Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-01-26
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
Guhinnt. ELNgothers In Iscael.32
Subject: "Efothers in Israeli"

TEXT: 'T1.e mother of Sisera looked out
! al a soirdO'b. Judges v. %.
Spiked to the ground of Jael's tent ley th6
| dead commander in chief Of the paiIaanitish
! host, General SiSera, not far from the river
KishOn, which was only dry bed Of pebbles
| when in 1880, in Palestine. We crossed il. but
| the gullics and ravnes which ran into it in
! dicated the possibility Of great frcshcts like
| the one at the time CT the text. General S!sara
| had gone out With 900 iron chariOts, but he
! was defeated, and. his chariot wheels inter
ioc5ei with the whCcls OF other chariOts, he
! could not retreat fast enough, and 90 he
| leape1 to the ground an ran till, exhaust
| ed, he went into Jaei>s tent for safety. She
| had Just beGn Churnlny, anl when he asked
| for water she gave him bUttarn,iIk. which in
| the east is considered most refreshing
| drink. Very tired, ana suppOsing he was
safe, he we2t to sleep upon the floor, but
| Jae!, wLo had resolved upon his death, took
t"lIt 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 tho
| forehead Of Sisera. with her other hand she
| lifted the hammer and brought it down on
! the head Of the pin with stout stroke,
! when Siscra struggled 10 rise, and she
struck him again, and he struggled to rise,
! and the thifi time she struck him, and the
! commander in chief of the Canaanitish host
! lay dead.
Meanwhile in the distance Sisera's mother
! ats amid surroundings of wealth AMI pOmp
| and scenes palatiaI waiting for his return.
| Every mother expects her son to be victCri-
Gus, aud this mother looked out at tho win
dow expecting to SEQ him drive up in his
chariot followed hy wagons loaded with en-
broideries and also by regiments of men van
qushed and ensiaved. sec her now sitting
au the window. in high expectation. She
| watches the farthest turn of the road. She
! looks for the flying dust of the swift ho0fs.
| The first flash Ofthe bit of the horses bride
she will cat ch
The ladies of her court stand round, and
She tells them OF what thoy shall have when
her gOn comes up-chainS OF gold and clrct-
nets of beauty and dresses of such wOndrOuS
fabric and splendor as the Bible only hints
ut, but leaves us to imagine ''He ought 10
be here by this time, says his mother. "Tha
battle is surely over. I hope that freshct o.
the river KishOn has not impeded him. |
hope those strange appearances we saw last
night in the aky were not OminOuS, when th-.
stars seemed to fight in their courses. No ,
No! He is so brave in battle l know he has
Won the day. He will soon be here" Bat
alas for the d disappointed mother She will
not see the Slittering headgear Of the horses
at full gallOp bringing her son homo from
victorious battle. As q 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 q Scene of horror and
anguish from which weturn away.
Now you see the full meaning of my short
text, The mother OF Sisera looked out at n
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 AMI
waiting for news of our victory or defeat.
If she be not sitting at the window OF
earth, She is sitting at a window O;
heaven. and she is going to hear all about it.
BY all the rules Of war Sisera ought to
have been triumphant. He had 800 iron
n fhntISGnA.
vaster than the armies of Israel. But
Col was Oh the other side, and th2
angry ~freshets of KshOn, and tho hail,
tho lightning and tho unmanageablo
warhorses, and the capsized chariots
and the stellar panic in the sky discom-
flied Sisera. Joscphus 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 AMI
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 IsrI-
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 a great number of them, so that some OF
them fell by the ISraelites. some fell by theit
own horses which were put into disorder
and not a few were killed by their own char
lots"
Hence my hearers, the bad news brought
to the mother of Siscra looking out at the
window. And our mother, whether sitting
at Il window of earth or awindoW 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 IS we'll as the chic
coming in at nightfall. ''Where's mother?'' 1t
is asked by the little ones when they get hur
and come in crying with the pain, ''Where's
motber?' 1t is asked by those VINO
have seen some grand sight or heard 50 II"
goo news or received some beautiful gift
"Where's mother?" She sometimes feels
wearied by the question, for they all ask an
keep asking it all the time She is not Only
the first to hear every case of perpleXity. but
she IS the Judge in every court OF domestic
appeal. That is what puts the premature
wrinkles on so many maternal faces and pow
GerS white so many maternal fOreheadS. You
gee. 1t is a question that keeps on for all the
years OF childhood. 1t comes from the nurs.
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
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 ward
''Wheres mOther?' Indeed. a child's life is
so full of that question that If he be taken
away one of the things that the mother most
misses and the silence that most Oppresses
her is the absence of that question, which
she will never hear on earth again, except
she hears ii in dream which sometimes re.
stores the |
the voice comes back so natural, and so
sweet, and so innocent, and so inquring
thatthe dream breaks at the words. "Where's
mOthCr?"
II tha: question we're put to most of us
this morning. we would have to say. if we
spoke truthtuliy. like SiSera's mother she is
ar the palace window. She has become S
queen unto God forever, and she is puIlin.;
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 AMI
needlewOrH and ladies in waiting that We
know her residence must have been princely
ana palatial. SO we have no minute and par
ticular description of the palace at whose
window our gloritied mother sits, but there
Is so much in the closing chapters of
the good old book about crowns, AMI
pearls big enough to make a gate out of
one OF them, new songs and marriage sup
pers. and harpS, and white horses with kings
IN the stirrups, and golden candlesticks that
we know the heavenly residence of our
mother is superb, is unique, is colonnaded,
is domed, is embowered, is fountained, is
glOritted beyond the power of pencil or pen
or tongue to present, and in the window of
that palace the mother sits watching for
news from the battle. What a contrast be-
tween that celestial surrounding and her
once earthly surroundings What work to
bring up family. in the old time way, with
tor the washing day or for the swine sIaught-
ering, commonly called ''the killing dayT'
There was then no reading of elaborate
treatises on the best modes of rearing chill
dren, and then leaving it all to hired help,
with one or two visits day to the nursery to
see if the principles announced are being car