Newport weekly independent., 1902-02-14
AM the best thing that will ever hap haan tla that1a aa.ill l.. tlani,. 1ca..,a.a

IUen to them WILL be tllelr grave.
 Ii What people want is warmth. Many years ago man was floating down on the ice of the Merrimac. and great ef- forts were made to rescue him. Twice he got hold of plank thrown to him
 and twice he slipped away from it, be-
 cause that end of the plank was coy- cred with ice, and he cried out For of the plank this time" and, this done, he was hauled to shore The trouble is that in our efforts to save the soul there is too much coldness and icy formality, and so the imper- lied one slips off and floats down Give it the other end of the plank; warmth of sympathy, warmth of kindly asso- citation. warmth of genial surround ings. The world declines to give it and in many eases has no power to give it. and here is where Christ comes in. and as on a cold day, the rain beas- ing and the atmosphere full of sleet, the hen cluciSs her chickens under her wings and the warmth of her own breast puts warmth into the wet feathers and the chilled feet of the in- fant group of the barnyard, so Christ says to those sick and frosted and dis gusted and frozen of the world:
 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. I will comfort and I will soothe, and I 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.
 My text has it's strongest applica- tion 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 breeding 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 snowbanls 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 that place and hear the chuck 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, ''as a hen gath ereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not" An, that throws the responsibility upon us. .'Ye would not" Alas for the would notsl' 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 s'Ye would not!" God would but how many would not?
 When good man asked a young woman who had abandoned her home and who was deploring her wretch edness why she did not return, the | reply was: "I dare not go home | My father is so provoked he would | not receive me home" Then" said 1 the Christian man, "I will test this.' And so he wrote to the father, and 1 the reply came back, and in letter | marked outside Immediate" and in- | side saving: 'Iet her come at once: all is forgiven" So Gods invitation 1 for you is marked "Immediate'' on | the outside, and inside is written: "He will abundantly pardon.'' Oh, 1 ye wanderers from God and happi- | ness and home and Heaven, come un- l der the sheltering wing. A vessel in | the Bristol channel was nearing the | rocks called the Steep Holmes Un- | and the only hope was