The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-02-27

/ 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 cold
day, the rain beating and the atmosphere
full Of sleet, the hen ciucks her chickens
under her wings, and the warmth OF her
/ own breast puts warmth into the wet feath-
/ ers and the chilled fee of ;be infant group
4 Of the barnyard, 80 Christ says TO those SICK
/ end frosted and disguised aud frozen Of the
1 world, come IN out Of the March winds OF
/ the worlds criticism, come in out Of the
/ slcet Of The worlds assault, come in out OF g
/ world that does not understand you, and
/ does not want TO understand you; ! will
| comfort and I will sooths and ! will be your
| warmth, las hel gathereth her chickens
under her wing o, tue warm heart OF
| God is ready for ali 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
peltinz rain. l have seen her in the pinch
ing frosts. Almost frozen 20 death, or al
most straDgled in the waters, and what
1 fight she makes for the young under wing
if a dog, or hawk, or a man come too near.
And so the broodiDg OF Christ takes the
storm for u.s. What flood Of anguish and
tears that did not dash upon his holy soul.
What beak Of torture did not pierce his
vitals. What barking Cerberus of bell was
not let out upon him from the kennels.
What he endured o who can tell
To save our souls from death and hell.
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
gills and the beak down In the mud show
that the mother is dead, and the young ones
come out, and cannot understand 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 thinkof him who endured all for US.
So the wings under which we come for spirit
ual safety are blood-spsttered wings, are
night-shadowed wings, are tempest-torn
wings. In the Isle Of Wight 1 saw the grave
Of Princess Elizabeth, who died while
prisoner at Carlsbrook castle, her finger on
an open Bible and pointing to the words:
Come unto mo all We that labor and are
heavy laden, and will give you rest" o,
come under the wlngs
But now the summer day is almost past
and the shadows OF the house and barn and
wagon shed have lengthened. The farmer,
with scythe or hoe on shoulder, is returning
from the fields. The oxen are unyoked
The horses are crunohing the oats at the full
bin. The air is bewitched Of honeysuckle
and wild briar. The milkman, pail
in hand, is approaching the barn
yard. The fowls, keeping early
hours, are collecting their young:
"Ciuokw "Cluckw "Cluck!" and soon all
the eyes Of that feathered nursery are
closed. The bachelors OF the winged tribe
hav~ 1,1& -, kl1S,. 81
In motherhood divinely appointed, take
all the risk OF slumber on the ground, and
all night long the wings will stay outspread
and the little ones will not utter sound
Thus at shutdown, lovingly, safely, com
pletely. the hen broods her young. So, il
we are the Lords, the evening of our life
will come. The heats of the day will have
passed. There will be shadows and we can
not see IS far. The work of life viii be
about ended The hawks Of temptation
that lowered In the sky will have gone TO
the woods and folded their wings. Sweet
silence will come down. The air will be
redolent with the breath of whole arbors of
promises sweeter than jasmine or evening
primrose. The cir may be little chill,
but Christ will call US, and We
will know the voice and heed the call, and
we will come under the wings for the night,
the strong wings, the soft wings the warm
wings, aud without fear. and In full sense
OF safety, and then we will rest from sun
down to sunrise, ''as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wing" Dear mel How
many souls the Lord hath thus brooded
Mothers, after watching over sick cradles
aud then watching afterWerd over way
ward sons and daughters, at last themselves
taken care Of by mothsrly God. Business
men, alter lifetime struggling with the
uncert entities of money markets. and the
chang oi taritfs, and the undertaking Of
men, who, because OF their dishonesties, can
afford 20 undersell, and years Of disappoint-
ment and struggle, at last under wings
whore nothing can perturb them any more
than bird OF prey, which Is ten miles Off,
disturbs chick at midnight bTooded in a
bHrnysrd.
My text has its strongest application for
people who were born in the country, wher.
ever you may now live, and that is the
majority Of you. You cannot hear my text
without having all the rustic scenes Of the
old farm house come back to you. Good Old
days they were. You know nothing much
Of the world. for you had not seen the
world. By law of association, you cannot
recall the brooding hen and her chickens
without seeing also the barn, and the hay
NOW, and the wagon shed. aud the house,
and the room where you played, and the
Preside with the big back log before which
you sat, and the neighbors, and the burial
and the wedding, and the deep snowbanks
and bear the village bell that called you to
worship, and seeing the horses which, after
pulling you TO church, stood around the old
clap-boRrded meeting house, and those who
sat at either end OF the church pew, and
indeed all the scenes Of your first
fourteen years. and you think of
what you were then and OF what you are
now, and all these thoughts are aroused by
the sight of the old hencoop. Some Of
lyou had better go back and start again
In thought return to that place and hear
the c!uCk, and see the outspread feathers,
and come under the wing and make the
Lord your portion and shelter and warmth,
preparing Tor everything that may come,
aud SO AVOID being classed among those
described by the closing words of my text,
''as hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and We would not" All, that
throws the responsibility upon us. "Ye
would not" Alas for the would nots. :"
IL the wandering broods of the farm heed
not their mothers call and risk the hawk
and dare the freshet and expose themselves
20 the frost and storm, surely their caami-
ties are not the mothers fault. "N-e would
notm God would, but how many would
not. When q good man asked a young
woman VINO had abandoned her home
and who was deploring her wretchedness
why she did not return, the reply was:
IL dare not go homo. My father is so
provoked, be would not receive me home"
Then said the Christian man, ~ will
test this and SO he wrote to the father, and