Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-07-06
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMACE. DID,.
Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church. Chicago


and familiar similitude Of the barn
yard fowl the preacher illustrates the
divine love and protecting care that en-
circle all who give TO the Heavenly
Father a chlldlike trust and confidence.
The text Is Matthew xiii. 30. "As a
hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings"
This commercial age IS brutally I'M
poetic. IL has even carried its shocking
Innovations into the barnyard. We are
now trying TO hatch our eggs not into
broods, but by the wholesale. We
would change a hens nest into a big.
square wooden box and call II an incu-
bator. We would have the oil lamp of
the incubator do the work of the feath-
cred breast and the outstretched wing.
We would have the wire screen dis
place the sharp pointed bill OF the
barnyard mistress vehemently plung-
Ing right and left I'm defense OF her
young. We would do this in spite OF
the inalienable rights of the hens,
whose maternal affections are being
crushed by this modern custom. The
man. eager above all things to make
money, has not the patience to listen to
protests from man or bird against his
methods. As John Ruskin. i'm some re-
spects the most aesthetic mind England
ever produced. wrote page after page
In denunCiation of the constituencies
vandalism Of the mere money maker
who would plaster over the beautiful
palisades OF nature with hideous adj
vertisements and with the manufac-
turer's wheel churn a ripping. singing,
laughing stream tumbling out of the
green reservoir of the woods into a
mudhole. so everywhere the astonished
would be sitting hens are clucking
their Indignation. They practically say
20 the robbers Of their eggs. which had
been carefully hidden away in the hay
loft or under the manger of the empty
stall. You have no right to place this
indignity upon u.s." But in reply ava
ricious commercialism says: 20 hen,
we can make more money by Matching
out 800 eggs ut time than by fooling
with your small nest. You provide us
with the eggs, and our incubators will
do the rest"
This controversy, however. does not
concern us in dealing with the smile
Christ used in our text. At the time
Christ uttered those words the barn
yard knew nothing Of this modern in
novation of the incubator. Chickens
still found their natural shelter under
the wings Of the hen. and our Lords
hearers perfectly understood the mean
ing of his illustration. So common
was the sight of hen gathering her
chickens under her wings that every
one would recognize the truth Christ
meant to teach when he used the hens
wing as a symbol of divine love. Thus,
as Jesus wept over the sinful inhab-
itants of Jerusalem. in the words Of
my text | would try TO interpret that
divine love in the language of the barn
yard. | realize its force and beauty
all the more because | am preparing
this sermon within the echoing sound
OF the barnyard king calling to his
harem to awaken at the first peep of
the day. also within the sound Of the
voice of the hen clucking to her little
ones to come under the protection OF
their mothers wing.
A Life Giving Wing.
Gods wing is a spiritual life giving
wing. The warm feathers of the
mother bird are absolutely essential
for the development of the lives Of her
young. II II were not for the old
hens wing her chickens would freeze
20 death during the spring nights
They would sometimes be drowned un
less her wing, as a waterproof cover
Ing. was placed over them. They would
die from lack of warmth. even as a lit
tie baby would die unless the mother
every night tucked him up in his Grill
or Struggled him up by her warm side
IN bed. Heat is life. Cold Is death
The hens wing is something more thar
mere poetic figure. 1t means that 1T
warmth not only matches out the eggs
but also by its heat develops the littl,
natal care for the child in the maxim;
or a man is Just as important as RICH
prenatal conditions. 30 ~
Gods wing is absolutely essential 70
the development of n spiritual child
The Bible distinctly says, 'Ye must b
born again." That means. "Ye mus
be a God production as well as a ma
production" | am the physical chill
OF my earthly parents. That does nc
necessarily imply that l am a spiritua
child OF God. But some day out in tn
cold. damp. destroying storm of sin
determine TO creep under Gods spil
itual. life giving wing. As soon as
am under that shelter feel the divin
life begin TO creep into my life. | lear
TO love my Heavenly Father and sc
him as he is. | hear him telling n
what | ought TO do and say. As a hI
man being by placing his hand upo
an electric battery Immediately feels
thrill as the galvanic currents circ
81 ..hx hrJ