Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-09-19

mo alone, that / may swallow down my
splitter" Have there never been times In
your life when you envied those who were
| buriedI When you longed for the grave
digger TO do his work for you? Oh, the
faithlessness OF the human heart! Gods
wings are broad whether we know IL or not.
Sometimes the mother-bird goes away
from the nest, and IL seems very strange
that she should leave the callow young.
She plunges her beak into the bark of a tree
and she drops into the grain-feld, and into
the chat at the barn-door, and into the
furrow OF the plow-boy. Meanwhile, tho
! biz DIS in the hest shiver. and complain and
call, and Wonder why the mothcr-bird does
not come back. All, she has gone for food.
| After while there is n whIrr of wings, and
| the mother-bird stands on the edge OF the
nest. and the little ones open their mouths,
| and the food is dropped In and then the old
bird spreads out her feathers, and all is peace
So, sometimes, God leaves us. lie goes off
to get food for our soul; and then He comes
| back after while to the nest, and says:
''Open thy mouth wide and / will I'll it,"
and lie drops into it the sweet promises of
| His grace, and the love of God Is shed
abroad, and we are under His wings-the
bread wings of the Almighty.
Yes; they are very broad. There IL
room under those wings for the sixteen
hundred millions of the race. You say:
| "Do not get the invitation too large, for
| there Is nothing moro awkward than &c
! have more guests than accommodations"
] l know IL. The Seamen's Friend society is
| inviting all the sailors. The tract society
| is inviting all the destitute. The sabbath
! schools are inviting all the child en-. The
| missionary society is inviting all the heather
| The printing presses of the bible societies
are going night and day, doing nothing but
printing invitations to this great gospel
! banquet. And are you not afraid that
there will be more guests than accommoda-
tionsp No! All who have been invited will
| not half fill up the table of Gods supply.
There are chairs for more. There are cups
| for more. God could with one feather Of
his wing cover up all those who have come;
and when He spreads out both wings they
cover all the earth and all the heavens.
! Ye Israeltes who went through the Dead
| Sea, come under, We multitudes who have
gone into glory for the last six thousand
years. come under Yo hundred and forty
four thousand. and thousands OF thousands,
come under? Ye flying cherubim and arch
angel. fold your pinions, and come under!
And yet there is room! Ay. If God would
| have all the space under His wings occupied,
He must make other worlds, and people
them with other myriads, and have other
resurrection and Judgment days; fol-
! broader than all space. broader thar
thought, wide as eternity, from tip TO tip,
are the wings OF the Almighty. Oh! under
such provision as that can you not rejoice?
Come under, ye wandering, ye weary, ye
troubled yc SHINING, ye dying souls! Come
under the wings of the Almighty. Whose
ever will come, let him come. However
ragged. however wretched, however Gban-
doned, however 9e-5egcne, there is room
enough under the win7s-undCr the broad
wings of the Almighty! Oh, what a gospel!
so glorious, so magnificent in its provision!
1 love to preach it. 1t is my life to preach
it. IL is my heaven TO preach IL.
| / remark, further, that the wings undo,
| WIicn Ruth To truSt were StrDuf
wings The strength OF birds wing-of P
scafowl's wing for eXample-you might
guess it from the fact that sometimes for
five, six and seven days IL seems to fly with
out resting. There have been condors ir
the Andes that could overcome an OK or ?
stag. There have been eagles that have
picked up children and swung them TO the
top of the clits. The flap Of an eagle i
wing has Geath In 1t 10 everything IL
strikes There are birds whose wings are
packed with strength TO fly, to lift, &c
destroy. So the wings of God are strong
wings. Mighty to save. Mighty TO destroy
l preach him-''the Lord, strong and nightly
the Lord, mighty in battle!" lie tapped
His wing, and the antcdediluvian world
was gone He tapped His wing and Baby
lon persisted. lie Tapped His wing and
Herculaneum was buried. He tapped III Is
wing and the Napoleonlc dynasty ceased.
Before the stroke of that pin!on fleet Is
nothing. An army is nothing. An empire
is nothing. Aworld is nothing. A universe
IS nothing. King-Eternal, Omnipotent-
He asks no counsel from the thrones OF
heaven. lie takes not the archangel into
His cabinet. lie wants none To draw His
chariots 4 + they are the winds. None &c
load His batteries. for they are the light
nings. None to tie the sandals Of His feet
for they are the clouds. Mighty to save.
our enemies may be strong, our sorrows
violent, Our sins may be great. But
quicker than an eagle ever hurled from tho
crags hawk or a raven, Will the Lord strike
back or sins and our temptations. If they
assault us when we are once seated upon
the eternal rock OF His salvation. What a
blessed thing it is TO be defended by tho
strong wing OF the Almighty Stronger
than the pellcan's. stronger than the
albatross's wing, stronger than The CON
doris wings are the wings of the Almighty,
| have only one more thought To prcsen..
The wings under which Ruth had come IL
trust were gentle wings T here is nothing
softer than "a feather. You have noticed
when bird returns from flight how gently
IL stoops over the nest. The young birds
are not afraid OF having their lives
trampled out by the mother bird; the old
whip-or-will drops into its nest OF leaves,
the oriole into its casket Of bark. the hum
ming bird into its hammock of moss-gcn-
tie as the light. And so, says the Psalmist,
He shall cover thee with His wing. Oh, the
gentleness Of God! But even that figure
does not fully set IL forth; for | have some
times looked into the birds nest and seen a
dead bird-its life having been trampled
out by the mother-bird. But no one that
ever came under the feathers of the AL
mighty was trodden on.
Blessed nest! Warm nest Why will men
stay out In the cold To be shot of tempta-
ton and to be chilled by the blast when
there Is divine shclter2 More beautiful
than any flower ever saw are the hues of a
birds plumage. Did you ever examine it?
The blackbird, floating like n flake of dark.
ness through the sunlight; the meadow
lark, with head of fawn and throat of vel
vet and breast OF gold; the red famlngc
flying over the southern swamps. like
sparks from the forge Of the setting sun
the pelican white and biack-morning and
night tangled I'm its wings-give but n very
faint idea of the beauty that comes down
over the soul when on IL drop the
feathers Of the Almighty. Here fold
your weary wings. This IS the only safe
nest. Every other nest will be destroyed.
The prophet says so: Though thou exalt
myself like the eagle, and set thy nest
among the stars. yet Will brin, thee down,
saith the Lord of Hosts" Under the swift
wings under the broad wings, under tho
strong wings. under the gentle wings Of tho
Almighty, find shelter until these Gallant
ties be overpast. Then when you want 10
change nests IL will only be from the valley
| NJ earfh tD tho hiOhta NJ haavan. ond in-