The Penn's Grove record., 1894-10-26
RRV. DR.. TALMAGb
THE BROOKLYN DIvIEE's sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Autumn Thoughts"

strong affection that 1t Is allowed Familiarity
TO comn in Holland and Germany and build
its nest over the doorway; the sweet
dispositioned turtledove, mingling in color
white and black and brown and ashen and
chestnut the crane, with voice like the
clang OF a trumpet the swallow, swift ms a
dart shot out of the bow o. heaven, falling,
mounting, skimming, ~sailing-four birds
started by the prophet twenty tlyo centuries
ago, yet flying on through the ages. with
rousing truth under glossy wing n in the
clutch of stout claw. suppose ii may have
been in this very season of the ~year-autumn
and the prophet out of doors, thinking of
the impenitence Of the people of his day,
hears a great cry overhead.
Now, you know it is no easy thing for n
with ordinary delieacy of eye-sight TO look
into the deep blue of MONDAY heaven, but
the prophet looks up, and there are focks
Of storks and turtledoves and cranes and
swallows drawn out in long limos for flight
southwark. 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 command
ing call, bidding them onward while
the towns, and the cities, and the
continents slid under them. The
prophet, almost blinded from looking in'o
the dazzling heavens, Stops down be-
gins 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 knoweth his appointed times, AMI
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 today, 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
nltzv,w,-,,-k - no Nha En~1fob DaNlf ~ on
when some unfortunate member proposes
more economy in the Queens household,
a convention of birds all talking Mt once,
moving and passing resolutions or the sub
ject of migration, some proposing to go to-
morrow, some moving that they go to-day,
hut all unanimous in the fact that they must
go soon, for they have marching orders
from the Lord written on the first white
oheet OF the frost and in the pictorial OF the
changing leaves.
There is not a belted kingfGher, or a
chaffinch, or a fire crested wren. or a plover,
or a red legged partridge but expects 10
spendthe winter at the South, for the apart
ments have already been ordered for them
in South America or in Africa, and after
thousands of miles OF flight they will stop in
the very tree where they spent last January.
weather, away! Fly on, great ban Of
heavenly musicians! Strew the CONT
nents with music, and, whether from
Ceylon isle. or Carolinian swamps, OF
Brazilian groves men see your wings OIL
hear your voice, may they yet bethink them
selves of the solemn words OF the text, "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 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 birts of the air have more
sagacity than men. And l begin by par
ticularizing and saying that they minglt
music with their work. The most seriou!
undertaking of a birds life is this an
nual flight southwark. Naturalists tell u;
that they arrive thin and weary and plunage
rufied, and yet they go singing 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.
suppose their song gives elasticity to their
wing and helps on with the journey, dwind'
ling 1000 miles into 400. Would God thai
we were as wise as they in mingling Chris
tian song with our everyday work l be-
lieve there Is such a thing as taking the
pitch of Chr. stian devotion in the morning
and keeping it all the day. 1 think we
might take some of the duilest, heaviest,
most dlsagreeahle work of our life and set II
to the tune Of "Antioch' or mount Pts
gah.'
1t is n good sign when you hear a work
man whistle. 1t is a better sign when you
hear him hum a roundelay. 1t is a still bet
ter sign when you hear him sing the word:
of Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley. A violiT
chorded and strung, if something accident
ally strikes 1t, makes music, and | supposi
there is such a thing as having our hearts s.
stunned by divine grace that even the rough
collisions of life will make a heav
eniy vibration. l do not believ
that the power OF Christian sons has ye
been fully tried. 1 believe that II you coulC
roll the sold Hundred doxology. througl
the street it would put an end TO any panic
Ibelieve that the discoris, and the sorrows
and the sine OF the world are to be swept GU
by heaven-born halleluiahs. Some aske'
HAYDN, the celebrated musician, why he al
WAYS composed such cheerful music.
.iWhy," he said. 81 can't do otherwise.
When / think OF God, my soul is so full OF
Joy that the notes leap and dance
from m y pen." I wish we might
all exult melodiously before the Lord,
With God for our Father and Christ for our
Saviour, and heaven for our home and
angels Tor future companions, and eternity
for a lifetime, we should strike all the notes
Of joy. Going through the wilderness OF
this world let us remember that we are oil
the way to a summary cline of heaven. ant
from the migratory populations hyins
through this autumnal mir learn always te
keep singing:
Children of the Heavenly King,
As ye Journey, sweetly sing.
Sing your Saviour's worthy praise,
Glorious in His works and ways.
Ye are travelling home to God
In the way your fathers trod.
They are happy now, and We
Soon their happiness shall see.
The Church of God never will be a tri
umphant church until 1t becomes a singing
church.
Igo further and remark that the birds o.
the air are wiser than we in the fact that In
their migration they fly very high. During
tbe summer, whenthey are in the fields, they
often come within reach OF the gun, but
when thew start for the annual flight south
ward they take their places midneaven and
20 straight as a mark. The longest rife
that was ever brought to shoulder can
not reach them. Would to God that WI
were as wise as the stork and crane in ouI
flight heavenwardI We fly so low that we
are within easy range of the world, the hesh
and the devil. We are brought down by
temptations that ought not to come within q
mile OF reaching US. Oh, for some OF tine
taith OF George Muller OF England and Alfred
Goodman, once of the church militant now
Of the church triumphant So poor is the
tyne Of p.ety In the church of God now that
men actually caricature the idea that there
il a n such thing as q higher life. Moles
never did believe in eagles. But my, breth'
rem, because we have not reached these
heights ourselves, shall we deride the iac'
that there any such heightsS A man was
once talking 10 Brunei, the famous engi'
neer. about the length OF the railroad from
London to Bristol. The engineer said "lt
Is not very great. We shall have a'te'
awhile a steamer running from England 10
New York." They laughed him to seorn,
hut we have gone so far now that we have
ceased 10 laugh at anything as impossible
for human achievement. Then I ask, is any
thing impossible for the Lord2 l do not be-
iieve thar Col exhausted all His grasS IN
Paul and Latimer and Edward Payson. ]
believe there are higher points OF Christian
attainment 10 be reached in the luture ages
of the Christian world.
You tell me that Paul went up to the tip