Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-01-19
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun =
day Sermon.
Subject; Mothers In Israel"

TEXT "The mother Of Siserd looked Out
at a ,oindo,o. Judges ", %.
Spiked to the ground OF Jael's tent lay the
dead commander In chief of the Canaanitish
host, General Ssera. 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 in
dicated the possibility OF great freshets like
the one at the time OF the text. General Sisera
had gone out with 900 iron chariots, but he
was defeated, and, his chariot wheels inter.
locked with the wheels Of other char;ots. 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 just been churning, and when he asked
for water she gave him buttermilk, 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
tent pin, long and round and sharp, in 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 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
lay dead
Meanwhile In the distance Sisera's mother
sits amid surroundings of wealth and pomp
and scenes paatial waiting for his return.
Every mother expects her son 10 be victCri-
Gus, and this mother looked out &C the win.
dow expecting to see him drive up in his
chariot followed by wagons loaded with EN-.
broderies and also by regiments Of men van.
pushed and enslayed. / sec 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 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 carca-
nets OF beauty and dresses Of such wOndrous
fabric and splendor as the Bible only hints
at, but leaves us to imagine. He ought TO
he here by this time, says his mother. "That
battle Is surely over. I hope that freshet OF
the river Kishon has not impeded him. [
hope those strange appearances we saw last
night in the sky were moi 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 headgear Of the horses
at full gallop bringing her son home from
victorious battle. As a 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 n scene OF horror and
anguish from which weturn away.
Now you see the full meaning OF my short
text, "The mother OF Sisera looked ont 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
waiting for news OF cur 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
charlots AMI a 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 manageable
warehouses;, and the capsized chariots
and the stellar panic in the sky discom-
flied Ssera. JOsephus in his history
describes the scene in the following words
"When they were come to n close fight there
same 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 10 them, nor
would the cOl1ness o. the air permit the SOL.
diers to make use OF their swords. while this
storm did not so much incommOae the Isra-
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 great number OF them. 50 that some OF
them fell by the lsraelit"S. some fell by their
own horses which were put into disorder
and not few were killed by their own char
lots"
Hence. my hearers. the bad news brought
TO the mother OF Siserl looking cut ut the
win low. And our mother, whether sitting
at n window OF earth or awniOw OF heaven.
will hear the news Of orr victory or defeat
not according 10 our talents or educational
equipment or our opportunities. but accord
ing As to whether God is for rs or against
Us
Where's MOTHER is the question most
frequently asked in many nous ehOlds. II is
asked by the husband as well rs the child
coming in at nightiall. where's MOTHER II
Is asked by the little ones wnen they get hurt
and come in crying with the pain. Where's
MOTHER Il j. asked by those who
have seen some grand sight or heard some
good news or received some beautiful gift.
'Where's mother She sometimes feels
weariel by the question. tor they all ask AMI
keep asking it all the time She is no; only
the first TO hear every case OF perpleNity. hut
she is the judge ID every court OF domestic
appeal. That is what puts the premature
wrinkles on so many maternal faces and pow
dcrs white so many maternal foreheads. You
see. II is o question that keeps on for all the
years OF childhood. Ii 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 ont i'm the morn
ing. when the tippet or hat or slate
or book or oyershOe is lost, until
AZ night, all out OF breath, the young
stcrs come in and shout until you can hear
them from cellar 70 garret and from front
door 10 the hack fence OF the back yard,
"Where's MOTHER Indeed. a chid's life is
80 full Of that question that II he be taken
away one of the things that the mother most
misses and the silence that most Expresses
her Is the absence Of that question, which
she will never hear on earth again. except
she hears il in q dream which sometimes re-
stores tho nursery just ~ it was, and then
the voice comes back so natural, and so
sweet. and 50 innocent, and so inquiring
thatthe dream breaks at the words, where's
MOTHER
II thn. question were put to most OF us
this morning. we would have TO say. il we
spoke truthiully i.ae Sisera's mother, she is
nj the palace window. She has become
queen unto God forever, and she is pulling
back the rich folds OF the kings upholstery
TO look down at us. We are not told the par
ticuars about the residence OF Sisera g
mother, but there is in that scene in the book
Of Judges so much about embroideries and
needlework and ladies in waiting that we
know her residence must have been princely
and palatial. So we have no minute and par
ticuar description OF the palace at whose
window our gloraed mother sits, but there
is so much in the closing chapters OF
the good old book about crowns, and
pearls big enough 10 make q 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
glori1ed 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 n contrast be-
tween that celestial surrounding and her
once earthly surroundings What wOrkto
bring up family, in the old time way, with
but little or no hired help, except perhaps
for the washing day or for the swine slaught-
erng, commonly called "the killing dayW
There was taen no reading OF elaborate
ireatiscs on the best modes Of rearing chill
,lren. aud then leaving Il all 70 hired help,
W..h one or two visits a day TO the nursery 70
500 II the principles announce are being car
ried ont. The most OF those old folks didthe
,or-i,c, tbo xrauhfno fha mon DING the darn