Newport weekly independent., 1902-02-14

wheeling round and round and down and down, and, not seeing us as we stood in the shadow, it came nearer I and lower until we saw it's beak was curved from base to tip and it had two fumes of fire for eyes and it 1 was d hawk. But all the chickens were under old Dominick's wings, and either the bird of prey caught a 1 glimpse of us or, not able to find l 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? It is bright sunlight, and there can be no danger. Health is theirs. good home is theirs. Plenty of food Is theirs. Prospect of long life is theirs. But Christ con tinues to call, calls with more eIn- l phasis and urges haste and says not second ought to be lost. Oh, do tell us what is the matter Ah. now l 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 allurcment ready to clutch. Now I see the peril Now I under stand the urgency. Now I see the only safety Would that Christ might this day take our sons and daughters into his shelter "as a hen 1 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 memorable 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 infideli- ties and immoralities of spiritualism, l 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 l prefers the carcass; the falcon kills with one stroke, while other styles of bealz give prolongation of torture. l 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! 1 With most life has been a disappoint- mept. They tell me so. They have not attained that which they expect ed to attain. They have not had the l physical and mental vigor they ex- pected or they have met with rebuffs which they did not anticipate You are not at 40 or 50 or 50 or 70 or so years of age where you thought you would be. I do not know any one except myself to whom life has been happy surprise. I never ex- pected anything, and so when any thing came in the shape of human favor or comfortable position or wid-
 
 prise. I was told in the theological seminary by some of my fellow-stu- dents that l never would get any body to hear me preach unless I changed my style, so that when I found that some people did come to hear me it was happy surprise. But most people, according to their own statement, have found life dis appointment. Indeed, we all need shelter from it's 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 fguratively. We have big fireplace called the sun, and it has a very hot fire, and the stokers keep the coals 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 ship sails in, the door of ice is almost sure to be shut against it's 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 I chiefiv moan ffoura t;xaI,,