Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1902-03-07

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WASHINGTON March "a familiar
illustration from the barnyard is en-
ployed in this discourse by Dr. Tai
mage to show the comfort and protec-
ton that heaven affords to all trusting
souls. The text is Matthew xiii, 81,
Gwen as hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and ye would not"
Jerusalem was in sight as Christ
came TO the crest of Mount Olivet
height Of 700 feet. The splendors of
the religious capital Of the whole earth
irradiated the landscape There is the
temple. Yonder is the kings palace.
Spread out before his eyes are the
! pOmp, the wealth, the wickedness and
the coming destruction of Jerusalem,
and he bursts into tears at the thought
Of the obduracy of a place that he
would gladly have saved and apostrO-
phizes, saying, 20 Jerusalem, Jeru-
| salem, how often would | have gath
cred thy children together, even as a
hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and We would nOtp
Why did Christ select hen and chick
ems as a simile? Next to the Apostle
| ness Of the comparison, ! think il was
| to help all public teachers in the mat
ter of illustration to get down off their
! stills and use comparisons that all can
understand. The plainest bird on earth
is the barnyard fowl Its only adorn-
ments are the red comb in its head
| dress and the wattles under the throat.
1t has no grandeur Of genealogy. All
we know is that its ancestors came
| from India, some of them from a
| height of 1000 feet on the sides Of the
Himalayas. 1t has no pretension of
nest like the eagles eyrie. 1t has no
luster Of plumage like the gOldfnch.
| Possessing anatomy that allows flight.
| yet about the last thing it wants to do
| is to fly, and in retreat uses foot al
most as much as wing. Musicians have
written out in musical scale the song
Of lark and robin redbreast and night
ingale, yet the hen of my text hath
nothing that could be taken for song.
but only cluck and cackle. Yet Christ
in the text uttered while looking upon
doomed Jerusalem declares that what
he had wished for that city was like
what the hen does for her chickens.
ChriSt's Simple Teachings.
Christ was thus simple in his teach
ings and yet how hard it is for us who
are Sunday school instructors and ed
itOrs and preachers and reformers and
those who would gain the ears of audi
ences to attain that heavenly and di-
vine art Of simplicity! We have to run
course of literary disorders as chill
dren a course of physical disorders
| We come Out of school and college
loaded down with Greek mythologies
and out Of the theological seminary
weighed down with what the learned
fathers said, and we fly with wings of
eagles and famingOes and albatrOsses
and it takes a good while before we
can come down to Christ's similitudes,
the candle under the bushel, the salt
that has lost its SAVIOR, the net thrown
into the sea. the spittle on the eyes of
the blind man and the hen and chick
ems.
There is not much poetry about this
winged creature of God mentioned in
my text, but she is more practical and
more mOtherly and more suggestive of
good things than many that fly higher
and wear brighter cOlOrs. She is not a
prima donna of the skies nor Il strut of
beauty in the aisle of the forest. She
does not cut circle under the sun like
the Rocky mountain eagle. but stays
at home to look after family affairs.
She does not swOOp like the condor of
the cordilleras to transport a rabbit
from the valley to the top of the crags,
but just scratches for living.
am in warm sympathy with the un-
pretentious old fashioned hen because,
like most of us. she has to scratch for
living. She knows at the start the
lesson which most people of good sense
are slow to learn-that the gaining of a
livelihood implies work and that sue
cesses do not lie on the surface, but are
to be upturned by positive and contin-
uous effort. The reason that society
and the church and the world are SO
full of failures, so full of loafers, Sc
full of deadbeats is because people
are not wise enough to take the lesson
which any hen would teach them that
if they would find for themselves and
for those dependent upon them any.
; thing worth having they much scratch
for it. Solomon said. Go to the ant
> thou sluggard." l say, Go to the hen
. thou sluggard. In the Old Testament
God compares himself to an eagle stir
ring up her nest, and in the New Tesla
ment the Holy Spirit is compared to {
descending dove, but Christ in a ser
mon that began with cutting sarcasm
for hypOcrites and ends with the parox
ysm Of pathos in the text compares
himself to hen.
Hawks of Temptation.
One day la the country we saw sud
den CONSERVATION in the behavior o
old Dominick. Why the hen should b
so disturbed we could not understand
), We looked about to see if a neighbor'
dog were invading the farm. We look
ed up to see if a stormcloud were hoy
il ering. We could see nothing on til
ground that could terrorize, and W
eOuld see nothing in the air to ruff
n the feathers of the hen, but the LOUD
wild. affrighted cluck which brough
all her brood at full run under he
feathers made us look again aroun
and above us, when we say that hg
up and far away there was n rapaciou
IS bird wheeling round and round an
2 down and down, and, rot seeing US q
we stood In the shadow, it came neare
aud lower until we saw its beak wa
Q curved from base to tip and it had tw
9 flames of fire for eyes and it was
4 hawk. But all the chickens were III
\ der old DOminick's wings, and eithe
z the bird of prey caught a glimpse {
us or, not able to find the brood hu,
3 died under wing, darted back into til
q clouds. So Christ calls with great ca
nestness to all the young. Why, whi
Is the matter? 1t is bright sunligh
and there can be no danger Health
theirs. A good home is theirs. Plent
of food is theirs Prospect of long Iii
is theirs. But Christ continues to ca
calls with more emphasis and urg,
haste and says not a second ought