The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-10-24
LOOK UPWARD.
Rev. DR.. Talmage Talks of the Les.
sons Given to Sinful Mon
BY the Birds OF the Air-He Sees in Nature
an Eloquent Example-The Church Of
God to Be Victorious Must Be
come Singing Church
Learn to Fly High.

come Singing Church
Learn to Fly High.
Rev. DR. Talmage, who has left India
and is now on his homeward journey,
selected as the subject for his latest
sermon, October Thoughts, his text
being jeremiah viii. Z:
The stork in the heaven knoweth her ap-
pointed time; 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.
When God would set fast beautiful
thought, he plants it in a tree. When
He would put it ahoat He fashions it
into fish. When He would have it
glide the air, He molds it into a bird.
My text speaks of four birds of beauti-
full instinct-the stork, of such strong
affection that it is allowed familiarly
to come, in Holland and Germany, and
build its nest over the doorway; the
sweet-dispositioned turtle dove, min
Cling in color white, and black, and
brown, and ashen, and chestnut; the
crane, with voice like the clang of q
trumpet; the swallow, swift as a dart
shot out of a bow of heaven, falling,
mounting, sl1imming, sailing-four
birds started by the prophet twenty
five centuries ago, yet flying on through
the ages, with rousing truth under
glossy wing and in the clutch of stout
claw. suppose it may have been this
very season of the year-autumn-an
the prophet out of doors, thinking of
the impenitence of the people of his day,
hears great cry overhead.
Now, you know it is no easy thing
for one with ordinary delicacy of eye
sight to look into the deep blue of
MONDAY Heaven; but the prophetic
up, and there are hocks of storks and
turtle doves, and cranes, and swallows,
drawn out in long lines for fight south
ward. AS is their habit, the cranes had
arranged themselves in two lines max
ing an angle, a wedge splitting the air
with wild velocity, the old crane with
commanding call bidding them onward;
while the towns, and the cities, and the
continents slid under them. The pro-
phet, almost blinded from looking into
the dazzling heavens, stoops down and
begins to think how much superior the
birds are in sagacity alb out their safety
than men about theirs; and he puts his
hand upon the pen and begins to write:
'The stork in the heaven knoweth her
appointed times; and the turtle and the
crane and swallow observe the time
of their coming; but my people know
not the judgment of the Lord"
If you were in the field to-day, in the
clump Of trees at the corner of the
field, you would see convention OF
birds, noisy as the American congress
the last night before adjournment, OF
as the English parliament when some
unfortunate member proposes more
economy in the queens households
convention of birds, all talking at once
moving and passing resolutions on the
subject of migration; some proposing
to go goto-morrow, some moving that they
go to-day, but all unanimous in the
fact that they must go soon, for they
have marching orders from the Lord
written on the first white sheet Of the
frost, and in the pictorial of the chang.
ing leaves. There is not q belted king
fisher, or caffinch, or fire crested
wren, or plover, or a red-legged part
ridge but expects to spend the winter
at the south, for the apartments have
already been ordered for them in South
America or in Africa; and after thou
sands of miles Of fight, they will stor
in the very tree where they spent last
January. Farewell, bright plumage
Until spring weather, away! Fly on
great band of heavenly musicians
Strew the continents with music, ant
whether from Ceylon Isle or Caroliniar
swamps, or Brazilian groves, men see
your wings, or hear your voice, may
they yet bethink themselves of the sol
emn words of the text: ''The stork IL
the heaven knoweth her appointed
time; and the turtle and the crane anC
the swallow observe the time of theil
coming; but my people know not tn,
Judgment of the Lord"
propose so far as God may help me
in this sermon, carrying out the idea o
the text, to show that the birds of tn,
air have more sagacity than men. Ant
begin by particularizing and sayin;
that they mingle music with thei
work. The most serious undertaking
of birds life is this annual figh
southwark. Naturalists tell us tina
they arrive thin and weary, and plu
mage ruffied, and yet they go singing
all the way; the ground, the lower lin,
of the music, the sky, the upper line o
the music, themselves the notes scat
tered up and down between. Isuppos
their song gives elasticity to their wing
and helps on with the journey, dwin
ding a thousand miles into four hun
dred. Would God that we were as wis
as they in mingling Christian song will
our everyday work! believe there i
such thing as taking the pitch O
Christian devotion in the morning, an,
keeping it all the day. think W
might take some of the dullest, heavi
est and most disagreeable work of ou
life, and set it to the tune of Antioch
or mount Pisgah."
It is a good sign when you hear
workman whistle. 1t is a better sig
when you hear him hum roundelay
1t is still better sign when you hea