The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-01-26
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Waiting and Watching Of q
Mother for Her Child.
whether on Earth or I'm Heaven She 10 AL
ways ON the Alert for the Well
being OF Those Dear Co Her
Mother Heart

The mother Of Sissra looked out at win
dow.-Jndges v. %
Spiked to the ground of Jaers tent
lay the dead commander-in-chief 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 il, but the gull
lies and ravines which ran into il indi-
Gated the possibility of great freshets
\ like the one of the text Gen. Sisera
had gone out with nine hundred char
lots. but he was defeated, 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
exhausted. He went into Jaers tent
| for safety. She had just been churn-
ing, and when he asked for water. she
gave him butterniilk, 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 a 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 fore
4 head of SiSera, with her other hand she
| lifted the hammer and brought II down
on Che head of the pin with a 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 commanderin-
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.
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 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 wondreus 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 a solitary messenger ar.
irving in hot haste rides up to the win
dow 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
rs have mother watching and wait.
ing for news of our victory and defeat.
> 1
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 nine
hundred iron chariots and a host oil
many thousands vaster than the armies
Of Israel. But God was on the other
side; and the angry freshets of Kishot
and the hail, the lightning and the un
manageable war horses and the cap
sized chariots and the stellar panic in
the sky disconnected Sisera. Jose
plus in his history describes the
scene in the following words
when they were come to q
close fight there came down from
Heaven a great storm, with a vas
quantity of rain and hail, and the wind
blew the rain in the face of the Ca
naanites, and so darkened their eyei
their arrows and sings were of no ad
vantage to them, nor would the cold
ness of the air permit the soldiers X
make use Of their swords; while thi
storm did not so much incommode tn,
Israelites because it came on thei
backs. They also took such courar,
upon the apprehension that God wa
: assisting them that they fell upon tn,
4 very midst of their enemies and slew
a great number of them; so that som
c of them fell by the Israelites, some fel
by their own horses, which were pu
into disorder, and not a few wer
o. killed by their own chariots."
Hence, my hearers, the bad new
brought to the mother of Sisera look
{ ing out at the window. And GU
!. mother, whether sitting at a windo,
of earth or a window of Heaven, vii
D hear the news of our victory or defea,
G not according to our talents or educa
! tional equipmunt or our opportunitie,
but according as to whether God is 70
q us or against US.
v "Where's mother?" is the questio
most frequently asked in many house
holds IL is asked by the husband a
i well as the child coming in at nigh
fall. where's mother?' 1t is aske
by the little ones when they get hun
and come in crying with the pair
where's mother?" It is asked b
= those who have seen some grand sigh
or heard some good news or receive
some beautiful gift. Where's mother?
She sometimes feels wearied by Oh
question, for they all ask il and kee
asking it all the time. She is not onl
the first 10 hear every case of perplex
ty, but she is the judge in ever
court. of domestic appeal. That
I - = -. IL