The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-12-14
GOD, OUR MOTHER.
An Eloquent Sermon by Rev. T..
Dewitt Talmage, D. d.
Coz 4 Love for Us Lisened to That Of n
Mother for Her Children-He Teaches
Us by Pictures aud Has q Moth
cr's Patience Tor the
-. Erring. E

Talmage chose an aspect of the Divine
character which is seldom considered.
He discoursed on God as "The Mother
of ALL" the text being taken from
Isaiah Xvi, IS: "As one whom his
mother comforteth, SO will comfort
you" Following is the sermon:
The Bible is q warm letter OF affec-
ton from parent to child, and yet
there are many who see chiefly the Sc
verer passages. AS there may be fifty
or sixty nights Of gentle dew in one
summer, that will not cause as much
remark as one hail storm Of half an
hour, so there arethose who are more
struck by those passages of the Bible
that announce the indignation Of God
than by those that announce his affec'
ton. There may come to household
twenty or fifty letters of affection dur
ing the year, and they will not make as
much excitement In that home as one
sheriff's writ; and so there are people
who are more attentive to those pas
sages which announce the judgments OF
God, than to those which announce His
mercy and His favor. God is q Lion,
John says in the Book of Revelation.
God is Breaker, Micah announces in
his prophecy. God is Rock. God is
King. But hear also that God is Love.
A father and his child are walking out
in the field on summers day, and there
comes up thunder storm, and there is
fash of lightning that startles the child,
and the father says: my dear, that is
Gods eye" There comes q 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 for
gets to say: That is Gods smile"
The text Of this morning bends with
great gentleness and love over all who
are PROSTATE in sin and trouble. 1t
lights up with compassion. 1t melts
with tenderness 1t breathes upon us
the hush Of an eternal lullaby, for II
announces that God Is our Mother
"As one whom his mother comforteth,
so will comfort you"
/ remark, in the first place, that God
has mothers simplicity Of instruction.
A father does not know how to teach a
child the A, B, c. Men are not skilful
In the primary dep artment; but moth
er has so much patience that she will
tell child for the hundredth time the
difference between and G, and between
IandJ. Sometimes it is by blocks; some.
times by the worsted-w ork; sometimes
by the slate; sometimes by the book. She
thus teaches the children, and has nc
awkwardness of condescension in 30
doing. So God, our Mother, stoops down
to our infantile minds Though we are
told thing thousand times, and we
do not understand 1t, our heavenly
Mother goes on, line upon line, precept
upon precept, here a little and there a
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
halt we lose our place, we pronounceit il
wrong. Still, Gods patience is not ex.
hausted. God, our Mother, puts US in
the school Of prosperity, and the letters
are in sunshine, and wa cannot spell
them God puts us in the school of ad.
versity and the letters are black and
we cannot spell them II God were
merely king, He would punish us; II
He were simply father He would whip
us; but God is mother, and so we are
borne with and helped all the way
through.
A mother teaches her child chiefly by
pictures II she wants to set forth TO
her child the hideousness Of a quarrel.
some spirit, instead Of giving lecture
upon that subject she turns over leaf
and shows the child two boys in a
wrangle, and says: docs not that lool,
horrible?" II she wants TO teach her
child the awfulness of war, she turns
over the picture book and shows the
war charger, the headless trunks oi
butchered men, the wild, bloodshot eye
of battle rolling under lids of flame
and she says: THAT is warp The
child understands it. In great many
books the best part are the pictures
The style may be insipid, the type poor
but q picture always attracts child,
attention. Now God, our Mother
teaches us almost everything by pict
ures Is the divine goodness 10 be SCI
forth7 How does God, our Mother
teach us2 BY an autumnal picture
The barns are full The wheatstackI
are rounded. The cattle are chewing
the cud lazily in the sun. The orchards
IRE dropping the ripe pippins into the
lap Of the farmer. The natural world
that has been busy all summer, seem'
now to be resting in great abundance
We look at the picture and say: Thou
crownest the year with Thy goodness
and Thy paths drop fatness." Our
family comes around the breakfast
table. IL has been very cold night
but the children are all bright because
they slept under thick coverlids, and
they are now In the warm blast Of the
open register. and their appetites make
luxuries ont of the plainest fare, ant
we look at the picture and say; "Blesi
the Lord, my soulF'-. fs
God wishes TO set forth the fact thai
In the judgment the good will be di
vided from the wicked. How Is II done'
By picture; by pafable-a fishing
scene A group Of hardy mon, long
bearded, geared for standing 10 th.
waist In water; sleeves rolled up. Long