The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-02-17

in the very first book of Genesis, where
| my text records: "And God said, Let
the waters bring forth Rbundantly the
moving creature that hath life. Do
you realize that the first living thing
that God created was the fish7 It pre-
ceded the bird, the quadruped, the hui
man race. The fish has priority of
residence over every living thing. The
next thing done, after God had kindled
for our world the golden chandelier of
the sun and the silver chandelier of
the moon was to make the fish The
first motion of the principle of life, a
principle that all the thousands of
years since have not been able to define
or analyze, the very first stir of life was
in fish. What an hour that was
when in the Euphrates, the Gihon, the
Pison and the Hiddekel, the four rivers
of Paradise, the waters swirled with
fins and frightened with scales. All
the attributes of the infinite God were
called into action for the making of
that first fish. Lanceolate and translu-
cent miracle. There is enough wonder
in the plate of a sturgeon or in the car
tilage of a shark to confound the scien-
fists. 1t does not take universe to
prove God. A fish does it. No won
der that Linnau us and Cuvier and Agas-
siz and the greatest minds of all the
centuries sat enraptured before its anat-
omy.
The Lord, by placing the fish in the
first course of the menu in Paradise,
making it precede bird and beast, indi-
Gated to the world the Importance of
the fish as an article of human food.
The reason that men and women lived
three hundred, and four hundred, and
five hundred, and nine hundred years
was because they were kept on parched
corn and fish. We mix up fantastic
food that kills the most of us before
thirty years of age. Custards and
whipped sillabubS and Roman punches
and chicken salads at midnight are a
gauntlet that few have strength to run.
We put on a tombstone glowing cpl
thets saying that the person beneath
died of patriotic services or from ex-
haustion in religious work when moth
ing killed the poor fellow but lobster
eaten at a party four hours after he
ought to have been sound asleep in bed.
There are men to-day in our streets
SO many walking hospitals who might
have been athletes if they had
taken the hint of Genesis in my text
and of our Lords remark and adhered
to simplicity of diet. The reason that
country districts have furnished most
of the men and women of our time who
are doing the mightiest work in mer-
chandise, in mechanics, in law, in medi-
cine, in theology, in legislative and
congressional halls. and all the presi-
dents from Washing ton down-at least,
those who have amounted to anything
is because they were in those country
districts of necessity kept on plain
diet. No man or woman ever amounted
to anything who was brought up on
floating island or angel cake. The
world must turn back to paradisaic
diet if it is to get paradisaic health.
The human race to-day needs more
phosphorus and the fish is charged
and surcharged with phosphorus.
Phosphorus, that which shines without
burning.
What made the twelve apostles such
anything and achieve everything? Next
to Divine inspiration, it was because
they were nearly all fishermen, and
lived on fish and few plain condi-
ments. Paul, though not brought up
to swing the net and throw the line,
must of necessity have adopted the diet
of the population among whom he
lived, and you see the phosphorus in
his boldest of all utterances before the
wiseacres on Mars Hill, and the phos-
phorus as he went without fright to his
beheading, and the phosphorus you see
in the lives of all the apostles, who
moved right on undaunted to certain
martyrdom, whether to be decapitated
or flung off precipices or hung in cruel
fxion. Phosphorus, shining in the dark
without burningl No man or woman
that ever lived was independent of
circumstances are compelled to
simplicity of diet thank God for
their rescue from the temptation
of killing delicacies. The men
and women who are to decide the drift
of the twentieth century. which is only
seven or eight steps off, are now five
miles back from the rail station, and
had for breakfast this morning a SINH
lar bill of fare to that which Christ
provided for the fishermen disciples on
the banks of Lake Galilee. Indeed,
the only articles of food that Christ by
miracle multiplied were bread and fish,
which the boy who acted as sutler to
the seven thousand people of the will
derness handed over-five barley loaves
and two fishes. The boy must have
felt badly when called on to give up
the two fishes which he had brought
out after having caught them himself,
sitting with his bare feet over the bank
of the lake and expecting to sell his
supply at good profit, but he felt bet
ter when by the miracle the fish were
multiplied and he had more returned
to him than he had surrendered.
Notice also how the Old Testament
writers drew similitude from the fish
cries. jeremiah uses such imagery
to prophesy destruction: Behold,
will send for many fishers. saith the
Lord, and they shall fish them"
Ezekiel uses fish imaginary to prophesy
prosperity: at shall come to pass that
the fishers shall stand upon it from
En-gedi even to En-eglaim; they shall
be a place to spread forth nets;
their fish shall be according to
their kinds, as the fish of the great
sea. exceeding many" The explana-
ton of which is that En-gedi and En-
eglaim stood on the banks of the Dead
Sea, in the waters of which no fish, but
the prophet says that the time will
come when these waters will be re-
generated and they will be great places