The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-10-05
REV: DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Natures Wonders and
Heavens Glories."-(Fareweu
Sermon in London.)

hands and is in kings palaces.
erbs Xxx, IS.
Permitted as was few days ago TO at
tend the meeting Of the British Scientific
Association at Edinburgh, I 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 couutrymau, banished from his
pulpit for a short time by i'll health. had in
the fields and forest given himself to the
study Of insects. And surely if it is not be-
| meath the dignity Of God to make spiders 1t
is not beneath the dignity of man to study
them.
We are oil watching for phenomena. A
sky full. of stars shining from January 70
January calls out not so many remaks as the
blazing Of cne meteor. A whole docS OF
robins take not so much OF our aI1entlon as
one blundering bat darting into the window
on summer eve. Things of ordinary sound
| and sight and occurrence fail to reach US.
and vet no grasshopper ever springs upon
our path, no moth ever dashes Into the
evening candle, no mote ever floats IN the
sunbeam that pours through the crack of the
window shutter, no barnecie on ships null,
no burr on chestnut, no limpet chnglng to
arocs., no rind Of an actichose but would
teach us lesson if we were not so stupid.
| God in His Bible sets forth for our consider
alton the lily, and the snowflake, and the
| locust. and the stork's nest and ,the hlnd's
| foot and the aurora borealis, and the ant
hills.
In nv 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
| magnifcence inspiration points US to a
spider plying its shuttle and weaving its net
on the wall. 1t does not call us to regard
the grand surroundings of the palace, but to
| a solemn and earnest consideration Of the
! feet that "The spider taketh hold with her
hands and is in kings palaces"
It is not very certain what was the par
| ticular species Of insect spoken of in the text
| but shall proceed to learn from 1t the eG-
| ouisiteness of the divine mechanism. The
| fine's chamberlain comes into the palace
| and looks around and sees the spider on the
wall and says. "Away with that intruder"
/ and the servant Of Solomon's palace comes
| with his broom and daShes down the insect
saving, "What q loathsome thing it IS"
| But under the microscopic inspection l hnt
| it more wondrous Of construction than the
| embroideries on the palace wall and the up
holstery about the windows.
All the machinery of the earth could not
make ANYTHING so delicate and beautiful as
the prehensile with which that spider
clutches its prey, or as any of its eight eyes.
We do not have 10 so so far up to see the
power Of God in the tapestry hanging
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 until it can strike
with its scimeter of the lightning.
| love better to study God in the shape OF
fy's wing, in the formation Of a fsh's
scale, in the snowy whiteness Of pond lily.
I 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 a
habitation for God in an apple blossom, and
nal orchestra, and can say to FREELY, LET
there te 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 dewdrop, and
dismounts from the chariot Of midnight
hurricane to cross over on the suspension
bridge of 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 !
shall bring the microscope to my eye, and
while gaze and look and study and am
COMPOUNDED will kneel down in the grass
and cry, ''Great and marvellous are Thy
works Lord God Almighty"
Again, my text teaches me that tnsignid.
| cance Is no excuse for inaction. This spider
that Solomon saw on the wall might have
said: ~ can't weave web worthy Of this
great palace; what can do amid all this
gold embroidery? I am not able to make
anything fit for so grand a place. and 50 l
will not work my spinning jenny" Not SO
| said the spider. "The spider taketh hold
with her hands," On, what lesson that ts
| for you aud mel You say If you had come
great sermon to preach. il you only had a
| great audience to talk to, if you had great
army to marshal, if you only had a con-
stitution to write, If 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 Levite in the ancient temple
had refused to snuff the candle because ne
! could not be a high priestP What If the
humming bird should refuse to sing its songs
into the ear Of the honeysuckle because II
cannot, like the eagle, dash its wing into the
sum- What is the raindroo should refuse tc
descend because it is not Niagara? What
| if the spider OF the text should refuse tt
move its shuttle because it cannot weave {
Solomon's robef Away with such folly
you are law with the one talent, you would
not lift the calf he never will have strength
to lift the OK. In the Lords army there is
order for promotion, but you cannot be a
general until you have been a captain, q
lieutenant and colonel. 1t is step by step,
' it is inch by inch, it is stroke by stroke that
our Christian character is builded. There
| fore be content to do what God commands
| you to do.
God is not ashamed to do small things. he
3. NN n,lo L. G.. l~L.z Ia -.
Of sand, or helping honeybee to construct
tingeing shell in the surf. or shaping the
bill Of chaflnch. What Col does, Hedoes
well. What you do, do well, be it great
work or small work. If ten talents, employ
all the ten. If five talents employ ell the
! five. If one talent, employ the one. II only
the thousandth part OF a talent, employ
that. "Be thou faithful unto death, and
will give thee the crown Of life" tell you if
you are not faithful to God in q small sphere,
| you would be indolent and Insignificant in a
large sphere.
Again, my text teaches me that repusive.
ness and loathsomeness will sometimes
climb up into very elevated places You
would have trie1 to kill the spider that Sol
omon saw. You would have said: This is
10 place for it. If that spider is determined
to weave a web let j. do so down in the eel
lar Of this palace or in some DARK dungeon" "
All! the spider Of the text could not be dis
couraged. 1t clamoered on AMI climbed up.
higher and higher and higher. until after
awhile it reached the kings vision. and he
said. "The spider taketa hold with. her
hands, and is in kings palaces" And so it
often is now that things that are loathsome
and repulsive get u2 into very elevated
places.
The church of Christ for instance, is q
palace. The King Of heaven and earth lives
in it According to the Bible her beams