Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1890-01-30

left; but they endowed ~ with . prop.
erty worth more than any earthly pos
session, because they hid us in the tenn
pie. And when days of temptation have
come upon my soul 1 have gone there
for shelter; and when assaulted of sor-
rows, have gone there for comfort, and
there mean to live. want, like Joash,
to stay there until coronation, I mean
to be buried out of the house of God.
o men of the world outside there, be.
ira yed, caricatured and cheated Of the
world, why do you not come in through
the broad, wide open door of Christian
communion? I wish I could act the
part of Jehoseba to- day, and 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 q
hiding place. There are many people
who put the Church at SO low q mark
that they begrudge it everything, even
the few dollars they give toward it.
They make no sacrifices. They dole Q
little out of their surplusage. They pay
their butchers bill, aud they pay their
doctors bill, and they pay their land
lord, 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, it is: if you
will have it, take it-now take it, take
1t; send me receipt in full, and don't
bother me soon again!"
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
stitutions-one-tenth oftheir income?
NJ horQ fhnca w hn hox IL
that one-tenth, draw upon it cheerfully?
Why. it is pull, and drag, and hold on,
and grab, aud clutch; and giving is an
affection to most people when it ought
to be an exhilaration and rapture. Oh.
that God would remodel our souls on
this subject, and that we might appre-
ciate the house of God as the great
refuge. If 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 satisfaction to see
your children in Christian society. You
want to have them sitting at the holy
sacraments. You want them mingling
in Christian associations. You would
like to have them die in the sacred pre-
cincts. When you are on your dying
bed, and your little ones come up to take
your last word, and you look into their
bewildered faces, you will want to leave
them under the church's bencdiction.
l don't care how hard you are, that is SO.
l said to a man of the world: Your son
and daughter are going to join our
church next Sunday Have you any
Bless you, he said, @ob-
jections? Iwish all my children be-
longed to the church. I don't attend to
those matters myself know I am
am very glad they are 60
ing. and I shall be there to see them. I
am very glad, sir; I am very glad. I
want them there" And SO, though you
may have been wanderers from God, and
though you may have sometimes car
featured the church of Jesus, it is your
great desire that your sons and daugh-
ters 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 daughter, Just blooming into
suddenly clasps her hands
in slumber that knows no waking;
when gaunt trouble walks through the
parlor, and the sitting room, and the
dining hall and the nursery, you will
want some shelter from the tempest.
All, some of you have been run upon by
mis- fortune and trial; why do you not
come into the shelter; said to wild
owed mother after she had buried her
only son-months after l said to her:
How do you get along nowadays?"
oh, she replied, Il get along tolerably
we'll except when the sun shines"
said: What do you mean by that?"
when she eaid: Il can't bear to see the
sun shine; my heart is SO dark that all
The brightness of the natural world
seems mockery to me-" O, darkened
soul, o. broken hearted man, broken
hearted woman. why do you not come
into the shelter? 1 swing tho door wide
open. swing it from wall to
wall. Come in! Come in! You want q
place where yonr troubles shall be in
where your burdens shall be
nnstrapped, where your tears shall be
wiped away"
Church of Gcd, be hiding place to
Ill these people. Give them o seat
where they can rest their weary souls.
Flash some light from your chandeliers
lpon their darkness. With some sooth-
ing hymn hush their griefs. o, Church
IF God, gate of Heaven. let me 90
through it! All other institutions are
going to fail; but the Church of God
it's foundation is the Rock of Ages,
It's charter is for everlasting years, its
keys are held by the universal proprie-
or, its dividend is Heaven, its presi-
lent 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,
nay find their safe and glorious hiding
place where Joash found tin the
emple.