The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-02-22
GOD AMONG THE SHELLS.
Rev. Dr. Talmage Continues His
Series Of Sermons
On "God Everywhere" Choosing for His
Subject "Ths Conohoiogy OF the Bible"
The Onyoha Beautiful and
T. Practical Revelation OF the
.tt Divine Master.

In continuation Of his course of ser"
mons on God Everywhere" Rev. Dr.
Talmage chose for his subject, 1.-THE
Conchology OF the Bible, or God Among
the Shells" the text being taken from
Exodus xxx, "a: "And the Lord said
unto Moses, take unto thee sweet spices,
stacte and onycha." Following is the
sermon:
You may not have noticed the shells
Of the Bible, although in this early part
Of the sacred book God calls you to con-
slider and employ them. The onycha
of my text is shell found on
the banks Of the Red Sea. and
Moses and his army must have crushed
many Of them under foot as they
crossed the bisected waters, onycha on
the beach and onycha in the unfolded
bed Of the deep. shall speak Of this
shell as beautiful and practical reve-
lation Of God, and as true as the first
chapter of Genesis and the last chapter
Of Revelation or everything between.
Not only is this SHE'LL the onycha,
found at the Red Sea, but In the waters
OF India. 1t not only delectates the eye
with its convolutions of beauty, white
and lustrous and seriated, but blesses
the nostrils with pungent aroma
This shell fish, accustomed to feed on
spikenard, is redolent with that odor-
GUS plant redolent when alive and red
olent when dead. Its shells, when
burnt, bewitch the dir with fragrance
In my text, God commands Moses to
mix this onycha with the perfumes OF
the altar in the ancient tabernacle, and
propose to mix some of its perfumes
at the altar Of Brooklyn tabernacle, for
having spoken to you on the astronomy
Of the Bible or God among the Stars,
the Chronology OF the Bible or God
among the Centuries, the 0rnithology
Of the Bible or God among the Birds,
the Mineralogy of the Bible or God
among the Amethysis, the Ichthyology
of the Bible or God among the Fishes,
/ Inow come to speak of the Conchology
Of the Bible or God among the Shells
1t is secret that you may keep for
me, for l have never before told 1t to
anyone, that in all the realms OF the
natural world, there is nothing'to me
SO fascinating, so completely absorbing,
80 full of suggestiveness, as q she'll
What2 More entertaining than bird,
which can sing, when a she'll cannot
sing? Well, there you have made o
great mistake. Pick up the onycha from
the banks of the Red Sea or pick up a
bivalve from the beach Of the Atlantic
Ocean, and listen, and you hear whole
choir of marine voices-bass, alto, So
pra-o-in an unknown tongue, but
seed Ing TO chant as l put them to my
earl The sea is His and He made it,"
9TH 8 hymning, "He ruleth the raging
Of the sea-" What" says some one
else, docs the shell impress you more
than the starr" In some respects, yes,
because / can handle the shell and close
ly study the shell, while cannot ham
die the star and II study II, must
study it at distance of millions and
millions Of miles What" says some
one else, ''are you more impressed by the
shell than the fowerP" Yes, for 1t has
far greater varieties and far greater
richness Of color, as could show you
in ths hsands Of specimens, and because
the q ell does not fade, as does the rose
leaf but maintains its beauty century
after century, so that the onycha which
the hoof of Pharoah's horse knocked
aside in the chase Of the Israelites
across the Red Sea may have kept its
luster to this hour. Yes, they are so
parti-colored and many colored that you
might pile them up until you would
have wall with all the colors of the
wall Of heaven, from the jasper at the
bottom TO the amethyst at the top.
o, the shells The petrihed foam Of
the sea. o, the shellsl The hardened
bubbles OF the deep. o, the shellsl
which are the diadems thrown by the
ocean to the feet of the continents
How the shells are ribbed, grooved,
cylindered, mottlcd, irridescent They
were used as coin by some Of the ma
tons They were fastened In belts by
others, and made in handles Of wooden
implements by still others Nollusks
not only Of the sea but molluslxs Of the
land. Do you know how much they
have TO do with the worlds history?
They saved the church of God from ex-
tinguishment The Israelites marched
out Of Egypt two million strong, be-
sides foclSs and herds The Bible says
'the people took the dough before IL
was leavened, their kneading troughs
being bound up In the clothes on their
shoulders They were thrust
forth out Of Egypt, and could not tarry,
neither had they prepared for them
selves any victuals." just think of i'll
Forty years in the wilderness. Infdel-
ity triumphantly asks. how could they
live forty years in the wilderness with
out food? You say mamma fell. o, that
was after long while. They would
have starved before the mama fell.
The fact is they were chiefly kept alive
by the mollusks Of the land or shelled
creaturea Mr.. Fronton and Mr.. Sicard
took the same route from Egypt toward
Canaan that the Israelites took, and
they gave this as their testimony:
although the children Of Israel must
have consisted Of about two million Of
souls, with baggage and innumerable
foclts and herds, they were not likely
TO experience any Inconvenience in
their march. Several thousand persons
might walk abreast with the greatest
case in the very narrowest part Of the
valley in which they began TO file of.
II soon afterwards expands to about