The Progress., 1894-01-20
WHERE is MOTHER?
lASERNACLE PULPIT RINGS
WITH A GREAT SERMON.
Inc Mother of sisera Looked Out at a
"lndow"-Judges 5:1xviiI-FrOm This
Text DIR. t. Dewitt T.Image breaches
Sermon to BE Remembered.

BRooKLYN, y. Y, Jan. 14-ThiS
novel and unique subject was presented
by DR.. Talmage this afternoon to the
usual thrOngs crowding the largest
Protestant church in America. The
congregation. led by organ and cornet,
sang gospel hymn to the tune of
Home, Sweet Home" Text: Judges
5:xxviii: The mother of Sisera looked
out at a window"
Spiked to the ground of Jaers tent
lay the dead commander-in-chi of
the Canaanitish host, Gen. Sisera, not
far from the river Kishon, which was
only dry bed of pebbles when in 1889,
in Palestine, we crossed it, but the
gullies and ravines which ran into il
indicated the possibility of great fresh
cts like the one at the time Of the text.
Gen. Sis~ra had gone out with 900 iron
chariOts, but he was defeated, and his
chariot wheels interloched with the
wheels of other chariotS, he could not
retreat fast enough and so he leaped
to the ground and ran till exhausted he
went into Jaers tent for safety. She
had just been churning, and when he
asked for water she gave him butter
milk, which in the east iS.cOnsidered
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 a 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 fore
head of Sisera with her other hand,
she lifted the hammer and brought II
down on the head of the pin with
stout stroke, when SiSera struggled to
rise, and she struck him again, and he
struggled 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 en-
shaved. ! see her now sitting at the
window, in high expectation. She
watches the furthest turn of the road.
She looks for the flying dust Of the
swift hoofS. The first flash OF the 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 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 were not ominous, when the 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 will not see the glittering
head-gear of the horses at full gallop
bringing her son home from victorious
battle AS solitary messen-
ger arriving in hot haste rides
mn to the window at which
the mother of Sisera sits, he cries
"Your armies are defeated and youl
son is dead" there is a Scene of horror
and anguish from which we turr
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 wait
ing for news of our victory or defeat
If She be not sitting at the window o.
earth she is sitting at a window Of
heaven, and she is going to hear al
about it.
By all the rules of war Sisera ought
to have been triumphant. He haC
nine hundred iron chariots and a hos
of many thousands vaster than the
armies of Israel But God was on the
other side: and the angry freshets O.
Kishon and the hail, the lightning anC
the unrAanageable warehouses and the
capsized chariots and the steAar panic
in the sky discounted Sisera. Jose
phus in his history describes the scene
Ia the following words: "WheI
they were come to a close figh
there came down from HEAVIER
a great storm with a vast quantit!
Of rain and hail, and the wind blew
the rain in the faces Of the Canaanites
and so darkened their eyes their ar
rows and sings were of no advantage
to them. nor would the coldness of th'
air permit the soldiers to make use o
,, their words; while this storm did no
so much incommode the Israelites be
cause it came on their backs. TheI
also took such courage upon the ap
prehension that God was assisting
them that they fell upon the verI
midst of their enemies and slew grea
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