Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-03-10
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
TIE BROOKLYN DIyINE's sUN.
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "a PROTECTING WING

feet. The soendors of the religious CAPITAL
nj the whole earth irradiate the landscape
There is the temple Yon Ter is the kings
palace. Spread out before His eyes are the
pomp. the wealth, the wickedness and the
coming destruction OF Jerusalem, AMI He
burst into tears at the thought Of the OBJ
duracy of place that He would gladly haye
saved, and apostrophizas, saying, "Oa,
Jerusalem. Jerusalem. how often wouId I
have gathered thy children together, even
as hen gathereth her chickens under her
wines, and ye would not"
Why did Christ select hen and chicken as
a smile2 Next to the opposit ,ness OF the
comnarisOu tlink it was to help all public
teacher in the matter o. illustration to get
down off their stills and use comparisons
that all can understand. The plainest biri
on earth is the hlrnyard fowl. Its only
adornments are the rel comb in its head.
dress and the w1ttles under the throat. II
has no grandeur Of genealogv. All we know
is that its ancestors came from India, soma
OF them from height OF 1000 feet on the
sides Of the Himalavs. It has no pretention
OF nest like the eagles evrie. It has no luster
OF nlumage like the godilnch. Possessing
anatomy that allows flight vet about the
last thing that it wants to do Is to fIy. and
In retreat uses foot almost MS much as wing.
Mus clans have written out in musical
scale the song OF lark and robin red breast
and nightingale vet the hen OF nv text
bath nothing that could be taken for song,
hut only cluck and cacke. Yet Christ in
the text uttered, while looking upon doomed
Jerusalem, declares that what He had
wished for that city was like what the hen
does for her chickens. Christ was thus sim.
pie in His teachings and yet how hari it Is
for us, who are Sunday-school instructors
and editors and preachers and reformers,
and those who would gain the ears Of audi
ences to attain that heavenly and divine
art of simplicity.
We have to run course of literary dis.
orders as children course OF physical dis.
orders We come out OF school an college
loaded down with Greek mythologies and
out OF the theological seminary weighed
down with what the learned fathers said
and we fly with wings OF eagles AMI famin-
goes and alhatrosses and il takes a COOL
while before we can come down to Christ's
similitudes, the candle under the bushe, the
salt that has lost its SAVIOR, the net thrown
into the sea- the spitt!e on the ewes Of the
blind man and the hen and chickens.
There is not mich poetry about this
winged creature of God mentioned in my
text, but she is more practical and more
mother!y and more suggestive OF good
things than many that fly higher aud wear
brighter colors. She is not a prima donna
OF the skies nor strut OF beauty In tho
aisle OF the forest. She does not cut circle
under the sun like the ROCKY Mountain
eagle but stays at home TO look after family
affairs. She does not swoop like the condor
of the Cordilleras to transport n rabbit from
the valley to the toD OF the crays, but iu t
scratches for livin.. How vigorously
with her Claws she pulls away the grouui
to bring up what is hidden beneathl When
the breakfast or dining hour arrives, she
begius to prepare the repast ami calls all her
young to partaie.
am In sympathy with the unpretsntiou,
oil fashioned hen, because, like most Of us
she has to scratch for q living. She knows
at the start the Lesson which most people OF
good sense are slow to learn that the gain
ing OF a livelihood imHlios work, AMI that
successes do not lie on the surface, but are to
be upturnei bv positive AMI continuous
effort. The reason that society, an the
church, and the world are so full Of fail l7es,
go full OF loafers, so full of dead beats, Is be-
cause people are not wise enou III to take the
lesson on which any hen would teach them
that IL they would find for themselves and
for those dependent upon them anything
worth having they must scratch for ii.
'Solomon said. "Go to tbs ant, tiou slug
carl" | say, 'Go to the hen, thoa suy-
gard" In the Old Testament God compares
I 81.
in the New Testament the Holy Spirit Is
compared to a descending dove. but Christ
in sermon that begins with cutting sar.
casm for hypocrites and ends with the
paroxysm OF pathos in the text, compares
Himself to hen.
One day in the country we saw sudden
CONSERVATION in the behavior OF old Dom.
| mick. Why the hen should be so disturbed
we could not understand. We looked about
TO see If neighbours dog were invading the
| FARM We looked up to see il a stormcloui
were lowering. We could see nothing on
the ground that could terroriza, AMI we
could see nothing in the air to ruff, the
| feathers Of the hen. but the loud, wild, az.
| frighted cluck which brought all her brood
at full run under her feathers made us look
| again arouni.u us aud above Us, when we saw
that high up ana far away thers was ra-
pacious bird wheeling round and round, and
down and down, and not seeing us as we
stool in the sha low it cams nearer and
lower until we saw its beak was curved from
| base to tin, and it had two flames of fire for
ewes, and 1t was hawk.
| But all the chickens were under old Dom
inick's wing, and either the bird OF prey
caught glimpse OF us, or not able to find
the brood bundled under wing darte1 back
into the clouds. So Christ calls with great
earnesrness to the young. Why, wnat is the
matterf 1t is bright sunlight, and there can
be no danger. Health is there. A goo.
home is theirs. Plenty of fool Is theirs
Prospect OF long life is theirs But Christ
continues to call, calls with more EN-
phasis and urLes haste and saws not a
is the matterl Alb, now l see. There ar,
hawks OF temptation in the air; there are
vutures wheeling for their prey; there are
beaEs OF death ready to plunge; there are
| Claws of allurement ready to clutch. Now
[ see the peril. Now l understand tht
urgency. Now see the only safety. Woult
that Christ might this day take our sons an,
daughters into His shelter, ''as hen gath
ereth her chickens under her wing"
The fact is that the most Of them will
never find the shelter unless while they arr
chickens. 1t is simple matter of inexor
able statistics that most OF those who do no
come to Christ in youth never come at all
What chance is there for the young withou
divine protectionH There are the gro
shops. There are the gambling bells. Their
are the infidelities and immoralities o
sprituals n. There are bad books. Their
are impurities. There are the business ras
calities. And so numerous are these assall
ments that it is a wonder that honesty an
virtue are not lost arts.
The birds Of prey, diurnal and nocturnal
OF tue natural WOIlu are eNol Ol oue ulei
They are the assassins OF the sky. They hav
varieties OF taste. The eagle prefers tn
flesh Of the living animal. The vulture pr'
fers the carcass. The falcon kills with on
stroke, while other styles of beaks give PR
lonpation OF torture. And 80 the temptt
tions of this life are various. Some mai
quick work Of death, and others agonize tt
mind and body for many years. and SON
like the living blood of great soul. al
others prefer those already gangrened. B'
wing and sharp beak AMI cruel CLAW
aud " hat the rising generation needs Is
wing of protection.
Fathers, mothers, older brothers and 81
ters and Sabbath-sc lool teachers be quit
and earnest and prayerful and importuna
and get the chickens under the wing: Mi
the Saobath.schools of America and Gre
Britain within the next three months swe
all their scholars into the kingdom. Whc
they have now under charge is uncertai
Concerninp that scrawny. puny child tn