The Opelousas courier., 1892-12-10
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE
He BROOKLYN DIVINE's sun
DAY SERMON

SbI "a W Is VI lks
sea, epsn there shan Thy hand lead me-"
Psalm cxxxix. 9,
what an absurd book the Bible NUS be to
a mar who has no poetry in his soul
wings OF the morning. What kind Of a
oiEo Is II, ana how long ara it's wings and OF
"naI color All, some OF Us have seen and
felt It's wings. They are golden. They are
buoyant. They are swift. They are vide
spread The 18th Of last June I took 1.-The
wings g the morning. and started for Eu.
rope: june 90, on ''the wings of this morn
ing," lstarted from Liverpool. July IL, on
tine wings of the morning. I entered
Germany, the land Of Martin Luther AMI
many OF that ilk, living AMI dead.
ON the wings of the morning I entered
81. petersburg, Russia. On 1.-The wings of
the morning" 1 entered Moscow. On 1.-THE
wings OF the morning" I entered the palaces
OF Russia. greeted by the emperor and en-
press, surrounded by q lovely brood OF
princes and princessss. On ''ths wings of
the morning | entered Inverness, the cap
ltal of the Scottish highlands, ccuotry of
Robert Burns and Thomas Chalmers-the
one Tor poetry, the other for religion. Sep
teraber 2lst, on "the wings Of the morning"
| entered the finest haven Of all the EARTH
New York harbor-and looked off toward
the most interesting place / had seen in three
months South Oxford street, BROOKLYN.
You all know why I ven Russia this sum-
mer. There are many thousands of people
VINO nave a right to say to me, as was said
in the Bible parable, Give an account of
thy stewardship" Through The Christian
Herald. which / have the honor to edit. we
had for months. in publishers, in reportorial
and editorial column, put before the people
the CHASTITY facts concerning twenty million
Russians who were starving to death, and
subscriptions to the relief fund had come by
letters that seemed not so much written
with ink as with tears, some Of the
letters practically saying, I'VE find it hard
cannot stand this cry of hunger from beyond
the seas, and so please to receive the en-
closed" And others had sent jewels from
their hands and necks, saving, ''Sell these
and turn them into bread And another
letter said: Enclosed is IN old gold piecs.
1t was nay mother's. She gave it to me and
told me never to part with 1t except for
cred thirty-hve thousand dollars in money,
which we turned into three million pounds
of -four.
When / went down to the board of trade
at Chicago and left five thousand dollars Of
the amount raised with a prominent -four
merchant. taking no receipt and leaving all
to him to do the best thing, and returned, it
was suggested that | had not done things in
a business way. How could we know
sent. There are styles Of -four more
fit for the trough Of the swine
than the mouths of hungry men and women.
Well, as is customary when the -four came
to New York it was tested. and we found
indeed they had cheated US. They gave us
better 1our than we had bought. I bought
in Chicago fine -four. but they sent US super
Now we know nothing about famine in
America. The grasshoppers may kill the
crops in Kansas, the freshets may destroy
the crops along the Ohio, the potato worm
may xiii the vines Of Long Island, the rust
get into the wheat of Michigan, yet
when there has been dreadful scarcity in
some parts Of the land there has been plenty
in other parts. But in districts OF Russia,
vast enough to drop several nations into
them, drought for'six consecutive years has
devastated, and those districts were pre-
viously the most productive of all the empire.
It was like what we would have in
America if the hunger iend somehow got
out Of hell and alightel in our land, and
swept his wing over Minnesota, and said.
Let nothing grow here" and over Missouri
and said, Let nothing grow here" and over
New York State and said, 'Let nothing
grow here" and over Ohio and Georgia and
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Ne
braska and Dakota and the Carolinas and
said. "Let nothing grow here" and the hun
ger fiend had swept the same whitening and
blasting wing over the best psrts OF America
in the years 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891 and
1892. and finally all our families were put on
small allowance, and we all had risen from
the table hungry, and after awhile the
children had only quarter enough, and after
awhile only one meal q day. and after
awhile no good food at all, but q mixture
of wheat and chaff and bark OF trees, and
then three of the children down with hunger
tyuhug. and then all the family unable to
wals, and then crawling on hands and knees,
and then one dead in each room. ana neigh
bors. not quite so exhausted, coming In to
hurry them. and afterward the house becom-
ing the tomb, with none to carry the dead t.
more appropriate sepulcher-whole families
blotte1 out.
That was what occurred In Russia in
homes more than were ever counted, IN
ho,ne that were once as comfortable ana
happy and hountiful as yours or mine. in
homes as virtuous as yours or mine, in homes
where God is ~worshiped as much as in yours
or mine. It was to do a little something
toward beating back that archangel OF
w~retchednes IS and horror that we went,
and we have now to report thai, &C
cording to the estimate of the Russian fam
inc relief committee, we saved the llv IS OF
125, 600 people. As at the hunger relief sta
lions the bread was handed out-for it was
made into loaves and distributei-fnanv
people would halt before taking it and reli-
giously cross themselves and utter a prayer
for the donors.
Some OF them would come staggering
back and say: PLEASE tell Is who sent this
bread to u.s." And when told it came from
America they would say: What part OF
America? Please gvs us the names OF
those who sent It," All, Col only knows
the names of those wno sent 1t, but He csr-
tainly does know, and many a prayer is
going up, | warrant you, day by day. for
those who sent -four by the snip Leg. Per
haps some of 5 at u tables rattle off a
that may mean nothlny, although
we call it Saying grace" but / warrant
when those people who received the bread
saved their lives 'tsaid grace" it
meant something.
l said respectfully to a Russian when /
saw him cross himself. what do you do
that fort" Oh" he said, when I do that
| always say, God have mercy on mep' l
hold in my han something very suggestive.
What does that black aud uncomely thing
look like? That is what is called hungry
bread from Russia; that is what millions
people lived on for mouths be
fore held cana from England, Scotland.
an | America; that is q mixture
which seems to have in it not one graia OF
sustenance. 1t is a mixture OF pig weed n
chaH AMI the Sweepings OF staoies- 4nat!s
something which, il dropped in the street,
your dog or cat nigat sniff at. but would
not eat. That was the only food on wnicl
of men and women lived.
You must look at that hunger bread or
before you can get proper apprecia-
ton OF what an attractive and beaunIul
thing a good loaf of breai Is. 1t is 50 con-
mon to us we cannot reaiizs its meaning.
Why does not some poet ring o canto on q
loaf OF bread, or some modern r aphaei paint
it. or soma historian tell It's history But !
have bsen asked by good people in Great
D.:A.s. - A ,nov.;no AGAIN and AGAIN. Nv nv