Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-02-15
AMONG THE FISHES.
They Were the First of Living Things
to be Created.
Evon Before the Sun and Moon were Kir-
died the Waters Were Filled with Nov
Ing Creatures-sermon by Rev. T.
Dewitt TalmaEe, ID. ID.

Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage Sunday
morning preached in the Tabernacle, a
remarkably interesting and eloquent
sermon on THE Ichthyology of the
Bible, or God among the Fishes" being
continuation of bis series of discourses
on God Everywhere. The text chosen
vas Genesis l., 20: "And God said, Let
the waters bring forth abundantly the
moving creature that hath life"
What a new book the Bible isl After
thirty-six years preaching from it and
discussing over 3, 0OC different subjects
founded on the Word OF God, the Book
Is as fresh to me as when 1 learned,
with n stretch of infantile memory, the
shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus
wept," and opened a few weeks ago a
new realm of biblical interest that
neither my pulpit nor anyone else's had
ever explored, and. having spoken TO
you in this course of sermons on God
Everywhere concerning the Astronomy
of the Bible. or God Among the Stars;
the Chronology of the Bible, or God
Among the Centuries; the Ornithology
of the Bible, or God Among the Birds;
the Mineralogy of the Bible, or God
Among the Amethysts, this morning as
may be divinely helped. / will speak
to you about the Ichthyology of the
Bible, or God Among the Fishes.
Our horses were lathered and tired
out and their fetloclxs were red with
blood cut out by the rocks, and / could
hardly get my feet out of the stirrups
as on Saturday night we dismounted on
the beach of Lake Galilee The rather
liberal supply of food with which we
had been started from Jerusalem was
well nigh exhausted, and the articles of
diet remaining, had, by oft repetition,
three times a day for three weeks,
ceased to appetite. never want TO see
fig again, and dates with me are all
out of date. For several days the Arab
caterer, he could speak but half dozen
English words, would answer our re-
quest for some of the styles of food
with which we had been delectated the
first few days, by crying out "Fin-
ished."
The most piquant appetizer is alb
stinence, and the demand of all the
party was: Let us breakfast on Sum
day morning on fresh fish from Lake
Gennesareth," for you must know that
that lake has four names, and it is
worth profusion of nomenclature, and
1t is in the Bible called Chinnerete.
Tiberias, Gennesareth and Galilee To
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 break
fast that Christ ever prepared, and il
was on those very shores where we
breakfasted. Christ had in those older
times struck two flints together and
set on fire some shavinps or
light brushwood, and then put on
larger wood and a pile of glowing
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 dripping without flutterinr fin
or squirning scale But Christ from
the shore shouted to them, and told
them where TO drop the net. and 15S
big fish awarded them. Simon and
Nathaniel, having cleaned some of
those large fish, brought them to the
Goals which Christ had lSindled, and the
group who had been out all nipht auJ
were chill and wet and hungry sat
down and began mastication All that
scene came back to me when, on Sab
bath morning. December, 1889, Just out
SIDE the ruins of ancient Tiberias and
within sound of the ripping Galilee,
we breakfasted.
Now, is 1t not strange that the Bible
imagery is so inwrought from the fish
cries, when the Holy Land is, for the
most part an inland regionP Only three
lakes, two beside the one already men
Toned, namely, the Dead sea, whore
hsh can not live at all, and as soon as
they touch it they die and the birds
swoop on their tiny carcasses, and the
third, the Pools of Heshbon, which are
alternately full and dry. Only three
rivers of the Holy Land-,Jabbols
Kishon and Jordan. About all tho
fish in the waters of the Holy Land are
the perch, the carp, the Dream. the min
now, the blenny, the barbel (so-called
because of the barb at its mouth), the
club, the dog-fish, none of them worth
a Delaware shad or an Adirondack trout.
well the worlds geography has
changed and the worlds bill
OF fare has changed. Lake Cali
lee was larger and deeper and better
stocked than now, and no doubt the
rivers were deeper and the fisheries
were of far more Importance than now.
Besides that, there was the Mediterra-
mean sea only thirty-fve miles away
and the fish were sailed or dried and
brought inland, and so much OF that mr.
ticle of food was sold in Jerusalem that
a fish market gave tine name TO one of
the gates of Jerusalem near by. and IL
was called the Fish gate. The cities
had great reservoirs in which fish were
Kept alive and bred. The Pool Of Glib
con was fish pool. Isaiah and Solo |
mon refer 70 fish pools. Large fish were |
kept alive and tied fast by ropes 70 n |
stake in these reservoirs, a ring having 4
been run through their giils, and that is /
the meaning OF the Scripture passage /
which says, 'Canst thou put a hook /
into his nose or bore his Jaw through I
with thorn?' So important was /
the fish that the god Dagon. worshiped |
~ the Philistnes. was made half fish /
and half man, and that is the meaning /
81 the Lords Indignation, when Ina 1
J. Samuel we read that this DaQon. the |
bsh-god' stood beside the ark Of the /
Lord, and Dagon was by invisible hands .
1ushed TO pieces because the philis- /
tines had dared 70 make the fish "a god /
That explains the Scripture passage. /
The head Of Dngon and both tho
palms Of his hands were cut off upon f.
che threshold; only the stump OF Daron /