The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-09

v T ~7.a b A q Q VI hen, but the loud, wild. affrighted ciuck which brought all5her brood at full run under her feathers made us LOOK aSaln around and above us. when We saw tnat high up and far away there was ,apas cious bird wheeling round and round ana down and down, and, not seeing us as we stood in the shadow, 1t came nearer and lower until we saw its peak Was curved from base to tip ana it nag tWo flames of fire for eyes and it was a,hawk; But all the chickens were under oid Dominick's wings, and either the pird of prey caught glimpse of us or, not able to find the brood huddied uhdsr wing, darted back into the clouds. 50 Christ calls with great earnestness to all the young. Why, what Is the matter! IL Is bright sunlight and there can pc no danger. Health is theirs. A gooo nome n pect of long life is theirs. But Christ continues to call, calls with more empha- sis and urges haste and says not sec. ond ought to be lost. Oh do tell us wnat Is the matter. An, now l see; there are hawks of temptation in the air. there are yultures wheeling for their prey, there are peaks of death ready to plunge, there are claws of allurement ready to clutch; Now I see the peril Now l understand the urgency. Now see the only safety. Would that Christ might this day take our sons and daughters into his shelter 'as hen gathereth her chickens under her wing" The fact is that the most of them will never mind the shelter unless while they are chickens. It is simple matter or 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 inndeMties | are the bad books, there are the tmpur- l ities. there are the business rascalities. | and so numerous are these assailants | that it is wonder that honesty ana vir- tue are not lost arts The birds of prey; | diurnal and nocturnal. of the natural world are ever on the alert. They are | the assassins of the sky; they have va | flesh of the living animal: the vulture | prefers the carcass; the falcon Kills with | one stroke, while other styles of beak | gave prolongation of torture And so the | Protect the Young.
 k Fathers mothers. older brothers and sisters and Sabbath School teachers. be | quick and earnest and praverful and i'm | portunate and get the chickens under wing May the Sabbath Schools or Amer. lea and Great Britain within the next | three months sweep all their scholars into | the kingdom. Whom they have now un. | der charge is uncertain. Concerning that | scrawny, puny child that lay in the cradle I reIhsrked What a mercy if the Lord would take the child!" And the mother really thought so too. But what gooa thing that God spared that child Tor II | erature and one of Gods most illustrious | servants-John Todd. Remember. your children will remain children only httie | while. What you do for them as chii-
 dren you must do quickly or never dt | at all "why have you never written a book ]" said some one to a talented wo, man. She replied: am writing two and have been engaged on one @ worx .en ten fife work" When the house of John I Wesleys father burned and they got the eight children out. John Wesley the
 last before the roof fell in. the fatne | said: Let us kneel down and thank
 God. The children are all saved. Let tht rest of the place go." My hearers, I, we secure the present and everiastine
 welfare of our children, most otnei .ei things belonging to us are Of but little
 comparative importance. Alexander the
 Great allowed his soldiers to take theil
 families with them to war. ana ne ac'
 counted for the bravery Of hls men pS the fact that many of them were borr
 in camp and were used to warlike scenes from the start. Would God that all the
 children of our day might be born into
 the army of the Lord!
 The Mercy of God.
 But we all need the protecting wing , If you had known when you entered upor , manhood or womanhood what was ahead
 of you. would you have dared to under l take life? How much you nave peer
 through! With most life has been dis appointment. They tell me so. The
 have not attained that which they ex | pected to attain. They have not had thu physical and mental vigor they expected
 or they have met with rebuffs which theI
 did not anticipate. You are not at fort! or fifty or sixty or seventy or eighty
 years of age where you thought yot would be. I do not know any one excep
 myself to whom life has been happy
 surprise. never expected anything ant
 so when anything came in the shape o
 human favor or comfortable position ol
 widening field of work 1t was to me g
 surprise I was told in the theological
 seminary by some of my fellow students
 that I never would get anybody to heal
 me preach unless l changed my style
 so that when I found that some people
 did come to hear me 1t was happy
 surprise But most people, according tt
 their own statement, have found life z
 disappointment. Indeed. we all need shei
 ter from its tempests.
 About o'clock on hot August after noon you heard a rumble that you frs
 took for . wagon crossing bridge, bu
 afterward there was louder rumbling
 and you said, ''Whv that is thunder?
 And, sure enough, the clouds were being