The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-01-19
"WHERE'S MOTHER?"
The Subject of Late Discourse
by DR.. Talmage.
The Mother Is at the Window. Whether
on Earth or i'm Heaven-.sShe Is
in Your Present Char
acter."

mothers influence in the home, taking
his text from Judges V. %: 1.-THE mother
OF Sisera looked out at window" The
distinguished preacher said:
Spiked to the ground of Jaets tent
iay the dead commander-in-chiefo of the
Canaanitish host, Gen. Sisera, not far
from the river Kishon, which was only
dry led of pebbles when in 1889. in
Palestine, we crossed it, but the gull
lies and ravines which ran into it indi-
Gated the possibility of great freshets
like the one at the time of the text.
Gen. Sisera had gone out with 900 iron
-chariots, but he was deserted, and his
chariot wheels interlocking with
the wheels of other chariots, he
could not retreat fast enough and SO
he leaped to the ground and ran till ex-
hausted. He went into Jaels tent for
safety. She had just been churning,
and when he asked for water she gave
him buttermilk, which in the east is
considered a most refreshing drink.
Very tired, and supposing 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
the other, and putting the sharp end
of the tent pin to the forehead of Sisera
with her other hand, she lif ed the
hammer and brought it down on
the head of the pin with a stout
stroke. when Sisera struggled to rise,
and she struck him again, and he strug-
gled to rise, and the third time she
struck him, 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 and scenes palatial,
waiting for his return. Every mother
expects her son to be victorious, and
this mother looked out at the window.
expecting to see him drive up in his
chariot followed by wagons loaded
with embroideries and also by regi-
ments of men vanquished and enslaved.
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 carcanets 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. | hope those strange
appearances we saw last night in the
sky We're not ominous when the stars
seemed to fight in their courses. MOL
No! He is so brave in battle | know
he has won the day. He will soon be
here" But alas for the disappointed
mother: she will not see the glittering
head-gear of the horses at full gallop
bringing her son home from victorious
battle. As a solitary messenger arriv-
ing in hot haste rides up to the window
at which the mother of Sisera sits, and
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: THE mother of Sisera
looked out of 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 wait
ing for news of our victory or defeat.
, If she be not sitting at the window of
earth she is sitting at a 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 chariots and host of many thou
sands 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
the unmanageable warehouses; and
the capsized chariots and the
stellar panic in the sky discomfitted
Sisera. Josephus in his history de-
scribes the scene in the following
words: When they were come to a
close fight there came down from
heaven great storm with a vast guam
tity of rain and hail. and the wind
blew the rain in the face of the Canaan
ties, and so darkened their eyes their
arrows and sings were of no advantage
to them, nor would the GOODNESS of the
air permit the soldiers to make use of
their swords: while this storm did
not so much incommode the
Israelites because it came on their
backs. They also took such
courage upon the apprehension 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 Israel
ties. some fell by their own horses,
which were put into disorder. and not
a few were killed by their own
chariotS"
Hence, my hearers, the bad news
brought to the mother of Sisera look
ing out at the window. And our
mother. whether sitting at a window
of earth or a window of Heaven, will
hear the news of our victory or defeat
Not according to our talents or educa-
tional equipment or our opportunities,
but according as to whether God is for
us or against us
Where's mother?" is the question
most frequently asked in many house
holds 1t is asked by the husband as
well as the child coming in at night
fall 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 moth
err" She sometimes feels wearied by
the question, for they all ask it and
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 do
puts the premature wrinkles on SO
rran- Ynatarnal faces and n0Iyd erS