The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-03-01


Prospect Of long life Is theirs But
Christ continues to call, calls with more
emphasis and urges haste, and says not
second ought to be ost o, do tell us
what Is the matter All, now see,
there are hawks Of tempa tion In the air,
there are vultures wheeling for their
prey, there are beaks Of death ready to
to plunge, there are claws Of allure
ment really to clutch. Now 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
gathers 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
inexorable 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 pro-
lection? There are the grog shops.
There are the gambling hells. There
are the infidelities and immoralities
Of Spiritualism, There are the
bad books There are the impuri-
ties There are the business rascalities,
And SO mum erous are these assailants
that It is wonder that honesty and
virtue are not lost arts The birds OF
prey, diurnal and nocturnal, of the nat
ural world, are ever on the alert. They
are the assassins Of the sky. They
have varieties of taste. The eagle pre-
fers 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 already gangrened.
But for every style of youth there is
swooping wing and sharp beak and a
cruel claw, and what the rising genera
tion needs is a wing Of protection.
Fathers, mothers, older brothers and
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
America and Great Britain within the
next three months sweep all their
scholars into the kingdom. Whom
they have now under charge is uncer-
tain. Conc erning that scrawny, puny
child that lay in the cradle many
years ago, the father dead, many
remarked. "What mercy If the Lord
would take the child" and the mother
really thought so, too, but what good
thing the Lord spared that child, for 1t
became world-reno wned in Christian
literature and one of Gods most illus
trious servants-John Todd. Remem.
Der, your children will remain children
only only for little while. What you
do for them as children you must dc
quickly or never do at all "Why have
you never written a bo ok?" said some
one to talented woman. She replied
81 am writing two, and have been en-
gagged on one work ten years and or
the other FIVE years-my two children
They are my life work." When thu
house of John Wesley's father burnet
and they got the eight children out
/ John Wesley the last before the rooffel
, in, the father said: "Let us kneel dow
| and thank God. The children are al
, saved, let the rest OF the place 60" Ny
heaters, II we secure the present anC
everlasting welfare of our children
: NEST other things belongin ng TO us ar
t of but little comparative Importance
Alexander the Great allowed his sol
diers TO take their families with ther
. 10 war, and he accounted for tn
r bravery Of his men by the fact tha
/, many Of tn en- were born in camp, an
' were used to warlike see mes from tn
G start Would God that all the childre
a of our day might be born into the arm
c of the Lordl No need Of letting ther
!. go long way on the wrong road bt
e fore they turn around and go on th
o right road. The only time to get chicl
Q ems under wing is while they are chicl
e ems.
s Hannah Whitan Smith, the evang,
list, took her little child at two years {
i age when Ill out Of the crib, and tol
Q her plainly of Christ, and the child b
II lieved, and gave evidence of joyfI
@ trust which grew with her growth INF
o womanhood. Two years are not tc
n young. The time will come when b
= faith OF parents children will be Dor
Q into the world, and born into the boso
l. OF Christ at the same time. Soon "
d parents will have to go and leave OF
II children. We fight their battles nov
II and we stand between them and harm
It but our arm will after awhile get veal
h and we cannot fight for them, and OF
v tongue Is palsied, and we cannot spea
,r for them Are we going to leave the
q out In the cold world TO take the
/. chances, or are we doing all we can
u get them under the wing Of eternj
u safety2
d But we all need the protecting win
q If you had known when you enterC
It upon manhood or womanhood whi
D was ahead of you, would you ha'
n dared TO undertake life? How muC
,r you have been through With mo
m life has been disappointment, tho
II tell me So They have not attain,
that which they expected to attai
l. They have not had the physical al
d mental vigor they expected, or the
% have met with rebuffs which they d
10 not anticipate. You are not at forty
Y fifty or sixty or seventy or eighty yea
Ip of age where you thought you wop
2. be. do not know anyone except m
d self TO whom life has been hap
70 surprise. / mover expected anythin
RS and so when anything came In 3
ID shape Of human favor or com fortat
a | ,.oaitior Or widening fald Of work