The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-02-21
AMONG THE SHELLS.
THE GEM THROWN By THE OCEAN 70
THE FEET OF THE CONTINENTS.
Tho Fortified Foam Of tho Sea- 10 the Way
DR.. Tslmagc Puts 1t In His Sermon on
The Conchologg of tho Bible.

Brooklyn, FEBRUARY I9.V(Speclal.)-ln
the tabernacle this forenoon, Rev. DR..
Talmage continued his course of sermons
on 'God Everywhere" His subject was:
'"The Conchology of the Bible, or God
Among the Shells" the text being taken
from Exodus, Both chapter, 34th verse:
"And the Lord said unto Moses. Take
unto thee sweet spices, stacte and
Onycha-"
You may not have noticed the shells
Of the Bible, although in this early part
Of the sacred book, God calls you to con-
slider and employ them, rs he called
Moses to consider and employ them. The
onycha of my text is 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 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
everything between. Not only is this
shell, the onycha, found at the Red sea,
but in the waters of India. 1t not only
DELEGATES the eye with it's convoiutlons
of beauty, white and lustrOus and serl-
ated. but blesses the nostril with pun
gent aroma. This Shell-tiSh, accustomed
to feed on Spikenard, is redOlent with
that odOrOuS plant, redOlent when awe
and redolent when dead. Its shells, Wnen
burnt, bewitch the air with fragrance
I'm NV text, God commands Moses to mix
this onycha with the perfumes of the
altar in the ancient tabernacle, and l
nronose to mix some of its perfumes at
the altar Of Brooklyn tabernacle, for
having spoken to you on the Astronomy
of the Bible or God among the Stars, lhe
Chronology of the Bible or Goa among
the Centuries the ORTHODOXY or the
Bible or God among the blrds, the Nlllier-
alogy of the Bible or God among the
Amethysts the Ichthyology of the Bible
.nr God among the Fishes l now come to
sneak Of the Conchology OF the Bible OF
God among the Shells.
II ;s - secret that YOU may keep for me
for | have never before told 1t to any one
that in all the realms of the natura! World
there is nothing TO me so 1asclnatihS. SO
completely absorbing. 50 fun OF suGEesIive-
ness as shell. what! More ei.Ji ,,'''i
inc than bird. which can sing, when Il
shell cannot? Well. there YOU have 1nade Il
great mistake. Pick up the onycha from
the banks of the Red Sea, or pick up Il bl-
valve from the beach of the Atlannc oceal.
and listen and you hear II whole choir Oh
marine yoices-bass. alto, sopraiio-ih ''l
unknown tongue, but seeming to chant, as
nut them to my ear 1.-The sea is his and ne
made it," others singing. Thy way, On
God, is in the sea- others hymninG he
ruleth the raging of the sea. what
saws some one else, does the shell I'M
press YOU more than the STAR" In some re
spects. YES because l can handle the shell
and closely study the shell, while L cannot
handle the star, and if study 1t, must study
it at distance of millions and millions OF
miles What" says some one else are
Won more impressed by the shell than the
fiower?" Yes. for it has far greater vari-
cites and far greater richness OF color. as
| could show YOU in thousands OF specl-
mems, and because the shell does not tade,
as does the rose leaf but maintains its beau
ty century after century, 50 that the ony-
cha which the hoof of Pharaoh's horse
knocked aside in the chase Of the lsraelltes
across the Red sea may have kept It's lus-
ter to this hour. Yes. they are so parti-
colorcd and many colored that you might
pile them ND until you would have wall
With all the colors of the wall OF heaven,
from the jasper at the bottom to the anne
thyst at the top.
Oh the shells. The petrfied foam of the
sea. Oh. the shells. The hardened bub-
bles of the deep. Oh. the shells. which are
the diadems thrown by the ocean to the
feet of the continents. How the shells are
ribbed groOved, cylindercd. mottled. III
descent. They We're used as coin by some
of the nations They were fastened Ill belts
h. others. and made III han,
dies of wooden implements by SUI
others. NIollusks not only of the sea but
mollusks of the land. DO you know how
much they have had to do with the world $
history? They saved the church OF GOD
from extingushment. The lsraehtes
marched out of Egypt two million strong,
besides hocks and herds. The Bible says
the people took their dough before it was
leavened. their kneading troughs, being
bound up in the clothes on Their shoulders.
They were thrust forth out
of Egypt and could not larry. neither had
they prepared for themselves any victuals
just think of it. Forty years ia the wider
ness lntidelity triumphantly asks, how
could they live forty years IN the M''Her-
Oh. that was after a long while. They
would have starved long before the mamma
fell. The fact is they were chiefly kept
alive by the mollusks of the land or shelled
creatures Mr.. I'ronton and Mr.. Sicard
took the same route from Egypt toward
give this us their testimony:
"Altnough the children of Israel must
have consisted of about TWO million of
souls. with baggage and lnnumerable ff cks
and herds. they were not ,.EHly t. erpe-
rence any Inconvenience in their march.
Several thousand persons might Walk
abreast with the greatest ease N The very
narrowcst part of ;he valley i'll which they
first began to lille off. 1t soon afterwards
EXPANDS 10 above three leagues in WiCth.
With respect to forage they would be at no
loss The ground is covered with tlmarisk,
broom. clover and Saint Foin, VI which
latter especially camcls are rassionately
fond. besides almost every variety of odcrf-
erous plant and herb proper for pasturagc.
The whole sides of the valley through which
the children of Israel marched are still
tufted with brushwoOd. which doubtless af-
forded food for their beasts, together with
many drier sorts for lighting fire, on which
the Israclites could with the greatest ease
bake the dough they brought with them on
small iron plates. which form constant 2p-
pcndage to The baggage of an oriental trav-
cicr Lastly. the heritage underneath these
trees and shrubs is completely covered With
suails of prodigious size and of the best
sort and however uninvitiEg such n repast
might appear to us. they are here esteemed
a great delicacy. They are so plentiful in
this valley that it may be literally said that
it is difficult to take one step without tread
ing on them"
So the shelled creatures saved the host
of Israelites on the march to the promised
land, and the attack of intidelty at this
point is defeated by the facts, as intidelity
is always defeated by facts since it is found
ell Oh ignorance. In writing and printing.
our interrogation point has at the bottom
a mark like a period and over it u flourish
like the swing of Il transfers whip, and
we put this interrogation point ut the end
<Nc but tl,n Sul ~ r