Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-01-12
GODAMONG THE BIRDS
DR.. fALMAGE DRAWS MANY Les
SONS FROM THE FOWLS.
Surprising Frequency of Allusions to
Birds In the Scriptures and Always To
Teach an Important Lesson-OrnithoI-
ogy Is Surely = Divine Science.


ogy Is Surely = Divine Science.
BROOKLYN, Jan. S.-Dr. Talmage this
morning continued the course of sermons
begun few Sabbaths ago. Having
preached about the Astronomy of the
Bible; or, God Among the Stars" and the
Chronology of the Bible; or, God Among
the Centuries" this morning he discoursed
on the "Ornithology of the Bible; or. God
Among the Birds. The text was Mat
thew vi %, behold the fowls of the ARR
There is silence now in all our January
forests, except as the winds whistle through
the bare branches. Our northern 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 waiting for the coming back
OF rich plumes and warbling voices, solos,
duets quartets cantatas and Tie Deums.
But the Bible is full of birds at all seasons,
and prophets and patriarchs and apostles
and evangelists and Christ himself employ
them for moral and religious purposes
Ny text Is an extract from the sermon on
the mount, and perhaps it was at a moment
when flock of birds flew past that Christ
waved his hand toward them and said,
Behold the fowls of the airl' And so, in
this course of sermons on God everywhere,
preach to you this third sermon concern
ing the Ornithology of the Bible; or, God
Among the Birds.
oRNITHOLOGY IS DIVINE.
Most of the other sciences you may study
or not study ms you please. Use your own
Judgment; exercise your own taste. But
about this science of ornithology we have
no option The divine command is posi-
tive when it says in my text, Behold the
fowls of the ARP That is, study their hab-
bits. Examine their colors. Notice their
speed See the hand of God in their con-
struction. 1t is easy for me to obey the
command of the text, for WIS brought up
among this race of wings and from boyhood
heard their mathis at sunrise and their YES
pers at sunset.
Their nests have been to me fascina-
ton, and my satisfaction is that never
robbed one of them, any more than would
steal child from cradle, for bird is
child of the sky, and its nest is the cradle.
They are almost human, for they have
their loves and hates, affinities and antipa-
thies, understand joy and grief, have conju-
gal and maternal instinct, wage wars and
entertain jealousies, have a language Of
their own and powers of association. Thank
God for birds and skies full OF them. 1t
is useless 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 natural his
tory, and do not wonder that it makes so
many illusions pathological The skies
and the caverns of Palestine are friendly TO
the winged creatures, and so many fly and 1
roost and nest and hatch in that region that !
inspired writer's do not have far to go to !
get ornithological illustration of divine 4
truth. There are over forty species of birds I
recognized in the Scriptures. Oh, what a /
variety Of wings in Palestine
The dove the robin, the eagle, the cor
morant, or plunging bird, hurting itself /
from sky TO wave and with long beak
clutching its prey; the thrush, which espe-
cially dislikes "A crowd; the partridge; the
hawk, bold and ruthless, lowering head to
windward while watching for prey; the
swan, ut home among the marshes and
with feet so constructed it can walk on the
leaves of water plants; the raven, the lap
wing, malodoroux and in the Bible de
nounced AS inedible, though it has extraof-
binary headdress; the stork, the ossifrage,
that always had a habit of dropping on
stone the turtle it had lifted and SO killing
It for food, and on one occasion mistook
the bald head Of Echylus, the Greek
poet, for white stone and dropped
turtle upon it, killing the famous Greek:
the cuckoo, with crested head and crimson
throat and wings snow tipped, but too lazy
70 build its own nest and so having the
habit of depositing its eggs in nests belong
Ing to other birds; the blue jay, the grouse,
the plover, the magpie, the kingfsher; the
pelican, which is the caricature of all the
Ieathered creation; the owl, the goldfnch,
the bttern. the barrier, the bulbul, the
osprey; the vulture, that king of scav-
sngers, with neck covered with repul-
'ive down instead of attractive feath-
us the quarrelsome starting, the swal-
ow, flying mile a minute and some
imes ten hours in succession; the
leron, the quail, the peacock, the ostrich.
he lark, the crow, the kite, the bat,
he blackbird and many others, with all
olors, all sounds, all styles of fight, all
labits, all architecture of nests, leaving
lothing wanting in suggestiveness. They
we're at the creation placed all around on
he rocks and in the trees and on the ground
o serenade Adams arrival They took !
heir places on Friday, as the first man was !
aade on Saturday. Whatever else he had $
.
rst sound that struck the human ear was I
birds voice. q
THERE Is A CHRISTIAN GEOLOGY. !
Yea, Christian geology-for you know
here is Christian geology as well as an q
lfidel geology-Christian geology comes !
} and helps the Bible show what we owe c
D the bird creation. Before the human s
ace came into this world the world was D
coupled by reptiles and by all styles of P
estructive monsters-millions of creatures .
'athsome and hideous. God sent huge
irds to clear the earth of these creatures Y
efore Adam and Eve were created The )
.mains of these birds have been found i'm L
edded in the rocks. The skeleton of one 1
lgle has been found twenty feet in height "
ld fifty feet from tip of wing to tip of "
ing. Many armies of beaks and claws A
ere necessary to clear the earth of crea. e.
Tres that would have destroyed the human q
zee with one clip. like to find this har- q
ony of revelation and science and to W
ave demonstrated that the God who made W
le world made the Bible VI
Moses. the greatest LAWYER of all time and al