The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-03-09
A HAVEN OF SAFETY.
Rev. DR.. Talmage DisooIrses on the
Refuge of Religion.
An Earnest Appeal to People of All
Ages and, Every Charaoter-Now Is
the Accepted Time and Not
Moment should be Lost.

at the Brooklyn tabernacle last Sunday
was the refuge offered by the Christian
religion to people Of all ages and every
variety Of character. His text was Eze-
kiel xvii, 28: "a goodly cedar, and un-
der 1t shall dwell all fowl of every
wing" Mr.. Talmage said:
The cedar Of Lebanon is a royal tree.
1t stands six thousand feet above the
level of the sea. A missionary counted
the concentric circles, and found one
tree thirty five hundred years old-long-
rooted, broad branches, all the year in
luxuriant foliage. The same branches
that bent in the hurricane that David
saw sweeping 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 thousand years, and
sprinkles them upon its own up fled
brow, as though some great hallelujah
of heaven had been planted upon Leb-
anon, and 1t were rising up with all its
long-armed strength to take hold Of the
hills whence 1t came o, what fine
place for birds to nest inl In hot days
they come thither-the eagle, the dove,
the swallow, the sparrow and the raven.
There is to many Of Us complete fas'
cination in the structure and habits OF
birds. They seem not more Of earth
than heaven-ever vacillating between
the two. No wonder that Audubon,
with his gun, tramped through all OF
the American forests in search of new
specimens Gcologists have spent years
in finding the track of birds claw in
the new red sandstone. There is enough
of Gods architecture in snipe's bill or
q grouse's foot to confound all the mi.
versities Musicians have, with clefs
and bars, tried to catch the sound of the
nightingale and robin Among the first
things that child notices is a swallow
at the caves aud grandfather goes out
with n handful of crumbs TO feed the
snowbirds The Bible is full Of orni-
biological illusions The birds OF the
Bible are not dead and stuffed, like
those of the museum but living birds
with huttering wings and plumage.
Behold the fowls of the air." says
Christ. Though thou exalt thyself as
the eagle, and though thou set thy nest
among the stars, thence will l bring
thee down, exclaims Obadiah. "Gavest
thou the goodly wings unto the pea
cocks?" says job David describes his
desolation by saying: II am like peli-
can Of the wilderness; / am like an owl
Of the desert; watch, and am as a
sparrow alone upon the housetop."
"Yea, the storf in the heaven knoweth
her appointed time; and the turtle, and
the crane and the swa low observe the
time Of their coming, but my people
know not the judgment Of the Lord
30 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. at shall be
goodly cedar, and under it shall dwell
all fowl Of every wing" As in Ezelsiel's
time, so now-Christ is goodly cedar,
and to him are flying all kinds Of peo.
ple-young and old, rich and poor; men
high-soaring as the eagle, those force
rs the raven, and those gentle as the |
dove. "All fowl of every wing"
First, the young may come. OF the
eighteen hundred and ninety-two years
that have passed since Christ came,
about sixteen hundred have been wasted !
by the good in misdirected efforts. I'm. |
I'll Robert Raikes came, there was nc |
organized effort for saving the young |
We spend all our strength trying TO |
bend old trees, when little pressure |
would have been sufficient for the sap
ling. We let men go down to the very |
bottom Of sin before we try TO lift them |
up II is great deal easier TO keep a
train on the track than to get 1t on
when it is off. The experienced reins.
man checks the fiery steed at the first
jump, for when he g is in full swing, |
the swift hoofs clicking fire from the |
pavement, and the bit between his
teeth, his momentum is irresistible. II |
is said that the young must be allowed |
20 SOW their wild oats" have noticed
that those who SOW their wild oats
seldom try to raise any other kind
of crop There ore two opposite
destinies II you are going to Heaven
you had better take the straight road
and'not try to go to Boston by the way
of New Orleans What is TO be the
history OF this multitude Of young peo-
Pile around me to-day? will take you
by the hand and show you a glorious
sunrise. / will not whine about this
thing, nor groan about it; but come,
young men and maidens, Jesus wants
you. His hand is love; His voice Is
music; His smile is He aven. Religion
will put no handouts on your wrists,
no hopples on your feet no brand on
yonr forehead
went through the heaviest snow
storm have ever known TO see dying
girl Her cheek on the pillow was as
white as the snow ON the easement.
Her large round eye had not lost any Of
its luster. Loved ones stood all around
the bed trying to hold her back. Her
mother could not give her up; and one
nearer TO her than either father or
mother was frantic with grief said:
Fanny, how do you feel2" 90" she
said, "happy! happy Mr.. Talmage,
tell all the young folks that religion
will make them ha ppy." As came out
Of the room, louder than all the sobs
and wailings Of grief / heard the clear,
sweet, glad voice Of the dying girl:
Good night; we shall meet again on
the other side OF thesriver" The next
Sabbath we buried her We bought
white flowers and laid them on the
coffin. There was in all that crowded
church but one really. happy and de-
lirhted faoe and that yvaa tha fana nj