The Opelousas courier., 1893-04-01

we nase gone IN safety upon the Almighty
wings! from what mountains of sin we
nave neen carried and at times nave been
borne up far above the gunshot of the world
and the arrow of the devil!
Wnen our time on earth is closed on these
grea1 wings of God we shall speed with in.
ilnlOe qulckness from earth's mountains to
heavens Mills, and as from the eagles cir
cuiC unoer tne sun men on the ground seem
small and Insignificant as lizards on q rock.
So III earthly thugs shall dwindle into a
speck, ana the raging river of death 80 far
beneath will seem smooth and classy as q
Swiss lake. s ~
IL was thought in ancient times that an
eagle could not only mott its fea theirs in old
age, out that after arriving to great age it
would renew its strength and become On.
treiy young again. To this Isaiah allades
when he says: ''They that wait ON the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall
mount up with wings of eagles" Even so
the Christian in old age will renew his spirit
ual strength. He shall be young in ardor
and enthusiasm for Christ, and as the BODY
tails the soul will grow in elasticity till at
death it will spring up like a gladdened child
into the bosom of God.
Yea. in this pathological study I see
that JOB says, "His days fly as an eagle that
hasteth to his prey" The speed of a hungry
eagle when it saw its prey a score of miles
distant was ~unimaginable. It went Ike q
thunderbolt for speed and power. So fly
our days. Sixty minutes, each worth a
heaven, since we assembled in this place
have shot like lightning into eternity. The
Old earth is rent and cracked under the
swift rush Of days and months and years
and ages. Swift as an eagle that hasteth
to his prey" Behold the fowls of the airl
Have you considered that they have. as you
and L have not, the power to change their
eyes SO that one minute they may be tele-
scopic and the next microscopic, now seeing
something a mile away and by telescope
eyesight, and then dropping to its food on
the ground, able to see it close by and with
microscopic eyesight?
But what a senseless passage Of Scripture
that is, until you know the fact, which says,
THE sparrow hath found a house and the
swallow a nest for herself, where she nay
lay her young, even thine affairs, 0 Lord"of
Hosts, my King and my Godw What has the
swallow to do with the affairs of the temple
at Jerusalem? All, you know that swallows
are all the world over very tame, and in
summer time they used to fly into the win
dows and doors of the temple at Jerusalem
and build a nest on the altar where the
priests were offering sacrifices.
These swallows brought leaves and sticks
and fashioned nests OF the affairs of the tenn
pie and hat. he'd the young sparrows in those
nests, and David had seen the young birds
picking their way out of the shell while the
old swallows watched, and no one in the
temple was cruel enough to disturb either
the old swallows or the young swallows, and
David burst out in rhapsody, saying, 1.-THE
swallow hath found a nest for herself, where
she may lay her young, even Thine affairs,
Q Lord of Hosts, my King and my Godg'
What carpenters, what masons. what
weavers, what spinners the birds are! Out
of what small resources they make so ex-
C,yicifa q h9rUo 1,arvaH nillnro7 mroaThaA
Out Of moses, out of sticks, out Of lichens,
| out Of horsehair, out Of spiders web, out OF
threads swept from the door by the house.
wire, out OF Une wool OF the sheep from the
| pasture field. Upholstered by leaves actually
sewed together by its W sharp bill. Cush-
| toned with feathers from its own breast.
Mortared together with the gum of trees
and the saliva of its own tiny bill. Such
symmetry, such adaptation, such convent
ence, such geometry OF structure.
Surely these nests were built by some
plan. They did not happen just so. Who
drafted the plan for the birds nest? Godi
! And do you not think that if He plans such
a house for a chaffinch, for an oriole, for a
bobolink, for a sparrow, He will see to it
that you always have a home? Eye are OF
| more value than mely sparrows." What
ever else surrounds you, you can have what
the Bible calls "the feathers Of the Al
| mighty" Just think of a nest like that, the
warmth of it, the softness of it, the safety
of 1.-THE feathers of the Almighty"
No flamingo out1ashing the tropical sun
set ever had such briliancy of pinion; no
robin redbreast ever had plumage dashed
with such crimson AMI purple and orange
| ard eold-'tthe feathers Of the Almighty"
Do you not feel the touch Of them now on
forehead and cheek and spirit, and was there
| ever such tenderness of brooding-"the
feathers of the Alm1ghtv?' So also in this
ornithology of the Bible God keeps i'm
pressing us with the anatomy of a birds
wing.
Over fifty times does the old Book allude
to the wing-"Wings OF a dove" "Wings
of the morning" ''Wings of the wind, y
''Sun of Righteousness with healing in his
wings" wings OF the Almighty" "All
| fowl of every wing" What does it all
mean? 1t suggests uplifting. 1t tells you
of fight upward. 1t means to remind you
that you yourself have wings. David cried
out. lob, that / had wings like a dove. that
I might fly away and be at rest!n, Thank
God that you have better wings than any
| dove of longest or swiftest flight. Gagged
now in bars of flesh are those wings, but the
day comes when they will be iber ated. Get
ready for ascension. Take the words of the
old hymn, and to the tune unto which that
| hyufn is married sing:
Rise, my soul and stretch thy wing;
Thy better portion trace.
Up out of these lowlands into the heavens
of higher experience and wider prospect.
But how shall we rise? Only as Gods holy
spirit gives us strength. But that is coming
now. Not as a condor from a Chimborazo
peak, swooping upon the afrighted valley,
but at a love like that which put its soft
brown wings over the wet locks of Christ at
the baptism in the Jordon. Dove of gentle
| ness! Dove of peace!
, Come, holy spirit, heavenly dove,
! With all thy quickening powers;
Come shed abroad a S~aviours love,
And thai shall kindle ours.
Tie Dogs Idea of Man.
AS has been said, our custom o
ascribing human faculties and modes o.
thought Is an involuntary and invariablt