The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-06
GOD AMONG THE FISHES.
TALMAGE ON THE ICHTHYOLOGY
OF THE BIBLE.


BROOKLYN, Feb. 5-Rev. T. DeWitr
Talmage this morning preached to greas
audience in the Tabernacle, a remarkably
interesting and eloquent sermon on "The
Ichthyology of the Bible. or God Among
the Fishes,' being a continuation Of his
series OF discourses on God Every
The text chosen was Genesis l., 20: And
God said, let the waters bring forth
abundantlY the mo*ing creature that hath
lifsn
What new book the Bible isl After
thirty-six years preaching from it ana dis
cussing over three thousand different subs
ieots founded on the word of God, the book
is as fresh to me as when | learned, with .
stretch OF infantie memory, the shortest
verse In the Bible, Jesus wept," and
opened few weeks ago a new realm OK
biblical interest that neither my pulpit nor
any one else's had ever explored, and hAv-
ing spoken to you in this course Of sermons
on God Everywhere concerning the AS
tronomy of the Bible or God among the
Stars. the Chronology Of the Bible or God
among the Centuries, the Ornithology OF
the Bible or God among the Birds, the
MineraloRy Of the Bible or God among the
Amethysts, this morning as / may be
divinely helped, will speak to you about
the Ichthyology Of the Bible or God among
the Fishes.
Our horses were lathered and tired out,
and their fetlooks were red with the blood
cut out by the rocks, and | could hardly
get my feet out OF the stirrups as on Satur-
day night we dismounted on the beach OF
Lake Galtlee. The rather liberal supply Of
food with which we had started from Jeru-
salem was well nigh exhausted, and the ars
ticles OF diet remaining had, by Oft repeti~
ton, three times a day for three weeks,
ceased to appetite. never want to see a
fig again, and dates with me are all out Of
date. For several days the Arab caterer,
who could speak but half dozen English
words, would answer our requests for some
of the styles Of food with which we had
been delectated the first few days by crying
out, Finished" The most piquant appetizer
is abstinence. and the demand of all the
party was, "Let::,us breakfast on Sunday
morning on fresh fish from Lake GenneseT-
eth for you must know that that lake
has four names. and It is worth the profus-
ion OF nomenclature, and it is IN the Bible
called Chinnereth, Tibertss, Gennesareth
aud Galtlse. To our extemporiEed table on
Sabbath morning came broiled perch, only
a few hours before lifted out Of the sacred
waters. IL was natural that our minds
should revert 60 the only breakfast that
Chriet ever prepared, and it on those very
shores where we breaktasted. Christ had,
in those olden times, struck two fiiuts to-
gether and set on fire some shavings or light
brush wood and then put on larger wood,
and a pile Of glowing bright GOALS
was the consequence. Meanwhile, the dis
oples, fishing on the lake, had awfully
"poor luck" +" and every time they drew up
the net 1t hung dripping without fiuttsr-
ing fin or squirming scale. But Christ,
from the shore, shouted 20 them, and told
them where to drop the net, and one huu-
dred and fifty-thres big fish rewarded them.
Simon and Nathaniel having cleaned some
- - ~ 81 a. -.
GOALS which Christ had kindled, and the
group who had been out ali night and were
chill and wet and hungry, sat down and
began mastication. All that scene came
back TO US when on Sabbath morning, De-
cember, 1889, just outside the ruins of an-
cient Tiberias and within sound OF the rip
pling Galilee, we breakfasted.
lNNow, is 10 not strange that the Bible im-
sgery is so inwrougbt from the fisheries.
when the Holy Land is for the most part, an
inland region3 Only three lakes, two beside
the one already mentioned, namely. the
Dead sea, where fish cannot live at all aud
az soon as they touch it they die, and the
birds swoop on their tiny carcasses, and the
third the Pools of Heshbon which are
alternately full and dry. Only three riv5rs
OF the Holy Land, Jabbok, Kishbon and Jor~
dan. About all the fish now in the waters
of the Holy Land are the perch, the carp, the
Dream, the minnow, the blenny, the barbel
(so-oalled because of the barb at Its mouth,
the chub, the dog-flsh, none Of them worth
Delaware shad or an Adirondack trout.
Well, the worlds geography has changed
and the worlds bill Of fare has changed.
Lake Galilee was larger and deeper and
better stocked than now, and no doubt the
rivers were deeper and the fisheries we're OF
far more Importance then than now. Be-
sides that, there was the Mediterranean sea
only thirty-1ve miles away, and fish were
"A I-g, EuIa I'D
much Of that article Of food was sold In
Jerusalem that fish market gave the name
TO one of the gates of Jerusalem near by,
and il was called the fish gate. The cities
had great reservoirs, in which fish were
kept alive and bred. The Pool Of Gibeon
was a fish pool. Isaiah and Solomon refer
to fish pools. Large fish we're kept alive
and tied fast by ropes to a stake in these
reservoirs. a ring having been run through
their gills, and that is the meaning Of the
scripture passage which says, "Canst thou
put a hook into his nose or bore his jaw
through with thornp So impor-
taut was the fish that the god Dagon, wor-
SHIPPED by the Philistines, was made hak
fish and half man, and that is the meaning
Of the Lords indignation when
in |. Samuel; we read that
this Dsgon, the fish god, stood be-
side the ark Of the Lord, and Dagon was by
Invisible hands dashed to pieces, because the
HblllBHneS naQ dared TO make the nsn
god. That explains the scripture passage;
1.-The head Of Dagon aud both the palms of
his hands we're cut off upon the threshold;
only the stump Of Dagon was left to him."
Now the stump OF Dagon was the fish part.
The top part, which was the dgure Of a
man, was dashed TO pieces, and the Lord.
by demolishing everything but the stump
or fish part OF the idol, practically said.
You may keep your fish, but know from
the way have demolished the rest Of the
idol that it is nothing divine.
Layard and Wilkinson found the fish an
object Of idolatry through Assyria and
Egypt The Nile was full OF fish, and that
explains the horrors OF the plague that
slaughtered the flnny tribe all up and down
the river. which has been and is now the
main artery OF Egypt's life. In Job you
hear the plunge Of the spear into the hippo
potamus, as the great dramatic poet cries
out: "Canst thou fill his skin with barned
irons OF his head with fish spearsp Yea, the
fish began to swim in the very first book of
Genesis, where my text records, "And God
said, let the waters bring forth abnndantly
the moving creature that hath life" Do
you realize that the first living thing that
God created was the ishf 1t preceded the
bird, the quRdruped, the human race.
The fab has the priority of residence over
every living thing. The next thing done
after God had kindled for our world the
golden chandelier of the sun and the silver
Chondalfar ~ fha r11oor vvaS tl mako the