Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-02-23
AT THE TABERNACLE.
DIR. TALMACE FINDS LESSONS IN THE
BIBLES MENTION OF SHELLS.

Make - Tho Route of the Israeitcs.
Gods Care For the Coral Insect.
BRoOKLYN, Feb. 19--In the Tabernacle
this forenoon Rev. Dr. Talmage continued
| his course of sermons on God everywhere
| His subject was the "Conchology of the Bi.
bic. or, God Among the Shells" the text
being taken from Exodus, Both chapter,
18th verse, And the Lord said unto Moses,
| Fake unto thee sweet spices, stacte and
Unvcha."
You may not have noticed the shells Of
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
Is Il 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 orycha in the unfoded bed of
| the deep | shall speak of this shell as n
/ beautiful and practical revelation of God
aud as true as the first chapter of Genesis
and the last chapter of Revelation or every
thing between.
Not only is this shell, the uhycha, found
mt the Red sea, but in the waters of In.
! hia 1t not only DELEGATES the eye with
]
trous and serrated, but blesses the nostril
with pungent aroma. This shellfsh. ac-
rustomed to feed ON spkenard, is redolcnt
with that odorous plant, rcdolcnt when
nlive and rcdolent when dead. Its shells
! when burned bewtch the air with fra.
| GRANGE
In my text God commands Moses to mix
onycha with the perfumes of the altar in the
ancient tabernacle, and | propose TO mix
some of its perfumes at the altar of Brook yn
| 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 cor
anthology of the Bible; or, God Among the
Birds" the "Mincralogy Of the Bible or,
God Among the Amethysts;' the "lchthy
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 SHELL.
1t is a 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
completely absorbing so full Of suggestive
ness rs a shell What? More entertaining
than Il bird, which can sing, when a shell
great mistake. Pick up the onycha from
the banks of the Red sea or pick up "A hi
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
l put them to my ear, The sea is his, and
he made it," others singing, THY way, @
God, is in the sea-" others hymning, He
I rulptl the raginu of the sen ~
What" says some one else, docs the
! shell impress you more than the starr" II
some respects, yes, because can handle the
shell and closely study the shell, while
cannot handle the star, and if | study II
must study it at q distance of millions and
millions of miles
What" says some one else, are you
more impressed by the shell than the flow
erY Yes, for it has far greater varetic,
and far greater richness of color, as ! could
show you in thousands of specimens, anG
because the shell does not fade as does the
rose leaf but maintains its beauty century
after century, 50 that the onycha which the
hoof of phuraoh's horse knocked aside il
the chase of the lsraeltes across the Rec
sea may have kept its luster to this hour
Yes, they are 50 particolored and many col
ored that you might pile them up unit
you would have Il wall with all the color.
of the wall of heaven, from the jasper al
the bottom to the amethyst at the top.
Oh, the shellsl The petrifed foam of tn,
sea. Oh, the shellsl The hardened bubble,
of the deep Oh, the shells! which are tLt
diadems thrown by the ocean to the feet
the continents. How the shells are ribbed
grooved, cylindered, notified, iridesccut
They were used as coin by some of the nd
| fa oh l,I, 1,,-, /,
ers and made in handles Of wooden nipple
ments by still others. Mollusks not onl,
of the sea, but mollusks of the land Dc
you know how much they have had to d,
with the worlds history They saved the
church of God from eXtngushment. Tn,
lsraeltes marched out of Egypt 1000, GU
strong, besides tiocks and herds
The Bible says The people took thc
dough before it was leavened, their knead
ing troughs being bound up in the clothe
on their shoulders They were thrust fort
out of Egypt and could not tarry; neithc
had they prepared for themselves any vie
tuals." just think Of it'll Forty years il
the wilderness lnAdelity triumphant
asks, How could they live 40 years IN III
wilderness without food? You say mann
fell. Oh, that was aftcra long while The
would have starved 80 times before tn
mama fell The fact is, they were chief
kept alive by the mollusks of the land O
shelled creatures. Mr.. Fronton and Nh
Sica. q took the same route from Egypt tc
ward Canaan that the lSraelites took, an,
they give this as their testimony
FOOD IN THE DESERT
Although the children OF Israel mus
have consisted of about 2,000,OOO souls
with baggage and innumerable hocks an,
herds, they were not likely to experienc
any inconvenience in their march. Severa
thousand persons might walk abreast wit
the greatest ease in the very narroweSt par
of the valley in which they first began to i'll
OFF. 1t soon atterward expands to abov
three leagues in width, With respect t
forage, they would be at no loss tn
ground is covered with tamarisk, broom
clover and saint foin, Of which latter e,
> pecially camels are passionately fond, be
: sides almost every variety of odoriferou
plant and hers proper for pasturage,
The whole sides of the valley throug
, which the children of Israel marched ar
, still tufted with brushwood, which doulr
less afforded food for their beasts, togethH
with many drier sorts for lighting fire, o
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