The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-12-13
DIR. TALMAGE.
HEPREACHED TO An INTERESTING
AUDIENCE At THE TABERNACLE.
God is the Mother Of All-The Bible Is a Let
ter of Affection from Parent to Child.
Tender Passages and What they Mean

Brooklyn, December n.-(Special)-
Rev Dr. Talmage today, in selecting a
subject for his sermon, chose an aspect
Of the divine character which is seldom
considered TO an unusually large audi
ence he discoursed on God as The Moth
er of All" the text being taken from
Isaiah GG:13: "As one whom his mother
comforteth, so will l comfort you"
The Bible is a warm letter Of affection
from a parent to a child, and yet there
are many who see chiefly the seyerer pas
sages AS there may be fifty or sixty
nights of gentle dew in one summer, that
will not cause as much remark as one
hailStorm of half an hour, so there are
those who are more struck by those pas
SageS Of the Bible that announce the III
dgnation of God than by those that an
nounce his affection. There may come
to Il household twenty or fifty letters OF
affection during the year, and they VIII
not make as much excitement Ill tnat
home as one sherif'S writ; and so there
are people who are more attentive 10
those passages which announce the ludS-
ments Of God, than to those which an
nouuce his mercy and his favor. COO IS
q lion, John says i'll the Book or KeVc-
lation. God is q breaker, Micah an
nounces in his prophesy. God is a rock
God is a king. But hear also that God
is love. A father and his child are walk
ing out in the fields on a summers day,
and there comes up a thunderstorm, ana
there is Il flash of lightning that startles
the child. and the father says, My dear,
that is Gods eye" There comes i peal
of thunder, and The father says, My dear,
that is Gods voice" But the clouds go
off the sky and the storm is gone, and
light floods the heavens and floods the
landscape, and the father f0rSets TO say,
THAT is Gods smile.
The text OF this morning bends with
great gentlencss and love over all who
are PROSTATE in sin and trouble. 1T lights
up with compassion. 1T meits with ten
dclness 1t breathes upon us the hush
OF IN eternal lullaby, for 1T announces
that God is our mother. las one whom
his mother conlforceth, so will | comfort
you"
| remark, in the first place, that God
has n mothers simplicity of instruction.
A father does not know how to teach a
child the A, +. {. Men are not Shiltful
in the primary department.; but mother
has so much patience that She will tell
child for the hundretlth time the differ
ence between + and G., and between |
anu j. INol1lttlltitS IL ID ny D1othSs SoiiC
times by the worsted work; sometimes
by the slate; some times by the book. She
thus teaches the child, and has no awk-
wardness OF condeScension in so doing.
SO God. our Mother. StoOpS down to our
infantile minds Though we are told q
thing q thousand times. and we do not
understand II. our heavenly Mother goes
on, line upon line, preccpt upon preccpt,
here Il little and there Il little. God has
been teaching some of us thirty years,
and some Of us sixty years. one word OF
one syllable, and we do not know il yet
faith, faith. When we come to that word
we stumble. we bait, we lose our place,
VIC pronounce il wrong. Still, Gods pa
thence is not exhausted. God, our Mother.
puts us in the school of prosperity, and
the letters are in sunshine, and we cannot
spell them. God puts Ms in the school
Of adversely, and the letters are black,
and we cannot spell them. If God We're
merely 4 king, he would punish us; if
he were simply Il ia tr2r, he would whip
rs; but God is a mother. and so we are
borne with and helped all the way
through.
A mother teaches her child chiefly by pic
lures If she wants to set forth TO her
child the hideoCrness of a qualrelsome
spirit. instead of giving lecture upon that
subject she turns over leaf and shows the
child two boys III a wrange and says
Does not that IcOll holriblc?' If she
wants TO teach her child the awfulness
of war. she turns over the picture book
and shows The War-charger, the headloss
trunks of butch Are / men, The wild, boodshot
eye of battle rolling under lids of flame,
and she says, That is war;. The child
understands it. In 4 great many books the
best part are the pictures. The style may
be insipid, the TIVE poor but a picture al
ways attracts child's attention. Now
God. our mother. teaches US almost every
thing by pictures. Is the divine goodness
to be sat forth! How does God our
Mother, teach Us? BY an autumnal pic
ture The barns are full. The wheat
stacks are rounded. The cattle are chewing
the cud lazlly in the sun. The orchards are
droppin" the rape rippins into the lap of
the farmer. :e natural world. that has
been busy all Summer, seems now To be
resting III great abundance. We look at
the picture ans say. Thou crowncst the
year with thy goodness. and thy paths drop
FITNESS Our family comes around the
breakfast table Ii has been q very cold
night. but the children are all bright. be
cause they slept under thick coyerlulS, and
they are now IN The warm blast of the open
register and then appetitcS make luXurleS
out of The planoSt fare. and we look at
the picture and say, BLESS the Lord, o
my SOUL!
God wi .hca TO set forth the fact that
IN lie Judgment me sbott Will W ulNlt''t
from the wicked. How is it done: BY
a picture; by Il parabc-a fishing sccne
A group of hardy men, lOng-hear'led
gearcd for standing to the waist in water:
sleeves rolled up Long oar, s"rGilt; boat
battered as though it had been a playmate
of the storm. ! full net, thumplng
about with the lisll, which have just
discovered their captivity, the worthless
moss-bunkers and the useful founders
all in the same ret The fisherman puts
his hand down amid the squrming fms
takes out the n.Css-bunkers and throws
them into tie water. and gathers the
good fish into the pail So. says Christ
il shall be at the end of the world. Inc
bad he will east away. and the good he will
keep. Another picture.
God our Mother. wanted to set forth the
duty of neiehborly love. and 1t is done by
a picture \ heap of wounds on the road
to Jericho. A Traveller has been hghtm2
Il robher The robber stabbed him ANA
knocked him down. Two minister's come
along. They look at the poor fellow, but
do not help him. A Traveller comes along -
a Samaritan. He says ''whoa' to the
beast he is riding. and dismounts. lie e1-
anines the wounds; he takes out some
vino. and with it washes the Wounds: and