Democratic messenger., 1893-03-04


never find the shelter unless while they
are chickens. 1t is II simple matter of
inexorahle statistics that most of those
who do not come to Christ i'll youth
never come ut all What chance is there
for the young without divine protection:
There are the grog shops. There are the
gambling hells There are the iniideli-
ties and immoralties of spiritualism
There are bad books. There are the i'm
purities. There are the business rascali-
ties. And so numerous are these assail-
ments that it is wonder that honesty
and virtue are 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 AM
NAL. The vulture prefers the carcass.
The falcon kills with one stroke. while
other styles of beak give prolongation of
torture. And SO the temptations of this
life are various. Some make quick work
of death. and others agonize the mind
and body for many 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 Il sharp beak and IA cruel claw.
and what the rising generation needs is
a wing Of protection.
EARLY SALVATION URGED.
Fathers. mothers, older brothers and
sisters and Sabbath school teachers. be
quick and earnest and prayerful and i'm
Fortunate and get the chickens under
wing. May the Sabbath schools of Amer
lea and Great Britain within the next
three months sweep all their scholars
into the kingdom. Whom they have
now under charge is uncertain. Con-
cerning that scrawny. puny child that
lay in the cradle many years ago. the
father dead. many remarked, What a
mercy if the Lord would take the child!'
and the mother really thought SO too.
But what good thing that God spared
that child. for it became world renowned
in Christian literature and 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 book" said some one
to a talented woman. She replied: u
am writing two and have been engaged
on one work 10 years and ON the other
five years-my two children. They are
my life work" When the house of John
Wesley's father burned. and they got the
eight children out. John Wesley the last
before the roof fell in, the father said:
"Let us kneel down and thank God. The
children are all saved: let the rest os the
place CO."
Ny hearers. if we secure the present
and everlasting welfare of our children,
most other things belonging to us are of
but little comparative Importance. Alex
ander the Great allowed his soldiers TO
take their families with them to war,
and he accounted for the bravery of his
men by the fact that many of them We're
born in camp and We're used to warlike
scenes from the start. Would God that
all the children of our day might be born
into the army Of the Lord! No need of
letting them 20 long way on the
wrong road before they turn around and
go on the right road. The only time to
get chickens under wing is while they
are chickens.
Hannah Whitall Smith. the evangelist.
took her little child at 9 years of age
when i'll out of the crib and told her
plainly of Christ. and the child believed
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 bosom 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 cannot fight for them.
and our tongue will be palsied, and we
cannot 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:
SHELTER FROM LIFES TEMPESTS.
But We all need the protecting wing.
II you had known when You entered upon
manhood and womanhood what was
ahead of you. would you have dared to
undertake life? How much you have
been through! With most life has been
a disappointment: they tell me SO. They
have not attained that which they ex-
pected to attain. They have not had the
physical and mental vigor they expected,
or they have met with rcbuffs which they
did not anticipate. Yon are not at 40 or
30 OF 60 or 10 or 80 years of age where
you thought you would he. do not
know any one except myself To whom life
has been happy surprise. never ex-
pected anything. and so when anything
came in the shape of human favor or
comfortable position or widening field of
work il 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 hear me it was happy surprise.
But most people. according to their own
statement, have found life a disappoint-
ment Indeed we all need shelter from
its tempests. About 3 o'clock on Il hot
August afternoon you have heard a rum
BILE that you first took for wagon cross
ing II bridge. but aftcrward there was a
louder rumbling. and You said. Why,
that is thunder And sure enough the
clouds were being convoked for full
diapason. a whole park of artillery
went rolling down the heavens. and the
blinds of the windows in the sky We're
closed. But the sounds above were not
more certain than the sounds beneath.
The cattle came to the bars and moancd
for them to be let down that they might
come home To shelter. and the fowl,
whether dark Brahma or Hamburg or
Lcghorn ar Dominick. began TO call TO its
young. "Cluck!" .Cluckr' Chuck" and
take them under the wagon house or shed.
and had them all hid under the soft
feathers by the time that the first plash
of rain struck the roof.