The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1902-03-08

"Come in out of the March winds Of
the worlds criticism, come In out Of
the sleet of the worlds assault, come
In out of a world that does not under
stand you and does not want to under
stand you. / will comfort and will
soothe, and will be your warmth as
Q hen gathereth her chickens under
her wing" Oh, the warm heart OF
God Is ready for all those to whom the
world has given the cold shoulder.
But notice that some one must take
the storm for the chickens. All, the
hen takes the storm. have watched
her under the pelting rain. Ihave seen
her in the pinching frosts. Almost
| frozen to death or almost strangled in
the waters, and what fight she
makes for the young under wing II q
dog or hawk or man come too nearl
And so the brooding Christ takes the
storm for us. What food of anguish
and tears that did not dash upon His
holy soul. What beak of torture did not
pierce His vitals? What barking Ger
berus of hell was not let out upon Him
from the kennels? Yes, the hen takes
the storm for the chickens, and Christ
takes the storm for us. Once the tenn
pest rose so suddenly the hen could
not get with her young back from
the new ground to the barn, and there
she is under the fence half dead. And
now the rain turns to snow, and it is
an awful night, and in the morning
the Wilderness about the gills and the
beak down in the mud show that the
mother Is dead, and the young ones
come out and cannot understand why
the mother does not scratch for them
something to eat, and they walk over
her wings and call with their tiny
voices, but there-is no answering
cluck. She took the )storm for others
and persisted. Poor thingi Self-sacri-
ficing even unto death! And does 10
not make you think of Him who en-
dured all for us? So the wings under
which we come for spiritual safety are
blood spattered wings, are night-shad-
owed wings, are tempest-torn wings.
In the Isle of Wight saw the grave Of
Princess Elizabeth, who died while q
prisoner at Carisbrook castle, her fin
ger on an open Bible and pointing to
the words: "Come unto Me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and
will give you rest" Oh, come under
the wings.
My text has it's strongest applica-
ton for people who were born in
the country, wherever you may now
live, and that is the majority of you.
You cannot 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 much of the world, for you
had not seen the world. BY law of
association you cannot recall the
brooding hen and her chickens with
out seeing also the barn and the
haymow and the wagon shed and the
house and the room where you
played and the fireside with the big
backlog before which you sat and
the neighbors and the burial and the
wedding and the deep snowbanks
and hear the village bell that called
you to worship and seeing the horses
which, after pulling you to church,
stood around the old clapboarded
meeting house and those who sat at
either end of the church pew and,
indeed, all the scenes of your first
IA years, and you think of 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 and make the Lord
your portion and shelter and warmth,
preparing for everything that may
come and so avoid being classed
among those described by the clos
ing words of my text, cas- hen gath
ereth her chickens under her wings,
and We would not" All, that throws
the responsibility upon us. "Ye
would not" Alas for the "would
nots!" If the wandering broods of
the farm heed not their mothers call
and risk the hawk and dare the
freshet and expose themselves to
the frost and storm, surely their
calamities are not the mothers
fault. "Ye would not!" God would,
but how many would not?
When a good man asked young
woman who had abandoned her home
and who was deploring her wretch
edness why she did not return, the
reply was: 81 dare not go home.
NY father is so provoked he would
not receive me home" "Then," said
the Christian man, II will test this"
And so he wrote to the father, and
the reply came back, and in letter
marked outside Immediate" and in
side saying: "Let her come at once;
all is forgiven" So Gods invitation
for you is marked Immediate" on
the outside, and inside is written:
"He will abundantly pardon" Oh,
We wanderers from God and happi-
ness and home and Heaven, come un-
der the sheltering wing. A vessel in
the Bristol channel was nearing the
rocks called the Steep Holmes. I'm
der the tempest the vessel was un-
manageable, and the only hope was
that the tide would change before she
20 rucL the rocks and went down and an