Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1902-03-08
The MANY TEMPTATIONS.
DR.. TaImage Says the ASSISTANTS OF
Virtue and Honesty Are
Numerous.
Needs For Divine Protection Cr@e:
Bringeth Salvation

the comfort ana projection tnal heaven al
fords 10 all trusting souls. The text !.
Matthew xiii, 81. Even as hen gather
eth her chickens under her wings. and VI
would not"
Jerusalem was in sight as Christ came
20 the crest ct Mount Olivet, a height OF
700 feet. The splendors OF the religious
capital OF the whole earth irradiated the
landscape. There is the temple. Iondei
Is the kings palace. Spread out before
His eyes are .he pomp, wealth. the wick
edness and the coming destruction OF .Ie.
rusalem. and He bursts into tears at the
thought of the obduracy OF place that
He would gladly have saved and apostro-
phizes. saving. - Jerusalem. Jerusalem,
how often woa,d ] have gathered thy
children together. even hen gathereth
her chickens Under her wings. and We
would not
Why LID Christ select hen and chickens
as 4 eimiie: Next 10 the appositeness OF
the comparison. think ii was 20 help all
pubic teachers in the matter of illustra-
ton 10 get down off their stills and Use
comparisons that all can understand. The
p.ainest bird ON earth is the barnyard
fowl. Its only adornments are the red
comb in its head-dress and the wattles UNI
der the throat. Ii has no grandeur OF
gene-iosy All we know is that its ances-
tors came from India, some OF them from
a heigh: of 1000 feet on the sides OF the
Himalayas. IL has no pretension OF nest
like the eagle's eyric. Ii has no lustre OF
plumage like the gOiihnch. Possessing
anatomy that allows flight. yet about the
last thing il wants to do Is to fly. and in
retreat uses foot almost as much as wing.
Musicians have written out in musical
sca,e the song OF lark and robin redbreast
and nightingale. vet the hen of my text
hath nothing that could he taken for a
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 he- chickens.
Christ was thus simple III His teach
ings. and yet how hard it is for Us who
are Sunday-school instructors and editors
and preachers and reformers and those
who would gain the ears Of audiences 10
attain that heavenly and divine art of sim
piicity, We have to run course OF lit
crazy disorders as children a course OF ply
steal disorders We come ont of school
and college loaded down with Greek my
thclogies and out OF the theological semin-
airy weighed down with what the learned
fathers said. aud we ily with wings OF
eagles and famingoes and albatrosses. and
1t takes 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
the hen and chickens.
am in warm sympathy with the UMPIRE
tentious old fashioned hen because. like
most OF us, she has To scratch for a living.
She knows at the start the lesson which
most people OF good sense are slow to
learr-that the gaining OF a livelihood inn
plies work. and that successes do not lie
on the surface, but are to be upturned by
positive and continuous effort. The rea-
son that society and the church and the
world are so full OF failures. so full of loaf
ers. so full OF Gcadbeats is because people
are not wise enough to take the lesson
which any hen would teach them that il
they would find Tor themselves and for
those dependent upon them anything worth
having they must scratch fof 1t. Solo.
mon said. Go to the ant. thou sluggard."
] saw. Go 20 the hen. thou sluggard. In
the Old Testament God compares Himself
10 an eagle stirring up her nest. and IN
the New Testament the Holy Spirit Is
compared TO descending dove. but Christ
in sermon that began with cutting sar-
casm for hypocrites and ends with the
paroxysm of pathos in the text compares
Himself TO hen.
One day in the country We saw sudden
CONSERVATION in the behavior OF cd Dom
mick Why the hen should be so dis
turbed we could not understand. We
looked about to see if neighbor's dog
were invading the farm. We looked up to
see II a storm cloud were lowering. We
could see nothing on the ground that could
terrorize, and we could see nothing in the
air TO rufile the feathers of the hen, but
the loud. wild. affrighted cluck which
brought all her brood at full run under
her feathers made us look again around
and above US. when we saw that high up
and far away there was a rapaclous bird
Wheeling round and round and down and
@loWn aud stood
the shadow. it came nearer and lower un
I'll we saw its beak was curved from base
to tip and it had two flames OF fire fol
ewes. and it was a hawk. But all the
chickens were under old Dominick's wings
and either the bird of prey caught
glimpse al ia or not able to find the brood
hudd'ed ander wing. darted back into the
c'oads.
so Christ calls with great earnestness to
all the yoang. Why. what is the matter.
il is bright sunlight. and there can be nc
danger. Health is theirs. 4 good home
is theirs. Plenty OF food is theirs. Pros
pee, OF long lie is theirs. But Christ con
tinues 10 call calls with more emphasi.
and urges haste and says not second
ouch: to hs lost Oh, do tell Us what is
the matter Ali. now ] see; there are
hawks oil temptation in the air. there are
Vu,tures Wheeling for their prey. there
are beahs OF death ready To nlunge. there
are claws % allurement ready to clutch
Now | see the peril. Now / understand
the urgency. Now | see the only safety
Would that Christ might this day take
oar sons and daughters into His shelte;
as men ga'hereth her chickens under
her wing
The fact IS that the most OF them will
never mind the shelter unless while they
are chickens II is simple matter of in
exorable statistics that most OF those who
do rot come TO Christ in youth never come
at all Whit chance is there for the
Young without divine protection: There
are the grogshops. there are the Gamb
ling hells. there are the infidelities and
immoralities of spirituaiism. there are the
bad books. there are the impurities, there
are the business rascalities. and SO numer
~-ous are these assailants that il Is wonder
thai honesty and virtue are not lost arts
The birds of prey. diurnal and nocturnal
OF thr natural world are ever on the alert
They are assassins OF the sky: they have
varieties Of taste. The eagle prefers th'
flesh oi the living animals: the vulture
prefers the carcass; the falcon kills with
one stroke. while other styles OF beak
give prolongation OF torture. And so the
temptations OF this life are various.
Fathers, mothers. older brothers and
SISTERS aud Sahbath-schooi teachers. be
quick and earnest and prayerful and in
Fortunate and get the chickens under wing.
May the Sabbath schools OF America and
Great Britain within the mex; three months
sweep al their scholars into the kingdom
Whom they have now under charge is un-
child that lay in the cradle many wears
a. naWf.a