The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-03-06

all the risk Of slumber on the ground
and all night long the wings will stay
outspread. and the little ones will not
utter a sound. Thus at shutdown, low
ingly, safely, completely, the hem
broods her young. So, If we are the
Lords, the evening of our life will
come. The heats of the day will have
passed. There will be shadows, and
we cannot see as far. The work Of
life will be about ended. The hawks
OF temptation that lowered in the sky
will have gone to the woods and fold
ed their wings. Sweet silences will
come. The air will be redolent with
the breath of whole arbors OF promises
sweeter than jasmine or evening prim-
rose. The air may be little chill,
but Christ will call us, and we will
know the voice and heed the call. and
we will come under the wings for the
night. the strong wings, the soft wings.
the warm wings, and without fear and
in full sense Of safety, and then we
will rest from shutdown to SUNRISE "as
hen gathereth her chickens under her
wing"
Dear me! How many souls the Lord
hath thus brooded! Mothers, after
watching over sick cradles and then
| watching afterward over hayward
sons and daughters, at last themselves
taken care of by a motherly God.
Business men, after lifetime strug-
Cling with the uncertainties Of money
markets and the change of tariffs and
the underselling of men who because
Of their dishonesties can afford to IN
dersell, and years of disappointment
and struggle, at last under wings
where nothing can perturb them any
more than can a bird Of prey which is
ten miles off disturb a chick at mid
night brooded in barnyard.
| My text has it's strongest application
| for people who were porn in the coun-
try, wherever you may now live. and
that is the majority of you. You can
not hear my text without having all
| the rustic scenes of the old farmhouse
come back to you. Good old days they
were. You knew nothing rluch of the
world, for you had not seen the world.
By law of association you cannot re-
call the brooding hen ana her chick
ems without seeing also the barn and
| the haymow and the wagon shed and
the house and the room where you
| played and the flreside with the Dig
| backlog before which you sat and the
| neighbors and the burial and the we'd
ding and the deep snowbanks and hear
the village bell that called you to
worship and seeing the horses which,
after pullin-: you to the church, stood
around the old clapboard meeting
| house, and those who sat at either end
of the church pew and, indeed, all the
scenes Of your first fourteen years, and
you think Oh what you were then, and
of what you are now, and all these
thoughts are aroused by the sight Of
the old hencoop. Some of you had
better 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 ard
make the Lord your portion and shell
ter and warmth, preparing for every
thing that may come and so avoid be-
ing classed among those described by
the closing words of my text. "as a
hen gathereth he. chickens under ner
| wings, and We would not" All, that
throws the responsibility upon us. "Ye
would not Ak for the would
nots!" If the wandering broods Of
| the farm heed notytheir mothers call
and risk the hawk and dare the fresh
ct and expose themselves to the frost
and storm, surely their calamities are
not the. mothers fault. EYE would
not!" God would, but how man!
would not?
When good man asked a Young
and who was deploring her wretched-
ness why she did not return, the reply
was: Il dare not go home. My father
is 50 provoked he would not receive
me home" Then" said me Christian
man, II will est this" And so he
wrote to the father, and the reply
came back, and in letter marked
outside Immediate" and inside say
ing, Let her come at once; all is for
given" So Gods invitation for you
is marked Immediate" on the outside.
and inside is written, "He will abund-
antly pardon Oh, We wanderers
from God, and happiness and home
and heaven, come under the sheltering
wing. A vessel in the Bristol channel
was nearing the rocks called the Steep
Holmes. Under the tempest the YES
sci was unmanageable, 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
or and passengers were pallid with
terror. Taking another look at his
watch and another look at the sea, he
shouted: THANK God, we are saved!
The tide has turned! One minute
more and we would have struck the
rocks!" Some Of you who haye been a
long while drifting in the tempest of
sin and sorrow and have been making
for the breakers. Thank God, the tide
has turned. Do you not feel the lift of