Democratic messenger., 1893-02-11
GOD IS EVERYWHERE.
Or. TAlMAGE CONTINUES HIS SER
MONS ON THE eIeLE AND NATURE.

Or. TALMAGE CONTINUES HIS SER
MONS ON THE eIeLE AND NATURE.
The Bible Abounds In Reference to Fish.
and They Are Indirectly Recommended
For Food-why Fishermen Were Chosen
For Apostles.
BROOKLYN, Feb. j.-Rcv. T. De Witt
Talmage this morning preached 10 a
great audience in the Tabernacle re-
markably interesting and eloquent ser
mon on The Ichthyology of the E!blc:
or. God Among the Fishes" bcinga con
tinuation Of his series of disrourses on
God cvcrywhcrc The text chosen was
Genesis i. 20. And God said. Let the
waters brin.s forth abundantly the NOV
ing creature that hath life"
What new book the Bible is, After
81 years preaching from it and discuss
ing over 1000 different subjects found Il
on the word of God. the book is rs fresh
to me as when learned. with a stretch
of infantilc memory. the shortest verse
III lIlt NtDt, anu OI"lltu
few weeks ago Il new realm of Biblical
interest that neither my pulpit nor any
one clse's had ever explored. and having
spoken to Won in this course of sermons
on God everywhere concerning the AS
tronomy 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 BIZ
BILE: or. Col Among the Amethysts. ="
this morning. rs | may be divinely
helped. will speak TO you about the
"lchthyology of the Bible: or. God
Among the Fishes"
TIE APOSTOLIC FISHERMEN.
Our horses were lathered and tired
out, and their fctlocks We're red with the
blood cut out by the rocks. and could
hardly get my feet ont of the stirrups as
on Saturday night we dismounted on the
beach of Lake Galilec. The rather lib
eral supply of food with which we had
started from Jerusalem was well nigh
exhausted. and the articles of diet re-
manning had by oft repetition three
times day for three weeks ceased to
| appetite. Inever want To see n fig again.
and dates with me are all out of date.
For several daysthe Arab caterer. who
could speak but half a dozen English
words. woull answer our requests for
some of the styles Of food with which we
had been delcctated the first few DAYS
by CRYING ont. Finished The most
piquant appetizer is abstinence. and the
demand of all the party was. Let us
breakfast on Sunday morning on fresh
fish from Lake Gcnnesarcth." for you
must know that that lake has four names.
and it is worth profusion of nomen-
clature. and il is in the Bible called
Chinnercth. Tiberias. Gcnnesareth and
Galilee.
To our extcmporized 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 breakfast that
Christ ever prepared. and it was on
! those w.. :;,,o-Ci here we brcakfdSted.
Christ hal il those olden times struck
! two flints together and set on fire some
shavings or light brushwood and then
put on larger wood. and pile of glow
ing 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 drip
ping without Il fluttering fin or squirm-
ing scale. But Christ from the shore
shouted to them anl told them where To
drop the net. and lj3 big fish rewarded
them. Simon and Nathaniel. having
cleaned some Of those large fish, brought
| them 10 the collS which Christ had
kindlcd. and the group who had been
ont all night and We're chill and wet and
hungry sat down and began mastication.
All that scene came back to Us when on
Sabbath morning December. 1889. Just
outside the ruins Of ancient TiberiaS and
within sound of the rippling Galilcc. we
hrcakfastcd
BIBLE ICHTIIYOIOGY.
Now. il it not strange that the Biblc
imagery is SO inwrought from the fish
cries when the Holy Land is. for the
most part. an inland region: Only three
lakes-two besides the one already men,
| tioned-namely. the Dead sea. where fish
cannot live mt 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 alter
nately full and dry. Only three rivers of
the Holy Land-JabbOk. Kishon and Jor-
dan.
About all the fish now in the waters
of the Holy Land are the perch. the carp,
the Dream. the minnow. the blenny. the
barbel $50 called because of the barb at
its mouth. the club. the dogfish, none
Of them worth Delaware shad or an
Adirondack front. Well. the worlds
geography has changed. and the worlds
bill of fare has changed. Lake Galilee
was larger and deeper and better stocked
than now. and no doubt the rivers We're
deeper AMI the fisheries were of far
more importance then than now.
! Besides that. there was the Mediterra-
mean sea only - miles away. and fish
were salted or dried and brought inland,
and so much of that article of food was
sold in Jerusalem that fish market gave
the name to one of the gates of Jerusa-
lem near hy. and it was called the fish
gate. The cities had great reservoirs
in which fish were kept alive and bred.
The pool of G ''eon was a tishpool. Isaiah
and Solomon refer 10 fishpools. Large
fish We're kept alive and tied fast by ropes
to stake in these reservoirs. Il ring hav
ing been run through their gills, and that
is the nearing of the Scripture passage
which says. "Canst thou put II hook into
his nose or horc his jaw through with n
thorn
So important WAS the fish that the god
Dagon. worshipcl by the Philistines. was
r:ad" half fish and half man. and that is
the meaning Of the Lords Indignation
when in Samuel we read that this
Dagon. the fish god stood beside the ark
of the Lord and DaSon was by invisible
hands dashed 10 pieces because tho Phil
istines III; dared to make the fish god.
| That explains the Scrntnre passage