Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-09-20
THE TALMAGE SERMON
Brooklyn's Divine breaches on THE
Wings Of Love-"
The Almighty Offers Refuge to All WHO
Desire His Care.

s.ahdihS. 0fam III swath5- train IN
sheaves
at the side of the field white tent in
which to take the incoming. jars of vinegar
or OF sour vine to quench the thirst of the
hot working people. Swarthy men striking
their sickles into the rustIing barley Others
twisting the bands for the sheaves, putting
one end OF the band under the arm, and with
the free arm and foot collecting the sheaf.
Sunburned women picking up the stray
straws and bringing them to the binders.
Boaz, fine looking Oriental, gray bearded
and bright faced, the owner of the field, look
ing on, and estimating the value of the grain
and calculating SO many ephahs to the acre,
and with his large, sympathetic heart plying
the oyertasked workmen and the women,
with white faces enough to faint, in the hot
MONDAY sun. But there is one woman WAC
especially attracts the mans attention. She
Is soon to be with him the joint owner of the
field. She has come from a distant land for
the sole purpose of being kind to an aged
woman.
know not what her features were: but
when the Lord God sets behind woman's
face the lamp of courage and faith and self
sacrifice there comes out glory independent
of features. She is TO be the aneestress OF
Jesus Christ. Boaz, tho owner of the field,
as soon as he understands that it is Ruth, ac-
costs her with blcssing "a full reward be
given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under
compares Himself 10 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 pathological illusions;
while my text mentions tho wings of Col,
under which poor, weary soul had come to
trust.
ask your attention, therefore, while, TAX
ing the suggestion of my text, l speak to
you in all simplicity and love of tic wings
Of the Almighty.
First, Iremark that they were swift wings
under which Ruth had come to trust There
is nothing in all the handiwork of God moro
curious than birds wing You have been
surprised sometimes to see how far it could
fly with one stroke of the wing; and when it
has food IN prospect, or when it is affrighted,
the pulsations Of the birds wing are unimag-
Unable for velocity. The English Lords used
toprlde themselves on the speed of their fall
cons. These birds, when tanned, had in them
the dart Of lightning. ffow swift were the
carrier pigeons in the time of Anthony and
at the siege of Jerusaiemi Wonderful speed
A carrier pigeon was thrown up ut Rouen
and came down at Ghent-ninety miles Off
in one hour. The carrier pigeons were the
Tel agraphs of the olden time Swallows have
be shotin our latitude having the undi-
gested rice OF Georgia swamps in their crops,
showing that they had come four hundred
miles in six hours. 1t has been estimated
that in the ten years of swallows life it
flies far enough to have gone around the
world ei2hty-nine times, so great is its We
locitY.
And so the wings of the Almighty spoken
of in the text are swift wings. They are
swift when they drop upon foe, and swift
when they come to help Gods friends If a
father and his son be walking by the way,
and the child goes too near a 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 fact is that you cannot get away from
the care of God. If you take the steamship
or the swift rail tain He is all the time along
with you. whittier shall / go from Thy
spirit, and whittier shall | fee from Thy
presence? Ii ascend up into heaven Thou
art there. II make my bed in hell, behold.
Thou art there. If l take the wings of the
morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea, oven there Thy hand shall hold
me.n
The Arabian gazee is swift as the wind
II it gets but one glimpse of the hunter it
puts many crags between. Solomon four or
five times compares Christ to an Arabian
eGzale calling it by another namel when he
says, my beloved is like a roe" The diff
Iarence is that the roe speeds the other way;
.sus speeds this. Who but Christ could
Lave 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-
mcnt, he cried: Good cheer | could die
like q Roman, but mean to die like Chris
tian. He who goes first goes cleanestr l
had friend who stood by the track at Car
Isle, Penn, when the ammunition had given
out at Antietam and he saw the train from
Harrisburg frcighted with shot and shell a.
it went laundering down toward the battle
+ III. lie said that it stopped not for any
grade They held upfo. no peril. The wheels
were on fire with the 81 eed as they dashe.l
rast. Ii the train did not come up in time
with the ammunition it might as well not
come at all.
So, my friends, there arc times in our lives
when we must have hclpimmediatelyo or per-
isb. The grace that comes too late is no
grace at all. What you and | want is God
row. Oh, is it not blessed to think that
| God is always in such QUICK pursuit of lis
dear children? When a sinner seeks pardon.
or a batlled soul needs help, swifter THAI
thrush's wing, swifter than rtaf1ligan's
wing, swiFter than flaming Is wing, swiftor
than eagles wing are the wings Of the AL
mighty.
remark further, carrying out the i,lea Of
my text, that the wing under which Rutl
had come TO trust were very broad WINS
There have been eagles shot on the Rocky
| Mountains with wings that were seven feet
|
| sits on the cra9 the wings are spread over all
the eaglets in the eyre, and when the engle
| starts from the roc! the shallow is like the
| spreading of a storm cloud. SO the wings
of God are broad wings Ruth had been
under those wings in her infantie DAYS; ia
the days OF her happy girlhoo1 in Moab: in
the day when she gave her hand to Mahlon
in her first marriage; in the day when sh5
wept over his grave; in tho day when she
trudged out into the Wilderness of poverty:
in the days when she plucked up the few
straws OF barley dropped by ancient custom
in the way of the poor
Oh yes, the wings of God are broad wings.
They cover up all our wants, all our sor-
rows, all our sufferings He puts one wing
over our cradle, and He puts the other over
| our grave. Yes, my dear friends, it is not
desert in which we are placed, it is a nest.
Sometimes it Is very hard nest, like that of
the eagle, spread on the rock with ragged
| moss and rough sticks, but still is a nest: and
although 1t may be very hard under us, over
US are the wings of the Almighty There
+ sometimes comes period in ones life when
! he feels forsaken. You said, "EverytIiing
IS against me. The world is against me.
The church is against me. No sympathy, no
hope Everybody that comes near me
thrusts at me. | wonder is there is a God,
| anyhow
r7Toryrning seems to be going slipsho anil
at haphaz1rd There does not seem TO be
any hand on the helm. Jobs health fails.
Davld's Absalom gets to be reprobate.
harthas brother dies. Abrahanl's Sarah
goes into the grave OF Machpelah, "Woe
worth the day in which was born ~ he said
many Christian David seemed to scream
out IN his sorrow, as he said SIS His mercy
clean gone forever? And will He be favor
ape no more? And hath He in anger shut
up His tender mercesgn job, with his throat
'woilen and ulcered until he could not even
swallow the saliva that ran into his mouth
exclalms: How long before Thou wilt dc.
| part from me AMI leave me alone that NAV
swallow down my splitter Have there never
been times in your life when YOU enviel
| those who were burie1? When You lonyel
Tor the gravedigger to co his work for yous
| l1h, the faithlessness of the human heart,
Gods wings are broad, whether we know it
! or not"
Sometimes the mother bird goes away
| from the nest and it seems very strange that
she should leave the caIlow young She
plunges her beak into the bark of the tree.
! and she drops into the grain field and into the
chaff at the barn door, and into the furrow
OF the pillow boy. Meanwhile, the birds in
the nest SILVER and complain and call AMI
wonder why the mother does not come back.
| All, she has gone for food After a while
there is a 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, He goes off to get bread for
our soul, and then He comes back after
while to the nest and says 'Open thy mouth
wide and | will fill it and He drops into it
the sweet promise of His grace, and the love
| of God is shed abroad and we are under His