Democratic messenger., 1893-01-14

lean tneir neckS on the Young stOrks,
and when the old ones give out the
young ones carry them ON their backs
God forbid that Il dumb stork should
have more heart than we Blessed is
that table ut which an old father and
mother sit: blessed that altar mt which
an old father and mother kEeel.
What it Is to have Il mother they know
best who have lost her. sod only knows
the agony she suffered for MS. the times
she wept over our cradle and the anxious
sighs her bosom heavcd as we Law upon
it. the sick nights when she watched us
long after every one was tired ont but
God and herself Her lifeblood beats
in our heart and her image lives in our
face. That man is gracclcss as a canni-
bal who i'll treats his parents. and h.
who begrudSes them daily bread and
clothes them but shabbily, may God
have patience with him: | cannot.
heard a man once say. Il now have my
old mother on my hands" Ye storks
on your way with food to Your aged
parents. shame him.
THE PROSECUTED CHURCH.
But yonder in this Bible sky flies a
bird that is speckled The prophet de
scribing the church cries out. Mine
heritage is unto me as IL speckled bird;
the birds round about are against her :"
So it was then: so it is now. Holiness
picked ut. Conservation picked at. Be
nevolence picked ut. Usefulness picked
at. y speckled bird is peculiar bird;
and that arouses the antipathy of all the
beaks of the forest.
The church Of God is a peculiar insti-
tuition. and that is enough to evoke at
tack of the world. for it is a speckled
bird to be picked at. The inconsistent
multitudes get fat. They ascribe every
thing you do to wrong motives. Put a
dollar in the poor box and they will say
that you drorred it there only that you
might hear il ring. Invite them TO
Christ. and they will call You fanatic
Let there he contention among Chris
tians, and they will say: ''Hurrah. The
church is i'll decadence
Christ intended that his church should
always remain speckled bird. Let
birds of another feather pick at her. but
they cannot rob her Of single plume.
Like the albatross. she can sleep ON the
bosom of II tempest. She has gone
through the fires of NebuchadneZzar's 5
furnace and not got burned through the
waters of the Red sea apd not been
drowned: through the shilIvrcck on the
breakers of Melita and not been foun-
dered. Let all earth and hell try to hunt
down this speckled bird. but far above
human scor,. and Internal assault it shall
sing over every mountain top and fly
over every nation. and her triumphant
song shall be: The church Of God.
The pillar and ground of the truth.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against
her"
But we cannot stop here. From n
tall cliff hanging over the sea hear the
eagle calling unto the tempest and lift
ing its wing To smite the whirlwind
Moses. Jeremiah. Hosea and Habakkuk
at times in their writings take their pen
from the eagles wing. 1t is bird with
ferceness in its eye. its feet armed with
claws of iron and its head with dread
full beak. Two or three of them can fill
the heavens with clangor. But gener-
ally this monster of the air is alone and
for the reason that its
habits are So predaceous it requires five
or ten miles of aerial or earthly domin-
ion all for itself
The black brown of its back, and the
white of its lower feathers, and the fire
of its eye. and the long flap of its wing
make one glimpse of it as il swings
down into the valley to pick up a rabbit.
or Il lamb. or a child and then swings
back TO its throne on the rock some
thing never to be forgotten. Scattered
about its eyrie of altitudinous solitude
are the bones of its conquests. But
while the bnak and the claws of the
eagle are the terror of all the travellers
of the air. the mother eagle is most kind
and gentle TO her young. God compares
his treatment of his people to the eagles
care of the eaglets. Deuteronomy xxxii,
II. AS an eagle stirreth mp her nest.
over her young, spreading
abroad her wings. taketh them. bcarcth
them ON her wings. so the Lord alone
did lead"
WISDOM OF THE EAGLE.
The old eagle first shoves the young
one out of the nest in order To make il
fly. and then takes it ON her back and
flies with il and shakes il off in the air.
and if it seems like falling quickly flies
under it and takes it ON her wing again.
So God does with Us. Disaster, failure
in business. disappointment, bereave-
ment. is only Gods way of shaking us
out of our comfortable nest in order
that we may learn how 10 fly. You who
are complaining that you have no faith
or courage of Christian zeal have had it
too easy. You never will learn TO fly
in that comfortable nest.
Like an eagle. Christ has carried us
on his back At times we have been
shaken off. and when we were about Il
fail he came under us again and brought
us out of the gloomy valley To the sun
ny mountain. Never an eagle brooded
with such love and care over her Young
rs Npbtl Nlil-S HtNt bttn ONtE Us.
Across what oceans of trouble we have
gone III safety upon the Almighty wings.
From what mountains of sin we have
been carried and at times have been
borne up far above the gunshot of the
world and the arrow of the devil.
When our time on earth is closed on
these great wings of God we shall speed
with infinite quicknc>s from earth's
mountains To heavens hills. and as from
the eagles circuit under the sun men on
the ground seem small and insignificant
as lizards on IL rock. So all earthly things
shall dwindic into spcck. and the rag
ing river Of death 81 far beneath will
seem smooth and CLASSY rs Il Swiss lake
1t was thought in ancient times that an
eagle could not only molt its feathers III
old age. but that after arriving to great
age it would renew its strength and be
come entirely Young again. To this
Isaiah alludcs when he SAYS; They that
wait on tn Lord shall renew their
strength. They shall mount up with
wings of eagles" Even So the Christian