The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1890-09-25
GOD Is LOVE.
Dr.. Talmage Discourses Upon
the Attributes Of the
Almighty.
Under Whose Wings are to
be Sheltered all His
Children.

BaooKIYN. Specinl-The subject of the
discourse by DR.. Talmaee to-day is Swings
OF Love" the famous preacher taking for
his text the words: 1.-The Lord God OF H.
rael, under whose wings thou art come in
trust. Ruth H., II.
Scene: An oriental harvest field. Grain
standing Grain swaths. Grain in sheaves.
At the side OF the field, white tent in which
to take the incoming, jars of vinegar or of
sour wine to Quench the thirst of the hot
working people. Swarthy men striking
their sickles into the rustlinG barley,
Others twisting the bands for the sEeaves,
putting one end of the band under the arm,
and with the free arm and foot collecting
the sheaf Sunburne,l women picking up
the stray straws and bringing them to the
binders. Boaz, Il fine looking Oriental,
gray-bearded and bright-faced, the owner
of the field, looking on, and estimating the
value of the grain and calculating so many
ephahs to the acre. and, with his large. sym
pathetic heart, plying the overtasked work
men and the women, with white faces
enough to faint, in the hot MONDAY sun.
But there is one woman who especially at.
tracts the mans attention. She is soon to
be with him the joint owner of the field. She
has come from distant land for the sole
purpose of being kind to an aged woman. l
know not what her features were; but when
the Lord of Israel sets behind a woman's
face the lamp of courage, and fai th, and self
sacrifice there comes out glory independ.
snt Of features. She is to be the ancestress
OF Jesus Christ. Boaz, the owner OF the field,
as soon rs he understands that it is Ruth,
accosts her with blessing "a full reward be
given thee of the Lord God of Israel under
whose wings thou art come to trust Christ
compares himself to q hen gathering the
chickens under her wings. In Deuteronomy,
God is represented as an eagle stirring up
her nest In great many places in the
Psalms, David makes OrnlthologicaF allu.
sions: while my text mentions the wings Of
God under which q poor, weary soul had
come TO trust.
ask youra attention, therefore, while, talk
ing and the suggestion o: my text. speak to
you in oil simplicity and love of the wings Of
the almighty.
First; remark that they were swift wings
under which Ruth had come to trust There
is nothing in all the handiwork of God more
curious than birds wing. You have been
surprised. sometimes. to see how far it could
fly without one stroke OF the wing; and. when
it has food in prospect, or when it is alright
ed the pulsations of the birds wing are i'm
aginable for velocity. The English lords
used to pride themselves of the speed of their
talcous. These birds, when tanned, had in
them the dart OF Eghtning. How swift were
the carrier pigeons in the time Of Anthony
and ut the seige of Jerusalem! Wonderful
speed! carrier pigeon was thrown up at
Rouen and came down at Ghent-ninety
miles off-in one hour. The carrier pig
cons were the telegraphs of the olden
time. Swallows have been shot in our lati.
tude having the nndigested rice of Georgia
come 400 miles in six hours. 1t has been es-
timated that. in the 10 years ola swallows
life, it flies far enough to have gone round
the world 80 times 90 great is its velocity
And so the wings of the Almighty. spoken OF
in the text, are swift wings. They are swift
when they drop upon IL Toe, and swift when
they come to help Gods friends. If father
and his son be walking by the way and the
child goes to near the precipice, how long
does it take for the father to deliver the
child from danger? Longer than it takes
God to swoop for the rescue of His children.
the care OF God. fyou take the steamship.
or the swift rail train. He is all the time
along with You. whittier shall | 90 from
Thy spirit, and whittier shall l fee from thy
presence? If ascend up into heaven Thou
art there. If make my bed in hell. behold!
Thou art there If take the wings of the
morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea. even there Thy hand shall hold me-"
The Ara ban gazelle is swift as the wind
If it gets but one glimpse of the hunter it
puts many crags between. Solomon, four
or five times, compares Christ to an Arabian
gazelle (calling it by another nancy when he
says: My beloved is like a roe' The diff
ference is, that the roe speeds the other way
Jesus speeds this. Who but Christ could
have been quick enough to have helped Peter,
when the water-pavement broke? Who but
Christ could have been quick enough to help
the duke Of Argyle. when, in his dying mo-
ments he cried: Good cheer! could di, like
a Roman, but l mean to die like Christian.
Come away gentlemen. He who goes first,
goes ceanesI?" had q friend who stood bv
the rai-track at Carlisle. Pa, when the am.
munltlon had given out at Antietum: and
he saw the train at Harrisburg, freighted
with shot and shell. as it went laundering
down toward the battlefield. He said that
II stopped not Tor any crossing. They put
down the brakes for no grade. They held
up for peril. The wheels were on fire with
the speed as they dashed past If the train
dld not come up in time with the nmmuni-
ton, it might as well not come at all. So.
my friends, there are times in our lives when
we must have help immediateIy'Or perish,
The grace that comes to late is no Craze at
all What you and want is a God-now.
Oh! is it not blessed to think that God is al
ways in such quick pursuit of his dear chill
dren? When sinner seeks pardon. or a,
baffied soul needs help, swifter than thrush's
wing. swifter than ptarmigan's wing.
sWiiter than famingo's wing, swiiter
than eagles wing, ore the wings of the Al
mighty.
remark further, carrying out the idea OF
my text, that the wings under which Ruth
had come to trust were very broad wings
There have been eagles shot on the Rocky
mountains with wings that were seven feet
from tip to tip. When the king OF the air
sits on the crag. the wings are spread over
all the eaglets in the eyrie and when the
eagle starts from the rock, the shadow is
like the spreading Of storm cloud So the
wings of God are broad wings. Ruth had
been under those wings in her infantile days;
in the days OF her happy girlhood in Moa b;
in the day when she gave her hand to
Mahlon, in her first marriage; in the day
when she wept over his grave: in the day
when she trudged out into the wilderness of
poverty; in the days when she picked up the
straws Of barley dropped by ancient custom
in the way OF the poor.
Oh! yes; the wings of God are broad wings.
They cover upall our wants. all our sorrows,
all our sufferings He put one wing over our
cradle. and He put the other over our
grave. Yes. my dear friends, it is not des-
ert IN which we are placed; it il a nest.
Sometimes it is o very hard nest. like that
OF the eagle spread on the rock with rar red