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

with them to war, and he accounted
for the bravery Of his men By the fact
that many of them were born 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!
But we all need the protecting wing.
If you had known when you entered
upon maphood or womanhood what
was ahead of you, would you have
dared to undertake life? You are not
at forty or fifty or sixty or seventy
thought you would be. do not know
any one except myself to whom life
has been a happy surprise i never,
expected anything, and SO when any
thing came in the shape of human Ia
vor or comfortable position or widen
ing field of work it was to me sur
prise. / was told in the theological
seminary by some Of my fellow stu
dents tina. never would get anybody
to hear me preach unless changed my
style. so that when found that some
people did come to hear me it was
happy surprise. But most people. ac-
cording to their own statement, have
found life disappointment 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 a cold
world whether you take it literally or
figuratively. We have a big fireplace
called the sun, and it has very hot
fire. and the stokers keep the Goals
well stirred up, but much Of the year
we cannot get near enough to the fire.
place to get warmed. Inc worlds ex-
tremities are cold all the time. Forget
not that it is colder at the south pole
than at the north pole, and that the
arctic is not so destructive as the ant
arctic. Once in while the arctic will
let explorers come back, but the ant
arctic hardly ever When at the south
pole 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 a prolonged
shiver. But wsen l say that this is a
cold world I chiefly mean iguratively.
If you want to know what is the
meaning of the ordinary term Of re-
ceiving the "cold shoulder" get out
of money and try TO borrow. The con-
versation may have been almost tropi-
cal for luxuriance of thought and
speech, but suggest your necessities
and see the thermometer drop to SO
degrees below zero, and in that which
till moment before had Deen warm
room. Take what is an unpopular
position on some public question and
see your friends fly as chaff before
windmill. AS far as myself is con-
cerned, have no word of complaint,
but look off day by day and see COM
munities freezing out men and Wo-
men of whom the world is not worthy.
Now it takes after enc and now after
another. 1t becomes popular to de-
preciate and defame and execrate and
lie about some people. This is the
best world ever got into, but it is the
meanest world that some people ever
got into. The worst thing that ever
happened to them was their cradle,
and the best thing that will ever hap
pen to them will be their grave.
What people want is warmth. The
the soul there is too much coldness
and icy formality. Give warmth Of
sympathy, warmth of kindly associa-
ton, warmth of genial surroundings
The world declines to give it and
in many cases has no power to give it,
and here is where Christ comes in.
and as on cold day, the rain beating
and the atmosphere full of sleet, the
hen clucks her chickens under her
wings, and the warmth of her own
breast puts warmth into the wet
feathers and the chilled feet of the
infant group of the barnyaros, so
Christ says to those sick and frosted
and disguised 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 world that does not
understand you and does not want to
| understand you. will comfort and I
will soothe, and l will be your warmth,
as hen gathereth ler chickens under
her wing" Oh, the warn heart of
| God is ready for all those to whom the
| world has given tho 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. have 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 dog or
a hawk or a man come too near! And
SO the broodiug Christ takes the storm
for us. What flood of anguish and
tears that did not dash upon his holy
soul? What beak of torture did not
pierce his vitals? What barking Ger
berIs 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. The wings un-
der which we come for spiritual safety
are blood spattered wings, are might