The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-12

or one Fall1 the BaBBlnB oi one prlQge girder and your train would be derailed and all its occupants would be hurled Into eternity. Gods wing in physical sense is over us. It is a protecting wing. It covers us a hen shields her chickens from the threatening hawk.
 Power to Resist.
 God protects us in a spiritual sense. The Bible says God Is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted be- yond that ye are able. but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear 1t" What does that statement mean7 Simply this; Here is a man whose whole nature Is gnarled and twisted by sin He Is by corrupt past a drunkard, a libertine, thief. He wants to get under the pro tecting shadow of Gods wing. When he arises in the morning he kneels by his bed and says: 70 God, I am awfully weak 1 know not which way to turn un less I look to thee Save me this day from the wine cup. Save me from the fatal pitfalls which are yawning at my feet. Save me. O God, save me, save mel" Will God answer such a pleading prayer as that? Oh, yes. God says to this moral cripple; Come my child. come under my wing. my protecting wing. I will surround thee with holy 
 sight the buzzards and the hawks and the serpents and the rats of sin which would destroy your life Come, my child, come Come under the shadow of my spiritually protecting wing" My friends, some of us have been trying to resist temptation in our own strength Will you not depend upon the strength of God2 Some of us are trying to do as the bril- liant Tom Marshal of Kentucky did, who datr cfn In I2roa dxafazf "a, aa1a and said: Were this great globe one crystallite and I offered the possession if would drink one glass of brandy I would refuse 1t with scorn. And 1 want no religion. I want the temperance pledge alonew But, alas Poor Tom Mar shall depending upon his own strength, was at last shoveled into a drunkard's grave. VIII you today, as a Christian. accept Gods protecting wing against your besetting sin? That wing is pledge that God will not allow your temp tation to be stronger than you shall have power given to resist.
 Gods protecting wing Is one of Chris tian fellowship. An old homely proverb says "A hen will make just as much noise and scratch just as hard for one chicken as she will for ten" This may be true. Such actions upon the part of the feathered bird might be very exem- plary. But one of the most ridiculous sights to me is a great, big fat hen strutting through the barnyard followed by one wee little chirping chicken Bet ter for that little chicken to be killed and the hen go about her legitimate business of laying eggs for the breakfast than for the mother bird to continue to waste her energies upon that one offspring The natural brood for hen is not one or two chickens, but, eight, nine or ten or even thirteen chickens. Every would be sitting hen if left alone nearly always lays thir teen eggs for her nest. She wants a large family. A large family is good for the hen. It is good for the chickens.
 A Practical Application.
 What Is the practical application of this simile? Why, Gods wing is a place under which not only one Christian can find rest but many Christians. Gods children are going to find safety and theyNwill work together and live together and have their hearts beating tor4tAner and, as 1t were, snuggle up together and keep each other spiritually warm. They will be together as close in fellowship as the chickens are close together under their mothers wing. If you lift up hen who Is covering her little ones at night you will be surprised how many chickens her small area Is able to shelter. The reason-each chicken is pressing close against the other chickens as well as against it's mothers breast.
 What today is the Christian fellowship 1 of your daily life? Remember the records are being kept in reference to this matter which shall decide your spiritual welfare for time and for eternity. A lady one day came to the Rev. John Newton and asked him how a friend of hers who was member of MT. Newtons congregation had died. 'Ah. my lady" answered the venerable preacher, that is not the i'm portant question you ought to have asked. You should have asked not how she died. but how she lived" Are you living in fellowship with Christ's children? Are you living in close communion with the members of your church? Are you living in prayerful love with all men and wom- en who are trying to bring the name of Jesus before a sinful race? Are you liv- ing with Christ's followers as closely as chickens gather under the wings of a mother hen?
 Gods wing often protects his children best when they themselves are enveloped by total darkness. The little chickens, running to the warning call of the cluck- ing hen, answer for the most part to the blind obedience of faith and love. When they crawl under the overshadowing and enyeloping covering of that wing they can see nothing Under that wing is total darkness. once Tn a Wnne cnlcken curiosity will impel her to poke her little head out of the mothers feathers to see what is going on. But when the chick | ems are truly under that wing they leave | all and trust all to their mothers care. | It Is because those chickens stay in total darkness under that wing that they often escape the searching eye of an advanc- ing foe.
 In Darkness as in Light. My dear nearer. are you ready to trust God in darkness as well as in the light ? You came to me the other day and said : q cannot understand why this trouble was laid at my. door" Neither can I. my brother. I do not understand why God should have taken away from your side that young man just five months after he was graduated from the bar.