Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-03-10
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN DIViNES sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "a Protecting Wing"

TTxT: as hen qnthereG Her chickens
Under her '0'ngs. and ye 1gouLd not
Matthew xiii. 81
Jerusalem was in sight as Christ came TO
the crest of Mount Olivat, height of 40
feet. The solendors Of the religious capital
of the whole earth irraiiatei the Ianiscapa
There is the temple. YOndar is the kings
palace. Spread out bsfore His eyes are the
pomp the wealth, the wickedness aud the
coming destruction OF Jerusalem, AMI He
burst into tears at the thought OF the OBJ
duracy of place that He would gladly have
saved, and aDOstrophzas saying, 'Oh.
Jerusalem. Jerusalem. how often would
have gathered thv children together, even
as hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and We would not"
Whv did Christ select hen and chicken as
a simile2 Next to the Opposlteness Of the
comDarison l tnink IL was TO help all public
teachers in the matter of Illustration to get
down eff their stills and use comparisons
that all can understand. The planest bird
on earth is the BARNARD fowl. It's only
adornmeDts are the rel comb in its head
dress and the wattles under the throat. 1t
has no grandeur OF genealOgv. All we know
is that It's ancestors came from India, some
of them from a height Oe 1000 feet on the
sides of the HimaIavs. It has no pretention
of nest like the eagles eyrie. 1t has no luster
of piumage like the goldincn- Possessing
anatomy that allows flight, yet about the
last thing that it wants TO do IS to dy, and
In retreat uses foot almost much as wing.
Mus clans have written out in musical
scale the song OF lark and robin red breast
and nightingale, vet the hen OF my text
hath nothing that could be taken for a song,
but only cluck and cackle. Yet Christ in
the text uttered. while looking upon doomed
Jerusalem, declares that what He had
wished for that city was like what the hen
does for her chickens Christ was thus sim
pie in His teachings aud yet how har1 it is
for Us, who are Sunday-school instructors
and editors and preachers and reformers,
and those who would gain the ears OF audi
ences. to attain that heavenly and divine
art of simplicity.
We have to run course Of literary dis
orders aS children a course of physical dis
orders. We come out of school and college
loaded down with Greek myEhologies and
down with what the learned fathers said,
and we fly with wings of eagles and famin-
goes and albatrosses, and it takes a goo1
while before we can come down TO Christ'S
simihtUdes, the candle under the busbel 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 this
winged creature Of God mentioned in nv
text, but she is more practical and more
motherly and more suggestive of good
things than many that fly higher and wear
brighter cOlors. She is not prima donna
of the skies nor strut of beauty in the
aisle of the forest. She does not cut circle
under the sun like the ROCKY Mountain
eagle but stays at home to look after family
affairs. She does not swoop like tho condor
of the COrdilieras TO transport rabbit from
the valley to the top of the crags. but lust
scratches for a living. How vigorously
with her claws she pulls away the ground
to bring up what is hidden beneath! When
the breakfast or dining hour arrives she
begins to prepare the reDast and calls all her
young to Dartake.
l am in sympathy with the unpretentious
old fashioned hen, because. like most o. US
she has to scratch for living She knows
at the start the lesson which most people of
good sense are slow to learn-that the gain
ing of a livelihood implies work. and that
successes do not lie Oh the surface but are to
be upturned by positive and continuous
effort. The reason that society, and the
church, and the world are so full of failures
so full of loafers, so full of dead beats, is be-
cause people are not wise enough to take the
lesson OH which any hen would teach them
that if they would find for themselves and
for those dependent upon them anything
worth having they must scratch for it.
Solomon said. Go to the ant, thou slug.
gard" say, go to the hen, thon slug
gard" In the Old Testament God compares
Himself to an eagle stirring up her nest, AMI
in the New Testament the Holy Soirit is
compared to a descending dove but Christ
casm for hypocrites and ends with thu
parOxySIn of patlOS in the text, compares
Himself TO a hen.
One day III the country we saw sudden
CONSERVATION in the behavior of old Dom
mick. Why the hen should be so disturbed
we could not understand We lookei about
to see if a ueighbOr's dog were invading the
farm. We looked up to see if a stormcioud
were lowering. We could zee nothing on
the ground that could terroriZa. ami we
could see nothing in the air to ruffi9 the
feathers OF the hen, but the loud, wiiG af-
frig6ted clUck which brought all her brood
at Iull run under her feathers made us look
again around us and above US when we saw
that high up ana far away there was a rs-
paclouS bird wheeling round and round. and
down ana down, and not seeing US as we
STOOL In the SHALLOW 1t came nearer and
lower until we saw its beak was curved from
base to tip, and it had two flames OF fire for
eyes, and IL was a hawk.
But all the chickens were under old Dom
inick's wing, and either the bird of prey
caught glimpse OF us, or not able to find
the brood bundled under wing darte1 bac,
into the clouds. So Christ calls with great
earnestness to the young. Why, what is the
matter? 1t is bright sunlight, and there can
be no danger. Health is there A good
home is theirs. Plenty Of food is theirs
Prospect OF long life is theirs. But Christ
continues to cal, calls with more EN-.
phaSls and urges haste and says not
second ought TO be lost. On. do tell us what
IS the matter! All now | see. There are
hawks OF temptation in the air: there are
vultures wheeling for their prey: there are
beaks OF death ready to plunge: there are
claws of allurement ready TO clutch. Now
1 see the peril. Now 1 understand the
urgency Now see the only safety. Would
that Christ might this day take our sons and
daughters into His shelter, las a hen gath
ereth her chickens under her wing"