Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-03-02


his shelter, "as hen gathcreth her chickens
under her wing" The fact is that the
most of them will never find the shelter un.
less while they are chickens. 1t is a simple
matter of inexorable statistics that most OF
those who do not come to Christ in youth
never come at all.
HUMAN BIRDS or PREY.
What chance is there for the young with
out divine projections There are the grog
shops. There are the gambling hells.
There are the infdelities and immoralities
of spiritualism There are the bad books
There are the impurities There are the
business rascalities. And 50 numerous are
these assailments that 1t is a wonder that
honesty and virtue are not lost arts. The
birds of prey diurnal and nocturnal, 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 animal 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 al.
youth there is a swooping wing, and a sharp
beak, and cruel claw, and what the rising
generation needs is wing of protection.
Fathers mothers older brot hers and sisters,
and Sabbath school teachers, be quick and
earnest and prayerful and importunate, and
get the chickens under wing.
May the Sabbath schools of America and
Great Britain within the next three months
sweep all their scholars into the kingdoml
Whom they have now under charge is I'M
certain Concerning 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 childl'
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-.Iohu Todd.
Remember, your children will remain
children only 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 talent
ed woman. She replied: Il am writing
two and have been engaged on one work 10
years and on the other years-my two
children. They are my life work" When
the house of John Weslcy's father burned,
Wesley the last-before the roof fell in the
father said: LET us kneel down and thank
God. The children are all saved; let the
rest of the place GO
My hearers, if we secure the present and
everlasting welfare of our children, most
other things belonging to us are OF but lit
tie comparative importance. Alexander the
Great allowed his soldiers to take their
families with them to war and he &C
counted for the bravery OF his men by the
fact that many of them We're born in camp
and We're used to warlike scenes from the
start. Would God that all the children of
our day might be born into the army of the
Iordl No need of letting them 90 long
way on the wrong road before they turn
around and 20 on the right road. The only
time to get chickens under wing is while
they are chickens
Hannah Whitall Smith, the evangelist,
took her little child at = years of age when
i'll out of the crib and told her plainly of
Christ, and the child believed and gave evil
dence 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 he
born into this world and born into the bos-
ON of Christ at the same time. Soon we
parents will have to go and leave our chill
dren. 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 take their chances, or are we do
/ ing all we can to get them under the wing
OF eternal safety?
] WE NEED THE PROTECTING WING
/ But we all need the protecting wing If
you had known when you entered upon
manhood or womanhood what was ahead
of you, would you have dared to undertake
| lifeY How much you would have been
through With most life has been a disap-
| pOiutment They tell me 50. They have not
attained that which they expected to at
| tain. They have not had the physical and
mental vigor they expected, or they have
met with rebuils which they did not antic-
ipate You are not at 40 or 80 or 90 or ~
or 80 years of age where YOU thought YOU
would be ! do not know any one except
myself to whom life has been happy sur
prise. | never expected anything, and so
when anything came in the shape of human
favor or comfortable position or widening
field Of work it was to me a surprise.
was told in the theological seminary by
some OF my fellow students THAT | never
would get anybody to hear me preach UNI
less changed my style, so that when
found some people did come to hear me it
was a happy surprise. But most people,
| according to their own statement, have
found life disappointment Indeed we
all need shelter from its tempests About
3 o'clock on II hot August afternoon you
have heard rumble that you first took for
a wagon crossing IL bridge, but afterward
there was louder rumblmg, and you said
"Why, that is thunder" And, sure enough
the clouds were beng convoked for a full
diapason. a whole park of artillery went
rolling down the heavens and the blinds OF
the windows in the sky were closed. But
the sounds above were not more certain
than the sounds beneath.
The cattle came to the bars and moaned
for them to be let down that they might
come home to shelter, and the fowl, whether
dark Brahma or Hamburg or Ieghorn OF
Dominick, began to call to its young,
"CmckW Chuck" "Cluckr and take them
under the wagon house or shed, and had
them all hid under the soft feathers by the
time that the first plash of rain struck tho