The Red Cloud chief., 1892-03-18
ROOM FOR L
d.. Talmage on the Refuge offered
BY Religion.
Christianity Ample For All Conditions and
Characteristic Infinite Mercy Of
GOd-How Easy 1t Is For tho
Christian to Die.

/ Easy - rOE tho
Christian t. Die.
In a late sermon 1T Brooklyn Rev
T. De Witt Talmage discoursed on the
refuge offered by the Christian relig
ion to people of all ages and every va
riety of character. His text was
Ezekiel xvii %. "a goodly cedar and
under it shall dwell all fowl of every
wing" DR.. Tslmage said:
The cedar of Lebanon is aroyal tree.
1t stands {, 1000 feet above the level OF
the sea A missionary counted the
c~oncentric circles and found one tree
$500 years old-long rooted, broad
branches, all the year in luxuriant
foliage. The same branches that bent
in the hurricane that David saw sweep
Ing over Lebanon, rock to-day over the
head of the American traveller. This
monarch of the forest, with its leafy
fingers, plucks the honors of 4 thou
sand years, and sprinkles them upon
its W uplifted brow, as though some
great ha~llelujah of Heaven hal been
planted upon Lebanon and it were ris-
ing up with its long-armed strength to
take hold of the mills whence it came.
U. what a fine place for birds to nest in.
In hot days they come thither-the
eagle, the dove, the swallow. the spar
row and the raven. There is to many
of US a complete fascination in the
structure and habits of birds. They
Seem not more of earth than of Heaven
ever vacillating between the two.
No wonder that Audubon, with his
gun. tramped through all Of the Amer
lean forests in search of new speci-
mems Biologists have spent years in
the new red sandstone. There is
enough of Gods architecture in a
snlpe's bill or a grouse's foot to con.
found all the universities. Musicians
have. with clefs ami bars, tried to
catch the sound Of the nightingale and
robin. Among the first things
that a child notices is a swallow at
the caves, and grandfather goes out
with a handful of crumbs to feed
the snowbirds The Bible is full of
ornlthological illusions. The birds of
n Bible are not dead and stuffed like
those of the museum, but living birds
with futteriny wings and plumage.
Behold the birds of the air." saws
Christ Though thou exalt myself
as the eagle AID thou set thy nest
among the starr thence will 1 bring
thee down." exclaims Obadiah.
"Gavest thou the goodly wings unto
the peacocks?' says Job. David de-
scribes his desolati,n by saying: Il am
like q pelican of the wilderness; l am
like an owl of the desert; l watch and
am as a sparrow alone upon the house
top" "Yea, the stork in the Heaven
knoweth her appointed time, and the
turtle and the crane and the swallow
observe the time of their coming, but
my people know not the judgment of
the Lord" says Jeremiah.
Ezekiel in my text intimates that
Christ is the cedar. and the people
from all quarters are the birds that
lodge among the branches. ut shall
be a goodly cedar. and under it shall
dwell all fowl of every wing" As in
EzekieFs time, so now-Christ is a
cedar. and to him are flying all
kinds of people-young and old. rich
and poor, men high soaring as the
those fierce as the raven, and
those gentle as the dove. "All fowl of
every wing"
First, the young may come. OF the
1892 years that have past since Christ
came, about 1000 have been wasted by
the good in misdirected efforts Until
Robert Raikes came there was no Or
gained effort to save the young. We
spend our strength trying to bend old
trees, when a little pressure would
have been sufficient for the sapling.
We let men go down to the very bottom
of sin before we try to lift them up. 1t
is a great deal easier to keep a train on
the track than to get it on when
it is off. The experienced reins-
man checks the fiery steed at the first
Jump, for when he gets in full swing, the
swift hoofs clicking fire from the pave
ment, and the bit between his teeth,
his momentum is irresistible. 1t is said
the young must be allowed to sow
their wild oats" l have noticed that
those who SOW their wild oats seldom
try to raise any other kind of a crop,
There are two opposite destinies. If
you are going to Heaven you had better
take the straight road and not try to
get to Boston by the way of New
Orleans What is to be the history of
This multitude of young people around
to-day? I will take You by the
hand and show you a glorious sunrise.
| will not whine about this thing or
groan about it; but come, young men
md maidcns, Jesus wants you. His
hand is love; his voice is music; his
smile is heaven. Religion will put no
on your wrists, no hoppels
your feet, no brand on your fore
head.
l went through the heaviest snow
storm / have ever known to see a dying
girl. Her cheek on the pillow was
white as the snow on the easement.
Her large, round eye had not lost any
IF its luster. Loved ones stood all
the bed trying to hold her back. |
Her mother could not give her up; and
nearer to her than either father or
was frantic with grief. 1 said:
''Fanny, how do you feel?" "Ohr' she
laid. happy! happy! Mr.. Talmage,
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