The Bossier banner., 1894-12-06
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
An Instructive Lesson Drawn From
the Sagacity of Birds.
II Mankind Was as Instinctively Religious
as the Fowls of the Air, They
Would Escape the Pinch
ing Frost of Sin.


Der Thoughts" for publication this
week: 1t is based on the text:
The stork in the heaven knoweth her ap-
pointed time; and the turtle and the crane
and the swallow observe the time of their COM
ing; but my people know not the judgment of
the Lord-Jeremiah viii
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 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 it's nest over the doorway; the
sweet-dispositioned turtledove. ming
ling in color white, and black, and
brown, and ashen, and chestnut; the
crane. with voice like the clang of
trumpet; the swallow, swift as dart
SHOT out of the bow of Heaven, falling,
mounting, skimming, 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. I 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 a 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 prophet looks
up, and there are focks of storks, and
turtle doves, and cranes and swallows,
drawn out in long lines for fight
southwark. AS is their habit, the
cranes had arranged themselves in two
lines, making an angle, wedge split
ting the air with wild velocity, the old
crane, with commanding call, bidding
them onward; while the towns, and
the cities, and the continents slid un-
der 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 about
theirs; and he puts his hand upon the
pen, and begins to write: ''The stork
in the heaven kuoweth 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"
If 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
unfortunate 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 go tomorrow, some moving that
they 60 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 belted king
fisher, or chaffinch, or a fire-crested
wren, or plover, or red-legged par
fridge 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 stop
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, and
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
| times; and the turtle and the crane
and the swallow observe the time o.
their coming; but my people know no
the Judgment of the Lord"
| l propose, so far as God may hell
| me, in this sermon, carrying out the
idea of the text, to show that the bird
of the air have more sagacity thar
men. And l begin by particularizins
and saying that they mingle musi
with their work. The most seriou
undertaking of birds life is this an
nual fight southwark Naturalist
tell US that they arrive thin and weary
and plumAge ruffied, and yet they G
singing all the way; the ground, tn
lower line of the music, the sky, tn
upper line of the music, themselve
the notes scattered up and dow
between. l suppose their song give
elasticity to their wing, and helps o
with the journey, dwindling thor
sand miles into four hundred. Woul
God that I'VE were as wise as they i
mingling Christian song with ou
everyday work! believe there
such a thing as taking the pitch {
Christian devotion in the morning, an
keeping it all the day. l think W
might take some of the dullest, heav
est, most disagreeable work of our lif
and set it to the tune of Antioch" {
'Mount Pisgah."
1t is good sign when You hear
man whistle. 1t is better sign whe
you hear him hum a roundelay. 1t
o still better sign when you hear Iii
sing the words of Isaac Watts
Charles Wesley a violin ehorded ar