The Iola register., 1902-03-07

a.
stand you and does not want to under
stand you. l will comfort and / will
soothe, and ] will be your warmth 'as
a 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. i 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 if
dog or n hawk or n man come too near!
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 whiteness 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
4 n gAI a 1t.
voices, but there is no answering
cluck. She took the storm for others
and perished. Poor thing! Self-sacri-
ficing even unto death! And does it
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 a
prisoner at Carisbrook castle, her fin
ger on an open Bible and pointing to
the words: "Come unto Me all We
that labor and are heavy laden, and |
will give you rest" Oh, come under
the wings.
My text has its 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
| a hn
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 al
, either end of the church pew and
! indeed, all the scenes of your first
IA wears, and you think of what yor
, 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 ant
, start again. In thought return tC
/ that place and hear the cluck ant
3 see the outspread feathers and come
, under the wing and make the Lore
E your portion and shelter and warmth
e preparing for everything that ma!
2 come and so avoid being classeC
$ among those described by the clos
I ing words of my text, las hen gath
5 ereth her chickens under her wings
1 and We would not" An, that throw
a the responsibility upon us. "Y
?. would not" Alas for the "woult
= nots!" If the wandering broods o
p the farm heed not their mothers cal
v and risk the hawk and dare tn
n freshet and expose themselves t.
: the frost and storm, surely thei
= calnmities are not the mother
: fault. "Ye would not!" God would
}. but how many would not?
e When a good man asked n youn
s woman who had abandoned her HON
c and who was deploring her wretch
S edness why she did not return, tn
= reply was: 81 dare not go home
# NV father is so provoked he woul
v not receive me home" "Then," sal
n the Christian man, ~ will test this.
Il And so he wrote to the father, an
d the reply came back, and in lette
+ marked outside Immediate" and il
e side saying: Let her come at once
e all is forgiven" So Gods invitatio
e for you is marked Immediate o
II the outside, and inside is written
IT "He will abundantly pardon" Oh
e, We wanderers from God and happ
D. ness and home and Heaven, come III
der the sheltering wing. A vessel i
Y the Bristol channel was nearing tn
n rocks called the Steep Holmes. UI
f. der the tempest the vessel was Ill
.e manageable, and the only hope wa
N that the tide would change before sh
a. .+,,,ol, tha rocks and went down n nd c