The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-02-24
BIBLE CONCH0LOGY.
DR., TALMAee CONTINUES HIS SER
MONS ON GOD IN NATURE.


Care Is shown In the Oceans Shells.
BROOKLYN, Feb. l9.-ln the Tabernacle
this forenoon Rev, DR., Talmage contin-
ned his course of sermons ON God every
where His subject was the "Conchology
Df the Bible; or, God Among the Shells, .
the text being taken from Exodus, 80th
chapter, Saith verse, "And the Lord said
unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices,
stacte and onycha.
You may not have noticed the shells
OF the Bible, although in this early part
of the sacred book God calls you to con-
slider and employ them as he called
Moses to consider and employ them The
onycha of my text is shell found on the
banks of the Red sea, and Moses and his
army must have crushed many of them
under foot as they crossed the bisected
waters, onycha ON the beach and onycha
in the unfolded bed of the deep. shall
speak of this shell as beautiful and
practical revelation of God, and as true
o. the first chapter of Genesis and the
idst Sudptoi VI toNSidtioh [" oNSiy thiiS
between.
Not only is this shell, the onycha
found at the Red Sea, but in the waters
OF India. 1t not only DELEGATES the eye
with its convolutions of beauty, white
and lustrous and serrated, but blesses
the nostril with a pungent aroma. This
shellhsh accustomed to feed on spike
nard. is redolent with that odorous
plant--redolent when alive and redolent
when dead Its shells when burned be-
witch the air with fragrance.
In my text God commands Moses to
mix this onchya with the perfumes of
the altar in the ancient tabernacle, and
propose to mix some of its perfumes at
the altar of Brooklyn Tabernacle, for,
having spoken to you on the Astronomy
OF the Bible; or, God Among the Stars;
the Chronology of the Bible; or, God
Among the Centuries" the "Ornithology
OF the Bible, or, God Among the Birds,
the "MineraIogy of the Bible, or, God
Among the Amethysts;" the "lchthyolo-
Ky of the Bible; or God Among the
Fishes" now come to speak Of the
'Conchology of the Bible; or. God Among
the Shells"
RICHES OF THE OCEAN.
It is secret that you may keep fol
me, for have never before told it to any
one, that i'll all the realms of the natural
world there is nothing to me so fascinat-
ing SO completely absorbing, so full Of
oh oil MT
entertaining than a bird, which can sing
when shell cannot sing? Well, there
you have made great mistake. Pick
up the onycha from the banks of the Red
sea or pick up bivalve from the beach
of the Atlantic ocean and listen, and you
hear whole choir of marine voices
bass. alto soprano-in an unknown
tongue. but seeming to chant, as put
them to my ear. The sea is his, and he
made it," others singing, THY way, c
God, is In the sea- others hymning, He
ruleth the raging of the sea.
What" says some one else, does the
shell impress you more than the starr
In some respects, yes, because lean han
die the shell and closely study the shell
while cannot handle the star, and if
study it must study it at distance Of
millions and millions of miles.
What" says some one else, ARE yor
more impressed by the shell than the
flower Yes. for it has far greater va
rieties and far greater richness of color
as | could show you in thousands O.
specimens, and because the shell does no
fade, as does the rose leaf, but maintains
it's beauty century after century, so tina
the onycha which the hoof of pharaoh
horse knocked aside in the chase of tn
lsraelites across the Red sea may hav'
kept its luster to this hour Yes. they
are SO particolored and many coloret
that you might pile them up until yot
would have wall wi tn all the colors o
the wall of heaven. from the jasper a
the bottom to the amethyst at the top.
Oh, the shells! The petrihed foam 0
the sea. Oh. the shellsl The hardenet
bubbles of the deep Oh. the shells
| which are the diadems thrown by tn
ocean to the feet of the continents. How
the shells are ribbed, grooved cylin
dered mottled. iridescentl They wer
| used as coin by some of the nations
They were fastened in belts by Others
and made in handles of wooden imple
ments by still others. Mollusks not onl
of the sea. but mollusks of the land D.
you know how much they have had t
| do with the worlds history? They savet
the church OF God from extinguishment
The Israelites marched out of Egyp
1900, 600 strong, besides fiocks and herds
The Bible says ''the people took thei
dough before it was leavened, thei
kneading troughs being bound up in tn
clothes on their shoulders. They wer
thrust forth out Of Egypt and could nc
tarry; neither had they prepared fo
themselves any victuals." just think c
It'll Forty years in the wilderness. II
fidelity triumphantly asks, How coul
they live 40 years in the wilderness witt
out food? You say mama fell Oh
that was after long while. They woul
have starved so times before the mann
fell The fact is, they were chiefly ker
alive by the mollusks of the land c
shelled creatures. Mr.. Fronton and MI
Sicard took the same route from EgyI
toward Canaan that the lsraelites tool
and they give this as their testimony
/ IsRAEL's ROUTE TO CANAAN.
Although the children of Israel mus
have consisted of about 100000 soul
with baggage and innumeraple fiocl
and herds, they were not likely to e.
perience any inconvenience in the
march. Several thousand persons migf
walk abreast with the greatest ease
the very narrowest part Of the valley
which they first began to file off. It 500
afterward expands to above three League
in width With respect to forage the
would be at no loss. The ground is COZ
cred with tamarisk, broom. clover an
saint foin, of which latter especial
camels are passionately fond. besides a
most evory variety of odoriferons plan
and herb proper for pasturage.
1.-THE whole sides of the valley throug
which the children of Israel marched al
still tufted with brushwood, whic
doubtless afforded food for their beast
together with many drier sorts for igh
ing fire, on which the Israelites coul
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