National Baptist world., 1894-11-02
THE BIRDS.
DR.. Talmage Draws an Instructive
Lesson from Their Sagacity.
Ii Mankind We're as Instinctively ReItgiou
as the Fowls of the Air 1t Would
Escape the Pinching
Frost of Sin.

-
Witt Talmage, the subject being zoe
tober Thoughts" The texts from Jere
mlah viii. z: ''The stork in the HEAVIER
knoweth her appointed times; and th,
turtle and the crane and the swallow
observe the time of their coming; bu1
my people know not the Judgment o.
the Lord
When God would set fast a beautiful
thought, He plants it in tree Wher
He would put it afioat, He fashions il
into fish. When He would have il
glide the air, He molds it into bird
My text speaks Of four birds of beauti
ful lnstinct-the stork, of such strong
affection that it is allowed famil
larly to come, in Holland and Ger
many, and build its nest over the
doorway; the sweet dispositioned tur.
tie dove, mingling in color white. and
black, and brown, and ashen. and
chestnut; the crane, with voice like
clang Of trumpet; the swallow, swift
as dart shot out of bow of heaven, /,
falling, mounting, sl1imming, sailing
four birds started by the prophet
twenty-five centuries ago, yet flying on
under glossy wing and in the clutch of
stout claws. | 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 a great cry over
head
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 focl1s OF storks, and tur-
tle-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,
making 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 prophet, almost blinded
from looking into the dazzling heavens,
stoops down and begins to think how
much superior the birds are in sagacity
about their safety than men are about
theirs; and he puts his hand upon the
pen, and begins to write: The stork
in the heaven knoyveth 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"
II you were in the field to-day, in the
clump Of trees at the corner of the field
you would see a 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 Qneee.s honseAoldz eanxentienz
Of birds all talking at once, moving
and passing resolutions on the subject
OF migration, some proposing to go to-
morrow, some moving that they go to-
day, but all unanimous in the fact 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 changing leaves.
There is not belted kingfsher, or a
chatfinch, or a fre-creSted wren, or a
plover, or red-legged partridge but
expects to spend the winter at the
south, for the apartments have already
been ordered for them in South Amer
lea, or in Africa; and, after thousands |
Of miles Of flight, they will stop in the |
very tree where they spent la st Janu-
ary. Farewell, bright plumage! Until
spring weather, away! Fly on, great |
band Of heavenly musicians! Strew |
the continents with music, and whether |
from Ceylon isle Or Carolinian swamps,
or Brazilian groves, men see your
wings, or hear your voice, may they
yet bethink themselves Of the solemn
words of the text: "The storlz in the
heaven knoweth her appointed times;
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"
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 | begin by particularizing and
saying that they mingle music with
their work. The most serious under
taking of birds life is this annual
fight southwark. Naturalists tell us
that they arrive thin and weary, and
plumage ruffied, and yet they go sing
ing all the way; the ground, the lower
line Of the music, the sky, the upper
line of the music, themselves the notes
scattered up and down between. l
suppose their song gives elasticity to
their wing, and helps on with the
journey, dwindling a thousand miles
into 400 Would God that we were as
wise as they in mingling Christian song
with our everyday work! I believe
there is such a thing as taking the
pitch of Christian devotion in the
and keeping it all the day. l
think we might take some of the dull
est, heaviest, most disagreeable work
of our life. and set it to the tune of
Antioch or 'Mount Pisgah.''
It is a good sign when you hear
workman whistle. 1t is better sign
when you hear him hum a roundelay.
It is still better sign when you hear
him sing the words Of Isaac Watts or
Charles Wesley. A violin chorded and
strung, if something accidentally
strikes it, makes music, and l suppose
there is such a thing as having our
hearts so attuned by divine grace that
even the rough collisions of life will
make heavenly vibration. I do not