The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-02-08
GOD AMONG THE FISHES.
DR.. Talmage's Series OF Sermons
on God Everywhere"
The First Living Thing That God Created
Was the Fish-The Gospel Fisheries
q and the Kind OF Bait to Use
An Eloquent Sermon.


God Among the Fishes" was the sub
ject Of Dr. Talmage's recent sermon in
continuation of his series Of discourses
on "God Everywhere" The text chosen
was Genesis l., 20: "And God said, Let
the waters bring forth abundantly the
moving creature that hath life"
What new book the Bible isl After
thirty-six years preaching from 1t and
discussing over three thousand differ
erent subjects founded on the word Of
God, the book is as fresh to me as when
learned, with a stretch Of infantile
memory, the shortest verse In the Bible,
"Jesus wept" and opened few weeks
ago a new realm of biblical interest
that neither my pulpit nor anyone else's
had ever explored, and having spoken
to you In this course Of sermons on God
Everywhere, Concerning the Astronomy
Of the Bible or God Anon G the Stars,
the Chronology Of the Bible or God
Among the Centuries, the Ornithology
Of the Bible or God Among the Birds,
the Mineralogy of the Bible or God
Among the Amcthysts, this morning, as
l may be divinely helped, I will speak
to you about the Ichthyology Of the
Bible or God Among the Fishes.
Our horses were lathered and tired
out and their fetlocks were red with
the blood cut out by the rocks, and /
could hardly get my feet out Of the
stirrups as on Saturday night we dis
mounted on the beach of Lake Galilee.
The rather liberal supply of food
with which we started from Jerusalem
was well-nigh exhausted, and the
articles of diet remaining had, by oft
repetition, three times day for three
weeks, ceased to appetite. l never
want to see fig again, and dates with
me are out Of date. For several days
the Arab caterer, who could speak but
half dozen English words, would an
swer our questions for some Of the
styles Of food with which we had been
delectated the first few days, by crying
out, Finished" The most piquant
appetizer is abstinence, and the demand
Of all the party was, LET us breakfast
on Sunday morning on fresh fish from
Lake Gennesareth. for you must know
that that lake has four names, and 1t Is
worth a profusion of nomenclature,
and 1t is in the Bible called Chinnereth,
Tiberias, Gennesareth and Galilce. To
our extemporized table on Sabbath
morning came broiled perch only a
few hours before lifted out of the
sacred waters 1t was natural that our
minds should revert to the only break
fast that Christ ever prepared, and 1t
was on those very shores where we
breakfasted Christ had in those
olden times, struck two flints together
and set on fire some shavings or light
brushwood, and then put on larger
wood, and pile OF glowing bright
Goals was the consequence. Meanwhile
the disciples, fishing on the lake, had
-awfully poor luck" and every time
they drew up the net 1t hung dripping
without huttering fin or squirming
scale. But Christ, from the shore, told
them where TO drop the net, and 152
big fish awarded them. Simon and
Nathaniel, having cleaned some Of
those large fish, brought them TO the
Goals which Christ had kindled, and tho
group who had been out all night and
were chill and wet and hungry, sat
down and began mastication. All
that scene came back to us when on
Sabbath morning, December, 1889, just
outside the ruins Of ancient Tiberias
and within sound Of the ripping Cali
lee, we brealxfasted
Now, is it not strange that the Bible
imagery is 80 inwrought from the fish
cries, when the Holy Land is for the
most part an inland region? Only
three lakes, two besides the one already
mentioned, namely, the Dead Sea, where
fish cannot live at all and as soon as
they touch 1t they die, and the birds
swoop on their tiny carcasses, and the
third, the Pools Of Heshbon, which are
alternately full and dry. Only three
rivers OF the Holy Land, Jabbok, Kis-
hon and Jordan. About all the fish now
in the waters of the Holy Land are the
perch. the carp, the Dream, the minnow,
the blenny, the barbel (so called be-
cause OF the barb of his mouth), the club,
the dogfish, none Of them worth Dela-
ware shad or an Adirondack trout Well,
the worlds geography has changed,
and the worlds bill Of fare has changed.
Lake Galilee was larger and deeper and
better stocked than now, and no doubt
the rivers were deeper and the fisheries
were OF far more Importance then than
now. Besides that, there was the Med
iterranean Sea only thirty-fve miles
away, and fish were sal ted or dried and
brought inland, and 80 much Of that ar
ticle Of food was sold in Jerusalem that
q fish market gave the name TO one oi
the gates OF Jerusalem near by, and II
was called the Fish Gate. The cities
had great reservoirs, in which the fab
were kept alive and bred. The Pool Of
Gibeon was a fish pool. Isaiah and Sol
omon refer TO fish pools. Large fish
were kept alive and tied fast by ropes
10 stake In these reservoirs, o ring
having been run through their gills,
and that is the meaning Of the Scrip
tural passage which says, "Canst thou
nut a hook into his nose or bore his jaw
through with q thornP" SO important
was the fish that the goa Dagon, wor-
shipped by tho Philistines, was made
half fish and half man, and that is the
meaning of the Lords Indignation,
when in First Samuel we read that thia
Dagon, tho fish god, stood beside the
ark Of the Lord, and Dagon was by In
Visible hands dashed 70 pieces, because
the Phiiistines had dared 70 make the