The Red Cloud chief., 1892-09-30
SMALL THINGS.
DR.. Talmage breaches His Farewell
Sermon in London.
Lessons Drawn From the spiders Web
Small Sins May Grow Until They
Blight the Church or Ruin the
Famiiy-The Toiler's Reward.

his farewell sermon to the people of
England in the CRYSTAL Palace, Lon
don, to al immense congregation. His
text was from Prov. XXX IS: 1.-THE
spider takcth hold with her hands and
is in kings palaces" DIR. Talinage said:
Permitted ms I was IA few days ago to
attend the meeting of the British Scien-
tiic association at Edinburgh, / found
hat no paper read had excited more
interest than that by Rev. DIR. McCook,
of America, on the subject of spiders
1t seems that my talented conntryman,
banishal from his pulpit for u short
time by i'll health, had in the fields and
forests given himself to the study OF
insects. And surely il IL is not beneath
the dignity OF God to make spiders. tits
not beneath the dignity of man to study
them.
We arc all watching for phenomena.
A sky full of stars shining from Janu-
AIRY to January calls out not so many
remarks as the blazing of meteor.
A whole flock of robins take not so
much OF our attention rs one blundcr-
ing bat darting into the window on n
summer eve. Things of ordinary sound,
and sight, and occurrence, fail TO reach
us, and yet no g~rasshopper ever springs
up in our path, no moth ever dashcs in.
to the evening candle, no mote ever
floats in the sunbeam that pours through
the crack of the window shutter, no
barnncle on ships hull. no burr on u
chestnut, no limpet ~clinging to a rock,
no rind of an artichoke but would teach
us a lesson if we were not so stupid.
God in His Bible sets forth for our con
sideration the lily, and the snowflake,
and the locust. and the storl<'s nest and
the kinds foot, Inc the aurora
borcalis and the ant hills. One
of the sacred writer's, sitting amid the
mountains, sees a hind skipping over
the rocks The hind has such a pc
culiarly shaped foot that IL can so over
the stccpest places without falling and
as the prophet looks upon the marking
of the kinds foot on the rocks and
thinks Of the Divine care owe him, he
says Thou marltest my feet like
kinds feet that l may walk on high
places.' And another sacred writer
sees the ostrich leaving its egg In the
sand Of the desert, and without any
care OI l1CuDutlOI, Wtth oIb, dbu tlIS
Scripture says, that is like some par
ents, leaving their children without
any wing OF protection or care. In my
text, inspiration opens before us the
gate of n palace, and we are inducted
amid the pomp OF the throne and the
courtier, and while we are looking
around upon the magnificence, inspira'
ton points US to a spider plying its
shuttle and weaving its net on the wall.
It does not call us to regard the grand
surroundings of the palace, but to a
solemn and earnest consideration OF
the fact that: 1.-THE spider taketh hold
with her hands, and is in kings
palaces"
1t is not very certain what was the
particular specie of insect spoken of in
the text, but l shall proceed to learn
from it the eXquisiteness of the Divine
mechanism. The kings chamberlain
comes into the palace, and looks arount
and sees the the spider on the wall, ant
says Away with that intruder" and
the servant Of Solomon's palace comes
with his broom and dashcs down the
insect, saying: "What u loathsome
thing it is" But under microscopic in
spection l find 1t more wondrous of con
~struction than the embroiderics of. the
palace wall, and the upholstery abou'
the windows. All the machinery Of tn,
earth could not make anything so deli
cate and beautiful as the prehensil,
with which that spider clutches hi.
prey, or as any of It's eight eyes. W.
do not have to go SO far up to see tn,
power of God in the tapestry hanging
around the windows of Heaven, or IL
the horses or chariots of fire with whicl
the dying day departs, or to look ut thu
mountain swinging out its sword arm
from under the mantle of darkness un
til 1t can strike with its scimetar of tn,
lightning. i love better to study Coz
in the shape of n fy's wing, In the for
nation of n fish's scale, in the snow,
wilderness Of Il pond lily. l love t.
track His footsteps in the mountain
moss and to neal His voice In the hun
of the rye fields, and discover tho rustl'
of His robe of light in the south wind
o, this wonder of divine power that cal
build q habitation tor God in an appl,
blossom, and tune a bees voice until II
Is fit for the eternal orchestra, and cal
say to a FREELY: 'Let there be lirht;
and from holding an ocean in the utel
low Of His hand, goes forth to out
heights, and depths, and l~ength,dd;
breadth of omnipotency In a dew'
and dismounts from the chariot Of
night hurricane to cross over On thu
pension bridge of a spiders web.
may take your telescope and swede q
across the heavens in order to be,
the glory Of God, but l shall take Mel
leaf holding the spider and the spie
web and ! shall bring tine micros'
to my eye and while ! gaze and r
and study and am COMPOUNDED
kneel down In the grass and ~
"Great and marvellous are Thy W
Lord God AlniIghty"
Again, my text teaches me tina
significance Is no excuse for inad.
This spider that Solomon saw oI1C(
wall might have said: II can't v
a web worthy Of this great palace;
can I do amid all this gold emhroit
am not able 10 make ANYTHING =