The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-04-23
Ga(m1aQe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmage. D. ID.

Los Angeles, Cal. April 2f-Nfth
the opening spring the preacher re
turns to the book of nature and finds
gospel lesson in the wonders of the
awakening insect world The text Is
Proverbs xxx, ~ THE locuSts have
no king, yet go they forth all of them
by bands"
The more I study the Bible in con
nection with the revelations which
science has given to us i'll the natura
world the more wonderful and marvel
Gus the omnipotence and omnipresence
of GGd appear to me. There are some
people who never study the goodness
and mercy Of God outside of the leaves
of the holy book. When you begin to
talk to them about the wonders of God
in nature. they reply, why don't you
preach the old gospel instead of talk
ing about tadpoles and snakes and
bugs and beetles and such stuff The
reason | talk so much about nature.
my friend, is because | find the char
acter of God revealed there and the
gospel preached there, and | am sus-
tanned by the example of the Bible it
self. which is full of such sermonic
themes | have also the authority of
the wisest of men. who bids us watch
the comics building their houses in the
rocks, and the ants providing food for
the winters storm, and the spider
swinging her silken hammocks in the
kings palaces, and the locusts march
ing forth to their conquests in great
bands.
1t is amazing how much our love and
reverence for God will grow If we only
study closely the marvellous cOnfor1na-
tons and habits Of the lowest and most
despised Of his creatures. If we do not
see God in the natural world, then it Is
because we have eyes that are blind,
and it is about time we scattered the
darkness of ignorance by letting in the
light of investigation and study. When
new student entered one Of Professor
AgaSsiZs classes, the great teacher Of
natural science would place before him
the skeleton of an ordinary fish like the
black bass. Study that would be his
first command land then come and tell
me what you see" The student i'll
amaZement. would sit down and look
at those dried bones for little while,
and then lie would go to the professors
desk and say: why, teacher, see the
skeleton Of fish. That is ALL" Then
the professor would show him how the
fishs skeleton is joined together by Que
big backbone like the skeleton of man;
how the fish's tail and his fins are used
by the fish as mans hands and feet
are used when he sWims; how the fish
has a series of spines above and be
meath it to keep it in a perpendicular
position, so it can cut it's way through
the water. The professor would point
out that the head of the fish is made of
strong bony substance, like the iron
prov Of boat There the strength Of
the fish must be very great. Thus the
new student learned how the bones
were fitted together and how the Jaws
We're set for catching the prey. After
he had spoken thus for a long time
Professor AgassiZ would say: "My son.
never say again that bone Is simply
a bone. When you study a bone, you
must notice how it joins with other
bones and learn what Is the purpose of
that bone. Now you are ready to be-
gin your scientific studies as one of my
students" Thus, in my text, Solomon
bids us study the locust, that marvel
Gus little insect whose ravages are the
dread of the farmer. He would have
us observe how 1t Is constructed, how
it is adapted for the work it has to do
and how it co-operates with its fellows,
like a soldier in an army. This open
ing spring season Is an appropriate
time for following Solomon's advice
and considering 1.-The locusts, who have
no king, but who go forth in bands
The Helpless Locust.
In the first place, when | began to
study the little creature Of my text |
was surprised to find out what an in
significant insect it was individually.
God seems to have given 1t no means
OF self protection. 1t has no rapier
with which to stab like the hornet no
sting like the bee, no cruel beak like
the hawk, no deadly claw like the
tiger, no deadly poison like the taran-
tula or the snake, no viselike jaw, as
has the alligator, and no powerful wing
like the wing of the albatroSs 1t Is
so helpless as an Individual that the
smallest kind of insects can attack 1t
With impunity. 1t is the prey of in
Vulnerable destroyers. Wherever the
swarns of locusts go, there fly great
flocks Of greedy birds feeding upon
them. When the locusts are In the egg
or the larvae state, they are destroyed
by the millions, yet these seemingly
helpless insects have been the most
feared of all the insects of the world.
No plague of Egypt struck more terror
to the hearts of Pharaoh and his sub
iects than this plague of clawless, baak-
less, poisonless, stingless locusts, but
when this thought dawned upon me
said. rs 1t not d fact that the men and