Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1893-01-12
GOD WITH THE BIRDS
THE SUBJECT OF DR. TAI
IMAGES LATEST TALK.
From tho Text: behold the Fowls OF
tho Alr"-An Extract from the
Sermon ON the Mount--The Deserted
Concert Halls.

he ulscoufseu ON the 'orlhlhploey OF
the lihle; or, God Among the Birds, /" Tho
text was, Matthew 9: 2d' Behold the fowls of
the air
There is silence now in all our Jan
uary forests, except rs the winds
whistle through the bare branches,
Our Northern woods are deserted con-
cert-halls The organ-lofts in the tenn.
pie of nature arc hymnlcss. Trees
which were full of carol aud chirp and
chant are now waiting for the coming
back of rich plumcs and warbling
voices, solos, duets, quartets, cantatas
and rc Deums. but the Bible is full
OF birds at all seasons, and prophets
and patriarchs and apostles and evan
gelists and Christ himself employ them
FOR moral and religious purposes, My
text Is an extract from the Sermon on
the Mount, and perhaps it was al
moment when flock of birds flew past
that Christ waved his hand toward
them and said: "Behold the fowls of
tho air." And so, in this course OF
sermons ON God everywhere, ! preach
TO you this third cimon concerning
tho ORTHODOXY of the Bible, or God
among the birds,
Most of the other sciences you may
your own Judgment, exercise your own
taste. But about tlis science of ornith-
ology we have no option. The divine
command is positive when IL says In my
text, "Behoid the fowls of the airl'
That is, study their habits. Examine
their colors Notice their speed See
the hand of God in their construction,
1t is easy for me To obey the command
40 4 L.. 1t
this race OF wings and from boyhood
heard their mathis at sunrise, and
their vespers ut sunset. Their nests
have been to me Il fascination, and my
satisfaction is that | never robbed one
of them, any more than ! would steal
q child from cradle for bird Is
a child of the sky, and its nest is the
cradle. They are almost human, for
they have their loves and hates, afhni-
ties and antiquities, understand joy
and grief, have coniugal and maternal
instinct, wage wars, and entertain
jealousics, have language of their
own and powers of association. Thank
God for birds and skies full of them.
IL is useless to expect 10 understand
the Bible unless we study natural his
tory. Five hundred and ninety-three
times does the Bible alludc TO the facts
Of natural history, and do not wonder
that it makes SO many illusions orni-
biological. The skies and the caverns
of Palestine are friendly to the winged
creatures, and SO many fly and 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 recognized in the
Scripture. Oh, what variety of
wings in Palestine! The dove, the
robin, the eagle, the cormorant, or
plrnging bird, hurting itself from sky
TO wave and with long beak clutching
its prey, the thrush which especially
dis!iIScs crowd, the partridge, the
hawk, bold and ruthless, lowering
head to windwGrd, while watching for
prey, the swan, at home among the
marshes and with feet SO constructed
1t can walk on the leaves of water
plants, the raven, the lapwing, NAL
odorous and in the Bible de-
nounced Us incdible, though IL
has extraordinary hcad.drcss, the
storis, the ossifragc, that al
ways had a habit of dropping on q
stone the turtle it had lifted and so
killing it for food, and on one occasion
mistoolS the bald head Of Eschylus, the
Greek poet, for Il white stone and
dropped a turtle upon ii, killing the
famous Greek, the cuckoo, with crested
head and crimso throat and wings
now-tippcd, but too lazy to build its
own nest and SO having the habit OF
depositiug its eggs in nests belonging
to other birds, the blue jay, the grouse,
the plover, the magpic, the kingfisher,
the pelican, which is the caricature of
all the fcathcrcd creation, the owl, the
goldfnch, the bittern, the barrier, the
bulbul, the osprey, the vulture, that
king of scavengers, with neck covered
nth repulsive down instead of attrac-
tive feathers, the qlarrelsomc star
ling, the swallows flying mile q
minute, and sometimes ten hours in
succession, the heron, the quail, the
peacock, the ostrich, the lark, the
crow, the kite, the bat, the blackbird
and many others with all colors, al,
sounds, all styles of fight, all habits,
all architecture of nests, leaving moth
! ing wanting in suggestiveness. They
were at the creation placed all around
| on the rocks and in the trees and on
| the ground TO screnade Adams ar
| rival. They took their places on Fri
| day as the first man was made on
Saturday. Whatever else he had OF
did not have, he should have music,
| The first sound that struck the human
car was birds voice.
Yea, Christian geology (for you know
| there is Il Christian geology as well as
an intidel geology, Christian geology
comes in and helps the Bible show
| what we owe to the bird creation. Be
| fore the human race came into this
world, the world was occupied by rep.
! tiles, and by all styles of destructive
! monsters, millions of creatures loath'
/ some and hideous. God sent huge birds
/ TO clear the earth of these creatures
before Adam and Eve were created.
! The remains of these birds have been
Jouad imbedded in the rocks. The sllele'
ton of one eagle has been found twenty
fee. in height, and fifty feet from tip
of wing to tip of wing. Many armies
OF beaks and claws were necessary to
clear tho earth of creatures that would
I have destroyed the human race with
! one clip. / like to find this har.
mony of revelation and science, and &c
haze demonstrated that the God wbC
made the world made the Bible.
Hoses, the greatest lawyer of al
tirle and great man for facts, had
enough sentiment and poetry ant
I musical taste to welcome the illuminet
wings and the voices divinely drilled
into the first chapter of Genesis How
should Noah, the old ship-carpenter
GOO years of age, find ont when thu
! world was tit again for human resi-
! dencc after the universal freshet? a
bird will tell and nothing else can
! No man can come dor from the
/ mountain to invitc Noah and his fam
/ lily out TO terra frma, for the noun
/ tains were submerged. AS a bird frs
heraldcd the human race int,
| the world, now u bird vii
help the human race back I,
the world that had shipped /;
sea that whclmcd everything. Noai
stands on Sunday morning at the win
dow of the Ark, in his hand cooling
dove, SO gentle, so innocent, SO affec
Tomato, and he said: "Now, my little
dove, fly away over these waters, cx
plore, and come back and tell III
whether it is safe 10 land" After 1
long flight it returned hungry anc
weary and wet, and by Its looks ant