The Iola register., 1902-03-07
COIINTu'''''-


tinues to call, calls with more em-
phasis and urges haste and says not
a second ought to be lost. Oh, do
tell us what is the matter. All, now
1 see; there are hawks of temptation
in the air, there are vultures Wheel
ing for their prey, there are beaks of
death ready to plunge, there are
claws of allurement ready to clutch.
Now | see the peril. Now l under
stand the urgency. Now l see the
only safety. Would that Christ
might this day take our sons and
daughters into His shelter 'as n hen
gathereth her chickens under her
wing"
The fnct is that the most of them
will never mind the shelter unless
while they are chickens. 1t is sim
pie matter of ineXorable statistics
that most of those who do not come
to Christ in youth never come at all.
What chance is there for the young
without divine protection? There
are the grogshops, there are the
gambling hells, there are the infideli-
ties and immoralities of spiritualism,
the impurities, there are the bus.
ness rascalities, and so numerous are
| these assailants that it is a wonder
that honesty and virtue are not lost
arts. The birds of prey, diurnal and
nocturnal. of the natural world are
ever on the alert. They are the as
sassins of the sky; they have varie-
ties of taste. The eagle prefers the
flesh of the living animal; the vulture
prefers the carcass; the falcon kills
with one stroke, while other styles
of beak give prolongation of torture.
But we all need the protecting
wing. If you had known when you
entered upon manhood or woman
| hood what was ahead of you, would
you have dared to undertake life?
How much you have been through!
With most life has been n disappoint-
ment. They tell me so. They have
not attained that which they expect
ed to attain. They have not had the
physical and mental vigor they eX-
pected or they have met with rebutfs
which they did not anticipate. You
are not at 40 or so or 60 or 20 or
so years of age where you thought
you would be. | do not know any
one except myself to whom life has
been a happy surprise. l never eX-
pected anything, and so when any
thing came in the shape of human
favor or comfortable position or wild
ening field of work it was to me sur
prise. | was told in the theological
seminary by some of my FELLOWSHIP
dents that | never would get any
body to hear me preach unless |
changed my style, so that when l
found that some people did come to
hear me it was a happy surprise
But most people, according to their
own statement, have found life dis
appointment. Indeed, we all need
shelter from it's tempests.
The wings of my text suggest
warmth, and that is what most folks
want. The fact is that this is a cold
world whether you take it literally OF
figuratively. We have n big fireplace
called the sun, and it has very hot
fire, and the stokers keep the Goals well
stirred up, but much of the year we
cannot get near enough to this fire
place to get warmed. The worlds ex
tremites are cold all the time. For
get not that il is colder at the soutf
pole than at the north pole and thai
the arctic is not so destructive as tho
antarctic. Once in awhile the arctic
will let explorers come back, but the
antarctic hardly ever When at thu
south pole ship sails in, the door of ic,
is almost sure to be shut against 1T
return. So life to many millions o
: people at the south and many millions
of people at the north is prolonged
shiver. But when | say that this is
/ cold world | chiefly mean figuratively
: If YOU want to know what is the mean
, ing of the ordinary term of receivin!
, the "cold shoulder" get out of none.
, and try to borrow. The conversation
may have been almost tropical for lux
uriance of thought and speech, but sug
; gest your necessities and see the ther
l mometer drop to so degrees below zero
} and in that which till moment befor
= had been Il warm room. Take what i
e an unpopular position on some publ
( question and see your friends fly n
t chaff before windmill. As far as my
t self is concerned, | have no word o
complaint, but | look off day by da
= and see communities freezing out me
e and women of whom the world is no
D worthy. Now it takes after one an
= now after another. 1t becomes popula
e to depreciate and defame and eXecrat
4 and lie about some people. This is tn
: best world | ever got into, but it is tn
n meanest world that some people eve
t got into. The worst thing that eve
happened to them was their cradle
v and the best thing that will ever hal
r pen to them will be their grave.
n What people want is warmth. Man
u years ago "A man was floating down o
e the ice of the Merrimac, and great e
forts were made to rescue him. Twic
Il he got hold of plank thrown to hii
l.. LII. ,,1 g., 1.