing its eggs in the sand of the desert,
and without any care OF incubation walk
Off, and the Scripture says that is like
seme parents, leaving their children
without any wing OF protection or care.
In my text inspiration opens before us
tIe gate OF palace, and we nj inducted
amid the pomp of the throne and the
courtier, and while we are looHlng
around upon the magniiicence inspira-
ton points us TO a spider plying it's shut
tie and weaving it's net OH the wall. 1t
does not call us TO regard the grand sur
ronndings OF the place, but TO a solemn
and earnest consideration of the fact
that "The spider taketh hold with her
hands and is in kings palaces"
1t ls not very certain what was the
particular species of insect spoken of in
the text, but shall proceed to learn
from it the cXquisiteness OF the divine
mechanism. The kings chamberlain
comes into the place and looks around
and sees the spider on the wall and says,
Away with that intruder" and the SER
want OF Solomon's palace comes with his
broom and dashes down the insect, say
ing, "What loathsome thing it is."
But under microscopic inspection find
1t more WOndrous of construction than
the embrOderies on the place wall
and the upholstery about :he windows.
All the machinery of the earth could not
make, anything so delicate and beauti-
tul as the prehensile with which that
spider clutches it's prey, or as any OF its
eight eyes.
We do not have to 90 so far up to see
the power Of God in the tapestry hang
ing around the windows of heaven, or in
the horses or chariots of fire with which
the dying day departs, or to look at the
mountain swinging out it's sword arm
from under the mantle Of darkness until
it can strike with its scmeter of the
lightning. I love better to study God
In the shape of tly's wing, in the for
nation of a fsh's scale, In the snowy
whiteness OF pond lily. love to track
his footsteps in the mountain 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 a habitatlon Tor God in an
apple blossom, and tune bees voice
until 1t is fit for the eternal orchestra,
and can say to a tirehy, "Let there be
light," and from holding an ocean in the
hollow Of his hand goes forth TO find
heights and depths and length and
breadth Of omnipotency in n adcwdrop,
and dismOunts from the chariot of md.
night hurricane to cross over on the sus-
pension bridge Of a SPIDERS web. You
may take your telescope and sweep it
across the heavens I'm order to behold
the glory OF G cd; but [ shall take the
leaf holding the spider, and the SPIDERS
web, and l shall bring the miscroscope
TO my eye, md while l gaze and look
and study and am confounded, l viii
kneel down in the grass and cry, Great
aud marvellous are thy works Lord God
Almighty"
Again, my textteaches me that insle-
niticanco is no excuse for inaction. This
spider that Solomon saw on the wall