Connecticut western news., 1897-05-13
A MATTER OF BREAD.
REV. DR. TAlMAGE ON A MISSION FOR
 HUMANITY.


 He Takes For His Subject Thought Most
 Interesting to All Who Are Trying to
 Achieve . Livelihood-The Ravens of
 God.
 WASHINGTON, May 9.-Dr Talmage has returned home after most remark ably successful tour through the west, and in behalf of the famine struck of India speaking in the great corn cen ters to vast multitudes of people and raising many carloads of breadstuffs and many thousands of dollars. His subject is today to the last degree ap- propriate to all who are trying to achieve a livelihood. Text, I Kings xvii, 6, And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening""
 The ornithology of the Bible is very interesting study -t the stork which knoweth her appointed time; the oom- mon sparrows teaching the lesson of Gods providence; the ostriches of the desert, by careless incubation, illustrat- ing the recklessness of parents who do not take enough pains with their chill dren; the eagle symbolizing riches which take wings and fly away; the pelican emblemizing solitude; the bat, flake of the darkness; the night hawk, the ossifrage, the cuckoo, the lapwing, the osprey. by the command of God, in Leviticus, flung out of the worlds bill of fare
 would like to have been with Au- dubon as he went through the woods, with gun and pencil, bringing down and sketching the fowls of heaven, his unfolded portfolio thrilling all Chris tendon. What wonderful creatures of God the birds are. Some of them this morning. like the songs of heaven let loose, bursting through the gates of heaven. Consider their feathers, which are clothing and conveyance at the same time; the nine vertebr@ of the neck, the three eyelids to each eye, the third eyelid an extra curtain for graduating the light of the sun. Some of these birds scavengers and some of them or ohestra. Thank God for quail whistle, and lark's carol, and the twitter of the wren, called by the ancients the king of birds, because when the fowls of heaven went into a contest as to who should fly the highest, and the eagle swung nearest the sun, wren on back of the eagle, after the eagle was ex- hausted, sprang up much higher, and so was called by the ancients the king of birds Consider those of them that have golden crowns and crests, showing them to be feathered imperials. And listen to the humming birds serenade in the ear of the honey suckle. Look at the belted kingfsher, striking dart from sky to water. Listen to the voice of the owl, giving the keynote to all croakers. And behold the condor among the Andes, battling with the reindeer. I do not know whether an aquarium or aviary is the best altar from which to worship God.
 An Ornitholoeical Wonder.
 There is an incident in my text that bafaes all the ornithological wonders of the world. The grain crop had been cut of. Famine was in the land. In cave by the brook Cherith sat minister of God, Elijah, waiting for something to eat. Why did he not go to the neigh bors? There were no neighbors. It was wilderness. Why did he not pick some of the berries? There were none. If there had been, they would have been dried up. Seated one morning at the mouth of his cave, the prophet sees Q flock of birds approaching. Oh, if they nv11vy v,or fr,I if h2,C Cy,1xv hoI an arrow with which to bring them downl But as they come nearer he finds that they are not comestible, but un- clean, and the eating of them would be spiritual death. The strength of their beak, the length of their wings, the blackness of their color, their loud, harsh "cruck, cruckP' prove them to be ravens.
 They whir around about the proph- cts head, and then they come on flut- tering wing and pause on the level of his lips, and one of the ravens brings bread, and another raven brings meat, and after they have discharged their tiny cargo they wheel past, and others come, until after awhile the prophet has enough, and these black servants of the wilderness table are gone. For six months, and some say a whole year, morning and evening, a breakfast and 3 supper bell sounded as these ravens rang out on the air their "cruck, cruckp' Guess where they got the food from. The old rabbins say they got it from the kitchen of King Ahab. Others say that the ravens got their food from pious Obadiah, who was in the habit of feeding the persecuted. Some say that the ravens brought the food to their young in the trees, and that Elijah had only to climb up and get it. Some say that the whole story is improbable, for these were carnivorous birds, and the food they carried was the torn flesh of living beasts, and therefore ceremonial 1y unclean, or it was carrion and would not have been fit for the prophet. Some say they were not ravens at all, but that the work translated ravens" in my text ought to have been translated Arabs. so it would have read, "The Arabs brought bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening"" Anything but admit the Bi- ble to be true
 Hew away at this miracle until all the miracle is gone. Go on with the de- pleting process, but know, my brother, that you are robbing only one man and that is yourself-of one of the most comforting, beautiful, pathetic and tri- umphant lessons in all the ages. I can tell you who these purveyors were they were ravens. can tell you who freighted them with provisions-God. can tell you who launched them God. can tell you who taught them which way to hy-God. can tell you who told them at what cave to swoop -9od. can tell you who introduced raven to prophet and prophet to raven -dod. There is one passage I will whisper in your ear, for would not want to utter it aloud. lest some one