The free press., 1892-11-17
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIyINE'S SUNDAY
SERMON,
TEXT. JEREMIAH s: :. THE sToRK IN THE
HEAVENS KSowETH HER APPOINTED
TINE. ETC.

TINE, ETC.
When God would set fast beautiful
thought, he plants it in tree. When
he would put it afoat, he fashions II INTO
a fish. When be would have 1t gllde the
air. he molds it into a bird. My text
sneaks OF four birds of beautiful instinct
the stork. of such strong affection that
it is allowed familiarly to come, In Hol-
land and Germany. aud build its nest
over the doorway; the sweet-dispositlon-
ed turtle dove, mingling in color white,
and black, and brown, and ashen, ana
chestnut; the crane, with voice like the
| clanr of trumpet; 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 claw. L
suppose it may have been this very sea-
son of the year-autumn-and the
prophet out of doors, thinking of the i'm
I penitence Of the people of his day, hears
great cry overhead.
Now. you know it is no easy thing Tor
one with ordinary delicacy Of eyesight to
look into the deep blue of the noon day
heaven; but the prophet looks up, and
there are flocks Of storks, and turtle
doves, and cranes, and swallows, drawn
out in long lines for fight southwark. AS
is their habit, the cranes had arranged
themselves into two lines, making an
angle, wedge splitting the air with
wild velocity, the old crane, with com
manding 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 aud begins to write;
"The stork in the heaven knoweth her
appointed time; and the turtle dove and
the crane and the swallow observe the
time of their coming; but my people
know not the Judgment of the Lord
If you were in the field today, 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 adjournment, CT as The Eng
lish parliament when some unfortunate
member proposes more economy in the
queens household--a convention of birds
all talking at once, moving and passing
resolutions on the subject of migration;
some proposing to go tomorrow, some
moving that they 90 today, some moving
that they 90 to Brazil, some to Florida,
some to the table lands 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 the frost and in the pictorial of
the changing leaves. There is not a
belted kingfsher, or achaffinch, ar fine
crested wren, or plover, or red-legged
partridge but expects to spend the winter
at the south, for the apartments have
already been ordered for them in South
America or in Africa; and after thous-
ands of miles of flight, they will stop in
the very tree where they spent last Janu-
ary. Farewell, bright plumagei Until
spring weather, away Fly on, great
band Of heavenly musicians! Strew the
continents with music, and whether
from northern fields or Carolinian swamps
or Brazilian groves men see your wings
or hear your voice, may they bethink
themselves of the solemn words of the
text: "The stork in tie heaven knoweth
her appointed times; and the turtle and
the crane and the swallow observe the
time of their coming; but my people
know not the judgment of the Lord"
Ipropose, so far as God may help me,
this morning, carrying out the idea of the
text, to show that the birds of the air
have more sagacity than men. And l
begin by partlcularZing and saying tt at
they mingle music with their work. The
most serious undertaking of birds life
is this annual travel from the Hudson to
the Amazon, from the Thames to the
Nile. Naturalists tell us that they ar
rive there thin and weary and plumage
rutfled, aud 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. / suppose their
song gives elasticity to their wing, and
helps on with the journey. dwindling q
thousand miles into four hundred. Would
- God that we were as wise rs they in
III SiiHS Ohi icliaH sung Win OuE every
day work ! believe there is such thing
as taking the pitch of Christian devotion
in the morning and keeping it all the
day. think we might take some of the
dullest, heaviest, most disagreeable work
of life, and set it to the tune of "Anti.
och" or ''Mt. Psgah."
l. is goo sign when you hear workman
whistle. 1t is better sign when you hear him
hum roundeiay. 1t is still a better sign when
you hear him sing the words of Isaac Watts or
Charles Wesley. A violin corded and strung, if
something accidentally strikes it makes music,
and l suppose there is such thing as having
our hearts so attuned by divine grace that even
the rough collisions of life will make heaven.
ly vibration. | do not believe that the power
of Christian song has yet been fully tried.
believe that if you could roll the "Od Hun.
dred" doxology through Wall street, it would
put an end to any financial disturbance ! be-
lieve that the di-cords and the sorrows, and the
sins of the world are 10 be swept out by heaven
born hallelujahs. Some one asked Haydn, the
celebrated musician, why he always composed
such cheerful music. "Why," he said. ~
can't do otherwise. Whsn / think of God my
soul is so full of joy that the notes leap and
dance from my pen" wish we might all ex-
ult melodiously bsfore the Lord With God for
our Fa ther, and Christ for our Savior, and
heaven for our home, and angels for future
companions, and eternity for n lifetime, we