The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1897-05-13
THE INDIA FAMINE.
Rev. DR.. Talmage's Appeal In b.
half of the Sufferers.


The following discourse by Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage was delivered in the
course of his mission in behalf of the
famine-stricken people Of India 1t is
based on the text:
This 10 Ahasuerus. which reigned from India
even into Ethiopia Esther l., II.
Among the 77S, 1893 words which make
up the Bible only once occurs the word
India" In this part of the Scriptures
which the rabbis call ''Megillah Es-
Their" or the volume of Esther, q book
sometimes complained against because
the word God" is not even once men
toned in z, although one rightly dis
posed can sse God in it from the first
chapter to the last, we have it set forth
that Xerxes, or Ahasuerus, who in
vaded Greece with 1000, 900 men, but
returned in a poor fishers boat, had a
vas dominion, among other regions,
India. In my text India takes its place
in Bible geography, and the interest in
that land has continued to increase, I'M
til, with more and more enthusiasm,
all around the world Bishop Heber's
hymn about 'India's coral strand" is
being sung. Never will | forget the
thrill Emancipation that went through
my body and mind and soul when, af-
ter two weeks tossing on the seas
around Ceylon and lndia-for the winds
did not, according to the old hymn,
''blow soft DER Ceylon's isle-our ship
sailed up one of the mouths of the
Ganges, past James and Mary island,
so named because a royal ship of that
name was wrecked there. and | stepped
ashore at Calcutta, amid the shrines
and temples and sculptures of that
City of Palaces" the strange physiog-
Monies of the living and the cremations
of the dead. l had never expected to
be there, because the sea and | long
ago had a serious falling out; but the
facilities of travel are so increasing
that you or your children will proba-
bly, visit that land of boundless fascina-
ton. Its CONFORMATION is such as no
me but God could have architected, and
it seems as if a man who had no reli-
gion, going there. would be obliged to
acknowledge a God, as did the cowboy
in Colorado. His companion, an athe-
list, had about persuaded the cowboy
that there was no God; but coming
amidst some of that tremendous scene
ry of high rocks and awful chasms, and
depths dug under depths, and noun
tains piled on mountains, the cowboy
said to his atheistic companions: Jack,
if there is no God now, | guess from
the looks of things around here there
must have been IA God some time"
No one but the omniscient could have
planned India, and no one but the ON
nipotent could have built it. 1t is a
great triangle, its base the Himala-
vas, a word meaning 1.-The dwelling
place of snows,' those mountains pour
ing out of their crystal cup the Indus,
the Brahmaputra and the Gauges, to
Stake the thirst of the vast populations
of India. That country is the home of
$40. O00, 600 souls. Whatever be ones
taste, going there, his taste is gratitied.
Some go as hunters of great game, and
there is no end to their entertainment.
Mighty fauna: Bison. buffalo, rhinoc-
eros, elephant, panther, hon, tiger
this last to be the perpetual game for
Americans and Europeans, because he
comes up from the malarial swamps
where no human being dare enter; the
deer and antelope his accustomed food,
but once having obtained the taste of
human blood, he wants nothing else,
and is called 1.-The ~man-eatcr." You
can not see the tigers natural
ferocity after he has been humili-
ated by a voyage across the
sea. You need to hear his growl
as he presses his iron paw against the
cage in Calcutta. Thirteen towns have
been abandoned as residence because
of the work of this cruel invader. In
India in the year 1877, $40 people were
slain by the tiger and 10, 200 cattle de-
stroyed. From the back of the ele-
plant or from galleries built among
the trees / 800 tigers went down, and
SIS, 600 of government reward were
paid the sportsmen. l advise all those
who in America and other lands find
amusement in shooting singing birds,
coming home at night with empty
powder flask and a whole choir of
Heaven slung over their shoulder, to
absent themselves for awhile and at
tack the justifable game of India. Or
if you 90 as ~botanists. oh, what opu-
lence of floral. With no distinct fora
of its own, it Is the chorus of all the
fora of Persia, and Siberia. and China,
and Arabia, and Egypt. The Baptist
missionary, Carey, who did infinite
good to India, had two great passions
first, q passion for souls, and
next, q passion for flowers,
and he adorned his Asiatic
home and the American homes of
his friends, and museums On either side
the sea, with the results of his floral
expeditions in India. To prepare him
self for morning prayers, he was ac-
customed to walk amid the flowers and
trees. 1t is the heaven of the magnolia
and abelmosk and palm tree. The eth
nologist going their will find endless
entertainment in the study of the races
now living there and the races OF
whose blood they are a commingling.
The historian going there will find his
theory of Warren Hastings govern
ment in India the reverse from that
which Edmund Burke gave him in the
most famous address ever made in .
courtroom, its two characteristics
matchless ~eloquence and one-sidedness
of statement. The arch@ologist will
be thrown into a frenzy Of delight as
he visits Delhi Of India and digs down
and finds seven dead cities underneath
the now-living city. All success to the
hunters and the botanists and the eth
nologists and the historians and the
Psychologists who visit India, each one
on his or her crrand!
But we to-day visit India as Christian
women and men to hear the full mean