The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-09-19

They held up for no peril. The wheels
were on fire with the speed as they
dashed past. If the train did not come
up in time with the ammunition it
might as well not come at all.
So, my friends, there are times IN
our lives when we must have help M
m~ediately or perish. The grace that
comes too late isno grace at all. What
Won and | want is a God-now. Oh,
is it not blessed to think that God is
always in such quick pursuit OF his
dear children2 When a sinner seeks
pardon, or a bafled soul needs help,
swifter than thrush's wing, swifterthan
ptarmigan's wing, swifter than fla
mingo's wing, swifter than eagles wing
are the wings of the Almighty.
l 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 ove
all the eaglets in the eyre, and when the
eagle starts from the rock the shadow
is like the spreading of a 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 Moab; 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 few straws of barley dropped by
ancient custom in the way of the poor.
ASSURANCE FOR THE AFFLICTED.
Obi yes, the wings of God are broad
wings. They cover up all our wants,
all our sorrows, 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 a desert in
which we are placed, it is a nest. Some
times it is a 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 it may be very
hard under us, over us are the wings of
the Almighty. There sometimes comes
a period in ones life when he feels for
saken. You said, Everything is
against me. The world Is against me.
The church is against me. No sym
pathy, no hope. Everybody that comes
near me thrusts at me. I wonder if
there is a God, anyhow"
Everything seems to be going slip
shod and at haphazard. There does
not seem to be any hand on the helm.
Jobs health fails. David's Absalom
gets to be a reprobate. Martha's broth
er dies. Abraham's Sarah goes into
the grave of Machpelah. Woe worth
the day in which / was born!" has said
many a Christian, David seemed to
scream out in his sorrow, as he said:
SIS his mercy clean gone forever And
will he be favorable no more2 And
hath he in anger shut up his tender
mercies2' JOB, with his throat swollen
and ulcered until he could not even
swallow the saliva that ran into his
mouth, exclaims: "How long before
thou wilt depart from me and leave
me alone, that 1 may swallow down
my splitter" Have there been
times in your life when you envied
those who were buried2 When you
longed for the gravedigger to do his
work for you2 Oh, 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 callow
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
plough boy. Meanwhile, the birds in
the nest shiver and complain and call
and wonder why the mother bird 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 n
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 food for our soul,
and then he comes back after a while
TO the nest and says, "Open thy mouth
wide and | will fill it, and he drops
into it the sweet promises of his grace,
and the love of God is shed abroad
and we are under his ~wings-the broad
wings of the Almighty.
THERE Is ROOM
Yes, they are very broad! There is
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 more awkward than to
have more guests than accommoda-
tons" | know it. The seamen's friend
society is inviting all the sailors. The
tract society is inviting all the desti-
tute. The sabbath schools are inviting
all the children. The missionary soci-
ely 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 accommodations No! All who
have been invited will not half fill NJ
the table of Gods supply. There are