The free press., 1894-02-01
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.



host, General Sisera, not far from the rive
Kishon, which was only dry bed OF pebble:
when in 1889, in Palestine, we crossed it, but
the guIlies and rayine5 which ran into it in
dicated the possibility of great freshets like
the oneat the time OF the text. General Sisera
had gone out with 900 iron ehariots, but M
was defeated, and, his chariot wheels inter
locked with the wheels OF other chariots, he
could not retreat fast enough. and so he
leaned to the ground an ran till, exhaust
ed he went into Jael's tent for safety. She
had Just been churnIng. and when he asked
for water she gave him buttermlik, which IN
the east is considered most refreshing
drink. Very tired, and supposinS he was
safe, he went to sleep upon the floor, but
Jael, who had resolved upon his death, took
tent pin, long and round and sharp, in one
hand and a 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 1t down on
the head Of the pin with a stout stroke,
when Sisera struggled to 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 Canaanltish host
lay dead.
Meanwhile in the distance Siseras mother
sits amid surroundings of wealth and pomp
and scenes palatial waiting for his return.
Every mother expects her son to be yictori-
Gus, and this mother looked out at the VIM
dow expecting to see him drive up in his
chariot followed by wagons loaded with em-
broideries and also by regiments of men van
quished and enslaved. l see her now sitting
at the window, in high expectation. She
watches the farthest turn of the road. She
looks for the flying dust OF the swift hoofs.
The first fash ofthe bit OF the horses bride
she will catch.
The ladies of her court stand round, and
-,,t,,o
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 Kshon has not impeded him. |
hope those strange appearances we saw last
night in the sky were not ominous. when the
stars seemed to fight il .heir courses. No !
No! He is so brave in battle / know he mas
won the day. He will soon be here" But
alas for the disappointed mother! She will
not see the glitterinC headgear OF the horses
at full callop bringing her son home from
victorious battle. AS a solitary messenger
arriving in not haste rides up to the windows
Mt which the mother OF Sisera sits, he cries,
Your armies are defeated, and your son is
dead" There is a scene OF horror and
anguish from which we turn away.
Now you see the full meaning of my short
text, .'rhe 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 q mother watching and
waiting for news of our victory or defeat.
If 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
chsriots and a 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 pnmanageable
warhorses, and the cepsized chariots
and the stellar panic in the sky discom-
fitted 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 great storm with
vast quantity Of rain and hail, and the wind
blew the rain in the face OF the CanaaniteS
and so darkene1 their eyes their arrows and
slings We're of no advantage to them. nor
would the coldness OF the air permit the SOL
diers to make use oftheir 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 were put into disorder,
and not a fow 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 awindow OF heaven,
will hear the news of our victory or defeat
not according 10 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 nightiall, "Where's mother?' 1t
is asked by the little ones when they get hurt
and come in crying with the pain, '"Where's S
motherE 1t is asked by those who
have seen some grand sight or heard some
good news or received some beautiful gift,
''Whers's mother" She sometimes feels
wearied by the question, Tor they all ask AMI
keep asking it all the time. She is not only
the first 10 hear every case of perplexity, bat
She IS the judge III 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
sec, it is question that keeps on for all the
years OF childhood. 1t comes from the nurs-
cry, and from the evening stand where the
DoyS ana girls arc 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
sters come in and shout until you can hear
them from cellar to garret and from front
door to the back fence OF the back yard,
''Where's mothcr?" Indeed, child's life is
SO full OF the- question that If he be taken
away ore o, the things that the mother most
misses ard tke silence that most oppresses
her is the cosence of that question, which
she will reTer hear on earth again. except
she hears it il dream which sometimes re-
stores the nursery just as it was, and then
the voice cones back SO natural. and so
sweet, and so innocent, and so inquiring
that the dream breaks at the words, "Wheres
mother?"
II tina. question were put to most of us
this morning. we would have to say, ii we
spoke truthiuliy, like Sisera's mother, she is
at the palace window. She has become a
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 Siseras
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
tieular description of the palace at whose