Democratic messenger., 1893-07-01
AT THE TABERNACLE.
Or. TALmAGE DELIVERS A Seasonal
BILE SERMON ON BIRDS.
This Is Prc-rmincntIy the Month to Con-
slider tho Ministry of Nature-How tho
the Family Life.


Songs of the Various BIRD. SHOW Forth
| the Family Life.
BIooKLYN. June 25.-Rcv DIR. Talmage
this mornin. chose for the subject Of his
sermon The Song of Birds" This. like
many Of his sermons. is suited to the season
Of the year in which II is preached IL is
well fitted To hr read under the trees and
has in it the health Of outdoor life. Text,
Psalms civ. II. by them shall the fowls OF
the heaven have their habtation. which
sing among the branches
| There is All important and improving
subject to which most people have given
no thought. and concerning which this is
the first pulpit discussion namely. The
Song OF Birds" II all that has been written
concerning music by human voice or about
music sounded on instrument by finger or
breath were put together, volume by the
side Of volume. it would fill hundred al
coves of the national libraries. But about
the song Of birds there is az much silence
~ though II Thousand years ago the last
lark had with his wing swept the door
latch of heaven. and as though never n
whippoorwill had sung its lullaby to n
slumbering forest at nightfall. We give a
passing smile to the call of bobolink or
the chirp of "A canary. but about the origin,
about the fiber. about the meaning, about
the mirth. about the pathOs, about the in
spiration. about the religion In the song Of
birds. the most Of us are either ignorant or
Indifferent. 4 cavcat this morning file
in the high court of heaven against that al
most universal irrcligion
FEATHERED CHoIRS.
FirSt-l remark that which will surprise
many. that the song of birds is regulated
and systematic song, capable Of being writ
ten ont in note and staff and bar and clef
a. much as anything that Wagner or Schu-
mann or Handel ever put on paper. As we
pass the grove where the flocks are holding
matin or vesper service. we are apt TO think
that the sounds ARE eXtcmporizcd. the ris-
Ing OF falling tone is u mere accident. Il is
! flung up and down by haphazard. the bird
did not know what IL was doing il did not
care whether il WAS a long meter psalm or
a madrigal. What a mistake! The musi-
clan never put on the music rack before
him McndelSsohns Elijah" or Beetho-
ven's Concerto" in G or Spohrs B fiat
symphony with more definite idea IA to
what he was doing than every bird that can
sing Mt all confines himself to accurate and
predetermined rendering
The oratorios. the chants, the carols, the
overtures, the interLIdcs. the ballads. the
canticleS, that this morning were heard or
will this evening bc heard In the forest have
rolled down through the ages without a
variation. Even the chipmunk' s song WAS
ordained clear back in the ctcrnities. At
| the gates Of paradise it sang in sounds like
the syllables "kuk" "Kuk" "Kuk." just
as this morning in Long Island orchard
it sang "Kukr' "kuk." "kuk" The
thrush of the creation uttered sounds like
the word Teacher" Teacher" Teach
err as now il utters sounds like "Teacher.'
''Teacher!' Teacher In the summer OF
the year the ycllowhammer trilled that
which sounded like the word ''If." IT.
IF" rs in this summer il trills IT. If"
''If!' The Maryland yrllowthroat inherits
and b,,.'icaiis the i;.nc sounding like the
word. PITY me. pit. me. pity me-" The
white sparrow's ''rSeep. iseep.' woke our
great -grandfathcrS IA IL will awaken our
great grandchildren. The Tee ka-tee-ka-
tee-ka" Of the birds in the first century WAS
the same as the "Tce-ka-tcc ka-tec-ka" of
the nineteenth century.
TAUGHT BY THE CREATOR.
The goldhnch has for 900 years been
singing Decree dee ee-ree" But these
sounds. which we put in harsh words, they
put in cadences. rhythmic. soulful and en-
rap;uring. Now if there is this order and
decentralization and rhythm all through
Gods creation, does it not imply that we
should have the same characteristics in the
music we make or try To make. l. it not
wickedncss that SO many parents give no OPP
portunity for the culture OF their children
in the ar, Of sweet sound II God stoops to
II. 4
in song. how can parents he So Indifferent
about the musical development of the i'm
mortals in their households While God
will accept our attempts TO sing though
il bc only hum or drone, IL
we can do no better. what shame
that in this last decade Of the
nineteenth century, when so many or
chestral batons are waving. and So many
academies of music are in full concert. and
so many skilled men and women are wait
ing tn offer instruction. there are so many
people who cannot sing with any confidence
in the house Of God, because they have had
no culture in this sacred art, or while they
are able To sing "a fantasia at piano amid
the fluttcrng fans Of social admirers never
the 'ess feel utterly helpless when in church
the surges of an ''Ariel' or an Antioch"
roll over them! The old fashioned country
singing school. now much derided and
caricaturcd- indeed sometimes it was
diverted from the real design into the
culture of the soft emotions rather than
the voicc-ncverth.le did admirable
work, and in our churches we need sing
ing schools To prepare our Sabbath au-
dienccs for prompt and spontaneous and
multipotcnt pSalmody. This world needs
to be stormed with halleluiahs. We want
hemisphere campaign Of hosannahs.
From hearing blind beggar sing Martin
Luther went home at 40 years Of age to
write his first hymn. In the autumn |
hope to have congregational singing
school here during the week, which shall
prepare the people for the songs of the holy
Sabbath. II the church of God universal
is going to take this world for righteous
ness there must he added hundredfold Of
more harmony as well as a hundredfold Of
more volume 10 sacred music
THE DIVINE MELODY.
Further. notice in the song of birds that
il is a divinely taught song. The rarest
prima donna Of all the earth could not
teach the robin one musical note. 4 king
fisher flying over the roof of temple
a-quake with harmonies would not catch
up one melody From the time that the
first birds throat was fashioned on the
banks of the Gihun and Tliddckel until to-
day on the Hudson or Rhine, the winged
creature has learned nothing from the hui
man race in the way Of carol or anthem.
The fcathered songsters learned all their
music direct from God. lie gave them the
art in n nest of straw or moss or sticks and
taught them how to lift that song into the
higher heavens and sprinkle the earth with
its dulcet entertainments. God fashioned,
God tuned. God launched, God lifted mu-
sic,
And there is kind Of music that the
Lord only can impart To yon. my hearer.
There have been depraved, reprobate and
blasphemous souls which could sing till