The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-13

picks up Joash, what shall she ID with himi
Shall she take him TO some room IN the
palacel No; for the official desperadoes
will hunt through every nook and corner
of that building. Shall she take him % the
/ residence of some wealthy citizen. No;
that citizen would not dare to harbOr the
fugitive But she has to take him
| somewhere She hears the cry of
the mob in the streets; she hears
the shrek of the dying nobility; so sac
( rushes with Joash unto the room OF the
( temple, into the house of God. and then she
puts him down. Sac lows at Athaliah
4 and g. r wicked assassins will not bother
the temple great deal; they are not apt TO
go very mucl TO church, and 50 she sets
down Joash in the temple. There he viii
/ be hearing the songs OF the worshIper5 year
I after wear: there he will breathe the odor
/ Of the 2 llden cs1sers: in that sacred spot
/ be will tarry, secreted until the six years
have passed. and he come to enthrone-
ment.
/ Would God that we were as wise as
/ Jehcsheba. and llsw that the church Of
/ God is the best hiding place. Perhaps our
! parents took US there in early day; they
| suatched Us away from the world and lid
| us behind the baptismal fonts and amid the
/ Bibles aud the psalm books. o, glorious
/ Enclosure. We have been breathing the
| breath Of the golden censers all the time.
and we have seen the lamb on the altar, and
we have handled the phials which are the
| prayers of all saints, and we have
dweit under the wings Of the cheru-
| BIN Glorious Enclosure. When my
| father and mother died, and the property
was settled up, there was hardly anything
| left; Tut they endowed us with u property
worth more than any earthly possession,
| because they hid us in the temple. And
whe days of temptation have come upon
| my soul | have go % there for shelter; and
when assaulted Uf sorrows, | have gone
there for comfort, and there l mean to live.
l want, like Joash, TO stay there until coro-
nation. | mean to be buried out of the
house Of God.
O men of the world outside there, be-
trayed, caricatured and cheated of the
world why do you not come in through
the broad, wide open door OF christian
communion. l wish l could act the part of
Jehosheba to-day, aud steal you away from
your perils, and hide you in the temple
How few of us appreciate the fact that the
church of God is a hiding place. There are
many people who put the clurch at SO
low mark that they begrudge it every
thing, even the few dollars they give toward
1t. They make no sacrifices. They dole a
little out of their surplusage. They pay
their butchers bill, and they pay their doc
tors bill, and they pay their landlord, and
they pay everybody but the Lord, and they
come in at the last to pay the Lord in his
church, and frown as they say: There,
Lord, 1t is; if you will have it, take it-now
take it, take it; send me a receipt in full,
and don't bother me soon againm
| tell you there is not more than one man
out Of thousand that appreciates what the
church is Where are the souls that put
aside one-tenth for christian institutions
one-tenth of their incomel Where are
those who, having put aside that one-tenth,
draw upon it cheerfully? Why, it is pull
and drag, and hold on, and grab, and
clntch; and giving is an affection to most
people when 1t ought to be an exhilarati9u
and a rapture. o that God would re-
model our souls on this subject, and that we
might appreciate the house of God as the
great refugel il your children are to come
up to lives of virtue and happiness they
will come up under the shadow of the
church If the church does not get them
the world will.
All. when you pass away-and it will not
be long before you do-when you pass away
it will be a satisfaction to see your children
in christian society. You want to have
them sitting at the holy sacraments. You
want them mingling in CHI istIan aSsocia-
tons. You would like to have them die in
the sacred p ecincts. When you are on
your dying bed, and your little ones come
up to take your last word, and you look
iulO tICAA OoWAlilblbA 1dCtS, you VIII WANT
TO leave them under the church's benedc-
ton. | don't care how hard you are, 81 at
is So said 60 a man of the
world, ''Your son and daughter are
going to join our church next Sunday.
Have you any objecionsp, "Bless you,n
he said, objections l wish all my chill
dren belonged to the church. l don't attend
to those matters myself know am very
wickei-blt am very glad they are going,
and / shall he there than I
glad, sir; | am very glad / want them
there" And so, though you may have
been wanderers from God, and though YOU
may have sometimes caricatured the church
of Jesus, 1t is your great desire that your
sons ana daughters should be standing all
their lives within this sacred Enclosure.
More than that, YOU yourself will want
the church for hiding place when the
mortgage is foreclosed; when your
daugh er, just blooming into womanhood,
su denly clasps her hands in a slumher that
knows no waking, when gauAt troun
walks through the parlor, and. the sitting
room, aud the dining hall, and the nursery,
yon will want some shelter from the
tempest. All, some of you have been run
upon by misfortune and trial: why
no you not come into the shelters
l said to a widowed mother after
she had buried her only son-months
after said to her, How
do you get along nowadays" CO." she re-
piled, Il get along tolerably well. except
when the sun Shines" l said, "What do
you mean by that" when she said, 81
can't bear to see the sun shine; my heart is
SO dark that all the brightness of thu
atural world seems a mockery to me-" o,
darkened soul, o, Ebroken-hearted man,
broken-hearted woman, why do YOU not
come into the shelterl / swing the door
wide open. swing it from wall to wall.
Come ini Come inl You want a place
where your troubles shall be interpreted
where your burdens shall be unstrapped
where your tears shall be wiped away.
Church of God, be hiding place to all
these people. Give them a seat where they
can rest their weary souls. Flash some
light from your chandeliers upon their dark
ness. With some soothing hymn hush their
griefs. o, church of God, gate of heaven,
let me go through it' All other institutions
are going to fail; but the church of God
It's foundation is the Rock of Ages its
char ter Is for everlasting years, its Keys are
held by the universal proprietor, its divi-
dend is heaven, its president is God!
Sure as thy truth shall last.
To Zion shall be given
The brightest glorieS earth can yield
And brighter bliss of heaven.
God grant that all this audience. the
youngest, the eldest, the worst, the best.
may find their safe and glorious hiding
place where Joash found tin the temple.
BRANFORD MATTERS.