Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-01-20
MEANING OFF TIE TENT.


err in chief of the CanaAni;ish host lay
dead
MEANING OF THE TENT.
Meanwhile in til distance Si'era 3
mother sits amid surroundings of wealth
and pomp and scene, palatial waiting
for his return. Every mother expects
her son to be victorious, and this moth
er looked out at the window expecting
to see him drive up in his chariot fol-
lowed by wagons loaded with embroid-
cries and also by regiments of men van
uuished and enslaved see her now
sitting at the window, in high expecta-
ton. She watches the farthest turn Of
the road. She looks for the flying dust
of the swift hoofs. The first fash 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 s.,iendor
as the Bible only hints at, but leaves us
to imagine. He ought to he-here hl'
this time" says his mother. THAT bat
tie is surely over. l 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 l 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 solitary mes
senger arriving in hot haste rides up to
the window at which the mother of Sis
era sits, he cries, Your armies are de-
feated, 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, 1.-The mother of Sisera look
ed out at window" Well, my friends,
we are all out in the battle of life; it
is raging now, and the most of US have
mother watching and waiting for news
of our victory or defeat. If she be not
sitting at the window of 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 900
iron chariots and host of many thou
sands 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
warehouses, and the capsized chariots
and the stellar panic in the sky discom-
flied Sisera. Josephus in his history
describes the scene in the following
words: when they were come to a
close fight, there came down from heav-
en- great storm with 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 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 in
commode the Israelites because it came
on their backs. They also took such
courage upon the apprehension 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 lsraelites, some
fell by their own horses which were put
into disorder, and not few were killed
by their own chariots. ~
Hence, my hearers, the bad news
brought to the mother of Sisera looking
out at the window. And our mother,
whether sitting at a window of earth
or a window of heaven. will hear the
news of our victory or defeat-not ac-
cording to our talents or educational
equipment OF our opportunities, but ac-
cordiug rs to whether God is for US OF
against us.
Where's mother" is the question
most frequently asked in many house
holds. 1t is asked by the husband as
we'll as the child coming in at nightfall,
Where's mother" It is asked by the
little ones when they get hurt and come
in crying with the pain, Where's
motherf'' 1t is asked by those who
have seen some gr:i.ni sight or heard
some good ncws or received some beau.
tiful gift, Where's mother? She
sometimes feels wearied by the ques-
ti5n, for they all ask it and keep asking
it all the time. She is not only the
first to hear every case of perplexity,
but she is the judge in every court of
domestic appeal. That is what puts
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