The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1902-04-03

away there was a rapacious bird
wheeling round and round and down
and down, and, not seeing us as we
stood in the shadow, it came nearer
and lower until we saw it's beak was
curved from base to tip and it had
two flames of fire for eyes and it
was a hawk. But all the chickens
were under old Dominick's wings, and
either the bird of prey caught a
glimpse of us or, not able to find
the brood huddled under her wing,
darted back into the clouds. So
Christ calls with great earnestness
to all the young. Why, what is the
matter? 1t is bright sunlight, and
there can be no danger. Health is
theirs. A good home is theirs.
Plenty of food is theirs. Prospect of
long life is theirs. But Christ con-
tinues to call, calls with more en-
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 l see the peril. Now I under
stand the urgency. Now 1 see the
only safety. Would that Christ
might this day take our sons and
daughters into his shelter ''as a 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. 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 infdeli-
ties and immoralities of spiritualism,
there are the bad books, there are
the impurities there are the busi-
ness rascalities, and so numerous are
these assailants that it is 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 a 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 rebuffs
which they did not anticipate. You
| are not at 40 or so or 60 or 70 or
so years of age where you thought
you would be. l 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 I never would get any
body to hear me preach unless
changed my style, SO that when I
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 its tempests.
The wings of my text suggest
warmth, and that is what most folks
| want. The fact is that this is cold
world whether you take it literally or
| fguratively. We have big fireplace
called the sun, and it has very hot
| fire, and the stohers keep the Goals we'll
stirred up, but much of the year we
cannot get near enough to this fire.
place to get warmed. The worlds ex-
tremities are cold all the time. For
get not that it is colder at the south
pole than at the north pole and that
| the arctic is not so destructive as the
antarctic. Once in awhile the arctic
will let explorers come back, but the
antarctic hardly ever. When at the
south pole a ship sails in, the door of ice
is almost sure to be shut against its
return. So life to many millions OF
people at the south and many millions
of people at the north is prolonged
shiver. But when l say that this is a
cold world chiefly mean fguratively
If you want to know what is the mean.
ing of the ordinary term of receiving
the ''cold shoulder" get out of money
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
mometer drop to so degrees below zero
and in that which till moment before
had been a warm room. Take what is
an unpopular position on some public
question and see your friends fly a!
chaff before windmill. AS far as my
self is concerned, / have no word o1
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