Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-01-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
subject: "God Among tn. BIRDS"

There is silence now in all onr January
forests. except as the winds whit tie through
tne Dare branches. Oar mort ern WOO Is
are deserted concert halls. The organ lofts
In the temple of nature are hymness. Trees
which were full Of carol and chirp and chant
are now waiting for the coming back of
rich piumes and warbling vo;ces, solos,
nuets. quarfetes, csntatas and TIE Deums.
But the Bible is full OF birds st all seasons.
and prophets and patriots and apostles. and
Cnrlst Himself, employ them for moral and
reiigious purposes. My text is an extract
from the sermon on the mount. and perhaps
II was at moment when a hock of birds
new past that Christ waved His hand toward
them and said. behold the fowls Of the air p
Ana so In this course Of sermons on Col
everywhere preach to you this third ser.
mon concerning the ORTHODOXY OF the
Bible: or, God Among the Birds.
most OF the other sciences you may study
on not study as You please. Use your own
judgment exercise your own taste But
about this science of ornith llogy we have
no option, The divine command is positive
when it saws in my text, behold the fowls
OF the air That is, stu ~ their habits.
Examine their colors. Notice their speed.
See the hand of Col in their construction.
It is easy for me to obey the command OF
the text, for was brought up among the
race OF wings and from boyhood heard their
mathis at sunrise and their vespers at sun
SET
Their nests have been to me fascination.
and my satisfaction is that never robbed
one of them any more than wouli steal
child from a cradle, for a bird is child of
the sky, and its nest is the cradle. They ara
almost human, for they have their loves and
hates, afiinities and antipathies, understand
joy and grief. have conjugal and maternal
Instinct, wage wars and entertain jealouSies,
have a Iane uage of their own and powers of
association. Thank God for BIRDS and skies
full of them, 1t is useless to ex )ect to un
derstand the Bible unless we study natural
history.
Five hundred and ninety-three times does
the Bible aliude TO the facts of natural his
tory, and l do not wender tdat it makes 50
many illusions pathological. The skies
and the cayerns of Palestine are friendly to
the winged creatures, and SO many hy aud
roost and nest and hatch in that region that
inspired writer's do not have far to go to get
pathological illustration of divine truth.
There are over forty species OF birds reco5-
oized in the Scriptures.
Oh. what a variety OF wings in Palestinel
The dove, the robin. the eagle, the cor no
rant or punging bird, hurting itsei. from
sky to wave and with long beak clutcainy
it's prey; the thrush, which especially dis.
Gkes a crow ; the par.ri iges' the hawk,
bold and ruthless lowering head to wind
ward while watching FOR prey: the swan, at
home among the marshes and with feet SO
constructed Itcan walk on the leaves of wa
ter plants; the raven, the lapwing. maloior'
Gus and in the Bible denounced as inedible.
though it has extraordinary headdress;
the stork, the ossifrage, that always
had a habit of dropping on stone the turtle
it had lifted AMI so killing it for food, AMI
on one occasion mistoo1 the bald head Of
Eschylus, the Greek poet, for a white stone,
and dropped a turtle upon it, killing tee
famous Greek; the cuckoo, with crested
heal and crimson throat and wings snow
tipped, hut too lazy TO build its own nest,
and so having the habit of deposting its
eggs in nests belonging to other biri.; the
biueiay, the grouse, the piover, the maybe,
the kingisher, the pelican, which is the carl
cature Of all the feathered creation. the owl,
the goldfinch, the pittern, the barrier, tho
bulbu the osprey; the vuture, that KING or
scavengers, with neck covered with repusive
Down instead of attractive feathers; the quar-
relsone starting the swallow. flying uife
minute and sometimes ten hours III success
sion: the eron, the quail. the peacock, the os-
tricb, the iars, the crow, the kite. the bat,
the backbird and many Others, with ell
co.ors, all sounds, al! styles OF flight, ali
habits, all architecture of nests. leaving
nothing wanting in suggestiyensss. They
were at the creation placed alt around on
the rocks and in the trees and on the ground
to serenade Adams arriva'. They took
their places on Friday, as the first man was
made on Saturday, Whatever else he hat
or did not have, he sho I'D have music. Tins
first sound that struck the human ear was q
birds voice.
Yes, Christian geology--for you know
there IS q Christian geology az well as an in
fidel geoio2y-Christian geology comes in
and helps the Bible show wat we owe tn
the bird creation. Before the human RAGS
came into this world the world was occupied
by reptiles and by all sorts Of destructive
monsters millions Of creatures. loathsoma
and hideous. God sent huge birds to clear
the earth OF these creatures before Alan
aud Eve were create The remains OF these
birds have been found imbeidei in the
rocks. The skeleton OF ons eaglo has been
found twenty feet in hei INT and fifty feet
from tip Of wing to tip of wing. Many ar
mics of besks and Claws were Necessary tc
clear The earth of creatures that would have
DESTROYED the human race with one clip.
like to find this harmony of revelation ans
science, and to have demonstra ted that t1'
God VINO made the world made the Bible.
Moses, the greatest lawyer Of all time anC
great man for fac.s, hal enough senti
ment and poetry and musical taste to well
come the Illuminated wings an | the voices
divirely drilled into the first CHAPTER Of
Genises. How should Noah, the old ship.
carpenter, so years OF age, fud out When
the world was fit again for human residence
after the universal freshety bird will
tell, ana nothing else can. No man can
come down from the mountain to inyite
Noah and his family cut TO terra frma, for
the mountains were submerged AS birJ
first heraldei the human race into the
world, now bird will help the human race
back TO the world that had shipped sea
that whelmad everything.
Noah stands on Sunday morning at tho
window of the arr, in his hand a cooling
dove so gentle, so innocent so affec ionate.
and he said Now. my little dove, fly away
over these waters, explore and come bacS
and tell us whether it is safe to land" After
long flight it returned hungry AMI weary
aud wet and by its looSs and manners said
to Noah and his family: The world is not
fit for you to disembark" Noah waitei a
week. and next Sunday morning he let the
dove fly again for a second exploration, and
Sun ay evening it came back with Leaf
that had the sign of just having been
p,uckeI from a living fruit tree, and the
bird reported the world would do tolerably
well for bird to live in, but not yet suft-
GENTLY recovered for human residence.
Noah waited another week, and next Sun
day morning he sent out the dove on the
third exploration, but II returned not, for i.
found the world so attractive now il did not
want to be Gagged agsn, and then ths
emigrants from the antediluvian world
landed. 1t was a bird that told them when
to take possession OF the resuscitatei planet.
So the human race were saved by a brIs
wing, for, attempting to land too soou, they
wouid have persisted.
Aye, here comes whole flock OF doves
rock doves. ring doves, stock doves-an1
they make Isaiah think of great revivala
and great awakeuings when souls fly for
shelter like flock of pigeons swoopiny to
the opening of a pigeon COOP and he cries
out, who are these that fly as doves to
their windowsH David, with Saul after
him. and flying from cavern to cavern. COM
pares himself to a desert partridge, bird
which especially haunts rocky places. and
boys and hunters to this day take after il
With sticks, for the partridge runs rather
than flies.
David. chased and dubbed and harriei Of
pursu-r-, says. II am hunted as partridge
on the mountains" Speaking of his for,orn
condition, he SAYS, al am like A pelican In
the wilderness" Describing his loneliness,
he saws, 81 am swallow alone on the house
ton" Hezekiah, in the emaciaton of his
sickness, compares himself to a crane, thin
AMI wasted. JOB had SO much trouble hs
coul not sleep nights, and he describes his
insomuis by saying. 81 am a companion to
owls" Isaiah compares the desolations of
bsnlshed Israel to an owl AMI bittern aud
cormorant among city ruins.
Jeremiah. describing the cruelty OF pa
rents toward children, compares them to ths
ostrich who leaves its eggs in the saul ua-
cared tor, crying, 1.-The daughter Of my peo-
pie is become like the ostriches of the wilder
ness" Among the provisions piled on Solo
mons bounttful table he speaks Of "fatted
fowl" The Israelites IN the desert got sirei