Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-10-26
AUTUMNAL. LESSONS.

AUTUMNAL LESSONS.
DR.. TALMAGE CONSIDERS THE SOUTH
WARD FLIGHT OF THE BIRDS.
They Know When to start-They Fly High
and Call on All Their Kind to Go
With Them, but Men Have Not This
Wisdom.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 21.-Rev. DIR. Tai
mage, who has left India and is now on
his homeward journey, has selected as
the subject for his sermon today through
the press October Thoughts, " his text
being jeremiah viii, 7, 1.-THE stork in
the heaven knoweth her appointed time,
and the turtle, and the crane, and the
swallow observe the time Of their COM
ing. but my people know not the judg-
ment of the Lord. "
When God would set fast beautiful
thought, he plants it in tree. When
he would put it afoat, he fashions it
into a fish. When he would have it
glide the air, he molds it into bird.
Ny text speaks of four birds Of besuti-
full instinct-the stork, of such strong
affection that it is allowed Familiarity to
come in Holland and Germany and build
its nest over the doorway; the sweet
dispositioned turtledUve, mingling in
color white and black and brown and
ashen and chestnut; the crane, with
voice like the clang of trumpet; the
swallow, swift as a dart shot out Of the
bow of heaven, falling, mounting,
Swimming, sailing-four birds started
by the prophet % centuries ago, yet fly
ing on through the ages, with rousing
truth under glossy wing and in tho
clutch of stout claw. suppose it may
have been this very season of the year
autumn-and the prophet out Of doors,
thinking of the impenitence Of the peo-
pie of his day, hears great cry over
head.
A Sublime Lesson.
Now. You know it is no easy thing
for one with ordinary delicacy Of eye
sight to look into the deep blue Of noon
day heaven, but the prophet looks up
and there are fiocks Of storks and turtle
doves and cranes and swallows drawn
ont in long lines for flight southwark.
AS is their habit, the cranes had ar
ranged themselves in two lines, making
an angle, wedge splitting the air with
wild velocity, the old crane, with COM
manding call, bidding them onward,
while the towns, and the cities, and the
continents slid under them. The
prophet, almost blinded from looking
into the dazzling heavens, stoops down
and begins to think how much superior
the birds arc in sagacity about their
safety than men about theirs, and he
puts his hand upon tho pen and begins
to write, 1.-THE stork in the heaven
knoweth her appointed times, and the
turtle, and the crane, and the swallow
observe the time OF their coming, but
nv people know not the Judgment OF
the Lord. "
If you were in the field today, in the
clump Of trees at the corner OF the field
you would see o convention Of birds,
noisy as the American congress the last
night before adjournment or as the
English parliament when some unfor'
tunate member proposes more economy
in the queens household, a convention
of birds all talking at once, moving and
passing resolutions on the subject Of
migration, some proposing to 60 to-
morrow, some moving that they go TO-
day, but all unanimous in the fact that
they must 60 soon, for they have march
ing orders from the Lord written on the
first white sheet of the frost and in the
pictorial of the changing leaves.
Mansions Ready For Them.
There is not belted kingfsher, or
chaffinch, or O fire crested wren, or
plover. or a red legged partridge but ex'
poets to spend the winter at the south,
for the apartments have already beer
ordered for them in South America OF
in Africa, and after thousands Of miles
of flight they will stop in the very tree
where they spent last January. Fare.
well, bright plumage! Until spring
weather, away Fly on, great band OF
heavenly musicians Strew the CONT
nents with music, and, whether from
Ceylon isle, or Carolinian swamps, OF
Brazilian groves men see your wings OF
hear your voice, may they yet bethink
themselves of the solemn words Of the
text, 1.-THE stork in the heaven noweth
her appointed times, and the turtle, and
the crane, and the swallow observe the
time of their coming, but my people
know not the Judgment of the Lord.
l propose so far as God may help me
in this sermon carrying out the idea OF
the text to show that the birds Of the
air have more sagacity than men. And
l begin by particularizing and saying
that they mingle music with their work.
The most serious undertaking Of birds
life is this annual fight southwark.
Naturalists tell us that they arrive thin
and weary and plumage ruffled, and yet
they 60 singing all the way, the ground
the lower limo of the music, the sky the
upper line Of the music, themselves the
notes scattered up and down between.
suppose their song gives elasticity tc
their wing and helps on with the jour
ney, dwindling 1000 miles into 400.
Would God that we were as wise as they
in mingling Christian song with our ev-
eryday work. believe there is such a
thing as taking the pitch of Christian
devotion in tho morning and keeping ii
all the day. / think we might take some
of the dullest. heaviest, most disagree
able work of our life and set it to the
tune of "Antioch" or Mount Pisgah. y
Song and Praise.
1t is a good sign when you hear a
workman whistle. 1t is a better sign
when you hear him hum a roundelay.
1t Is q still better sign when you hear
him sing the words of Isaac Watts OF
Charles Wesley. a violin chorded and
strung, if something accidentally strikes
it, makes music, and suppose there is
such thing as having our hearts SO at
tuned by divine grace that even the
rough collisions of life will make a
heavenly vibration. / do not believe
that the power of Christian song has yet