The Penn's Grove record., 1893-03-03
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINEs SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject. IA Protecting Wing.

Jerusalem was in sight as Christ came 60
the crest OF Mount Olivet, q height of 700
feet. The solendnrs Of the religious capital
of the whole earth irradiatei this landscape.
There is the temple. Yon Ter is the kings
palace. Spread out before His eyes are the
pomp, the wealth, the wickedness and the
coming destruction OF Jerusalem, and He
burst into tears at the thought Of the oh.
duracy OF a place that He would gladly have
saved, and a~uostrophizes, saying, "Ob,
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I
have Gathered thv children together. eyen
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not"
2 Why liz Christ select hen and chicken as
a SMILEY Next to the oppositsness of the
comnarison | think it was to help all public
teachers in the matter Of illustration tn get
dow of their stills and use cornparisous
that all can understand. The plainest bird
on earth is the %bsrnyard fowl. Its only
adornments are the raj comb 10 Its heal
dress and the wattles un3er the throst. It
has no grandeur OF genealogv. All we know
is that its ancestors came from India, some
of them from a height OF 1000 feet on the
sides of the Himalavs. It has no pretention
of nest ike the cages eyrie. 1t has no luster
OF plumage like the goldfiuch. Possessing
anatomy that allows flight, yet about the
last thing that IL wants to do is to fly, and
IN retreat uses foot almost as much as wing,
ebu1 hAe h'NS Jul u
scale the song OF lark n robin red breast
and nightingale, yet the hen OF nv text
hath nothing that could be taken for a song.
hut only cluck aud cackIe. Yet Christ IN
the text %uttereI, while LOOKING upon doomed
Jerusalem, declares that what He had
wished for that city was like what the hsn
does for her chickens. Christ was thus sim
pie in His teachings. and yet how hari it Is
for us, who are S~undav-schooi instructors
and editors and preachers and reformar-,
and those who would gain the ears OF audi.
ences, to attain that heavenly and divine
art of simplicity.
We have to run a course Of literary dis.
orders as children q course of physical dis
orders. We come ont NJ school and college
loaded down with Greek ~mythologiss and
ont OF the theological seminary weighed
down with what tho learned fathers said,
and we fv with wings Of eagles mi famiu.
goes and albatrosses, and it takes a gooi
while before We can come down to Christ's
similituies, the camille under the bushel, the
salt that has lost its SAVIOR, the net thrown
into the Sea, the spittle on the eyes Of the
blind man and the hen and chickens.
There is not much poetry about thi.
winged creature of God mentioned in nv
tex, but she is more practical and more
motherly and more suggestive OF good
things than many that dy higher and wear
brighter eolors. She is not q prima donna
of the skies nor a strut of beauty in the
aisle Of the forest. Sne does not cut a circle
under the sun ike the Rocky Mountain
EAGLE, but STAYS at home to louk after family
affairs. She does not swooo like the con1or
of the Cordilleras to transport a rabbit fro n
the valley to the ton of the crags. but Just
scratches for a living. How vigorously
with her claws she pulls away the grouui
to bring up what is hidden bensathi When
the breakfast or dining hour arrives, she
begins to prepare the repast AMI calls all her
young to partake.
] am in sympathy with ths unpretentious
old fashioned hen. because, like most of Us,
she has to scratch for a living. She know,
at the start the Lesson which most people of
good sense are slow to learn that the GAIN
ing of a livelihood imolies work, ami that
successes do not lie on the surface, but are to
be upturned by positive AMI continuous
effort. The reason that society, and the
church, and the world are so full Of failures,
go full of loafers 80 full of dead bsats, Is be-
cause people are r~ wise enough to take the
lesson on which any len would teach them
that il they would find for themselves aud
for those dependent upon them anything
worth having they must scratch for it.
'Solomon said. go to the ant, thou slug
gar1." say, "Go to the hen, thon slug
gard" In the Old Testament God compares
Himself to an eagIe stirring up her nest, and
IN lu6 XNGW lcStduucbu LILO &1Oly koDtTlb IL
compared to a descending dove. but Christ
in a sermon that begins with cutting sar-
casm for hypocrites and ends with the
paroxysm of pathos in the text, npar
Himself to a hen. q.
One day in the country we saw suider
CONSERVATION In the behavior Of old Dom
mick. Why the hen should be so disturbed
we could not understand. We lookeiaoout
to see il a neighbor's dog were invading tine
farm M a tlnkaf I'm IN Saa If = afarrnotnfr 4
were lowering. We could see nothing on
the ground that could terrorize, AMI we
could see nothing in the air to ruff, the
feathers of the hen. but the lou1, wild, at.
frighted cluck which brought all her brood
at iull run under her featners made us look
again around us and above lie, when we saw
that high up and far away tners was q ra.
pacious bird wheeling round and round, ami
down and down, n not seeing us as We
stood in the sha low IL cams ne arer aud
lower until we saw its beak was curved from
base to tin, and it had two flames OF firs for
eyes, andit was q hawk.
But all the chickens were under old DOM
inick's wing, and either the bird Of prey
caught a glimpse Of Us, or not able to find
into the clouds. So Christ calls with great
earnesiness to the young. Why, wnat Is the
matterf 1t is bright sunlight, and there can
Ls-po danger. Health is there. A good
home is theirs. Plenty of food Is theirs.
Prospect OF long lite is theirs. But Christ
continues to call. calls with more en-.
pbasis and uryes haste and saws not a
second ought 10 he lost. Oh, do tell US what
is the matterl All, now I see. There are
hawks OF temptation in tue air; there are
vultures wheeling for their prey; there ara
beass OF death ready to plunge; there are
ciaws of alluremsnt ready to clutch. Now
] see the neril. Now I understand the
urgency. Now l see tho only safety. Would
that Christ might this day take our o n ami
daughters into His shelter, "as a men gath
sreth her chickens under her wing"
The fact Is that toe most Of them will
never find the shelter unless while they ara
chickens. II is a simple matter of in.xor-
able statistics that most of those who do not
come to Christ in youth never come az all.
What chance is there for the young without
divine protectionf There are the grog
shops. There are the gambling bells. There
are the infdelities inc immoralities OF
s~piritualisn. There are bad booss. There
are impurities. There are the business ras-
c~alities. And so numerous are these assan,
ments that it is a wonder that honesty aod
virtue are not lost arts.
The birds OF prey, diurnal and nocturnal,
of the natural world are ever on tae alert.
They are the assassins of tia SKY. They have
varieties Of tss!e. Toe eagle prefers the
flesh of the living animal. fhe vulturs pre-
fers the carcass. The falcon kills with ons
strok., while other styles OF bsaks give pro
lopgatiou of torture. And so the tempta'
lions of tins life are various. Some MAKE
QUICK work of death, and others agonixe the
m.n1 and body for manv years, AMI son'
like the living blood of great souls anf
others prefer those already gangrened. Blu
for every stvle of youth there is a swooPin7
wing aud q sharp beak AMI a cruel cav,
aud what the rising generation needs Is I
wing of protec lion.
Fathers mothers, older brothers and SIS
tiers and Sabbath-sc ,ool teachers be quici
aud earnest AMI prayerful and importunat'
aud get the chickens under the wing. MAJ
the Saobath-scnools OF Americs and Grea
Britain within the next three months sNeel
ell their 5000 -ars into the kingdom. WHOM
they nave now under eaarge is uncertain
Concerning that scraway, puny chiid tina
lay in the cradle many years ago, the fathe
dead, many remarked. "What a mercy
the Lord would take the eaildf" and til
mother really thou ht so ton. But What
cool thing thar God spared that child, fo
it became world reno snsd in Christian
literature and one o. Coils most illustriou
servant j ohn Todd.
Remember. your children will reuai'
children only a little while. What you 10 10
them as children you must do quickly o
never do at all. sWhy havs you nsve
written Q bookT said soms n toA tAlsats