Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1902-03-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
FAMILIAR ILLUSTRATION PaecEpEs
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE
Text Matthew XIII, s7: Even n
Hen Gathereth Her Chickens Under
wing, and Ye Would Not--Christ as
Refuge from Danger ami Temptations.


Copyright, 1902, Louis Klopsch. n. Y-)
Washington, March IA 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 trust
ing souls. The text is Matthew xiii,
81, Even 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 7GO feet. Spread out before
mis- 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 apostrophizes, saying. 20 Jerusa-
lem, Jerusalem, how often would L have
gathered thy children together, even as
a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not,"
Why did Christ select hen and chick
ems as a simile? Next to the Apostle
ness of the comparison. think it was
to help all public teachers in the mat
ter of illustration to get down on their
stills and use comparisons that all can
understand. The plainest bird on earth
is the barnyard fowl 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.
There is not much poetry about this
winged creature of God mentioned In
my text. but she is more practical and
more motherIy and more suggestive OF
good things than many that fly higher
and wear brighter colors-
| 1 am IN warm sympathy with the un-
pretentious 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 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, so
full of deadbeats, is because people
are not wise enough to take the lesson
which the hen would teach them. that
| IL they would find for themselves and
for those dependent upon them any
thing worth having they must scratch
for it. Solomon said, Go to the ant.
thou sluggard." 1 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 Testa-
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.
One day in the country we saw sud
den CONSERVATION in the tehavior OF
old Dominick Why the hen should be
so disturbed we could not understand
We could see nothing on the ground
that could terrorize, and we coulc
see nothing in the air to ruffie the
| feathers of the hen, but the loud
wild, affrighted cluck which brought
all her brood at full run under hel
| feathers made us look again around
and above US, when we saw that higf
up and far away there was a rapacious
bird wheeling round and round and
down and down, and, not seeing us a.
| we s.ood in the shadow, it came nearer
and lower until we saw its beak wa:
curved from base to tip and it had tive
flames OF fire for eyes. and it was
hawk. But all the chickens were un
der old DominicK's wings, and eithe
the bird of prey caught glimpse of us
or not able to find the brood. hud
, died under wing. darted back into tn
clouds So Christ calls with great ear
nestness to all the young Why. wha
!, | is the matter? 1t Is bright sunlight
, and there can be no danger. Health i
, theirs A good home is theirs. Plent.
+ of food is theirs. Prospect of long lif
, | il theirs. But Christ continues to cal
, calls with more emphasis and urge
? haste and says not a second ought Z
, be lost Oh. do tell US what Is tn
. matter. Ah now see: there are hawk
+ of temptation in the air. there are wal
lures wheeling for their prey. there ar
= beaks Of death ready to plunge, ther
are claws of allurement ready
clutch Now I see the peril Now
understand the urgency Now 1 see tn
lonly safety. Would that Christ migh
this day take our sons and daughter
into his shelter "as . hen gatheret
lher chickens under her wing
The fact is that the most of ther
will never mind the shelter unles
| while they are chickens It Is . simpl
? matter OF fnexorable statistics thz