The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-01-19
GOD AMONG THE BIRDS.
TALMAGE DISCUSSES THE Or
MYTHOLOGY OF THE BIRDS.
The Lessons That Are Taught BY:
the Fowls OF the Air--The Par
fridge and the Fate or
Fraud--The SpeokIed
5t Bird E5 Ell Sc !.

fridge and the Fate OF
Fraud--The Speokled
Bird IL
y Brooklyn Special: DR.. Talmage's
subject was "Ornithology OF the Bible;
or God Among the Birds" His text
was Mathew Vi, 90: Behold the
Fowls OF the air"
There is silence now in all our an
uary forests, except as the wind whis-
ties through the bare branches. Our
northern woods are deserted concert
halls. The organ lofts in the temple
ofnature are hymnless. Trees which
were full OF carol and chirp and chant
are now waiting for the coming back
of rich plumes and warbling voices,
solos, duets, quartets, cantatas and
TIE Deums. But the Bible is full OF
birds at all seasons, and prophets
and patriarchs and apostles and
evangelists and Christ himself en-
ploy them for moral and religious
purposes. Ny text an extract from
the Sermon on the Mount and per-
haps 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 air.
And SO, in this course of sermons con.
corning the "Ornithology OF the Bible,
or God Among the Birds"
Most OF the other sciences you may
study or not study as you please.
Use your own Judgment, exercise your
own taste. But about this science Of
sorinthology 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. It is easy for me to
obey the command of the text, for I
was brought up among this race of
wings, and from boyhood heard their
mathis at sunrise and their vespers at
sunset. Their nests have been to me
a fascination, and my satisfaction is
that never robbed one of them, any
more than I would steal child from
cradle, for a bird is q child of the
sky, and it's nest is the cradle. They
are almot human, for they have their
loves and hates, ahnities and anti
pathies, understand Joy and grief,
have conjugal and maternal instinct,
wage wars and entertain jealousies,
have language of their own and
powers of association, Thank God
for birds and skies full of them. It is
useless to expect to understand the
Bible unless we study natural history.
Five hundred and ninety-three times
does the Bible allude to the facts OF
natural history, and l do not wonder
that 1t makes SO many illusions orni-
biological. 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 writer's do not have far to
20 to get archaeological illustra.
tion of divine truth. There are over
forty species of birds recognized in the
Scriptures. Oh, what g. variety of
wings in Palestine. The dove, the
robin, the eagle, the cormorant or
plunging bird, hurting itself from sky
to wave and with long beak clutching
it's prey, the thrush, which especially
dislikes a crowd, the partridge, the
hawk, bold and ruthless, lowering
head to windward, while watching 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, malodo-
rous and in the Bible denounced as
inedible, though it has extraordinary
head-dress, the stork, the ossifrage,
that always had habit of dropping
on a stone the turtle it had lifted
and SO killing it for food, and on one
occasion mistook the bald head of
Hschylus, the Greek poet, for white
stone and dropped a turtle upon it,
killing the famous Greek; the cuckoo,
with crested head and crimson
throat and wings snow tipped, but
too lazy to build its own nestsand
so having the habit OF depositing it's
eggs in nests belonging to other birds,
the blue jay, the grouse, the plover,
the maybe, the king6sher, the pelican,
which is the caricature OF all the
1edtNeTeuGCIe Gno OWL, CQe gOlQ.
fish, the bittern, the harrier, the bull
bull, the osprey, the vulture, that king
of scavengers, with neck covered with
repulsive down instead of attractive
feathers, the quarrlesome startling,
the swallow flying mile minute,
and sometimes ten hours in succession,
the heron, the quail, the peacock, the
ostrich, the lark, the COW, the kite,
the bat. the blackbird and. many
Others, with all colors, all sounds, all
styles of flight, all habits, all archi-
lecture of nests, leaving nothing want
ing in suggestiveness. They were at
the creation placed all around on the
rocks and in the trees and on the
ground to serenade Adams arrival.
They took their places on Friday
as the first man was made on Satur-
day. Whatever else he had or did
not have he should have music. The
first sound that struck the human ear
was q birds voice.
Yea, Christian geology for you
know there is a Christian geology as
well as an infdel geology, Christian
geology comes in and helps the Bible
show that we owe to the bird creation.