Milford chronicle., 1893-02-24
AT THE TABERNACLE.
Or. TALMAeE FINDS LESSONS IN THE
BIBLES MENTION OF SHELLS.

BIBLES MENTION OF SHELLS.
The Divine COnchOIogy "The Pearl o
Great Prics''-The Purple of Ancient
Make The Route OF the Israelites
Gods Care For the Coral Insect.
BROOKLYN, Feb l9.-In the Tabernael,
this forenoon Rev DR.. Talnlage' continued
his course Of sermons on God everywhere.
( His subject was the "Couchology of the Bi-
? Bile; or, God Among the Shells" the text
being taken from Exodus, 9Oth chapter,
S4th verse, And the Lord said unto Moses,
Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte and
E onycha"
D You may not have noticed the shells Of
J the Bible, although in this early part OF the
sacred book God calls you to consider and
employ them rs he called Moses to consider
and employ them. The onycha Of my text
IL she'll 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. l shall speak Of this shell as a
beautiful and practical revelation of God,
and as true as the first chapter Of Genesis
and the last chapter Of Revelation or every
thing between.
Not only is this shell, the onycha, found
at the Red sea, but in the waters Of In
dia. 1t not only delectates the eye with
its convolutions Of beauty, white and lus-
! trous and serrated, but blesses the nostrii
with pungent aroma. This shellhsh, &C
eustomed to feed on spikenard, is redolent
with that Odorous plant, redolent when
alive and redolent when dead. Its shells
Vuhau hrrnad havrfkrh he ,f, g.,
grance
In my text God commands Moses to mix |
onyeha with the perfumes Of the altar in the |
ancient tabernacle, and propose to mix |
some ofits 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 "Or-
anthology of the Bible; or, God Among the
Birds" the "Mineralogy Of the Bible, or,
God Among the Amethysts;" the "Ichthy-
ology of the Bible; or, God Among the
Fishes, now come to speak Of the "Con-
chology Of the Bible; or, God Among the
Shells"
THE FASCINATION IN A sHRLL.
It is u secret that you may keep for me,
for / have never before told it to any one,
that in all the realms Of the natural world
there is nothing to me so fascinating, so
absorbing, so full of suggestive
ness as a shell. What2 More entertaining
than bird, which can sing, when a shell
cannot sing? Well, there you have made !
great mistake. Pick up the onycha from
the banks Of the Red sea or pick up BIZ
valve from the beach of the Atlantic ocean ,
and listen, and you hear a whole choir of
marine voices-bass, alto, soprano-in an :
unknown tongue but seeming to chant as =
put them to my ear, The sea is his, and :
be made it," others siBging, THY way, o :
God, is in the sea-" others hymning, ''He =
-uleth the raging Of the sea" ),
What" says some one else, ''does the -
ihell impress you more than the starr" In :,
Iome respects, yes, because can handle the /,
hell and closely study the shell, while I =
'annot handle the star, and if / study it q
must study it at a distance of millions and !.
Millions of miles.
What" says some one else, "are you
more impressed by the shell than the flow a
RI" Yes, for it has far greater varieties q
nd far greater richness of color, as could :,
how you in thousands of specimens, and
ecause the shell does not fade as does the \.
ose leaf, but maintains its beauty century =,
fter century, so that the onycha which the u
oOf of pharaoh's horse knocked aside in %
he chase of the Israelites across the Red -
"a may have kept its luster to this hour. ~
es, they are so particolored and many col -
red that you might pile them up until - =,
on would have wall with all the colors
the wall Of heaven, from the jasper at 10
le bottom to the amethyst at the top ~,
Oh, the shellsl The petrifed foam of the NJ
n. Oh the shellsi The hardened bubbles -.
the deep. Oh, the shellsl which are the ~
adems thrown by the ocean to the feet Of -,
continents Eorrr tl1n cho11e ~ -
'ooved cylindered, notified iridescent! of
hey were used as coin by some Of the ma Ia
ons. They were fastened in belts by 9th II,
s and made in handles of wooden imple- -,
ents by still others Mollusks not only ~,
the sea, but mollusks Of the land. Do nj
u know how much they have had to do Tn
ith the worlds history? They saved the
urch of God from extinguishment. The ]
raelites marched out of Egypt 1900, 900 pr,
rong, besides fiocks and herds tul
The Bible says ''The people took their tio
ugh before it was leavened, their knead. sci
9 troughs being bound up in the clothes liv
their shoulders. They were thrust forth but
t Of Egypt and could not tarry; neither exl
d they prepared for themselves any vic wit
ais" Just think of It'll Forty years in ow
E wilderness. Infdelity triumphantly to
Ks, How could they live 40 years in the the
A1sAhNao NASuO4e ADoAE Ou say UAtllAld AIll
!. Oh, that was after long while. They A
uld have starved 50 times before the tho
Lnna fell. The fact is, they were chiefly the
pit alive by the mollusks of the land or wol
,lled creatures. Mr.. Fronton and Mr. owl
ard took the same route from Egypt to- the
rd Canaan that the Israelites took, and trie
y give this as their testimony: all
FOOD IN THE DESERT. it h
Although the children of Israel must 9th
re consisted Of about 2,G0O 900 souls, the
h baggage and innumerable fiocks and eyei
ds, they were not likely to experience ride
7 inconvenience in their march. Several Pac
usand persons might walk abreast with al,
greatest ease in the very narrowest part you
he valley in which they first began to file IT
1t soon afterward expands to above faith
ee leagues in width. With respect to theI
lge, they would be at no loss. The wou
und is covered with tamarisk, broom, drOI
yer and saint foin, of which latter es the
tally camels are passionately fond, be- man
IS almost every variety of odoriferous was
ut and herb proper for pasturage. by il
The whole sides Of the valley through Hav
ch the children Of Israel marched are sons
tufted with brusiwood, which doubt my
afforded food for their beasts, together Bt
b many drier sorts for lighting fire, on NOR
ch the Israelites could with the great ann,
ease bake the dough they brought with to N
n ON small iron plates, which form a and
stant appendage to the baggage of an tbro,
ntal traveller. Lastly, the heritage un- With
leath these trees and shrubs is com Wbi
ely covered with snails Of prodigious von
and of the best sort, and, however un- on n
ting such repsist might appear to us, faint
are here esteemed great delicacy. sbod
= are so plentiful in this valley that it Lad
be literally said that it is difficult to ,,bit
one step without treading on them" ,vitb
the shelled creatures saved the host Of nedi
elites on the march to the promised and