Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-06-17

XIX WITCH uit Otu
chief took from his girdle the leathern
bag which incased the heart of the
dead Bruce. lie flung il far into the
ranks of the enemy. as he cried: Thou
brave heart of n mighty Bruce. lead us
on to victory, Lead us on! Lead us onr'
Then the fleeing highlanders turned
and charged where the dead Bruce
would have led them. oh, how we
thrill at the story of that mighty deed!
But why did the Scotchmen and the
Yankees OF old belong to races of
giants and the Latin people of Central
America and of the southern parts Of
Portugal and Spain degenerate into
race of pygmies? Difference of blood?
Perhaps. But believe it was not SO
much a difference of blood as a differ
ence of geographical surroundings.
In the southern parts OF Europe all
that the inhabitants had to do for cen
turtles was to tickle the soil and ii
would laugh with plenty. While
among those northern snow clad hills
not only did the inhabitants have TO
fight human enemies. but climatic ones.
Any man who wrested harvest from
the New Hampshire valleys or from
the Scottish highlands had by neces-
sity to be strong of brain and power
fully muscled of arm. 1t was the eli
matte obstacles which made the New
Englanders and the Scottish clans the
| mighty men they were and are, and ii
is trouble, great trouble. which always
develops men. The old parental eagle
pushes her fledgeliDgs off the nest to
teach her young how to fly. God
pushes us one and all out into the
abyss OF fatbOmless trial to teach US
how TO take care OF ourselves. God
does not want to run perpetual nurs-
cry. lie wants 10 make us of men and
women of fully developed powers. He
disturbs us from our places OF ease and
comfort and thrusts US forth into
scenes of conflict and difficulty in order
that we may learn to use the spiritual
powers with which we are endowed.
and to teach us in dire extremity what
| infinite resources there are in him for
every one of his children who looks
confidently up to him and cries, Our
| Father"
God again stirs up our nests and
pushes us off our eyries, as the eagle
\ hOCS lAS sShhcs W ohON Us Jul
| tions as well as our possibilities. The
eag]et has to learn what il cannot do
as well as what it can do. 1t must
be taught ia one sense how to depend
upon itself; il must be taught i'm an
other sense how it must depend up
on the parent bird, The Bible in the
beautiful figure of my text pictures the
old eagle. when the right time comes,
stirring up the nest and pushing her
| young Off the cliff. oh. yes. that is
beautiful, but the next statement OF
| the verse is just as beautiful. When
the young bird drops down and down
and the fiuttering wings grow weaker
and weaker, then the fiedgeling gives q
faint, frightened call for help. Then
what happens? Why, the old bird at
once starts to the rescue. Swifter than
any sea gull ever dropped into the wa
tiers TO clutch fish, swifter than ever
hawk pounced upon chicken in the
barnyard, the old mother bird starts
TO save her young. How? She swoops
down below the fiuttering eaglet and.
rising with outstretched wings, re-
ceives IL on her shoulders and bears
IL aloft into safety. Is not this beau
tiful symbol of Gods care for his chill
dren? The pSalmist says, HE walketh
upon the wings or the wind" Yes;
that is like the eagle. He pushes US
of the nest. but he does not leave ps
TO perish. He is near. and underneath
us are the everlasting arms. When we
are losing our strength and cry to him.
he bears us up. Do you not see the
beautiful teachings of my text? "As
an eagle stirreth up her nest. fiuttereth
over her young, spreadeth abroad her
wings, taketh them. beareth them on
her WINGS
Lesson OF. Dependence.
The words Of the text teach us that
we must learn our limitations and how
to trust God, and TO depend upon God.
as well as TO learn how 10 depend upon
ourselves. We must learn TO trust
ourselves to the Heavenly Fathers
strength and care, rs the eaglct trusts
the mother bird. IL is n lesson of de-
pendence as well rs of effort. / had q
lesson of this kind when, with my
Arab guides, some years ago, climbed
the Egyptian pyramid OF Cheops.
Each stone of that pyramid is about
hve feet high and two feet wide. You
give your outstretched hands to your
dusky guides. They pull and push you
up. Your head is dizzy with the awful
abyss you can see beneath, but still
they keep on pulling and pushing you
up. You help them rs much as you
can. Without your help they could do
nothing, but If you did not have their
help you would be doomed. Like that
OF the English tourist who, few
years ago, tried to climb the pyramid
alone, your body would soon be a man.
gled corpse below. AS we must learn
from the text the duty OF depending
upon ourselves, so we must also learn
the duty OF absolute dependence upon
God.
But there is still another great les.
son from the figure OF an old parent
eagle stirring up her nest. After the
young birds have once been pushed
on the eyrie and learned their own
limitations. and also learned to trust
the parent. then they are ready to be
taught by the parent birds by object
lessons When the eaglet once learns
that If it does not obey the parent
bird ii will be punished, then 1t will
not only willingly, but after awhile
| gladly, obey what the mother and
father bird teach it to do. First comes
fear, then trust, then the ATTEMPT to
initiate and to do as the parent bird
| does.
1t has never been my privilege to see
an old eagle teaching her young how TO
fly, but Sir Humphry Davy, the great
English chemist, once saw this inter
esting spectacle. He gives a full de-
scription Of the scene. First, the eagles
followed out exactly the picture OF my
text. The young birds, with fear and
trembling, chung to the rocks where
they were Matched, but the old birds
said TO themselves: This won't do; this
won't do. These young birds must be
taught to fly" SO the parent birds first
tried 10 coax the young to leave the
nest. Then, when coaxipg ACCOMPLISH