The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-03-04

CiutA, CiuCk. anu I8ke them uQQcf
the wagon house or shed and had them
all hid under the soft feathers by the
time that the first plash Of rain struck
the roof. So there are sudden tempests
for our souls, and, oh, how dark Ii
gets, and threatening clouds of bank
ruptcy or sickness or persecution or be-
reavement gather and thicken and
blacken, and some run for shelter to a
bank, but it is poor shelter. and others
run TO friendly advisers, and they fail
TO help, and others fly nowhere simply
because they know not where TO. go,
and they perish in the blast, but others
hear q divine call saying. Come, for
all things are now ready" The spirit
and the bride say come"
Need OF warmth.
The wings of my text suggest
warmth, and that is what most folks
want. The FAC is that this is a cold
world whether you take it literally or
fguratively. We have a big fireplace
called the sun. and ii has Il very hot
fire. and the stokers keep the Goals well
stirred up. but much Of the year we
cannot get scar enough 10 this fireplace
to get warmed. The worlds extremi-
ties 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 antarctic.
Once in awhile the arctic will let
plorers come back, but the antarctic
hardly ever. When at the south pole a
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
b north is q prolonged SILVER. But
when L say that this is a cold world 1
chiefly mean iguratively. If you want
to know what is the meaning of the or
binary term of receiving the "cold
shoulder" get out of money and try to
borrow. The conversation may have
been almost tropical 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 q moment before had
been a warm room. Take what is an
unpopular position on some public
4uCSlIOh lIu SSS youl ll1SluS ul 10
chaff before a windmill. AS far as
myself is concerned, 1 have no word of
complaint, but / look off day by day
and see communities freezing out men
and women of whom the world is not
worthy. Now it takes after one and
now after another. 1t becomes popular
to depreciate and defame and eXecrate
and lie about some people. This is the
best world 1 ever got into, but it is the
meanest world that some people yer
got into. The worst thing that ever
happened to them was their cradle, and
the best thing that will ever happen to
them will be their rave.
What people want is warmth. Many
years ago a man was floating down on
the ice of the Merrimac, and great eff
forts were made to rescue him. Twice
he got hold of q plank thrown to him
and twice he slipped away from it, be-
cause that end of the plank was cover
ed with ice. and he cried out, "For
Gods sake, give me the wooden end 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 are too much GOODNESS and icy
formality. and so the imperiled n
slips off and floats down. Give it the
other end Of the plank: 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 1t,
and here is where Christ comes in,
and as on a 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 feath-
erS and the chilled fee of the infant
group of the ~barnyard. 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 crit
icism, come in out of the sleet of the
worlds assault. come in out of q world
that does not understand you and does
not want to understand you. l will
comfort, and l will soothe, and ! will
be your warmth. as q hen gathereth
her chickens under her wing" Oh,
lIC Ill "a vi w 10 lCduy 1oI LII
those to whom the world has given the
cold shoulder.
Christ Takes the Storm.
But notice that some one must take
the storm for the chickens. All, the
hen takes the storm. l have watched
her under the pelting rain. l have seen
her in the %pinching frosts. Almost
frozen to death or almost strangled in
the waters. and what a fight she makes
for the young under wing if a dog or
q hawk or u a come toe 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. nee the tenn
most roSo Gu Sr,h6opiy tho hon oor1l6 NOT