The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-01-13
AT THE TABERNACLE,
WISDOM MAY BE LEARNED FROM THE
FOWLS OF THE AIR.

H1ns begun rev oapDatns ago. dav-
ing preached about the Astronomy of
the Bible; or, God Among the Stars"
and the Chronology Of the Bible; or,
God Among the Centuries" this morn
ing he discoursed on the "Ornithology
of the Bible; or, God Among the Birds"
The text was Matthew, vi, 90. Behold
the fowls of the air"
There is silence now in all our tanu-
AIRY forests. except as the winds whistle
through the bare branches Our north
ern woods are deserted concert halls.
The organ lofts in the temple of nature
are hymnless. Trees which were full of
carol and chirp and chant are now wait
ing for the coming back Of rich plumes
and warbling voices, solos, duets, quar-
tets. cantatas and TIE Deums. But the
Bible is full of birds at all seasons, and
prophets and patriarchs and apostles and
Christ himself employ them for moral
and religious purposes. My text is an
extract from the sermon on the mount,
and perhaps it was at moment when a
flock Of birds flew past that Christ waved
his hand toward them and said, Behold
the fowls Of the airr And SO in this
course Of sermons on God everywhere
preach to you this third sermon concern
ing the Ornithology of the Bible; or, God
Among the Birds.
GODS MESSENGERS IN NATURE.
Most of the other sciences you may
study or not study as you please. Usc
Your own Judgment, exercise your own
taste. But about this science of orni-
thology we have no option. The divine
command is positive when it says in my
text. Behold the fowls of the air." That
is, study their habits. Examine their
colors. Notice their speed. See the hand
of God in their construction. 1t is easy
for me to obey the command of the text,
for WAS brought up among the race Of
wings and from boyhood heard their
mathis at sunrise and their vespers at
sunset.
Their nests have been to me fascina-
ton, and my satisfaction is that never
robbed enc Of them any more than
would steal child from cradle, for q
bird is . child Of the sky, and its nest is
the cradle. They are almost human, for
they have their loves and hates, affini-
ties and antipathies, understand joy and
grief, have conjugal and maternal in
stinct, wage wars and entertain ieal-
ousies, have language of their own and
powers of association. Thank God for
birds and skies full of them It is use
less to expect to understand the Bible
i-,1pco OF,
| Five hundred and ninety-three times
does the Bible allude to the facts of nat
ural history, and l do not wonder that it
makes so many illusions pathological.
The skies and the caverns of Palestine
are friendly to the winged creatures, and
SO many fly and roost and nest and hatch
in that region that inspired writers do
not have far to so to get archaeological
Illustration of divine truth. There are
over forty species of birds recognized in
the Scriptures.
Oh. what variety of wings in Pales-
tine! Tae Cove, tho robin, the eagle, the
:ormorant or plunging bird, hurting it
self from sky to wave and with long
beak clutching its prey; the thrush,
which especially dislikes crowd; the
partridge; the hawk, bold and ruthless,
1 lowering head to windward while watch
ing for prey; the swan, at home among
the marshes and with feet so constructed
it can walk on the leaves of water plants;
the raven, the lapwing, malodorous and
in the Bible denounced as inedible,
though it has extraordinary headdress;
the stork; the ossifrage, that always
had habit Of dropping on stone the
trrtle it had lifted and so killing 1t
for food. and on one occasion mistook
the bald head of Eschylus, the Greek
poet. for white stone, and dropped q
turtle upon it, killing the famous Greek;
the cuckoo, with crested head and Grim.
son throat and wings snow tipped, but
too lazy to build its own nest, and Sc
having the habit of depositing its eggs
in nests belonging to other birds; the
bluejay, the grouse, the plover, the mag.
pie. the kingfsher, the pelican, which is
the caricature Of all the feathered crea-
ton: the owl. the goldinch, the bittern,
the barrier, the bulbul, the osprey; the
yulture, that king of scavengers, with
neck covered with repulsive down instead
of attractive feathers; the Quarrelsome
starling the swallow, flying a mile a min
ute and sometimes ten hours In success
sion; theheron. the quail, the peacock, the
ostrich. the lark. the crow, the kite, the
bat. the blackbird and many others, with
all colors. all sounds, all styles of fight
all habits all architecture of nests, leav.
ing nothing wanting in suggestiveness
They were at the creation placed all
around on the rocks and in the trees and
Oil the ground to serenade Adams ar
rival. They took their places on Friday
rs the first man was made on Saturday
Whatever else he had or did not have
ic should have music. The first sound
Fiat struck the human ear was birds
DICE.
TRUE SCIENCE Is RELIGIOUS.
| Yea. Christian geology-for you know
there is Christian geology as well al
an inidel Christian geology
comes in and helps the Bible show what
we owe to the bird creation. Before the
human race came into this world thu
world vas occupied by reptiles and by
I'LL sorts of dest active monsters-mil
lions Of creatures. loathsome and hide
ons God sent huge birds to clear thu
earth of these creatures before Adam ant
Eve were created. The remains Of thest
birds have been found imbedded in thu
recks. The skeleton of one eagle ha.
been found twenty feet in height ant
fifty feet from tip of wing to tip Of wing
Many armies of beaks and claws wer,
necessary to clear the earth Of creatures
that would have destroyed the human
race with one clip. like to find thi
harmony of revelation and science, an
to have demonstrated that the God VIII
male tho world made the Bible.
Moses tic greatest lawyer Of all tim
and a great man for facts, had enoug
sen,i;ueat and poetry and musical tast
! TO Welcome tho illumined wings and tn
voices divinely drilled into the first chaI
ter of Genesis. How should Noah, tn
CT MP carpenter, 600 years Of age, fin
out when the world was fit again fc