Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-03-04
So rbere are sudden tempests for our

/ So there are sudden tempests for oul
souls, and, oh! how dark it gets, land threat.
ening clouds OF bankruptcy or sickness OF
persecution or bereavement gather and
thicken and blacken, and some run fol-
shelter to a bank, but it is poor shelter,
and others run to friendly advisers, and
they fail to help. and others fly nowhere
simply because they know not where to
go, 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 laundering terror
the divine voice proffcrs mercy. and the
soul comes under the brooding care OF
the Almighty las a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wing"
DANGER OF ICY FoRSiAL1TY.
The wings of my textsuggest warmth,
and that is what most folks want. The
fact is that this is cold world whether
! you take it literally or fguratiyely. We
have a big fireplace called the sun, and it
hasa very hot fire, and the stokers keep
the Goals well stirred up, bpt much OF
the year we cannot get NEAR 'en0dgh to
| this fireplace to get warmed. Tie worlds
extrenities are cold all the time. Forget
not that it is colder at the south pole
than Mt the north pole, and that the Arc
tic is not SO destructive as the Antarctic.
Once in awhile the Arctic will let ex-
plorers come back. but the Antarctic
hardly ever. When at the south pole a
ship sails in. the door of ice is almost sure
to DE shut against its return.
So life to many millions of people at
the south and many millions of people at
the north is prolonged shiver, but
when say that this is cold world !
chiefly mean figurativcly. If you want to
| know what is the meaning of the ordi-
nary term of receiving the "cold Shout
der get out Of money and try to Dor
row. The conversation may have been
almost tropical for luxuriance of thought
and speech. but suggest your necessities
and see the thermometer drop to 30 de-
crees below zero, and in that which till
a moment before had been warm room.
Take what is an unpopular position on
some public question and see your
friends fly as chaff before windmill.
As far as myself is concerned, have
no word of complaint, but look off day
by day and see communitie" freezing oHt
men and women of whom the world is
not worthy. Now it takes after one and
now after another. 1t becomes popular
to depreciate and defame and execrate
and lie about some people. This is the best
world eyer got into. but it is the mean
est world that some people ever got into.
The worst thing that ever happened to
them was their cradle, and the best
thing that will eyer happen to them will
be their grave What people want is
warmth.
Many years ago man was floating
down on the ice of the Merrimac, and
great efforts were made to rescue him
| Twice he got hold of a plank thrown to
him and twice he slipped away from it,
because that end Of the plank was Gov
cred with ice, and he cried ont, "For
Gods sake give 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 mich GOODNESS and lev -formality.
floats down. Give it the other end of the
plank-war1nth of sympathy, warmth OF
kindly association. warmth of genial sur
roundings.
The world declines to give it, and in
many cases has no power to give it, and
here is where. Christ comes in, and, as on
cold day, T. : rain beating and the at
mosphere full of sleet, the hen clucks
her chickens under her wings, and the
warmth of her own breast puts warmth
into the wet feathers and the chilled feet
of the infant group of the barnyard, SC
I Christ says to those sick and frosted and
disguised and frozen Of the world, Come
in out Of the March winds of the worlds
criticism; come in out of the sleet of the
worlds assault; come in out Of world
| that does not understand you and does
mot want to understand you; will com.
fort and will soothe and will be your
warmth, las hen gathereth her chick.
ems under her wing" Oh, the warm
heart of God is ready for all those te
whom the world has given the cold
shoulder.
SACRIFICE UNTO DEATH.
But notice that some one must take
the storm for the chickens. All! the her
takes the storm l have watched bel
under the pelting rain. / have seen hel
in the pinching frosts almost frozen te
death or almost strangled in the waters
and what fight she makes for the young
under wing if a dog or hawk or a MAJ
comes too nearl And SO the broodine
Christ takes the storm for us. Wha
flood of anguish and tears that did mo-
dash upon his holy soul! What beak o.
torture did not pierce 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 hell!
Yes, the hen took the storm for TIN
chickens, and Christ takes the storm TO
} u.s. Once the tempest rose so suddenl.
the hen could not get with her young
back from the new ground to the barn
and there she is under the fence hal
dead. And now the rain turns to snow
and it is an awful night, and in the morn
ing the whiteness about the gills and tn
beak down in the mud show that tn
mother is dead, and the young ones com
out and cannot understand why tn
mother does not scratch for them some
thing to cat, and they walk over he
wings and call with their tiny voice:
but there is no answering cluck. Sh
took the storm for others and persisted
Poor thinyl Self sacrificing even unit
death! 80.
And does it not make you think of hir
.,-l,o a,,I,,rnd all for nS2 So the wing