The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-02-10
GOD is EVERYWHERE.
Or. TALMAee CONTINUES HIS SER
MONS ON THE BIBLE AND NATURE.

| Talmage this morning preached to q
great audience in the Tabernacle re-
markably interesting and eloquent SER
mon on 1.-THE Ichthyology Of the Bible;
or, God Among the Fishes" beinga con-
tinuation of his series of discourses on
God everywhere. The text chosen was
Genesis 1, 90, "And God said, Let the
waters bring forth abundantly the NOV
ing creature that hath life."
What a new book the Bible isl After
SO years. preaching from it and discuss
ing over 5000 different subjects founded
on the word of God, the book is as fresh
to me as when l learned, with stretch
of infantile memory, the shortest verse
In the Bible, Jesus wept," and opened
a few weeks ago new realm Of Biblical
interest that neither my pulpit nor any
one else's had ever explored, and having
spoken to you in this course of sermons
on God everywhere concerning the LAS
tronomy Of tho Bible; or, God Among
the Stars" the Chronology of the Bible;
or, God Among the Centuries" the "Or-
anthology of the Bible; or, God Among
the Birds" the "Mineralogy Of the BIZ
BILE; or. God Among the Amethysts,
this morning, as may be divinely
/ helped, twill speak to you about the
"lchthyology of the Bible; or, God
Among the Fishes"
THE APOSTOLIC FISHERMEN,
Our horses We're lathered and tired
out, and their fetlocks were red with the
blood cut out by the rocks, and could
hardly get my feet out Of the stirrups Us
on Saturday night we dismounted on tho
beach of Lake Galilee. The rather lib
eral supply of food with which we had
started from Jerusalem was well nigh
exhausted, and the articles of diet re-
naming had by oft repetition three
times day for three weeks ceased to
Appetite. Inever want to see a fig again,
and dates with me arc all out of date.
For several days the Arab caterer, who
could speak but halfa dozen English
words, would answer our requests for
some of the styles of food with which we
had been delectated the first few days
by crying out. FINISHED" The most
piquant appetizer is abstinence, and the
demand of all the party was, "Let us
breakfast on Sunday morning ON fresh
fish from Lake Gennesareth," for you
must know that that lake has four names.
and it is worth profusion of nomen-
clature, and it is in the Bible called
Chinnereth, Tiberias, Gennesareth and
| Galilee.
20 our extemporized table on Sabbath
! morning came broiled perch, only a few
/ hours before lifted out of the sacred
waters. 1t was natural that our minds
should revert to the only breakfast that
| Christ ever prepared, and it was on
those very shores where we breakfasted.
Christ had in those olden times struck
two fints together and set on fire some
shavings or light brushwood and 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 the net it hung drip
ping without futtering fin or squirm.
ing scale. But Christ from the shore
shouted to them and told them where to
drop the net, and 1873 big fish rewarded
them. Simon and Nathaniel, having
cleaned some of those large fish. brought
them to the Goals which Christ had
kindled, and the group who had been
out all night and were chill and wet and
hungry sat down and began mastication.
All that scene came back to us when on
Sabbath morning, December, 1889, just
outside the ruins of ancient Liberals and
within sound of the ripping Galilee, we
breakfasted.
| BIBLE ICHTHYOLOGY.
Now, is it not strange that the Bible
imagery is so inwrought from the fish.
cries when the Holy Land is, for the
most part, an inland region? Only threa
lakes-two besides the one already men.
tioned--namelys the Dead sea, where fsl
cannot live at ali. and as soon as they
touch it they die, and the birds swool
on their tiny carcasses. and the third
the Pools of Heshbon, which are alter
rately full and dry. Only three rivers Of
the Holy Land-Jabbok, Kishon and Jor
dan.
About all the fish now in the waters
| vi lAot) . lllC ftcIClls ti1c ~
the Dream, the minnow the blenny, the
barbel $50 called because of the barb al
its MOUTH, the club, the dogfsh, none
of them worth Delaware shad or az
Adirondack trout. We'll, the world,
geography has changed, and the worlds
bill of fare has changed. Lake Gafilet
was larger and deeper and better stocked
than now, and no doubt the rivers were
deeper and the fisheries were of fal
more Importance then than now.
Besides that, there was the Mediterra
mean sea only 35 miles away, and fsl
were sailed or dried and brought inland
and so much of that article of food was
sold in Jerusalem that q fish market CAV,
the name to one of the gates of Jerusa
lem near by. and it was called the fsl
gate. The cities had great reservoir,
in which fish were kept alive and bred
The pool of Gideon was fishpool Isaial
and Solomon refer to fshpools. Large
fish were kept alive and tied fast by rope:
To a stake in these reservoirs, d ring hay
ing been run through their gills, and tina;
is the meaning of the Scripture passagt
which says, "Canst thou put hook int
his nose or bore his jaw through with
thornf'
So important was the fish that the goo
Dagon. worshiped by the Phiistines. wa
male half fish and half man, and that il
the meaning t.f the Lords indignatio:
when in | Samuel we read that til
Dagon, the fish god. stood beside the arr
of the Lord, and Dagon was by inyisibii
hands dashed TO pieces because the Phil
istines had dared to make the fish god
That explains The Scripture passaG',
'"fhe head of Dagon and 10th the palm
of his hands '.ere cut off upon the thresh
old; only the stump OF ragon was Tef
to him." Now, the stQr of Dagon va
the fish part. The top l,srt, which wa
the figure CT niaA. YVES l,ashed to piece.
and the Lord, by deinoli5hing every
thing but the stump CT fish part of Ii
idol, practically said, you may kec
your fish, bat know from the way hav
demolished tine rest of tho idol that it
nothing divine.