The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1902-03-08

| SIAnu fOus ~
soothe, and I will be your warmth as
a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wing" oh, the warm heart OF
God is ready for all those to whom the
world has given the cold shoulder.
But notice that some one must take
the storm for the chickens. All, the
hon takes the storm. 1 have watched
her under the pelting rain. Ihave seen
her in the pinching frosts. Almost
frozen to death or almost strangled IN
the waters, and what a fight she
makes for the young under wing II q
dog or a hawk or a man come too near!
And so the brooding Christ takes the
storm for us. What flood OF anguish
and tears that did not dash upon HIS
bolysoul. Whatbeak of torture did not
MERGE His vitals? What barking Ger
berus of hell was not let out upon HIM
from the kennels? Yes, the hen takes
the storm for the chickens, and Christ
takes the storm for us. Once the tenn
nest rose so suddenly the hen could
not get with her young back o
the new ground to the barn. and there
she is under the fence half dead. And
now the ain LuInS "
an awful night, and in the morning
the whiteness about the gills and the
beak down in the mud show that the
mother is dead, and the young ones
come out and cannot understand why
the mother does not scratch for them
something to eat, and they walk over
her wings and call with their tiny
voices, but there is no answering
cluck. She took the storm for others
and persisted. Poor thing! S~elf-sacri-
ficing even unto death! And does it
not make you think Of Him who en-
dured all for US? So the wings under
which we come for spiritual safety are
blood spattered wings, are night-shad-
owed wings, are tempest-torn wings.
In the Isle of Wight l saw the grave OF
Princess Elizabeth, who died while a
prisoner at Carisbrook castle, her fin
ger on an open Bible and pointing to
the words: "Come unto Me all we
that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest" Oh, come under
the wings.
My text has it's strongest applica-
ton for people who were born in
the country, wherever you may now
live, and hat is the majority of you.
You cannot hear my text without
having all the rustic scenes of the
old farmhouse come back to you.
Good old days they were. You knew
nothing much of the world, for you
had not seer the world. By law OF
association you cannot recall tho
brooding hen and her chickens with
out seeing also the barn and the
haymow and the wagon shed and the
house and the room where you
played and the freside with the big
backlog before which you sat and
the n~eighbors and the burial and the
wedding and the deep snowbank:
and hear the village bell that called
YOU to worship and seeing the horses
which, after pulling you to church
stood around the old clapboarde'
meeting house and those who sat a
either end of the church pew and
indeed, all the scenes of your frs
IA wears, and you think of what yo'
were then and of what you are now
and all these thoughts are arouse'
by the sight of the old h%encooI
Some of you had better go back an
start again. In thought return t
/. that place and hear the cluck an
I see the outspread feathers and com
: under the wing and make the Lor
: YOUR portion and shelter and warmth
{ preparing for everything that ma
{ come and so avoid being classe
{ among those described by the clo'
: ing words Of my text, "as a hen gail
l ereth her chickens under her wing
, and We would not" All, that throw
u the responsibility upon us. "Y
d would not" Alas for the "woul
T. nots!" If the wandering broods
the farm heed not their mothers ca
$ and risk the hawk and dare I'll
, freshet and expose themselves I
II the frost and storm, surely the
: calamities are not the mother
; fault. aye would not!" God woul
. but how many would not?
- When a good man asked a your
e woman who had abandoned her hon
=; and who was d~eploring her wretc
- edness why she did not return, Il
- reply was: 81 dare not go HON
" NV father is SO provoked he wou
- not receive me home" "Then," sa
y the Christian man, 81 will test this
:. And so he wrote to the father, al
- the reply came back, and in a lett
~ marked outside Immediate" and
side saying: Let her come at ono
be all is forgiven" So Gods invitati'
no for o is marked Immediate"
the outside, and inside is write
"He will abundantly pardon" c
10 We wanderers from God and hap
~. ness and home and Heaven, come I
= der the sheltering wing. A vessel
the Bristol channel was nearing t
rocks called the Steep Holmes. [
~ der the tempest the vessel was |
manageable, and the only hope W
that the tide would change before S
no. struck the rocks and went down, and
the captain stood IN the deck. watch
or hand. Captain and crew and pass
nd gers were pallid with terror. Taxi
another look at his watch and
d, 49, Lab Of the con ba shout