The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-03-07

nave met with rehais whlch they did
not anticipate. You are not az forty or
fifty or sixty or seventy or eighty years of
age where YOU thought YOU would be.
do not know any one except myself TO
whom life has been a happy surprise. |
never expected ANYTHING. and SO when
anything came IN the shape OF human IA.
vor or comfortable position or widening
field OF work II was 20 me a surprise.
was tod IN the theological seminary by
some oi my fellow students that | never
would get ANYBODY to hear me preach un.
less l changed my sty,e, - that when |
fouad that some people did come 20 hear
me II was a happy surprise. but most
people, according 10 their own statement,
have found life disappointment In.
deed, we all need shelter from its TEN.
pests.
The wings Of my text suggest warmth,
and that II what most folks want. The
fact is that this is cold world whether
YOU take lt literally or hguratIvely. We
have big fireplace called the sun, and u
has very hot fire, and the stckers keep
the Goals well stirred up. but much of the
year we cannot get near enough To this
| fireplace 10 get warmed. This world 8
extremities are cold all the time. Forget
no. that it Is colder az the South Pole
than AT the North Poe, and that the
Arctic : not SO destructive rs the Antar'
tic. Once IN awhile the Arctic will let
explorers come back. but the Antartic
| hardly ever. When at the South Pole a
| ship saila IN the door of Ice is almost
sure to be shut against ats return. So life
!; 30 many millions OF people at the south
and many millions of people at the north
Is a prolonged shiver.
But when | say that this is cold
world | chiefly mean hguratively II YOU
want TO know what is the meaning OF the
! ordinary term of receiving the cold
| shoulder get out of money and try to
| borrow. The conversation may have been
almost tropical for Insurance of thought
and speech, but suggest your necessities
and see the thermometer drop 10 fifty de-
grces below zero. and IN that which till a
moment before had been a warm room.
| Take what Is an unpopular position on
come public question and see Your friends
| fy as thaif before a windmill, As far as
myself "a concerned. | have no word OF
| comp Amt, but | look off day 10y day and
{see communities freezing out men and
| women of whom tbe world Is not worthy.
| Now it takes after one and now after an
| other. IL becomes popular 60 depreciatc
! and delLme and eNecratc aud lie about
some people This Is the best world |
ever got into but 1t Is the meanest world
! that some people ever got into. The worst
| thing that ever happened 60 them was
| the- cradle, and the best thing that will
ever happen 60 them will be their grave.
What people want Is warmth, warmth
of sympathy, warmth OF kindly assocla'
| ton. warmth of genial surroundings. The
world declines to give IL and in many cases
| has no power to give it, and here is whore
| Christ comes in, and as on n cold day, the
rain beating and the atmosphere full OF
| slcet, the hen cluclts her chickens under
her wings and the warmth OF her own
breast puts warmth into the wet feathers
and the chilled feet of the infant group of
| the barnyard. 80 Christ says To those slck
and frosted and disgisted and frozen OF
| the world. Come IN out OF the March
| winds of the worlds criticism. come In
out OF the sloet Of the worlds assault,
come in out of world that does not un.
| derstand YOU and does not walt to under.
| stand you | VIII comfort, and ] will
soothe. and I will bo your warmth, 'as a
| hen gathcreth her chickens under her
wingY" Oh the warm heart OF God ~
ready for all those To whom the word has
| given the cold shoulder.
| But notice that some one must take the
storm for the chickens. All, the hen takes
the storm. / have watched her under the
peltiug rain | have seen her IN the pinch
| ing frosts Almost frozen 90 death or al
most strangled IN the waters, and what a
| ight she makes for the young under wing
| IL a dog or a hawk or man comes too
near! And 50 the brooGils Christ takes
| the storm for MS.
Once the tempest rosc 50 suddenly the
hen could not get with her young back rom
the new ground TO the barn. and there she
i. under the fence half dead And now
| the rain turns 10 gnow, and u Is an awful
| night. and IN the morning the whltonea'
about the gills and the beak down IN the
mud show that the mother Is dead, and
the young ones come out and cannot un'
derstand why the mother does not scratch
for them something 60 eat. and they walk
over her wings and call with their tiny
| voices, but there ~ no answering cluck
She took the storm for Others and per-
shcd Poor thing, Sclfsacrihclng even
unto death,
And does Il not make YOU think Of Him
| who endured all for us; So the wings un
der which we come for spiritual safety are
blood spattered wings. are night shndowed
| wings are tempest torn wings. In the Isle
OF Wight | raw the crave OF Princess Eliz.
abeth, who died while a prisoner at Cars
brook Castle, her finger on an open Bible
and pointinE 20 the words Come unto
| Ne all We that labor and are heavy .aden
and ! will give you rest Oh, come under
| the wings,
NV text has It's strongest application
for people who were born IN the country
wherever YOU may now live, and that n
| the majority OF you. You cannot hear
| nv text without having al the rustic
| scenes OF the old farmhouse come back 10
you. Good old days they were. You
knew nothing much Of the world, for you
had not seen the world. by law % asso-
| ciation you cannot recall tho hroodlng
hen and her chickens without seeing also
the barn and the haymow and the wagon
| shed and the house and the room where
YOU played and the hresidc with the big
4 ha
| neQhbors and the burial and the wedding
and the deep snowbanks. and hear the vii.
lace bell that called you 10 worship and
| seeing the horses which after pulling you
| 10 church. stood around the old clapbOard-
| cd meeting house and those who sat at
| either end Of the church pew and. indeed,
| an the scenes Of your hrst fourteen years,
| and you think Of what vOI were then and
| of what yo. are now and all these thoughts
| arc aroused by the sight OF the old hen.
coop. Some Of you had better go back
| and start again. In thought return 20
| that place and hear the cluck and see the
| oui.prcad feathers end come under the
| wing ald make the Lord your portion
and shelter and warmth, preparing for
| everything that may come, and 40 avoid
| beinr classed among those described by
| the closing words oi my text, "as hen
| cathcreth he. chickens under her wings,
| and yc would not" Al. that throws the
| re.popsioility upon us "Ye would not"
| Alas. for the would nots!" II the van.
| lcrinr broods Of the farm heed not their
| mothcr's call and risk the hawk aud dare
| the ffcshe, and expose Themselves 20 the
| frost and storm surrey their calafnties
are not the mothers fault. "Ge would
| not" God would, but how many would
| nct7
when n good man asked a young woman
| vino had abandoned her home and who