Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1894-02-01
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE,S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subjects "Methefs id Israeli


most, General Sisera not far from the river
hisnon, which was only dry bed of pebbles
when in 1889, in Palestine, we crossed it, but
the gullles and rayines which ran into it in
dlcated the possibility OF great freshets like
the one at the time o the text General Sisera
had gone out with 900 iron chariots, but he
was defeated, and, his chariot wheels inter=
locked with the wheels of other chatiots, he
could not retreat Fast enough, and 80 he
Ieaped to the ground an ran till exhaust
ed, he went into Jael's tent for safety She
mad JUST been churnIng and when he asked
lor water she gave him buttermilk, which in
the east is considered most refreshing
otink: Very tired, and supposing he was
sa1e, he went to sleep upon the floor but
Jael, who had resolved upon his death. took
a tent PIN, long and round and sharp, in one
hand and hammer in her other hand. and.
putting the sharp end of the tent pin to the
forehead of Sisera, with her other hand she
lifted the hammer and brought it down on
the mead OF the pin with a stout stroke,
when Sisera struggled 10 rise, and she
struck him again, and he struggled to rise.
and the third time she struck MIN, and the
commander in chief of the Canaanitish host
lay dead.
Meanwhile in the distance Sisera's mother
sits amid surroundings of wealth and pomp
anu scenes palatial waiting for his return.
Every mother expects her son TO be victori-
Gus, and this mother looked out at the WIN
NV S-NPcNtiLS ~ SEC hin uTlNb I'D IN MS
charIot followed by wagons loaded with en-
nroloeries and also by regiments of men VEN
pushed and enslaved. see her now sitting
at Inc window, in high expectation. She
watches the farthest turn of the road. She
looks for the flying dust of the swift hoofs.
Inc first flash ofthe bit of the horses bride
she will catch.
The ladies of her court stand round, and
she tells them of what they shall have when
her son comes up--chains of gold and carca-
nets OF beauty and dresses of such wondrous
fabric and splendor as the Bible only hints
at, but leaves us to imagine. ''He ought to
be here by this time" says his mother. '"That
battle is surely over. / hope that freshet Of
the river kishon has not impeded him. I
nope those strange appearances we saw last
night In the sky were not ominous. when the
stars seemed to fight il their courses. Mo-
NO. He is so brave in battle l know he mas
won the day. He will soon be here" But
alas for the disappointed mother She will
not see the glittering headgear of the horses
at full gallop bringing her son home from
victorious battle. AS solitary messenger
arriving in hot haste rides up to the windows
at which the mother of Sisera sits, he cries,
Your armies are defeated. and your son is
dead. There is scene of horror and
anguish from which we turn away.
NOW you see the full meaning of my short
text, The mother of Sisera looked out at a
window" Well, my friends, we are all out in
the battle of life; it is raging now, and the
most OF us have a mother watching and
waiting for news of our victory or defeat
III she be not sitting at the window of
earth, she is sitting at window of
heaven. and she is going to hear all about it.
by all the rules of war Sisera ought to
have been triumphant. He had 900 iron
charlots and host of many thousands
Vaster than the armies of Israel. But
God was on the other side, and the
angry freshets of Kishon, and the hail.
the lightning and tho unmanageable
warehouses; and the capsized chariots
and the stellar panic in the sky dscom-
hted Sisera. Josephus in his history
describes the. scene in the following words !:
when they were come to a close fight there
came down from heaven a great storm with
a vast quantity of rain and hail, and the wind
blew the rain in the face of the Canaanites
and so darkened their eyes their arrows and
sings were of no advantage to Them nor
would the GOODNESS of the air permit the SOL
| diers to make use of their swords while this
| storm did not so much incommode the Isra-
| elites because it came on their backs They
| also took such courage upon the apprehen-
| sion that God was assisting them that they
| fell upon the very midst of their enemies and
| slew great number OF them, 80 that some of
| them fell by the Israelites, some fell by their
| own horses which We're put into disorder,
| and not few were killed by their own char
| lots"
Hence, my hearers. the bad news brought
| TO the mother of Sisera looking out at the
window. And'our mother, whether sitting
| at a window of earth or awndow of heaven,
| Will hear the news of our victory or defeat
| not according to our talents or educational
equipment or our opportunities, but accord
| ing as to whether God is for us or against
us.
"Where's mother?" is the question most
frequently asked in many households. 1t is
| asked by the husband as well as the child
coming In at nighttall. "Where's mother?' 1t
| is asked by the little ones when they get hurt
and come in crying with the pain, 'Where's
| mother? 1t is asked by those who
have seen some grand sight or heard some
| good news or received some beautiful gift,
where's mother?" She sometimes feels
wearied by the question, Tor they all ask an 4
| keep asking it all the time. She is not only
the first to hear every case of perplexity, bat
| she is the Judge in every court of domestic
| appeal. That is what puts the premature
| wrinkles on so many maternal faces and pow
| ders white so many maternal foreheads. You
see, 1t is question that keeps on for all tle
| years OF childhood. 1t comes from the nCrs-
cry, and from the evening stand where the
boys and girls are learning their school les
| sons, and from the starting out in the morn
ing, when the tippet or hat or slate
or book or overshoe is lost, until
at night, all out of breath, the young
|
| them from cellar to garnet and from front
| door to tho back fence of the back yard,
"Where's mother?n Indeed, child's life is
| so full of The. question that IL he be taken
away ore Of the things that the mother most
| misses ard the silence that most Expresses
| her is the cbsence Of that question, which
she will rever hear on earth again, except
she hears it in dream which sometimes re-
stores the nursery just as it was, and then
| the voice comes back so natural and so
sweet, and so innocent, and so inquiring
that the dream breaks at the words, where's
mother?"
II tina. question were put to most of us
this morning, we would have to say If we
spoke truthtully, like Siseras mother, she is
ut the palace window She has become q
queen unto God forever, and she is pulling
back the rich folds of the kings upholstery
to look down at us. We are not told the par
ticulars about the residence OF Sisera s
mother but there is In that scene in the book
of Judges so much about embroideries and
needlework and ladies in waiting that we
know her residence must have been princely
and palatial. So we have no minute and par
ticular description OF the palace at whose
window our glorifled mother sits, but there
Is SO much in the closing chapters OF
the good old book about crowns, and
pearls big enough to make gate out OF
one ofthem, new songs and marriage sup
pers, and harps, and white horses with kings
In fhe ettrruns and poldan7 andlesficl<a that