Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-03-02

get warmed The worlds extremlties are
cold all the time Forget not that 1t is
colder at the south pole than at the north
pole, and that the Arctic is not so destruc-
tive as the Antarctic. Once in awhile the
Arctic will let explorers come back, but the
Antarctic hardly ever. When at the south
pole ship sails in, the door of ice is al
most sure to be closed 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 a cold world / chiefly mean
fguratively. If you want to know what is
the meaning of the ordinary term of re-
Ceiving the cold shoulder" get out Of
money and try to borrow. The conversation
may have been almost tropical for lux
uriunce of thought and speech, but suggest
your necessities and sec the thermometer
drop to 80 degrees below zero, and in that
which till a moment before had been n
warm room. Take what is an unpopular
position on some public question and see
your friends fly us chaff before windmill.
AS far as myself is concerned, have no
word of complaint, but ! look off day by
day and see communities freezing out men
and women of whom the world is not wor
thy. Now it takes after one and now after
another. 1t becomes popular to deprcciate
and defame and execrate and lie about some
people This is the best world | ever got
into but it is the meanest world that some
people ever got into. The worst thing that
ever happened to them was their cradle,
and the best thing that will ever happen to
them will be their grave. What people want
is warmth
Many years ago a man was floating down
on the ice of the Merrmac, and great eff
forts 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 covered with ice, and
he cried out, 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 much GOODNESS and
icy formalty, and SO the imperiled one slips
off and floats down. Give it the other end
of the plank-warmth of sympathy,
warmth of kindly association, warmth of
genial surroundings 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 a cold day the rain beating and
the atmosphere 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, so
Christ says to those sick and frosted and
disguised and frozen of the world come in
out of the March winds of the worlds crit
| icism; come in out Of the sleet of the worlds
assault; come in out of n world that does
not understand you and does not want to
understand you. | will comfort, and | will
soothe, and will be your warmth las
bcn gathereth her chickens under her
wing Oh, the warm heart of God is
ready for all those to whom the world has
given the cold shoulder.
But notice that some one must take the
storm for the chickens All. the hen takes
the storm. have watched her under the
pelting rain. have seen her III the pinch
ing frosts almost frozen to death or al
most strangled in the waters, and what a
fight she makes for the young under wing
if a dog, or IA hawk, or a man come too
nearl And so the brooding Christ takes the
storm for us. What flood of anguish and
tears that did not dash upon his holy soul!
What beak CT 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!
CHRIST TAKES TIE STORM FOR US.
Yes, the hen took the storm for the chick
ems, and Christ takes the storm for us.
Once The tempest rose so suddenly the hen
could not get with her young back from the
new ground to the barn, and there she is
under the fence half dead. And now the
rain turns to snow, and it is an awful
night, and in the morning the Wilderness
about the gils and the beak down in the
mud show that the mother is dead, and the
young ones come out and cannot under
stand why the mother does not scratch for
them something to eat, and they walk over
her wings and call with their tiny voices,
but there is no answering cluck. She took
the storm for others and persisted. Poor
thing Self sacrificing even unto death.
And does it not make you think of him
who endured all for us? so the wings I'm
der which we come for spiritual safety are
blood spattercd wings, are night Swallowed
wings, are tempest torn wings. In the Isle
of Wight saw the grave Of Princess Eliza
beth, who died while u prisoner at Carts
brook castle, her finger on an open Bible
and pointing to the words, Come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
will give you rest" Oh, come under the
wings!
But now the summer day is almost past,
and the shadows of the house and barn
and wagon shed have heightened. The
farmer, with scythe or hoe on shoulder, is
returning from the fields. The oxen are
unyoked. The horses are crunching the
oats at the fun bin. The air is bewitChed
Of honeysucke and wild brier The milk
man, pail in hand, is approaching the barn
yard The fowls, keeping early hours, are
collecting their young. "Cluck"' "Cluck"
Chuck" and soon all the eyes Of that
feathered nursery are closed.
The bachelors Of the winged tribe have
assembled TO their perch, but the hens, in a
motherhood divinely appointed, take all
the risk OF Il slumber on the ground, and
ell night long the wings will stay out
spread and the little ones will not utter Il
sound. Thus at shutdown, lovingly, safely,
completely, the hen broods her young, So,
if we are the Lord 5 the evening of our life
will come. The heats of the day will have
passed. There will be shadows, and we
cannot see as far. The work of life will be
about ended.
The hawks of temptation that lowered i'll
the sky will have gone to the woods and
folded their wings Sweet sleuces will
rome down. Th- air will be redolcnt with
the breath of whole arborS of promises