Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-03-11
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERw0N.
ORNITHOLOGiCA ALLUS IN s
IN THE BIBLE.
The Refuge offered BIZ the Christian
Religion to People OF all Ages ana
Every Variety of Character
Interesting Discourse.


of DIR Talmage's sermon this morning was
Ezekial II :23 "a goodly cedar and under
it shall dwell all fowls OF every wing. The
Rev. DR.. spoke as follows:
The cedar of Lebanon Is royal tree. IL
stands six thousand feet above the level
of the sea A missionary counted the con-
centric circles, and found one tree thirty
five hundred years old-long-rooted, broad
branches, all the year in luxuriant foliage.
The same branches that bent in the hurrl-
cane that David saw sweeping over Leb-
anon, rock to-day over the head OF the
American traveller. This monarch Of the
forest, with its leafy fingers, plucks the
houors of thousand years, and
sprinkles them upon its own uplifted
brow, as though some great hallelujah
Of heaven had been planted upon Le-
banon, and it were rising up with it's long
armed strength to take hold of the hills
whence it came. Obi what a fine place
for birds to nest in In hot days they
come thither-the eagle, the dove, the
swallow, the sparrow, and the raven.
There Is to many of US a complete fasci-
nation in the structure and habits OF birds.
They seem not more of earth than heaven
ever vacillatng between the two. No
wonder that Audubon, with his gun,
tramped through all Of the American
forests in search of new specimens.
Biologists have spent years in the new
red sandstone. There is enough OF
Gods architecture in a snipe's bill or a
grouse's foot to confound all the universe
ties. Musicians have, with clefs and bars
tried to catch the sound of the nightingale
and robin. Among tho first things that a
! child notices is a swallow at the caves; ;
and grandfather goes out with handful
of crumbs to feed the birds. The
bible is full Of archaeological illusions.
The birds of the bible are not dead and
stuffed, like those of the museum, but liv-
ing birds, with fiuttering wings and plum
age "Behold the birds OF the
air." says Christ. Though thou
exalt myself as the eagle, and
thou set thy nest among the
stars, thence will bring thee down. ex-
claims Obadiah. "Gavest thou the goodly
wings unto the peacocks9" says Job.
David describes his desolation by saying,
II am like pelican of the wilderness; 1
am like an owl of the desert; l watch,
and am as a sparrow alone upon the house
top.n "Yea, the stork in the heaven
knoweth her appointed time; and the
turtle, and the crane, and the swallow OBJ
serve the time of their coming; but my
people know not the Judgment Of the
Lord"-so says jeremiah.
Ezekiel in my text intimates that Christ
is the cedar, and the people from all quar-
tiers are the birds that lodge among the
branches. ut shall be goodly cedar, and
under it shall dwell all fowl of every
wing" AS in Ezekiels time, so now
Christ is goody cedar, and to him are
flying all kinds Of people-young and old,
rich and poor, men hgh-soaring as the
eagle, those fierce as the raven, and those
gentle as the dove. "All fowl Of every
wing"
First, the young may como. OF the
eighteen hundred and ninety-two years
that have passed since Christ came, about
sixteen hundred have been wasted by the
good in misdirected efforts. Until Robert
| RaiSes came there was no organized effort
for saving the young. We spend all our
strength trying to bend old trees, when a
little pressure would have been sufficient
for the sapling We let men go down to
the very bottom of sin before we
try to lift them up. 1t is a great deal
easier to keep train on the track than
| to get it on when it is of. The expert
enced reinsman checks the fiery steed at
the first jump, for when he gets in full
swing, the swift hoofs clicking fire from
the pavement, and the bit between his
teeth, his momentum is irresistible. 1t is
said that the young must be allowed to
sow their "wild oats" 1 have noticed
| that those who sow their wild oats seldom
try to raise any other kind of crop. There
are two opposite destinies. If you are
going to heaven, you had better take tho
straight road and not try to go to Boston
NV ba of iG IN
| be the history of this multitude of young
people around me to-day' / will take you
by the hand and show you glorious sun
RISE will not whine about this thing,
nor groan about it; but come, young men
| and maidens, Jesus wants you. His hand
| is love; his voice is music; his smile is
heaven. Religion will put no handouts on
your wrist, no hopples on your feet no
brand on your forehead.
went through the heaviest snowstorm
I have ever known to see dying girl.
Her cheek on the pillow was white as the
snow on the easement. Her large, round
eye had not lost any of its lustre. Loved
ones stood all around the bed trying to
hold her back. Her mother could not give
her up; and one nearer to her than either
father or mother was frantic with grief.
said, "Fanny, how do you feelW 'OhW
she said, 'happyl happy MIR. Talmage,
tell all the young folks that religion will
make them happy" AS / came out Of
the room, louder than all the sobs
and wailings of grief L heard tho
clear, sweet, glad voice of the dying girl;
"Good night; we shall meet again on tho
other side of the river.' The next Sab
bath we buried her. We brought white
flowers and laid them on the coffin. There
was in all that crowded church but one
really happy and delighted face, and that
was the face of Fanny. Obi l wish that
now my Lord Jesus would go through this
audience, and take all these flowers OF
youth and garland them on His brow. The
cedar is a fit refuge for birds OF brightest
plumage and swiftest wing. See they
fly they fyl "All fowl of every wing"
Again: remark that the old may come.
You say, suppose a man has to go on
crutches; suppose he is blind; suppose he
Is deaf; suppose that nine-tenths of his
life has been wasted" Then / answer,
come with crutches; come, old men, blind
and deaf, como TO Jesus. III you would
sweep your hand around before your blind
eyes, the first thing you would touch
would be the cross. 1t is hard for an
aged man or woman TO have grown old
/