The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-03-04

lower until we saw its beak was curved
from base to tip, and II had two flames
Of fire for eyes, and it was a hawk.
But all the, chickens were under old
Dominick's wing, and either the bird of
prey caught a glimpse of us, or not
able to find the brood huddled under
wing darted back into the clouds So
Christ calls with great earnestness to
the young. Why, what is the mat
ter? 1t 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 lifeis theirs. But Christ
continues to call, calls with more en-
phasis and urges haste and says not a
second ought to be lost. Oh, do tell US
what is the matter! All, now see. There
are hawks of temptation in the air; there
are vultures wheeling for their prey;
there are beaks of death ready to plunge;
there are claws of allurement ready to
clutch. Now I 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 hen gathereth her
chickens under her wing"
The fact is that the most of them will
never find the shelter unless while they
are chickens. 1t is a 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 protection2
There are the grog shops. There are the
gambling hells. There are the infdeli-
ties and immoralities of spiritualism.
There are bad books. There are the inn
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 ami
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 swooping
wing and sharp beak and cruel claw,
and what the rising generation needs is
q wing of protection.
EARLY SALVATION URGED.
Ill al nd
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-
corning 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-Joh Todd.
Remember, your children will remain
children only a 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: Il
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:
tsLet us kneel down and thank God. The
children are all saved; let the rest of the
place CO."
My 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 were
born in camp and were 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 go 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 Whitan Smith, the evangelist,
took her little child at 2 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
90 10 +1oi, >,ho or. ira WI 6O1np all