Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-11-11
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "NfgratorY Birds"

of their comma; but mn people knoU not the
judgment Of the Lord."-Jeremiah viii. Z.
When God would set fast a beautiful
thought He plants it in a tree When He
would put it afoat He fashions it into
fish. When He would have it glide the air
He molds it into a bird. My text speaks
OF four birds OF beautiful iustinct-the
stork, of such strong affection that 1t Is
allowed Familiarity TO come. in Holland and
Germany. and build its nest over the door
way, the sweet dispOsitioned turtedove'
mingkng in color white and black and
brown and ashen and chestnut: the crane
with voice like the clang of tru mpet; the
swallow, swift as a dart, shot out Of the bow
of heaven. falling mounting, skimming,
.sailing-four birds started by the prophet
twenty-five centuries ago, yet flying on
through the ages, with rousing truth under
glossy wing and in the clutch of stout cia%.
/ suppose it may have been this very season
of the year-autumn-and the prophet out
of doors, thinking of the impenitence Of the
people OF his day, hears a great cry over
head.
Now you know it is no easy thing for one
with ordinary delicacy of eyesight to look
into the deep blue Of the MONDAY heaven,
but the prophet looks up and there
docks OF storks and turtledoves and cranes
and swallows drawn out in long lines for
fight southwark. As is their habit, the
cranes had arranged themselves into two
lines. maEing angle-a wedge splitting
the air with wild velocity-the old
crane, with commanding call, bidding
them onward, while the towns and the
cities and the continents slid under them.
The prophet, almost blinded from looking
into the dazzling heavens, stoops down and
begins TO think how much superior the birds
are in sagacity about their safety than men
about theirs and he puts his hand upon the
pen and begins to write, The stork in the
heavens knoweth her appointed times, and
the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow
observe the time of their coming; but my
Peeo2R3Ie, kno" not the Judgment OF the
If you were in the field to-day, in the
clump of trees at the corner of the field you
would see a convention Of birds, noisy as the
American congress the last night before adj
iournment, or as the English parliament
when some unfortunate member proposes
more economy in queens household-a con-
Vention of birds all talking at once, moving
and passing resolutions on the subject OF
migration; some proposing to go to-mor'
cow, some moving that they go to-day,
some moving that they go to Brazil. some
to Florida, some to the tablelands OF Mexico,
but all unanimous in the fact that they must
go soon, for they have marching orders
from the Lord, written on the first white
sheet of Ghe frost and in thu pictorial Of the
changing leaves.
There is not a belted kingfsher, or a
chaffinch, a fire crested wren, or a
plover, a red legged partridge but ex-
poets to spend the winter at the south, for
the auar tments have already been ordered
for them in South America or in Africa,
and after thousands of miles of flight they
will stop in the very tree where they spent
last January Farewell, bright plumage!
Until spring weather, away Fly on, great
band of heavenly musicians! Strew the
continent with music, and whether from
northern fields, or Carolinian swamps, or
Brazilian groves men SEQ your wings or
hear your voice, may they bethink them
selves of the solemn words OF the text, The
al = int hn hnQ n
times, and the turtle and the crane and the
swallow observe the time OF their comingi
but my people know rot the judgment OF
the LordT'
propose, so far as God may help me, this
morning, carry out the idea OF the text, to
show that the birds of the air have more sa-
gaclty than men. And I begin by particu-
larzing and saying that they mlngie music
with their works. The most serious under
taking of birds life Is this annual travel
from the Hudson to the Amazon, from the
Thames to the Nile. Naturalsts tell us that
they arrive there thin and weary and plu-
mage ruffied, and yet they go singing all the
way; the ground the lower line of the
music; the sky, the upper line Of the music;
themselves, the notes scattered up and down
between.
1t is a good sign when you hear a work
man whistle. 1t is a better sign when you
hear him hum rOundelaY. 1t Is stlll
better sign when you heaC him sing the
words of Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley.
A violin chorded and strung, if something
accidentally strike it, makes music, and L
suppose there is such thing having our
hearts so attuned by divine grace that
even the rough collisions Of life will make
heavenly vibration. | do not believe that
the power of Christian song has yet been
fully tried | believe that if you could roll
the .fOId Hundred doxology through Wall
street it would put an end to any financial
disturbance l believe that the dlscords,
and the sorrows, and the sins Of the world
are to be swept out by heaven born halle
luiahs.
Some one asked Haydn, the celebrated
musician, why he always composed such
cheerful music. Way he said, 81 can't
DO otherwise. When l think of God my
soul is so full of JOY that the notes leap
and dance from my pen" l wish we might
all exult melodiously before the Lord
With God for our Father and Christ TO
our Saviour. and heaven for our home anC
angels for future companions and ETERNITY
for lifetime, should strike all the note
of JOY. Going through the wilderness Of
this world let us remember that we or
the way to the summary cline of heaven
and from the migratory populations flying
keep singing
Children of the Heavenly King.
AS we journey sweetly sing
Sing your Savours worthy praise,
Glorious in His works and ways.
lie are travelling home God,
In the way your fathers trod;
They are happy now, and we
Soon their happiness shall see.
The church of God never will be a trf.
umphant church until it becomes a singing
church.
I 90 further and ar- th at fhe Ards Of