Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-03-06

watching af,erward over Maynard
sons and daughters, at last themselves
taken care of by motherly God
Business men, after lifetime strug-
Cling with the uncertainties of money
markets and the change Of tariffs and
the undertaking Of men who because
Of their dishonesties can afford to I'M
dersell, and years of disappointment
and struggle, at last under wings
where nothing can perturb them any
more than can bird of prey which is
ten miles of disturb chick at mid
night brooded in a barnyard.
Under the Divine Wings.
My text has Its strongest application
for people who were born in the coun-
try, wherever you may now live, and
that is the majority Of you. You can
not hear my ts1t 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 seen the world.
BY law of association you cannot re-
call the brooding 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 tireside with the big backlog
before which you sat and the neigh
bors and the burial and the wedding
and the deep snowbanks and hear the
village bell that called you to worship
and seeing the horses which, after
pulling you to church, stood around the
old clapboarded meeting house and
those who sat at either end Of the
church pow and, indeed, all the scenes
| of your first fourteen years. and you
| think of what you were then and OF
| what you are now, and all these
| thoughts are aroused by the sight Of
| the old hcncoop. Some of you had bet
| ter go back and start again. In thought
| return to that place and hear the cluck
| and see the outspread feathers and
come under the wing and make the
| Lord your portion and shelter and
warmth, preparing for everything that
may come and so avoid being classed
among those described by the closing
words of my text, las q hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye
| would not" All. that throws the re-
sponsibilty upon us. aye would not"
Alas, for the would nots!" If the
wandering broods OF the farm heed not
their mothers call and risk the hawk
and dare the freshet and expose them
selves to the frost and storm, surely
their calAmities are not the mothers
| fault. "Ye would not" God would.
but how many would not?
When n good man asked young wo
man who had abandoned her home and
who was deplOring her wretchedness
why she did not return, the reply was.
81 dare not so home. My father is so
provoked he would not receive n"
home Then" said the Christian
man, IL will test this" And so he
wrote to the father, and the reply
came back, and in letter marked out
side Immediate" and inside saying.
Let her come at once all is forgiven
So Gods invitation for you is marked
Immediate" on the outside and in
side it is written, He will abundantly
pardon" Oh, ye wanderers from God
and happiness and home and heaven,
I
vessel in the Bristol channel was
nearing the rocks called the Steep
Holmes. Under the tempest the YES
sci was unmana geable, and the only
hope was that the tide would change
before she struck the rocks and went
down, and so the captain stood on the
deck, watch In hand Captain and
crew and passengers were pallid with
terror. Taking another look at his
watch and another look at the sea, lie
shouted. Thank God, we are saved!
The tide has turned! One minute
more and we would have struck the
rocks" Some of you have been long
while drifting in the tempest of sin
aud sorrow and have been making for
the breakers. Thank God, the tide has
turned Do you not feel the lift Of the
bllow? The grace of God that bring
eth salvation has appeared to your
soul, and. in the words Of Boaz 10
Ruth commend you to the Lord God
Of Israel. under whose wings thou hast
come to trust
tCopyright. 1902 Louis Klopsch. n. u