The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-02-28
PLAIN COMPARISONS.
THE SMILE BIZ CHRIST WERE EA.
silly UNDERSTOOD.
Gas a Hen Gathereth Her Chickens Under
Her Wings, and Ye Would Not"
Was DIR. Talmage's Text Sunday.

ViouS to the sermon In the Droohl!H ItpeI
nacle this morning, Rev. Dr. Ialmase
In giving out a number OF notices, dwel'
upoD the fact that certain picturc-makers
of Brooklyn had used his name as a refer
ence in their advertisements and circulars
without his authority. Thousands OF let
tiers of complaint have come to him in this
respect, and he wanted it distinctly under
stood that he knew nothing of these peo-
pIe or their business methods. The text
selected for the morning sermon was:
Matt xiii, 81: CAS- a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and We would not.
Jerusalem was in sight as Christ came to
the crest of Mount Olivet, a height OF seven
hundred feet. The splendors OF the rel-
gious capital of the whole earth lrradlated
the landscape. There is the temple. 1Onder
is the kings palace. Spread out before his
eyes is the ponp, the wealth. The Wlckedness
and the coming destruction of Jerusalem
and he bursts into tears at the thought
or the obduracy of place that he would
gladly have saved and apostrophizes, say
ing: "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often
would have gathered thy children together,
even as Il hen gathereth her chickens un-
der her WINGS and We would not"
Why did Christ select hen and chickens
as a simile? Next to the appositeness OF
the comparison, l think it was to help all
public teachers in the matter of illustration
to get down off their stills and use cOmpar
isOnS that all can understand. The plain
est bird on earth is the barnyard fowl. Its
only adOnrmentS are the red comb in its
head-dresS and the wattles under the throat.
1t has grandeur of gcHealogy. All we
known is that its ancestors came from In
da, some of them from q height of four
Thousand feet and on the sides of the Hima-
iayaS. 1t has no pretension of nest like the
eagles eyrie. 1t has no ulster of plum
age like the goldiinch. Possessing anat-
omy 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. Mus-
clans have written out in musical scale the
song of lark and robin redbreast and
nightingale, yet the hen of my text hath
nothing that could be taken for a song,
hut only clucll 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 he'll
does for her chickens. Christ was thus
simple i'll his teachings and yet how hard it
is for us, who are Sunday school instructors
and editors and preachers and refOrmers,
and those who would gain the ears of au-
dicnceS to attain that heavenly and divine
art of simplicity. We have to run a course
of literary disorders of children. Il course
Of physical disorders. We come out Of school
and college loaded down with Greek my
thologies and out of the theological seminary
weighed down with what the learned faith
ers said and We fly with wings of eagles
aud flamngoes and albatrosses. and it takes
:; good while before we can come down to
ChriSts similitudes, the candle under the
bushcl, the salt that has lost its SAVIOR the
net thrown into the sea, the Spitte on the
eyes Of the blind man and the hen and chick
ems. There IS not much poetry about this
winged creature of God mentioned i'll my
text. but she is more practical and more
m0therly and more suggestive OF good
things than many that fly higher and wear
brighter colors. She is not q. prima donna
Of the skies, nor a strut of beauty in the
aisle Of the forest. She does not cut a
circle under The sun like the Rocky noun
tain eagle, but stays at home to look after
family affairs. She does not sw0op like the
condor Of the Cordilleras to transport a
rabbit from the valley 10 the top of the
crags. but just scratches for 4 living. How
vigorously 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 repast and
calls all her young to partakc.
I am in sympathy with the unpretontiOuS.
old-fashiOned hen. because. like most of us.
she has TO scratch for living. She knows
ut the start the lesson which most people of
good sense are slow to learn-that the gain
ing of Il livelihood implies work. and that
successes no not lie on 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 fail
ureS. so full of iOaferS so full of dead beats.
Is because people are not wise enough TO
take the lesson 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: 600 to the ant. thout slug
gard. " I saw go to the hen. thou sluggard
In the Old Testament God compares him
self To an eagle stirring IIp her nest. and i'll
the New Testament the Holy Spirit is COM
pared to a descending dove, but Christ. IN
sermon that began with cutting sarcasm
for hypocrites and ends with the parox-
ysm of pathos in the text. compares himself
TO a hen.
One day in the country. we saw sudden
Consideration in the behavior of old Domi-
nick. Why the hen should be so disturbed
we could not understand. We looked
about to see if n neighbours dog were invad-
ing the farm. We looked up TO see if a
STERN cloud were lowering. We could see
nothing on the ground that could terroriZe,
and we could see nothing in the air to rutflc
the feathers of the hen. but the loud. wild,
affriChted cluck which brought all her brood
at full run under her feathers made Us
look again around and above us. when we
saw that high up and far away there was Il
rapacious bird wheeling round and round.
ana down and down, and not seeing us as
we stood in the shadow. 1t came nearer and
lower. until we saw its beaI was curved
from base to tip. and it had two flames of
fire for eyes. and it was a hawk. But all
the chickens were under old DOminickS
wings, and either the bird of prey caught
glimpse of us. or was not able 10 find the
brood huddled under wing. SO it
darted back into the clouds. So
Christ calls with great earnestness to all
the young Why. what is the after?
Ii is bright sunlight. and there can be no
danger. Health is theirs A good home is
theirs. Plenty of food is theirs. Prospect
of long life is theirs. But Christ continues
20 call calls with more emphasis and urges
haste and says not Il second ought TO be
lost Oh, do tell us what is the matter.
All. now, I see, there are hawks of tempta-
ti0n in the air, there are yrltures wheeling
for their prey, there are beaks of death
ready 10 plunge, there are claws of allure
ment ready to clutch. Now | see the peril.
Now ] understand the urgency. Now ! see
the only safety. Would that Christ might
this day take our sons and daughters into
his shelter, as a hen gathereth her chick
ems under her wings" The fact is, that the
most of them will never find the shelter
unless while they are chickens 1t is q
simple matter of memorable statistics 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 pro-
lection: There are the grog shops. There
are the gambling hells. There the in
fdeiitles and immoraliteS of spritualism.
There are the bad books. There are the
impurities. There are the business raScali-
ties. And SO numerous are these aSSall-
mentS that it is a wonder that honesty and