The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1893-01-13
AT THE TABERNACLE.
WISDOM MAY BE LEARNED FROM TIE
FOWLS OF THE AIR.

DR.. TaImage Discourses with Beautiful
EIoquence the Many Lessons laugh
by the Birds-Every Species Native Il
Palestine Is Mentioned in the Scriptures
BROOKLYN, Jan. S.-Dr. Talmage thil
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,
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. 20, Behold
the fowls of the air.
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, cantatas and TIE 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 moment when a
flock of birds flew past that Christ waved
his hand toward them and said, Behold
the fowls of the ARR And so in this
course of sermons on God everywhere !
preach to you this third sermon concern
ing the ORTHODOXY 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 air. That
Is, study their habits. Examine their
eolors. Notice their speed. See the hand
of God in their construction. It is easy
for me to obey the command of the text,
Cor | was brought up among the race of
wings and from boyhood heard their
mathis at sunrise and their vespers at
Iunset.
Their nests have been to me fascina-
ton, and my satisfaction is that | never
robbed one Of them any more than
would steal a child from cradle, for
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-
ties and antipathies, understand Joy and
grief, have conjugal and maternal in
ftinct, wage wars and entertain ieal-
busies, have language of their own and
powers of association. Thank God for
birds and skies full of them! 1t is use
hess 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 nat
ural history, and l do not wonder that it
makes so many illusions pathological. |
The skies and the caverns of Palestine |
Ire 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 |
of divine truth. There are |
over forty species of birds recognized in
The Scriptures.
Oh. what a variety of wings in Piles
line! The dove, the robin, the eagle, the
or plunging Bird hurting it.
self from sky to wave and with long
beak clutching its prey; the thrush,
which especially dislikes a crowd; the
the hawk, bold and ruthless,
lowering head to windward while watch
ing for prey; the swan, at home among
the marshes and with feet so constructed
4 can walk on the leaves of water plants;
Me raven, the lapwing, malodorous and
n the Bible denounced as inedible,
though it has extraordinary headdress;
HE stork: the ossifrage, that always
had habit of dropping on stone the
turtle it had lifted and so killing it
sOr food, and on one occasion mistook
he bald head of Hschylus, the Greek
poet, for white stone, and dropped a
Ertle upon it, killing the famous Greek:
he cuckoo, with crested head and Grim
'on throat and wings snow tipped, but
90 lazy to build its own nest, and SO
having the habit of depositing its eggs
- hOoeo cOiOh6ihS W Otuc1 Dlloos LILO
,luejay, the grouse, the plover, the mag
ne. the kingfisher, the pelican, which is
ne caricature of all the feathered crea-
ion; the owl. the goldfnch, the bittern,
he barrier, the bulbul. the osprey; the
rulture. that king of scavengers, with
,eck covered with repulsive down instead
4 attractive feathers: the quarrelsome
tarling; the swallow, flying mile min
tie and sometimes ten hours in success
ion; the heron, the quail. the peacock. the
'strich, the lark, the crow, the kite, the
vat. the blackbird and many others, with
III colors, all sounds, all styles of fight.
III habits, all architecture of nests, leav-
ng nothing wanting in suggestiveness.
They were at the creation placed all
round ON the rocks and in the trees and
N the ground to serenade Adams ar
ival. They took their places on Friday.
S the first man was made on Saturday.
Whatever else he had or did not have,
e should have music. The first sound
hat struck the human ear was a birds
dice.
TRUE SCIENCE Is RELIGIOUS.
Voc Christian reolOgv-for ,-o,, lvr,oxr- !