Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-01-19

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 a gospel hymn to the tune of
"HOme, Sweet Home" Text: Judges
5:xxviii: The mother of Sisera looked
out at window"
Spiked TO the ground of Jael's tent
lay the dead commander-in-ch 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 it
indicated the possibility of great fresh
cts like the one at the time of the text
Gen. Sisera had gone out with 900 iron
chariots, but he was defeated, and his
chariot wheels interlocked 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 Jaels tent for safety. She
had just been churning, and when he
asked for water she gave him butter
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 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 it
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 COMMANDMENTS
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 isgons to.N1ed
with embroideries and also by regi-
ments of men vanquished and en-
shaved. i 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 cound
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 She 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 Omincus, 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
up to the window at which
the mother of Sisera sits, he cries:
"Your armies are defeated and your
son is dead" there is scene of horror
and anguish from which we turn
away.
BY all the rules of war Sisera ought
to have been triumphant He had
nine hundred iron shariots and 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
the unmanageable war horses and the
capsized chariots and the stellar panic
in the sky discounted Siscra- Jose
plus 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 vast quantity
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 GOODNESS of the
air permit the soldiers to make use of
their swords; while this storm did not
so much incommode the Israelites be-
cause it came on their backs. They
also took such courage upon the APP
prehension That God was assisting
them that they fell upon the very
midst of their enemies and slew great
number of them so that some of them
fell by the Israelites, some fell by their
own horses which were put into disor-
III 4 L. a.
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 window
of earth or 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
or against us.
"Where's mother?" is the question
most frequently asked in many house