Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-03-04
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: "a Protecting wing

Subject: "a Protecting Wing
Tiki: As hen gathereth her chicken,
under her soinas. and We tcouid not
Matthew xiii, 81
Jerusalem was in sight as Christ came to
the crest of Mount Olivet, height of 100
feet The solendors of the religious clpital
of the whole earth irradiate the Ian iseap'.
There is the temple. Yonier is the kings
palace. Spread out before His eyes ara the
pomp, the wealth. the zwicSedness AMI the
coming destruction OF jerusalem, AMI He
burst into tears at the thou ght of the oo.
duracy of pace that He woull gladly have
saved. and apostroph zes saying, "0h,
Jerusalem. Jern salem. how often would
have gathered thy children together. even
as hen gathereth her chickens un Ter her
wings, and We would not"
Whv did Christ select hen an 7 chicken as
a simile? Next to the oppostaness of the
comrarison | tank it was to help all public
teachers in the matter of Illustration to get
down off their stills an use comparisons
that all can understand. The plainest Dir
on Garth is the harnyarl fowl Its only
adornments are the re co nb in its heal
dress and the watties un Ter the throat 1t
has no grandeur of genealogv. All we know
is that its ancestors ctme from India. soma
of them from a height OF 1900 feet on the
sides Of the HimalayS Ii has no preteution
I of nest like the Gag es eyrie. 1t has no uster
Of p'umage like the goldfncS. Possessing
anatomy that allows flight, yet about the
last thing that it wants to do is to hy, ami
~ retreat USES foot almost as much as wing
Mus clans have written out in musical
scale the song OF iark an robin red breast
and nightingale, yet the hen OF my text
hath nothing thar could be taken for a song,
hut only c.uc< ami cack'e. Yet Christ in
] H., Il, IL l.. u.
| Jerusalem, declares that what He had
wished for that city was like what the hen
ioes for her chicSe Is. Christ was thus sim
ole IN His teachings. AMI yet how har | it is
for u, who are Sunday-scdool instructors
I 9nd editors an / preachers aud reforners,
| md thoe who would gain the ears of au IL
snces, to attain that heavenly an | divine
! art Of simpl city.
| We have TO run a course of literary dis
| orders as children course OF physical dis
| orders We c)ine out OF school AMI college
! loaded down with Greek mySho!ogies an
| )ut of the theological seminary weighe
| Town with what the learned fathers sal l.
and we fly with wings of eagles AMI flamin
goes and albatrosses, and it takes goo
while before we can me dcwn to Christ's
similitu les, the candle under the bushel, the
| ALT that has lost its SAVIOR, the net thrown
| nto the ses, the spittle on the ewes of the
]
There is not much poetry about this
winged creature of Col mentioned in my
Tex, but she is more practical aud mora
notherly and mora suggestive of good
ihinRs than many that fly higher and wear
brighter colors. She is not prima donna
If the skies nor a strut of beauty in the
aisle of the forest. She does not cut a circle
1nder the sun like the Rocky Mountain
eagle. but stays at home to look after family
affairs, She does not swoop like the condor
IF the Cordilleras to transport a rabbit from
he valley TO the top of the crags, but Just
scratches for living. How vigorously
with her Claws she pulls away the grouaI
% bring up what is hidden beneath VIII an
she breakfast or dining hour arrives she
begins to prepare the repast am calls all her
young TO partase
am in sympathy with the unpret entious
I'D fashioned ben, because, like most o. US
she has TO scratch for living. She knows
1t the start the lesson which most people of
good sense are slow to learn that the gain
| .ng Of a livelihood imNlies work an | that
successes do not lie on the surface but are TO
| be upturnei by positive AMI continuous
Effort The reason that society, and the
>hurcb, and the world are so full of failures,
10 full of loafers, so full of dead beats, is ba-
cause people are not wise enough to take the
lesson on which any hen would teach them
that ii they would lind for themselves and
.or those dependent upon them anything
worth having they must scratch for it.
Solomon said. Go to the ant tlou slug
gari.h say, GO to the hen, thon stu :.
gard" In the Old Testament God compares
Himself TO an eagle stirring up her II asst, an
| in the New Testament the Holy Spirit is
compare 10 a discerning dove but Christ,
in sermon that begins with cutting slr.
:asm for bypocrites AMI ends with thu
paroxysm of pathos in the text, compares
Himself to hen.
One day in the country we saw su lden
CONSERVATION in the behavior os old Dom.
mick. Why the hen should he so disturbed
we could not understand. We locke / a 1out
to see il neiyhbor's dog were invading the
farm. We locke up to see if a stormcIou |
were lowering. We could s ee nothing on
the ground that could terr0riz., ant we
could see nothing in the air 10 ruff. the
feathers of the hen. but thu Ioui wild. af-
frighteI cluck which brought all her brood
at full run under her featners made us loo'i
again around us aud above Us, when we saw
that high up and far away taers was a RI
pacious bird wheeling round AMI roul1, an /
down and down, and not seeing us as W
stool in the sha low it camp nearer an
lower until we saw its bea& was curved from
base to tir and it had two flames o; fro for
eyes, audit was hawk.
But all the Caiciens were uu Ter oil Do n
inick'5 wing, ana either the bird OF prey
caught glimpse of VI OF NOT able to fin /
the broot tul lel under wing dartei back
into the cou Is. So Christ calls with great
eGrnesnass TO the young, Why, waat is the
matter? 1t is bright sunlight, AMI there can
be no danger. Health is there. A goo |
home is theirs. Plenty OF foo is theirs
Prospect OF long life is theirs Bat Christ
continues TO cali, calls with more em-
phasis ami urges haste AMI saws not
second ought to be lost Oh, do tell US what
is the lnatterl Alb, now [ see. There are
hawks o. temptation in the air; there ara
vulturcs wheeling for tn sir prey; there arr
beahs OF Death really % pun ge; there ar3
claws OF a!lurement ready to clutch. Nov
| see the peril. Now I understand tho
urgency. Now see tn only safety Woui /
that Christ might this day take our SONS an /
daughters into His shelter 'ds a hen gath
ereth her chickens under her wing"
The fact is that the most of them will
never find the shelter unless while they ara
chickens. Il is simple matter of in sxor-
able statistics that most OF those who do not
come to Christ in youth neveT come at all.
What chance is there for the young without
divine protection? There are the grog
shops. There are the gambling bells. There
are the infdeities AMI immoralities OF
splritual'S II. There are ba ! books. There
are impurities. There are the business rae
calities. And so numerous are these asSail.
ments that it is wonder that honesty aad
virtue are not lost arts.
The birds of prey, dlurnal and nocturnal.
of the natural world are ever OF the alert
They are the assassinS of tn say. Toey have
varieties OF taste, The eagle prefers tao
flesh of the living animal The vu'ture pre-
ferS the carcass. Th' falcon kills with on3
stroke, while other styles Of beqks give pro.
Iongstion Of torture, Antsp the tenn 1ta-
tons OF this life ara r,ouS. S0ns make
quick work of death, an / others asouz, the
min and body for mauv years, ami SOM
like the living blood ot great soul, an
others prefer those already ganyreuei. But
for every stve OF youth there is a swoop.ug
wing and a sdarp beak an a cruel cav,
aud what the ris,ng generation needs is 81
wing of prott .ion.
Fathers mothers, older brothers an sis
tiers and Slbbath-sc .ooi teachers. be- qucil
and earnest an | prayerful aud impoi tunlta
and get the chickens un Ter the wing. May
the Sa bath schools OF America and Great
Britain within the next three months sweep
all their Sc o ars into the kingdom. Whom
they have now under charge is uncertain.
Concerning that scrawny, ppay child that
Jay III the era lie many yeas ago. the father
dead, many remarked. What mercy il
the Lord would take the caild" and thl
mother really thought so too. But what a
COOL thing that Col spared that caild, fol-.
1t became world renowned in Christian
literature aud one o Coils most iilustr ,oa.
servants John Todd.
Remember, your children will remain
chill iren only little while. What you DO for
them as children You must do quickly o,
never do at all. "Why have you never
written bookH said SO ne one to a taente
woman. She replie': 81 am writing two
and have been engaged on one work ten
years and on tae other five yesrs-my two
children. They ara NY life work. When
thu house o; John Wesley's father burned,