The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1893-03-09

some run for shelter to q bank, but it is
| poor shelter, and others run to friend.
ly advisers, and they fail to help, and
others fly nowhere. simply because they
know not where to 90, and they perish
In the blast, but others hear divine
call, saying. Come, for all things are
now ready" "The spirit and the bride
say come" And while the heavens are
numbering terror the divine voice prof
iers mercy, and the soul comes under
the brooding care Of the Almighty "as
hen gathereth her chickens under he-
wing"
The wings Of my text suggest
warmth, and that Is what most folks
want. The fact is that this Is a cold
world, whether you take it literally
or figurattvely. We have big fire
place called the sun, and it has a yery
hot fire. and the stockers keep the Goals
well stirred up, but much Of the wear
we cannot get near enough to this Are.
place to get warmed. Tie worlds ex.
tremlties are cold all the time. Forget
not that it IS colder at the south pole
IMAM at the north pole. and that the
ArcCic Is not so destructive as the An.
Carctlc: Once In awhile the Arctic will
leu explorers come back, but the An.
tarctic hardly ever. When at the south
pole ship sails in, the door of ice ia
almost sure to be closed against its re-
turn. ' ~
SO life to many millions of people at
tne south and many millions Of people
aC Che north Is prolonged shiver. But
%nen say that this is a cold world |
cmelly mean tiguratlvely. If you want
to know what is the meaning of the
ordinary term of receiving the "cold
shoulder" get out of money and try to
borrow. The conversation NAV have
oeen almost tropical for luxuriance of
Chougnt and speech, but suggest your
necesslties and see tte thermometer
drop to 80 degrees below zero. and in
that which till moment before had
Deen warm room. Take what ia an
unpopular position on some public
question and see your friends nv as
chaft before a windmill.
AS far as myself is concerned. have
no word OF complaint, but I look off
day by day and see communities freez.
ing out men and women of whom the
world Is not worthy. Now it takes af.
tel one ana now after another. 1t
Oecohes oS popular, to depreciate
lie about some people. This is the best @
World ever got into, but 1t Is the
meanest world that some people ever
got into: The worst thing that ever
happened to them was their cradle. and
the best thing that will ever happen
10 them Will be their grave. What
people want Is warmth.
Many years ago man was floating
down on the Ice of the Nerrimac'
ana great efforts were made to rescue
MIN. Twice he got hold of plank
thrown to him. and twice he slipped
away from it because that end of the
plank was covered with Ice, and he
cried out. For Gods sake, gave me the
wooden end of the plank this time"
and this done he was hauled to shore.
The trouble is that in our efforts to
save the soul there is too much cold
ness and icy formality, and so tie i'm
perlled one slips off and floats down.
Give 1t the other end of the plank
warmth Of sympathy, warmth Of kind
iy association, warmth of genial sur
roundlngs. The world declines to give
IL, ana IN many cases has no power to
give IL, and here is where Christ comes
IN, and as ON cold day, the rain beat
Ing ana the atmosphere full of sleet.
the hen clucks her chickens under her
wings, and the warmth of her own
breast puts warmth into the wet faith
ers and the chilled feet of the infant
group OF the barnyard, 80 Christ SAYS
TO those sick and frosted and disgusted
and frozen Of the world come In out Of
the March winds of the worlds crit.
lclsm; come in out of the sleet of the
worlds assault; come in out of a world
that does not understand you and does
not want to understand you. l will
comfort, and l will soethe, and | will
be your warmth, "as hen gathereth
her chickens under her wing" On. the
warm heart of God is ready for all
those to whom the world has given the
cold shoulder.
But notice that some one must take
the storm for the chickens. All, the
hen takes the storm. l have watched
her under the pelting rain. have seen
her in the pinching frosts almost frozen
to death or almost strangled In the wa
ters. and what a fight she makes for
the young under wing II dog, or q
hawk, or man come too nearl And so
the brooding Christ takes the storm for
US. What flood of anguish and tears
that did not dash upon his holy SOUL
What beak of torture did not rierce his
vitalsl What barking Cerberus OF hell
was not let out upon him from the
kennels!
What he endured, oh, who can tell,
TO save our souls from death and helli
Yes, the hen took the storm for the
chickens, and Christ takes the storm
for us. Once the tempest rose so sud
denly the hen could not get with her
young back from the new ground to
the barn, and there she Is under the
fence half dead. And now the rain
turns to snow, and it is and awful
night, and in the morning the white
ness about the gills and the beak down
in the mud show that the mother Is
dead. and the young ones come out and
cannot understand why the mother does
not scratch for them something to eat,
and they walk over her wings and cali
with their tiny voices, but there Is no
answering cluck. She took the storm
for others and perished. Poor thingl
Self sacrificing even unto death.
And does 1t not make you think of
him who endured all for us? So the
wings under which we come for spirit
ual safety are blood spattered wings,
are night shadowed wings, are tempest