Democratic messenger., 1893-03-04

bou-Sohe tantttthr StOrtes-Ihe NOrlt
Is just What We Make It-A Great tie
sp"n>ibiiI;y.
BRooKLyN. Feb 26. Previous to tn,
sermon in the Brooklyn Tabernacle thi
morning Rev DR. Talniage. in givin.
ont IA number of notices. dwelt upon thu
fact that certain picture makers o
Brooklyn had used his name as n refer
ence III their advertisements and circu
lars without his authority Thousand.
of letters of complaint have come to hin
in this respect. and he wanted it distinct
ly understood that he knew nothing 0.
these people or their business methods
The text selected for the morning sermon
was Matthew XIII. 81. AS hen gath
ercth her chickens under her wings. and
ye would not.
Jerusalem WAS i'll sight rs Christ came
to to the crest of Mount Olivet. a height
of 200 feet The splendors of the reli
gious capital of the whole earth irradi
ated the landscape. There is the tenn
pie. Yondcr is the kings palace
Spread out before his eyes are the pomp
the wealth. the wickedness and the com
ing destruction of Jerusalem. and he
bursts into tears ut the thought of the
Obduracy Of "a place that he would gladly
have saved. and apostrophizes. saying
20 Jerusalem. Jerusalem. how oft III
would ! have gathered thy children to.
gether, even as Il hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings. and We would
not"
Why did Christ select hen and chick
ems as simile: Next to the Apostle
ness of the comparison think 1t was to
help all public teachers in the matter OF
illustration To get down off their stills
and use comparisons that all can under
stand The plaincst bird ON earth is the
barnyard fowl. ltsonly adornments are
the red comb in its headdress and the
wattles under the throat. 1t has no
grandeur of gencalogy. All we know is
that its ancestors came from India. some
of them from Il height of 1900 feet on
the sides Of the Himalayas. II has no
pretension of nest like the eagles eyric.
II has no luster of plumage like the gold
finch. Possessing anatomy that allows
flight. yet about the last thing it wants
to do is to fly and in retreat uses foot
almost as much as wing.
Musicians have written out in musical
scale the song of lark and robin red
breast and nightingale. yet the hen of
my text hath nothing that could be taken
for 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 chick
ems. Christ was thus simple in his teach
ings. and yet how hard il is for us. who
are Sunday school instructors and editors
and preachers and reformers. and those
who would gain the ears Of audiences.
To attain that heavenly and divine art of
simplirity
We have 10 run "a course of literary
disorders as children II course of phys
ical disorders We come ont Of school
and college loaded down with Greek
mythologies and ont of the theological
seminary weighed down with what the
learned fathers said. and we fly with
wings of eagles and fiamingoes and alba
lIOSStc anu u NstRsS F'HPi Ntiilt DNtOIt
we can come down to Christ's simili-
tudes. the candle under the bushel. the
salt that has lost its SAVIOR. the net
thrown into the sea the spittle on the
ewes Of the blind man and the hen and
chickens.
There is not much poetry about this
winged creature of God mentioned in
my text. but she is more practical and
more mothcrly and more suggestive of
good things than many that fly higher
and wear brighter colors. She is not "a
prima donna of the skies nor IA 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 the condor Of the
Corlilleras to transport rabbit from
the valley Ia the top of the crags. bu'
just scratches for Il living. How yigor
ously with her claws she pulls away the
ground To bring up what is hidden be-
meath. When the breakfast or dining
hour arrives. she begins To prepare the
replst and calls all her young to partake.
CSDEI: OLD lOMlNlCk WINGS.
| am in sympathy with the unpreten-
tious old f;s: Toned hen. because. like
most of us. she has to scratch for a liv-
ing. She knows at the start the lesson
which most people Of good sense are
slow to learn-that the gaining of Il live
lihood implies work. and that successes
do not lie on the surface, but are to be
upturncd by positive and continuous eff
fort The reason that society. and the
church. and the world are so full of fail
ures. so full of loafers. SO full of dead
beats. is because people are not wise
enough To take the lesson which any hen
would teach thcm-that if they would
find for themselves and for those de-
pendent upon them anything worth hav
ing they must scratch for it.
Solomon said. Go to the ant. thou
sluggari" | say. Go To the hen. thou
sluggard In the Old Testament God
compares himself To AN eagle stirring mp
her nest and in the New Testament the
Holy Spirit is compared to a descending
dove, but Christ. in "a sermon that begins
with cutting sarcasm for hypocrites and
ends with the paroxysm of pathos in the
text. compares himself to hen.
One day in the country we saw sud
den CONSERVATION in the behavior of old
Dominick. Why the hen should be so
disturbed we could not understand. We
looked about to see if IA neighbors dog
were invading the farm We looked up
to see if stormcloud were lowering.
We could see nothing ON the ground that
could terrorize. and we could see nothing
in the air To rufflc the feathers of the hen.
but the loud. wild. affrighted cluck which
brought all her brood at full run under
her feathers made us look again around
us and above us. when we saw that high
up and far away there was IA rnpacious
bird wheeling round and round. and
down and down, and not seeing us as we
stood in the shadow il came nearer and
lower until we saw its b ak was curved
from base to tip. and il had two flames