The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-06-27
THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTIONS ATLANTA GA

rose with him. Anything connected with
home ransacks our entire nature with Il
holy power, and songs that get well started
i'll the nursery or by the family hearth
roll on after the lips that sung Them are
forever silent and the ears that first heard
them forever cease to hear.
l preach this sermon just before many
of you will go out to pass days or weeks
in the country. Be careful how you treat
the birds. Remember they are Gods fa-
vorites, and if you offend them, you OFFEND
Him. He is so fond Of their voices that
there are forests where for hundreds of
miles 10 human foot has ever trod and 10
human ear has ever listened. Those inter
mlnablc forests are concert halls with
only one auditor-the Lord God Almighty.
He buildel those auditoriums of leaves
and sky and supports all that infinite min
strelsy Tor Himself alone. he careful how
you treat HIS favoritc choir. In Due
teronomy, He warns the people: eff a
birds nest chance to be before thee in the
way in any tree. or on the ground. whether
they be young ones or eggs. thou shalt not
take the dam with the young, that it may
be we'll with thee, and that thou maycst
prolon, thy days SO YOU see your own
longevity is related to your treatment of
birds. Then 90 forth and attend tue min
strelsy. Put off startling colorS. which
brighten the winged songSters into silence
or flight. and put on your more sober at
tire and move noiselcsSly into the woods,
further and further from the main road,
and have no conversation, for many a con
cert i'll and out of doors has been ruined
by persistent takers, and then sit down on
a messy bank
Where Il wild stream with hcadlong shock
Comes Drawing down bed OF rock.
And after perhaps Il half an hour of in
tense solitude, there will be Il tap Of Il
beak on u tree branch far up sounding like
the tap OF Il musical baton, and then first
there will be IL solo, followed by duet or
quartet, and afterwards by doXologics in
all the tree tops and amid I'LL the branches
and if you have Bible along with you
ana you can without ruStling the leaves,
turn to the 14Sth Psalm of David, and
read: Praise the Lord, beasts, and all
cattle, creeping things and flying fowl"
and then turn over quietly to my text,
and read, by them shall the fowls of the
heaven have their habtation, which sing
among the branches;' or, if under the
power of the bird voices you are trans
pored, as when DR.. Morgan played SO
powerfully on the organ at St Johns
that Richard Cecil said he was in such
blessed beWiderlnent, he could not find in
his Bible the first chapter of Isaiah. though
he leafcd the book over and over, and you
shall be so overcome with forest harmony
that You cannot find the Psalms of David,
never mind for God will speak to YOU so
NIGHTLY it will make no difference whether
you hear his voice from the printed page
or the vibrating throat of one of his plumcd
creatures.
W hltc this summer more than usual out
OF doors, let Us have what my text suggests
an out-of-door religion. What business had
David with all the advantages of costly
religious service, and smoking incense on
the altar, to be listening to the chantresscs
among the tree branches? All. he wanted
to make himself and all who should come
alter INN more alert and more worshiptul
amid the sweet sounds and beautiful sights
Of the natural world. There is an old
church that needs to be rededicrted 1t
is Older than st. 1'aul's or st. Peters, or
st. Marks, or st. Sophia, or St ISaacs
1t is the cathedral Of Nature That Is the
church in which the services of the millen-
mum will be held. The buildings fashion
ed out Of stone and brick and mortar will
not hold the people. Again the Mount Of
will be the baptstry. Again the noun
tains viii be the galleries. Again the skies
Will be the blue ceiling. Again the sunrise
will be the front door and the sunset the
back door of that temple, Again the clouds
will be the upholstery and the morning
mist viii be the incense. Again the trees
will be the organ-loft where the fowls of
heaven have their habitation which sing
among the branches Saint Francis d
Assist preached sermon to birds and
all birds preach to MS, and their benediction
Is almost supcrnal. While this summer,
amid the works OF God, let us learn re-
sponSivenesS. Surely, if We cannot sing.
we can hum tune; and if we cannot
hum tune we can whistle If
we cannot ne an oriole. We can be Il quail.
In some way let us demonstrate our graft
tude to God Let us NOT be beaten by the
chimney swallow and the humnIing bird
and the brown thrcsher. Let us try to set
everything in our life to music, and if we
cannot give the carol of the song sparrow.
take the plant of the hermit thrush. let
our life be an anthem Of worship to the
God who created us and the Christ who
ranSomed us and the Holy Ghost who
Sanctifcs us. And our last song May it
be our best song, The swan was thought
by the ancicntS never to sing except when
dying. In the time of Edward ". no one
was allowed to own Il swan except he
were a kings son. or had considerable
estate. Through one or two hundred wears
of lie that bird was said never to utter
anything like music, until its last moment
came, and. then, lifting its crested beauty,
it would pour forth Il song of almost match
less thrill, resounding through the groves
And so. although the struggles of life may
be too much for us, and we find it hard TO
sing at all, when the last hours come to
you and me. may there be Il radiance from
above and Il glory setting round that shall
enable us to utter Il song on the wings
of which we shall mount to where the
music never ceases and the raptlres never
die
"What is that. mothpr?" "The swan my love
lie is floating down from his native grove
No loved one no Nesting nigh.
He is floating down by himself to die.
Death d tIIeus his eye and unplumeS his wings
Vet the SpWs'ptrSt song is the last he sings
Live So my child that when death shall come