Connecticut western news., 1893-01-12
AT THE TABERNACLE. LIE

Al HE IABEKNA ALLIE. WISDOM MAY BE LEARNED FROM THE
 FOWLS OF THE AIR. Dr. Tnlnsss Dissoarsss with Beautiful
 EloQusnoe on the Many Lessons Taught
 by tho Birds-Kvcry Species Native tu
 Palestine Is Mentioned in the Scriptures.
 BROOKLYN, Jan. 8.-Dr. Talmage this morning continued the course of ser mons begun . few Sabbaths ago. Hav- ing preached about the Astronomy of the Bible; or, God Among the Stars, y 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, 28, Behold the fowls of the airl"
 There Is silence now in all our Janu- Ary 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, cantatss and Te 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 a 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. Use 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 airp 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, forI was brought up among the race of wings and from boyhood heard their matins at sunrise and their vespers at sunset
 Their nests have been to me fascina- tion, and my satjsfaction is that never robbed one of them any more than wopld steal child from 8 cradle, for a bird is . child of the sky, and it's nest is the cradle. They are almost human, for they have their loves and hates, aff1ni- ses and antiquities, understand joy and grief, have conjugal and maternal in- stinct, wage wars and entertain teal- ousies, have 8 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 u1less we study natural history.
 Five hundred and ninety-thr times does the Bible allude to the facts of nat aral history, and do not wonder that it aAakes so many allusions ofnithological. ThA skies and the caverns of Palestine are friendly to the winged creatures, and 70 many fly and roost and nest and hatch in that region that inspired writers do not have far to go to get pathological illustration of divine truth. There are over forty species of birds recognized in the Scriptures.
 Oh, what 8 variety of wings in Pales- tinei The dove, the robin, the eagle, the cormorant or plunging bird, huring it. self from sky to wave and with long besk clutching it's prey; the thrush, xab;Ch o~rociol1u diol;Loo o ,~o,x,d. <La partridge; the hawk, bold and ruthless, lowering head to windward while watch ing for prey; the swan, at home among the marshes and with feet 30 constructed 1t 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 8 habit of dropping on 8 stone the turtle it had lifted and 80 killing it for food, and on one occasion mistook the bald head of Eschylus, the Greek poet, for 8 white stone, and dropped . turtle upon it, killing the famous Greek; the cuckoo, with crested head and orim- son throat and wings snow tipped, but too. lazy to build its own nest, and so having the habit of depositing it's eggs in nests belonging to other birds; the blpsjay. the grouse, the blower, the mag pds, the kinghsher, the pelican. which Is tho eaEicature of all the feathered crea- tioN; the owl, the goldfnoh, the bittern, the hArri~. the buIbul, the osprey; the vplture, that hing of scavengers, with neok covered with repulsive down instead of attractive feathers; the quarrelsome star4ing; the swallow, flying mile min ut1 and sometimes ten hours in succes- non; tho heron, the quail, the peacock, the ostrich, the lark, the crow, the kite, the bat, the blackbird and many others, with III colors, all sounds, all styles of flight, au 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 on the ground to ssrenade Adams ar rival They took their places on Friday, as the first man was made on Saturday. Whatever else he had or did not have, he should have music. The first sound that struck the human ear was birds voice.
 TRUE SCIENCE IS RELIGIOUS
 Yea, Christian geology-for you know there is Christian geology as well as an infidel geology-Christian geology comes in and helps the Bible show what we owe to the bird creation. Before the human race came into this world the world was occupied by reptiles and by all sorts of destructive monsters-mil- hons of creatures, loathsome and hide ous. God sent huge birds to clear the earth of these creatures before Adam and Eve were created. The remains of these birds have been found imbedded in the rocks- The skeleton of one eagle has been found twenty feet in height and fifty Heof from fin If xauino fo fin of uinn