The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-04-22

Would that Christ might this day take
our sons and daughters into His shell
ter, ssas hen gathereth her chickens
under her wing" The fact is that the
most of them will never find the shell
ter unless while. they are chickens. 1t
is simple matter of memorable statis-
ties that most of those who do not come
to Christ in youth never come at all.
What chance is there for the young
without Divine protection? There are
the grog shops There are the gam
bling bells. There are the infidelities
and immoralitics of spiritualism. There
are the bad books. There are the inn
purities. There are the business ras-
calities. And so numerous are these
assailments that it Is wonder that
honesty and virtue sre not lost arts.
The birds of prey. diurnal and noctur-
nal, of the natural world are ever on
the alert. They are the assassins OF
the sky. They have varieties of taste.
The eagle prefers the flesh OF the living
animal. The vulture prefers the car
cass The falcon kills with one stroke,
while other styles of beak give pro-
longation of torture.
Aud SO the temptations of this life
are various Some make quick work
of death, and others agonize the mind
and body for years, and some like the
living blood of great souls, and others
prefer those already gangrened. But
for every style of youth there is a
swooping wing and sharp beak and a
cruel claw, and what the rising gener-
alton needs is wing of protection.
Fathers. mothers. older brothers and
sisters, and Sabbath-school teachers,
be quick and earnest and prayerful and
importunate, ard get the chickens un-
der wing. May the Sabbath-schools of
America and Great Britain within the
next three months sweep all their
scholars into the kingdom. Whom they
have now under charge is uncertain.
Concerning that scrawny, puny child
that lay in the cradle many years ago,
the father dead, many remarked,
"What mercy if the Lord would take
the child" and the mother really
thought so tn, but what a good
thing that God spared the child,
for it became wcrld-renowned in
Christian literature, one of Gods
most illustrious servants-John Todd.
Remember your. children will remain
children only little while What you
do for them as children, you must do
quickly, or never do at all. "Why
have you never written a book?" said
some one to talented woman. She re-
piled: 81 am writing two, and have
been engaged on one work ten years
and on the other Eve years-my two
children. They are my life-worlx.'"
When the house of John Wesley's
father burned. and they got the eight
children out, John Wesley the last be-
fore the roof fell in, the father said:
"Let us kneeldown and thank God. The
children are all saved, let the rest of
the place 60" My hearers, if we Sc
cure the present and everlasting well
fare of our children, most other things
belonging to us are of little compare
tive Importance. Alexander the Great
allowed his soldiers to take their fami-
lies with them to war, and he ac-
counted for the bravery of his men by
the fact that many of them were born
in camp, and were used to warlike
scenes from the start. Would God
that all the children of our day might
be born in the army OF the Lord! No
need of letting them go a long way on
the wrong road before they turn
around and go on the right road. The
only time to get chickens under the
wing is while they are children.
Hannah Whitall Smith, the evangel-
list, took her little child at two years
of age when i'll out of the crib, and told
her plainly of Christ, and the child be-
lieved, and gave evidence of joyful
trust which grew with her growth into
womanhood. Two years are not too
young. The time will come when, by
the faith of parents, children will be
born into this world and born into the
bloom of Christ at the same time. Soon
we parents will have to go and leave
our children. We fight their battles
now, and we stand between them and
harm. but our arm will after awhile get
weak and we can not fight for them,
and our tongue will be palsied and we
can not speak for them. Are we going
to leave them out in the cold world to
take their chances, or are we doing all
we can to get them under the wing of
eternal safety?
But we all need the protecting wing.
If you had known when you entered
upon manhood or womanhood what
was ahead of you, would you have
dared to undertake life? How much
you have been through! With most
life has been disappointment; they
tell me so. They have not attained
that which they expected to attain.
They have not had the mental and
physical vigor they expected, or they
have met with rebuffs which they did
not anticipate. You are not at forty
or fifty or sixty or seventy or eighty
years of age where you thought you
would be. / do not know anyone ex-
cept myself to whom life has been a
happy surprise. never expected any
thing and SO when anything came in
the shape of human favor or comforta-
BILE position or widening field of work,
it was to me surprise. was told in
the theological seminary by some of
my fellow-students that never would
get anybody to hear me preach. unless
/ changed my style, so that when
found that some people did come to