The Penn's Grove record., 1894-01-19
REV. DIR. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE's SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Mothers ia Israel"

Subject: "Mothers ia Israeli"
TEXT "The mother of Sisera Looked GU
At a ,cindon. judges W, 2a.
Spiked to the ground OF Jael's tent lay the
dead commander il chief of the Canaanitisf
host. General Sisera. not far from the rive
Kishon, which was only a dry bed of pebbles
when in 1889, in Palestine, we crossed II. hui
the Sullies and rayines which ran into it in.
dictated the possibility OF great freshets Ike
the neat the time Of the text. General Sisera
had gone out with 900 iron chariots, but he
was defeated, and. his chariot wheels lnttf
locked with the wheels of other Shariots. 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 a most refreshing
drinI. Very tired, and %supposing he was
ssfe, he went to sleep upon the floor, bui
Jael, who had resolved upon his death, took
a tent pin, long and oun and sharp, In one
hand and q hammer in her other hand. and,
putting the sharp end of the tent pin to the
forehead of Sisera, with her other hand she
lifted the hammer aud brought it down on
the head of the pin with a stout stroke,
when Sisera struggled TO rise, and she
struck him again, aud 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
Ills mid surroundings of wealth and pomp
and scene palattal waiting for his return.
Every mother expects her son to be victori-
Gus, and this mother looked out at the win
dow expecting to see him drive up in his
chariot followed by wagons loaded with en-
broidertes and also by regiments Of men van
pushed and enslaved. see her now sitting
NJ 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 flash Of the bit Of the horses bride
she will catoh.
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 garcia
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
be here by this time, +" says his mother. s'That
battle Is surely over. 1 hope that freshet OF
the river Kishon has not impeded him. i
hope those strange appearances we saw last
night In the sky were not ominous, 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 will
not see the glittering headgear of the horses
ut full gaIlop bringing her son home. from
victorious battle. As a solitary messenger
arriving in hot haste rides up to the windows
ut which the mother Of Sisera sits, he cries,
Your armie are defeated, and your son is
dead" There Is a scene OF horror and
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 It is raging now, and the
most OF US have q mother watching and
waiting for news Of our victory or defeat.
II she be hot sitting at the window of
earth. she Is sitting at o window Of
heaven, and she Is going to hear all about it.
By all tae rules OF war Sisera ought to
nave been triumphant. He had 900 iron
eharlots and q host OF many thousands
yaster than the armies of Israel. But
God was o. the other side, and the
the lightning and the unmanageable
warehouses;, and the capsized chariots
and the stellar panic in the sky discom-
ated Sisera. Josephus 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
a vast quantity of rain and hail, and the wind
blew the rain In the face of the Canaanites
and SO darkoned their eyes their arrows and
slings were Of no advantage to them, nor
would the GOODNESS OF thea air permit h SOL
diers to make use of their swords, while this
did not so much incommode the Isra-
elites because 1t 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 a great number 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 out at the
window. And our mother, whether sitting
Mt a window of earth or a window of heaven,
will near the news of our victory or defeat
not according to our talents or educational
equipment OF our opportunities, but accord
ing as to whether God Is for US or against
us.
"Where's mother?" Is the question most
frequently asked in many households. 1t is
asked by the husband as well as the child
coming in at nightfall, "Where's motherp" 1t
Is asked by the little ones when they get hurt
and come In crying with the pain, where's
mother?' 1t is 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
wearied by the question, for they all ask n
keep asking it ali the time. She Is not only
first TO hear every case Of perplexity, but
she is the judge in every court of domestic
appeal. That is what puts the premature
wrinkles on SC many maternal faces and pow
ders white so many maternal foreheads. You
see, 1t is a question that keeps on for all the
years of childhood. 1t 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 out In the morn
ing, when the tippet or hat or slate
or book or overshoe Is lost, until
Mt night, all out of breath, the Young
them from cellar to garnet n from front
door 10 the back fence of the back yard,
'fWhere's mother?i Indeed, q child's life is
so full of that question that IL he be taken
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 1t in q dream which sometimes re-
stores the nursery Just as 1t was, and then
the voice comes back so natural, and so
sweet, and so innocent. and so inquiring
that the dream breaks at the words, where's
mother?"
II tina. question were put to most of us
this morning. we would have to say, Ii we
spoke t%ruthiully, like Sisera's mother, she Is
at the palace window. She has become a
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
about the residence OF Sisera's
mother, but there is in that seenein the book
of Judges so much about embroideries and
and ladies In waiting that we
know her residence must have been princely
and palatial. So we have no minute and par
ticular description of the palace at whose
window our glorifed mother sits, but there
is so much in the closing chapters of
the good old book about crowns, and
pearls big enough to make q gate out OF
one ofthem, new songs and marriage sup
pers, and harps, and white horses with kings
in the stirrups, aud golden candlestieks that
We know the heavenly residence of our
mother is superb, Is unique, is colonnaded,
is domed, is embowered, Is fountained, is
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 a contrast be-
tween that celestial surrounding and her
once earthly surroundings! What q work to
bring mp a family, in the old time way, with
little or no hired help, except perhaps
Tor the washing day or for the swine slaught-
eriug. commonly called ''the killing day"
There was then No reading OF elaborate
on the best modes OF rearing chil-
dren, and then leaving 1t oil to hired help,
with 0na ar fvvn xrfaffa a Aaxr - Sha