Sharp County record., 1890-10-02

nave Deen eagles that nave plcKeu up
children, and swung them to the top OF
the cliffs. The flap of an eagles wing
has death in it to every thing
1T strikes There are birds whose
wings are packed with strength
to fly, to lift to destroy. So the
wings of God are strong wings. Mighty
to save. Mighty to destroy. preach
Him-"the Lord, strong and mighty
the Lord, mighty in battlel" He
tapped His wings, and the antediluvi-
an world was gone. He tapped His
wings and Babylon perished. He
tapped Ais wings and Herculaneum
was buried. He tapped His wings and
Napoleonic dynasty ceased. Before
the stroke of that pinion feet is
nothing. An army is nothing. An
Empire is nothing. A world is moth
ing. Tho universe is nothing.
King, eternal, omnipotent, He
asks no council from the thrones
of Heaven. He takes not the
archangel into His cabinet. lie
wants none to draw His chariots, for they
are the winds. None to load His bat
teries, for they are the lightning. None
to tie the sandals OF His feet, for they
are the clouds. Mighty tosave. Our enc
mics may be strong, our sorrows vio-
lent. Our sins may be great. But
quicker than an eagle ever hurled from
the crags hawk or raven, will the
Lord strike back our sins and our temp
tations, If they assault us when we are
once sea Q on the eternal rock Of His
salvation. What blessed 5hing it is
to be defended by the strong wing of
the Almighty! Stronger than the peli-
cans wing, stronger than the albatross'
wing, stronger than the condor's wing,
are the wings of the Almighty.
l have only one more thought to pre-
sent. The wings under which Ruth had
come to trust were gentle wings. There
is nothing softer than feather. You
have noticed when bird returns from
flight how gently it stoops over the
nest. The young birds are not afraid
of having their lives trampled out by
the mother-bird; the old whip-poor-
will drops into its nest of leaves,
the orlole into its casl1et of
bark, the humming-bird into its
hammock of moss-gentle as the light.
And also, says the P5almist, lie shall
cover thee with His wing, Oh, the
gentleness of God But even that fig
ure does not fully set it forth; for ]
have sometimes looked into tho birds
nest and seen dead bird-its life hav-
ing been trampled out by the mother.
bird. But no one that ever came under
the feathers of the Almighty was trod
den on.
Blessed nest! warm nest! Why will
men stay out in the cold to be shot OF
temptation and to be chilled by tho
blast when there is Divine shelter? More
beautiful than any flower | ever saw
are tho huos of birds plumagc DID
you ever examine it? The blackbird,
floating like fake of darkness through
the sunlight; tho meadow-lark, with
head of fawn, and throat G. velvet and
breast of gold; the red hamingo flying
over tho Southern swamps, like spark
from the forge Of the setting sun; the
pelican, white and black-morning and
night tangled in its wings-gives but
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 u G
only safe nest. Every other nest will
be destroyed. The prophet says so
Though thou oxalt thyself like the
eagle, and set thy nest among the stars,
yot will l bring thoN down, saith the
Lord of Hosts" Under the swift
wings, under tho broad wings under the
strong wings under the gentle wings Of
the Almighty, find shelter until these
calamities be overpast. Then when you
want to change nests it will only be
from tho valley Of earth to tho heights
of Heaven; and instead of "the wings
Of dove" for which David longed, moi
knowing that in the first mile of their
fight they would give out, you will be
conducted upward by the Lord God Of
Israel, under whose wings Ruth, tho
beautiful Moabitess, camo to trust.
God forbid that in this matter Of o or
nal veal or WOO we should bc more
stupid than tho fowls OF heaven; "for
thp storly lSnowath hnr onnointod tin,o,
and the turtle, and tho crane, and the
swallow obierve the time Of their going;
but my people know not the judgments
Of the Lord.