The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1893-03-02
REV. DR.. TALM ACES SERMON
UNDER HIS WING.
Like n Brood Hen God Wants TO Gr;her
Men TO Him. The Perils of Youth,


Matthew xiii, 81.
Jerusalem was in sieht as Christ came 10
the crest OF Mount Olivst a height of 700
feet. The spleudors OF the religious capital
OF the whole earth irrediated the landscape.
There is the temple. Yonde~ IL the kings
palace. Spread out before His eyes are the
pomp, the wealth, the wicxedness and the
coming destruction OF Jerusalem. and He
burst into tears at the thouyht OF the OBJ
duracy OF place that He would gladly have
saved. and apostrophizes. saying, "Ob.
Jerusalem. Jerusalem. how often would I
have gathered thv children together. even
as q hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings. and ye would not"
Whv did Christ select hen AMI chicken as
n similey Next 70 the oppositsness of the
comparison tnink it was IN help all public
teacher. in tae matter Of illustration to get
down Oft their stits and use comparisons
that all can understand The plainest bird
on Garth IL the barnyard fowl Its only
ndornments are the rel comb In its head
dress and the wattles under the throat. IL
has no grandeur OF genealogy All we know
is that its ancestors came frop, India. son,a
of them from height % 1000 feet on the
sides of the 1iimalavs. It has no pretention
of nest like the cages eyrie. It has no luster
of plumace like the goldfuch. Possessing
anatomy that allows flight, yet about ths
last thing that it wants TO do is to fiy. and
in retreat uses foot almost as much as wing
scale the song OF lark and robin red breast
and nightingale, yet the hen OF nv text
hath nothing that could he taken fo- a song.
hut only cluck and cackle. Yet Chirst In
the text uttered. while looking upon doomed
Jerusalem. declares that what He had
wished for that city was like what the hen
does for her chickens. Christ was thus sim.
pile In His teachings. and vet how hari IL is
for u, who are Sunday school instructors
and editors and preachers and reformers,
and those who would gain the ears of audi.
ences, 10 attain that heavenly and divine
art of simplicity.
We have to run course of literary dis.
orders as children n course OF physical dis
orders. We come out of school and college
loaded down with Creek mythologies and
out OF the theological seminary weighed
down with what the learned fathers sail
and we fly with wings OF eagles ami aamin
goes and albatrossas, and it takes n COOL
while before we can come down to Christ's
similitudes, the candle under the bushel. the
salt that has lost its SAVIOR. the net thrown
into the SEQ, the spittle on the ewes of the
blind man and the hen and chickens
There is not much poetry about this
winged creature OF God mentioned in INV
text, but she Is more practical and mora
motherly and mora suggestive OF GOOD
. things than many that ny higher and wear
brighter colors. She Is not prima donna
OF the skies nor a strut of beauty in the
aisle of the forest. She does not cut circle
under the sun like the Rocky Mountain
eagle. but stays at home TO look after family
affairs. She does not swoop like the condor
of the Cordilleras to transport a rabbit from
the valley to the top OF the crags. but Just
scratches for a living. How vigorously
with her claws she pulls away the groun1
to bring mp what is hidden beneath When
the breakfast or dining hour arrives she
begins to prepare the repast and calls all her
young TO partake.
am in sympathy with the unpretentious
old fashioned hen, because, like most of rs
she has to scratch for a living. She knows
at the start the lesson which most people OF
good sense are slow to learn that the gain
ing Of a livelihood implies work, and that
= quccess4 20 not lie on the surface, but are 10
be uptS.nsi bs positive and continuous
effort. The reason that society, and the
church, and the world are so full of failures.
30 full OF loafers, so full OF dead beats, Is he
cause people are not wise enough to take the
lesson on which any hen would teach them
that IL they would find for themselves and
for those dependent upon them anything
worth having they must scratch for it
Solomon said. go to the ant thou slug
gar5.p say, go to the hen. thon slug.
gard" In the Old Testament God compares
Himself to an eagle stirring up her nest. aud
in the New Testament the Holy Spirit Is
compared to descending dove. but Christ.
in a sermon that begins with cutting sar.
casm for hypocrites AMI ends with til,
paroxysm OF pathos in the text, compares
Himself TO a hen. essssa
One day in the country we saw s,Iden
CONSERVATION in the behavior OF old Dom.
inick. Why the hen should he so disturbed
we could not understand We looi,eJ about
10 see if neighbors dog were inyadino tbs
farm. We looked up 10 sec il a stormelou5
were lowering. We could see nothinr ON
the ground that could terrorz,, and wa
could see nothing in the air TO ruff, the
feathers OF the hen. but tho loud. wild. af.
frigbted cluck which brought all her broo1
at iull run under her feathers made US lool;
again around us and above u.s. when we saw
chat high mp and far away thera was a rl-
pacious bird wheeling round aud round AMI
down and down, and not seeing us as wa
stool in the shallow II cana nearer and
lower until we saw its beak was curved from
base to tip, and it had two flames OF fra for
eyes, andit was hawk.
But all the chickens were under old Dam
inicks wing, and either the bird of prev
caught glimpse Of us, or not able To fin'i
the brood hundled under wing dartei bacx
into the clouds So Christ calls with great
earnesrness to the young. Why. what Is the
natter IL Is bright sunlight, and there can
be no danger. Health Is there. A oooi
home is theirs. Plenty of food ia tbers
Prospect OF long life is theirs. But Christ
continues TO cal, calls with more en-
phasis and urges haste and saws not n
second ought to be lost. Oh, do tell us what
is the matter All, now | see. There are
hawks OF temptation in tue air there are
vultures wheeling for their prey; there ar,
beaEs OF death ready to plunge: there are
claws of ailurement ready TO clutch. Now
l see the peril. Now l understand the
urgency. Now see the only safety. Would
that Christ might this day take our sons and
daughters into His shelter, las a hen gath
ereth her chickens under her wing"
! The fact is that Jae most of them will
never find the shelter unless while they arc
chickens. IL Is simple matter of inexor.
able statistics that most OF those who do not
come to Christ in youth never come at all.
What chance Is there for the young without
divine protection There ars the grog
shops. There are the gambling hells. There
are the infidelties and immoralities of
spritualisn. There ars bad books. There
are impurities. There are the business ras-
calitles. And so numerous are thesa assail.
ments that it Is a wonder that honesty and
virtue are not lost arts
ihs birds OF prey. diurnal end nocturnal,