The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-01-25

per, and they died Of quails. The Bible re-
ters to the migratory habits Of the birds and
says. 1.-THE stork knoweth her appointed
time and the turtle and the crane and the
swallow the time OF their going, but my peo'
pie know not the judgments OF the Lord"
Would the prophet illustrate the fate Of
fraud, he points to a failure at Incubation
ana says LAS partridge sitteth on eggs
and hatcheth them not, so he that getterh
riches and not by right shall leave them in
the midst of his days and at his end shall be
fool" The partridge, the most careless of
all birds in choice Of its place Of nest, build
ing it on the ground and often near a fire.
quented road or in a slight depression Of
ground, without reference to safety, and
soon hoof or scythe or cart wheel ends
all. So says the prophet, man who gathers
under him dishonest dollars will hatch out
of them no peace, no satisfaction, no happi-
ness, no security.
What vivid similitude! The quickest way
trouble is about keeping it. Every hour OF
every day some such partridge Is driven of
the nest. Panics are only a futter OF
partridges. It is too tedious work to become
rich in the old fashioned way, and II man
can by one falsehood make as much as by
ten wears Of hard labor, why not tell It?
And il one counterfeit check will bring the
dollars as easily as genuine issue. why not
make its One years fraud will be equal TO
a half a lifetimes sweat. Why not live
solely by ones wits? A fortune thus built
will be firm and everlasting. Whl II!
Hal build your house on volcanoes crater;
20 to sleep on the bosom of an avalanche.
The volcano will blaze, and the avalanche
There ara estates which have been coming
t,
thst estate started in husbands industry
and a wies economy. It grew from gen.
,ration to generation by good habits and
high minded enterprise. Old fashioned IN:
instry was the mine from which that gold
was dug. and God will keep the deeds OF such
an estate In His buckler. Foreclose your
mortgage, spring your snap judgments, plot
with acutest intrigue against a ramlly prop
arty like that aud you cannot do 1t per-
manent damage, Better tnan "arrantee
Iced and better than fire insurance Is the
defense which Gods own hand viii give ~.
But here is q man to-day as poor as Joo
,ftsr he was robbed by satan of everything
mt his boils, yet suddenly tomorrow he 10
, rich man. There is no accounting Tor nus
hidden affiuence. He has not yet failed
often enough to become wealthy. NO one
oretends TO account for his princely ward
robe, or the chased silver, or the full curbed
teeds that rear and neigh like Bucsphalus
n the grasp Of his coachman. Did he come
10 a sudden Inheritance? No. Did he make
4 fortune on purchase and sale? No. Every
oody asks where did that partridge hatch.
The devil suddenly threw him up, and the
devil will suddenly let him come down.
That hidden scheme God saw from the first
conception Of the plot. That partridge
swift disaster viii shoot it down, and tne
higher It flies the harder it falls The propa-
ct saw. as you and I have often seen, the
awful mistake Of partridges. -
But from ths top OF q Bible FIR tree hear
the shrill cry Of the strork. Job, Ezskiel,
Jeremiah, speak OF it. David cries out "As
for the stork, the fir tree is her house."
This large white Bible bird is supposed,
without alightfng sometimes to wing Its
way from the region OF the Rhine to Africa.
AS winter comes all the storks fy"to warmer
ciilnes and the last one OF their number that
arrives at the spot to which they migrate IS
killed by them. What havoc 1t would make
in our species IL those men were Killed VINO
are always behind! In oriental cities the
stork Is sdomesticated and walks about on tne
street and will follow its keeper.
In the city Of Ephesus saw long row
of pillars, on tho top of each pillar stork's
nest. But the word 'tstork" ordinarily
means mercy and affection, from the. fact
that this bird was distinguished for Its great
love for its parents. 1t never forsakes them,
and even after they become feeble protects
and provides for them. In migrating the
old storks lean their necxs on the young
storks, and when the old ones give out the
Young ones carry them on their DscSs.
God forbid that dumb stork should nave
more heart than we. Blessed Is that table
at which an old father and mother SIC;
and mother kneel
What it is to have q mother they know
best who have lost hsr. God only knows
the agony she suffered for us, the times she
wept over our cradle and the anxious signs
her bosom heaved as we lay upon IT. the
sick nights when she watcher rs long after
every one was tired out but God and herself.
Her lifeblood beats in our hearts, and her
image lives in our face. That man Is grace
less as a cannibal who i'll treats his parents,
and he who begrudges them daily bread and
clothes them but shabbily, may God havepa'
thence with him, cannot. l heard man
once say, 81 now have my old mother on
my hands" 'Ye storks on your way with
food to your aged parents, shame him!
But wonder in this Bible sky flies bird
that Is speckied. The prophet describing
the church cries out, '.Mine heritage is unto
me as a speckled pird; the birds round
about are against her." So 1t was then: 80
it is now Holiness picked at. Consecra-
ton picked at. Benevolence picked at.
Usefulness picked ut. A speckled bird Is
peculiar bird: and that arouses the antip-
athy Of all the bsaKs OF the forest.
The church Of God is peculiar institu--
tion. and that is enough to evoke attack OF
of the world, for it is speckled bird 20 be
picked at. The Inconsistencies or Christians
are a banquet on which multttudes get tat.
They ascribe everything you do to wroig
motives. Put dollar In the poor box and
they will say that you dropped It there only
that you might hear it ring. Invite them
to Christ and they will call you fanatic.
Let there be contention among Christians.
and they will say: "HurrahI The church is
In 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 a single plume, Like the
albatross, she can sleep on the bosom or y
tempest. She has gone through the fires OF
Nebuchadnezzars furnace and not got
burned; through the waters OF the He'd sea
and not been drowned; through the ship.
wreck ON the breakers OF Melitia and not
been foundered. Let all earth and hell try to
hunt down this specified bird, but Lar ABOVE
human scorn and internal assault 1e snatl
sing over every mountain top and fly over
every nation, aud 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 a tall
cliff hanging over the sea l hear the eagle
calling unto the tempest and lifting Its
wings to smite the whirlwind. Moses, Jere.
miah. Hosea aad Habakkuk at times In their
writings take their pen from the eagles
wing. It IL bird with herceness In its eye.
its feet armed with claws of iron and its
head with q dreadful besk. Two or three OF
= them can fill the heavens with clai.gor. But
generally this monster of the air Is alone