Milford chronicle., 1893-03-03

not understand you and does not want to
| understand you. will comfort, and will
soothe, and l will be your warmth, "as
| hen 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 in 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 a 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 soull
What beak of torture did not pierce his
vitalsl What barking Cerberus of hell was
not let out upon him from the kennelsl
What he endured, oh, who can tell,
To save our souls from death and hell
CHRIST TAKES THE STORM FOR US.
Yes, the hen took the storm for the chick
ems, and Christ takes the storm for u.s.
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 STOW, and it is an awful
night, and in the morning the whiteness
about the gills 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 perished. Poor
thing Self sacrificing even unto death.
4 a. .Ha.5 HN.~a T. -.
who endured all for usS So the wings un-
der which we come for spiritual safety are
blood spattered wings, are night Swallowed
wings, are tempest torn wings. In the Isle
of Wight saw the grave of Princess Eliza
beth, who died while a prisoner at Csris-
brook castle, her finger on an oper 3ible
and pointing to the words, Come unto me,
all We that labor and are heavy laden, and
will give you rest" Oh, come under the
wingsl
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 full bin. The air is bewitched
of honeysuckle and wild brier. The milk
man, pail in hand, is approaching the barn
NiltL lllG AUhAss hNGAlAAAt5 NeAA ~ ubAAAoa t+AN
collecting their young. "ClucEp "Clucl1r
"ClEckv' and soon all the eyes of that
teathercd nursery are closed.
The bachelors of the winged tribe have
ascended to their perch, but the hens, in
motherhood divinely appointed, take all
the risk of a slumber on the ground and
all night long the wings will stay out
spread and the little ones will not utter a
sound. Thus ut sundOwn, lovingly, safely,
completely, the hen broods her yog2g. So, I
if we are the Lords +jessyening 81 our life
will come. The. s.e. the day will have /
passed Tl=h'prwill be shadows, and we
cannot see as far. The work of life will be I
about ended.
The hawks of temptation that hovered in |
the sky viii have gone to the woods and /
folded their wings Sweet silences will /
come down. The air will be redOlent with |
the breath of whole arbors Of promises |
slGeetor than jasmine or evening primrose. /
The air may be a little chill, but Christ will /
call us, and we will know the voice and /
heed the call, and we win come under the /
wings for the night, the strong wings, the /
soft wings, the warm wings, and without |
fear, and in full sense of safety, and then we /
will rest from sundown to sunrise, "as hen |
gathereth her chickens under her wings"
Dear mel How many souls the Lord hath
thus brOodedl
Mothers, after watching over sick cradles
and then watching afterward over way
ward sons and daughters, at last them
selves taken care Of by a mOtherly God
Business men, after a lifetime struggling
with the uncertainties of money markets,
and the change Of tariffs, and the under
selling of men who because of their dis
honesties can afford to undersell, and years
of disappointment and struggle, at last
under wings where nothing can perturb
them any more than bird Of prey which
is 10 miles off disturbs chick at midnight
brooding in barnyarl.
Ny text has its strongest application for
people who were born in the country,
wherever you may now live, and that is tho
majority of you. You cannot hear my
text without having all the rustic scenes Of
the old farmhouse come back to you. Good
old days they were You knew nothing
much of the world, for you had not seen
the world.
BY law of association you cannot otrecallthe
bluOding hen and her chickens without see
ing also tho barn, and the haymOw and
the wagon she'd and the house, and the
room where you played, and the fireside
with the big backlog before which you sat,
and the neighbors, and the burial, and the
and the deep snowbanks, and
hear the village bell that called you to wor-
ship, and seeing the horses which, after
pulling you to church, stood around the old
meeting house, and those who
sat at either end of the Church pew, and in
decd all the scenes Of your first IA years,
and you think of what you were then and
of what you are now, and all these thoughts
are aroused by the sightof the old hencoop.
Some of you had better go back and start
again.
In thought return to that place and hear
the cluck and see the outspread feathers
and come under the wing and make the
Lord your portion and shelter and warmth,
fer everything that may come,
and so avoid Icing classed among those
described by the closing words Of my text,
''as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not" All, that throws
the responsibility upon usl 'Ye would
not" Alas, for the would notsl7 II tao
brooes Of the farm heed not
their mothers cs,l and risk the hawk and
dare the freihct and expose themselves to
the first frost ard stori.l, s9gciy their ca
lamities are rot tie mothers fault. "fe
would notr' God would, but how many
woald nots
When a good man asked young woman
who had abandoned her home ard who was
hei wretchedness why she did not
return, the reply Is. = sisiTs sS5ss 80 issssss.
Ny father is SO provoked be would not re-
eeivc me home" Then said the Chris
tian man, n viii test this" and 70 be wrote
70 the Gather, and the reply came back and
IN a letter marked outside Immediate" f"
and Inside saying, Let her cowe az onces