Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-03-09

not make o tnlnk OF MIN WnOenuh'oN
for us? So the wings under which we
come for spiritual safety are hood
spattered wings, are mig it-shad we'd
wings. are tempest-torn wings II the
Isle of Wight I saw the grave Of Prin-
ress Elizabeth. who died while a
prisoner at Carisbrook Castle, her finger
on an open Bible an pointing TO the
! words: Come unto me all We that .
snd are heavy laden. and ! viii give
Yon rest o, come under the WINS!
But now the summer lay Is almost
past, and the shadows OF the house and
barn and wagon-saed have l~engthened.
The farmer, with scythe or hoe on
shoulder, is returning from the helds-
The oxen are unyoked. The horses are
~crunching the oats at the full bin. The
air is bewitched of honeysuckle ant
w~ildbriar. The milkman, pail in hand,
is approaching the barnyard. The
fowls, keeping early hours, r collect
ing their young: 'Cluckf' Cluck
"Cluck!' and soon the eyes OF that
feathered nursery are closed. The G
elors of the winged tribe have ascenied
To their perch, but the hens in a moth
erhood divinely appointed, take all the
risk of a slumber on the ground, ana
all night long the wings will stay out
spread and the little ones will not utter
a sound. Thus at shutdown, lovingly,
safely, completely, the hen broods her
young. SO, if we are the Lords, the
evening of our life will come. The
heats of the day will have passed. There
will be shadows and we cannot see as
far. The work of life will be about
ended. The hawks of temptation that
lowered in the sky will have gone 70
the woods and folded their wings
Sweet s~ilences will come down. The
air will be redolent with the breath OF
whole arbors o~f'promises sveeter than
jasmine or evening promise. The an
may be a little chill, but Christ will
call us, and we viii know the voice and
heed the call, and we will come under
the wings for the night the strong
wings. the soft wings, the warm wings,
and without fear, ami in full sense OF
safety, and then we will rest from sun
down 10 sunrise. "as a hen gathcreth
her chickens under her wing" Dear
me! How many souls the Lord hath
thus brooded. Mothers after watching
over sick cradles and hen watching
afterward over Maynard sons and
daughters, AT last themselves taken
care of by a motherly God. Business
men, after a lifetime struggling with
the uncertainties of mon ey markets
and the change Of tariffs, and the I'M
.derselling Of men. who, because OF their
dishonesties. can afford to undersell,
and years of disappointment and strug-
gle. at last under wings where nothing
can perturb mem any more than a bird
of prey, which is ten miles off, disturbs
a chick at midnight broodcd in a barn
yard.
My text has its strongest application
for people who were born in the coun-
try, wherever you may live, and that is
the majority of you. You cannot hear
my text without having all the rustic
scenes Of the old farmhouse come back
to you. Good old days they were. You
knew nothing of the world, for you had
not seer the world. BY the law Of as
ISOLATION you cannot recall the brood
ing hen and her chickens without see
ing also the barn, and the hay-mow,
and the wagon-shed, and the house,
and the room where you played, and
the fireside with the big backlog
and the burial, and the we'd
ding, and the deep snowbank, and hear
the village bell that called you to wor-
ship, and seeing the horses which. after
you to church, stood around the
Did clapboarded Westinghouse, and
those who sat at either end of the church
pew, and indeed all the scenes of your
irst fourteen years, and you think of
what you were then and of whatyou are
low, and all of these thoughts are
by the sight of the old hem
,oop Some Of you had better go
pack and start again. In thought re-
urn to that place and hear the
luck, and see the outspread feathers,
md come under the wing. and make
he Lord your portion and shelter and
warmth, preparing for everything that
nay come, and so avoid being ciassed
Imong those described by the closing
words of my text. ''as a hen gathereth
Ter chickens under her wings, and ye
would not" All, that throws the re-
possibility upon us. "Ye would not
Ilasl for the ''would-nots." If the wan
ering broods Of the farm heed not
heir mothe r's call and risk the hawk
dare the freshet and expose them
elves to the frost and storm, surely I
heir ca'amities are not the mothers
ault. 'Ye would notl" God would. !
ut how many would not When a [
God mar asked a young woman who :
ad abandoned her home and who R
vas deploring her wretchedness why I
he did not return, the reply was:
| dare not GO home. My father is so I
revoked he would not receive me at Z
Then" said the Christian !
ian. 81 will test this, and so he wrote {
} the father, and the reply came back !
a letter marked outside, '1mmedi- (
te, and inside saying, Let her come