Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-01-26
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.

host. General Sisera. not far from the river
Kishon. which was only dry bed Oh neoples
when in 1899 in Palesl inc, we crossedIt, but
the euliies and rAvines which ran into II ln'
dicated the possibility OF great freshets IKE
| the oneat the time Of the text. General Slsera
had gone out with 900 iron chariots. but he
was defeated. and, his chariot wheels inter
locked with the wheels of other charlots. he
| could not retreat fast enough, and so he
| leaped to the ground an ran till, exhaust
| ed. he went into Jaels tent for safety. She
had lust been churnlng. AMI when he asked
| for water she gave him bGttermilK which IN
! the east is considered most refreshing
| drink. Very tired. and supposing he wes
safe. he went TO sleep upon the floor. but
Jael. who had resolved upon his death, took
a tent p,n. long an round and sharp.dn ono
| hand and hammer in her other hand. aud,
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 stout stroke,
when Sisera struggled TO rise, and sne
struck him again, and he struggled to rise,
| and the thir time she struck him, ana the
commander in chief of the Canaanltish host
lay dead.
Meanwhile in the distance Sisera's mother
sis amid surroundings of wealth and pomp
and scenes paIatial waiting for his return.
Every mother expects her son TO be victCrl-
Gus and this mother looked out at the win
dow exnecting 10 see him drive up in h,s
chariot followed by wagons loaded with en-
| broderies and also by regiments OF men van
| ouished an enslaved. [ 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 horse 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 aud dresses of such wondrous
fabric AMI splendor as the Bible only hints
at, but leaves US to imagine. HE ough, 70
be here by this time" ssyshis mother "Ihat
battle is surely over | hope that freshet OF
the river Ks6on has not impeded him.
hope those strange appearances we saw last
night in the sky wers not OmlnOus. whenthe
stars seemed TO fight in their courses. No !!
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 VIII
not see the glittering headgear OF the horses
at full gallop bringing her son home 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 a scene OF horror AMI
anguish from which weturn 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 y; it is raging now, and tins
most OF us have a mother watching AMI
Whiting 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 300 iron
chariots AMI host Of many thousands
vaster than the armies of Israel. But
God was on the other side, and ths
angry freshets of Kishon and the bad,
the lightning and the unmanageaoe
warehouses, and the capsizsd char;ots
and the stellar panic in the sky disconi-
flied Sisera. Josephus in his history
describes the scene in the following words
FWhen thew were come to Gloss fight there
came down from heaven a great storm with
a vast quantity of rain and hail, and the wind
h,ew the rain in the face of the Canaanltes
and 50 darkened their eyes their arrows an
sings were Of 10 advantage to them, nor
would the GOODNESS Of the air permit the so!-
diers TO make use Of their swords, while this
storm did not SO much incommode the lsra-
elites because il came on their backs. They
also took such courage upon the apprenen-
sion that God was assisting them that they
fell upon the very midst Of their enemies and
slew n great num5er OF them. so that some OF
them fell By the Israeiites. some fell by their
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 Sisera looking cut 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
10 a n educational
equipment or our opportunities, but accord
ing as TO whether GOD is for US or against
US.
"Whers's mother?'' is the question most
frequently asked in many households. 1t ls
asked by the husband rs well as the child
coming in at nightlall. "Where's mother" 1t
is askel by the little ones wAen they get hurt
and come in crying with the pain, where
mother?' II is asEel by those who
have seen some grand sight or heard some
good news or received some beautiful gift,
fsWhere's mother?' She sometimes feels
weariel hy the question. tor they all ask an
keep asking it all the time. She is not only
: the first 10 hear every case OF p9rpleXny, out
she is the Judge in every court of domestic
appeal That is what puts the premature
= wrinkles on so many maternal faces ard pow
ders white so many maternal foreheads. You
see. it is q question that keeps on for all the
|
ery. and from the evening stand where the
l. bows and girls are learning their school les
sons. and from the starting out in the morn
ing when the tippet or hat OK slat'
or book or overshoe is lost, unit
at night. all out of breath, the young
sters come in and shout until you can hea
them from cellar to garnet and from IRON
door to the back fence OF the back yard
s'Where's nother?" Indeed. child's life i
so full of tina, question that if he be takel
away one of the things that the mother mos
misses and the silence that most oppresse
her is the absence of that question, which
she will never hear on earth again, excep
she hears it in dream which sometimes re
stores the nursery just as it was, and tDel
fine voice comes back so natural, and 81
sweet and 80 innocent. and so inquirin:
that the dream breaks at the words, "Wnere
mOther?'
TT tina. question were put to most OF II
this morning. we would have to say, ii w
smoke truthully, like Sisera's mother. she Il
at the nalace window. she has become
3 queen unto God forever, and she is pulling
O hack the rich folds of the kings uphoister.
TO look down at u.s. We are not told the par
ticulars about the residence OF Slseral
mother. but there is in that scenein the bool
Of Judges so much about embroderles an(
needlework and ladies in waiting that W
know her residence must have been prlncel.
and palatal SO we have no minute andpar
tieular description of the palace at who's
window our glorified mother sits, but ;ther
is so much in the closing chapters o
the good old book about crowns, an
pearls big enough to make a gate out 9
one OF them. new songs and marriage SUP
pers. and harps, and white horses with king
l., ond Golden oand lpsf iokS fha