Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-02-10
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
Ths Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.
subjsct; GOD Among the Fishes

thirty-six years preaching from it and dis
cussing over 1910 different subjects founded
on the word of God, the book is as fresh TO
me as when | learned, with stretch OF in
fautile memory, the shortest verse IN the
Bible, Jesus wept." and l opened few
weeks ago new realm OF Biblical interest
that neither my pulpit nor any one else's
bad ever explored, and having spoken TO
YOU in this course OF sermons on God every
where concerning the Astronomy of the
Bible; or, God An ong the stars" the
chronology OF the Bible: or, God Among
the Centuries tho ''Ornithology OF the
Bible; or, God Among the Birds the
''Mineralozy Of the Bible, or, Col Among
the Amethysts" this morning, as [ may be
divinely helped, l will speak to you about
the 'Ichthyology of the Bible; or God
Among the Fishes"
Our horses were lathere1 AMI tire out,
and their fetlOcks were red with the blood
cut ont by the ROCKS, aud | could hardly get
my feet out Of the stirrups as on Saturday
night we dismouoted on the beach OF Lake
Gslilee. The rather liberal supply of food
with which we had started from Jerusalem
was well nigh exhausted, aud the articles o.
diet remaining had by oft repetition three
times a day for three weeks ceased 70 Apo
tie. j never want to see fix again, ana
dates with me are all ont of date.
For several DAYS the Arab caterer, who
could speak but hall dozsn English words
would answer our requests for some OF the
styles OF food with which we had been delec.
tated the first few DAYS by crying out 'Fin.
ished.' Tue most piquant appetizer IS alb
stinsnce. and the demand OF all the party
waf, Let us breakfast on Sunday morning
on fresh fish from Lake GenneSsreth," for
you must know that that lake has four
names. AMI it is worth profusion OF nomen'
ciature, and It is in the Bible called Chin
nereth. Tiberias. Gennesareth and Gllilee.
To our extempOrizsd table on Sabbath
morning came broiled perch, only few
hours before lifted out Of the sacred waters.
lt was natural that our minds should revert
to the only breakfast that Christ ever pre-
pared, and it was on those very shores where
we breaktsstei Carist hal in those olden
times struck two hlntS 70 yether AMI set on
fire some shsvings or light brusnwooa aud
then put on larger wood, and pile OF glow
ing bright Goals was the consequence.
Meanwhile the disciples fishing on the lake
had awfully poor luck" and every time
they drew up thenet il hung dripping with
out fiuttering fin or squirming scale. But
Christ from the shore shouted TO them AMI
told them where 10 drop the net, and l0S big
fish rewarded them. Simon and Nathaniel,
having cleaned some OF those large fsb,
brought them TO the Goals which Christ had
kindled, and the group who ha been out all
night and were chill AMI wet and hungry
sat down and be gan masticatloa. All that
scene came back to Us when on Sabbath
morning, December, 1889, lust outside tine
ruins OF ancient Tiberias AMI within sounI
Of the ripping Galilee, We oreakfasted.
Now. it is not strange that the Bible in
agery Is so inwrought from the fisheries
~ IL. d 10 aN-f -r
en- inland reyiols Only three lakes-two be-
sides the one already mentiOned-namely,
the Dead Sea. where FISH cannot live at al,
and as soon as they touch it they die, AMI
the birds swoop on their tiny carcasses, AMI
the third the Pools OF HeshOon. which are
alternately full AMI dry. Only three rivers
OF the Holy Land-JabOos, k'shon and Jor-
dan.
About all the fisa now in the waters OF the
Holy Laui are the perch, the carp, the
Dream. the minnow, the benny, thc barbel
80 called because OF the barb at its mouth,
the club. the 6oy6sh, none OF them worth
Delaware shad or an Adirondack trout.
We'll, the worlds geography has changed,
and the worlds bill OF fare has changed.
Lake Galilee was larger and deeper aud bet
ter stocked than now, and no DOUBT the
rivers were deeper and the fisheries were OF
lar more importance then than now.
Besides that. there was the Mediterranean
Tea only thirty-fve miles away, and fish
we're salted or dried AMI brought inland,
and so much OF that article o. food was sold
in Jerusalem that fisa marEel gave the
name 10 one OF the gates OF Jerusalem nea-
BY and it was called the fish gate. Toe
cities had great reservoirs n which fsl
were kept alive and brej. The pool OF Gideon
was fish poo. Isaiah and solomon refer
to fish pools. Large fish were kept awe
aud tied fast by ropes 70 stake IN these
reservoirs, ring having been run tarou<n
their gills. and that is tn meaning OF the
Scripture passage whici says, "Canst thou
put hook into bis nose or bore his "a"
through with thorn.
50 important was the fish that the gol
DaCou, worShlpe1 by the Pnlhstines, was
made half fish and half man, aud tlat Is the
meaning OF the Lords in lignat,ol wnsn III
Samuel we read tnat this DA!on, the tsh
GOD. stood beside the ark of tne Lord and
Daeon was by Invisible hands dashed to
pieces because the PAiistines hal dared 70
make tbs fish e god. That explains the
Scripture passage, "Tae hea o. Dayon AMI
both the palms of his hands wer5 cut on up
on the threshold; only ths stump OF Dlgon
was lett to him. Now, toe stump OF Dagoh
was the fish part The top part, WHICH wa
Toe TRUFe OIL n tuQIit W as utSuc4 "
and the Lord, by demoishing every thing
but the stump or 6sl part OF the Idol, prac
tically said, You may keep your fish, but
know from the way | have demolished tbs
rest OF the Idol that it is nothing divine"
I4aysrd and Wilkinson found the 6s1 an
object OF idolatry all through Assyria ani
Egypt. The Nile was full of fish, ani that
explains the horrors Of the plague taat
slaughtered the finny tribe all no aud dowA
that river waic has been AMI IS now the
main artery Of EgyIts life. In JOo You
hear the plunge OF the spear into the nip
popotamus as the great dramatic poet erie
out, ''Canst thou fill his SSin with barrie
irons or his head with 6sd spears" Yea,
the fish began 70 swim in tde very first hook
Of Genesis, where my text records, AMI
God said, Let the waters bring forth abunt-
antly tbs moving creature that hath life
Do you realize that the first living
thing that God created was the fish. II
preceded the bird. the quadrupei, the
human race The fish has priority or resi-.
dence over every living thing. Tbs next
thing done aftes God had kin led for our
world ths golden chandelier OF the sI1 an |,
the silver chandelier o. ths moon was co
make the FISH. The first motion of the
principle of life, principle that all the
thousands OF years since have not been able
10 ueHU0 VI dAFL--ilc ftA hAot osAi u
life-was in a fish
What en- hour that was when in the Eu.
pirates the GihOn, toe Pison and the Hid
deke, the four rivers Of Paradise, the waters
swirled with flnS aud trigntene with
scales. All the attributes oil the initiate
God were called into action for the maxim :
Ot that first fish. Lancsolate an translu-
cent miracle There is enough wonder IN
the plate OF a sturgeon or iE the cartilage OF
a shark TO confount the scientist. 1t does
no: take the universe TO prove a Col. A
fish does it. No wonder that Linn8us and
Cuvier and Agass.z and the greatest minds
of all the centuries sat enraDturet before its
anatomy.
Oh. It's beauty az the iaptednsss Of its
structure TO the element in whicl II must
live: the picture gallery on tae sides Of the
mountain trout unveiled as they spring up
TO snatch the flies; tbs grlyhng called the
h)wer OF fishes: tns salmon. ascsniing the
oregon an the Severn, easily leaping the
falls that would stop ths n; the Dol / perch,
the gu igeOn. silver an black spotted; the
herring. moving in squa1rons five miles
long: tue carp tor cunning clllei tia fox
or nsnes; Jne woafrous stuT geo1s, f1rnerly
reserved for the tables Of royal famiisS -, and
the isinglass male out OF their membrane:
the tench, callei the physician o. fishes be-
Gauss when applied TO human ailments it is
said to be curative: the lampreys, 50 tempt
ing to the epicurean that too many Of the n
slew Henry U-ays tho whole world Of
fishes
Enough of them floating up aud down thu
rivers to feed the hemispheres if every ear Of
corn ami every head OF wheat aud every
herd of 0uadruDed and il every other article