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

tnat blDie! nave they done It! Hav
they exterminated the American Bibl
Society," Have they exterminated III,
British and Foreign Bible Society
Have they exterminated the Thousand
Of Christian institutions, whose onl,
object it is to multiply copies of tn,
Scriptures, and throw them broadcas
around the world? They have exter
minated until instead of one or tw,
copies of the Bible In our houses ",
have eight or ten, and we pile them NJ
in the corners of our Sabbath schoo
rooms, and send great boxes of then
everywhere. If they get on as we'll al
they are now going on in the work Of
determination, ] do not know but tha
our children may live to see the millen.
mum. Yea, if there should come time
of persecution in which all the known
Bibles of the earth should be destroyed
all these lamps of life that blaze in oul
pulpits and in our families extinguished
in the very day that infdelity and sir
should be holding jubilee over the uni.
versal extinction there would be in
some closet of backwoods church q
secreted copy of the Bible, and this
Joash of eternal literature would come
out and come up and take the throne,
and the Athaliah of in6delity and per-
secution would fly out the back door OF
the palace, and drop her miserable car
/ the Kings stables. You cannot exter-
inmate Christianity! You cannot kill
Joash'
The second thought hand you from
| my subject is, that there are opportu-
mites in which We may save royal life.
| You know that profane history is replete
I with cfnripS of sfroney1aH he nd
| of young princes who have been put
out of the way. Here is the story of q
/ young King saved. HowJehosheba, the
| clergyman's wife. must have trembled
as she rushed into the imperial nursery
and snatcbed up Joash. How she
hushed him, lest by his cry he hinder
the escape. Fly with him! Jehosheba.
you hold in your arms the cause Of God
and good government. Fail, and he is
slain. Succeed, and you turn the tide
of the worlds history in the right di-
rection. 1t seems as if between that
young King and his assassins there is
| nothing but the frail arm of woman.
But why should we spend our time in
praising this bravery of expedition
when God asks the same thing of you
and me? All around us are the i'm
periled children of great King.
They are born of Almighty parentage,
and will come to throne or a crown, if
permitted. But sin, the old Athaliah,
goes forth to the massacre. Murderous
temptations are out for the assassina-
ton. Valens, the Emperor, was told
that there was somebody in his realm
who would usurp his throne, and that
the name of the man who should be the
usurper would begin with the letters
IT n ha a1ick h
from the Emperor's throne: Kill every
one whose name begins with I. H. E. o.
D." And hundreds and thousands were
slain, hoping by that massacre to put
an end to that one usurper. But sin is
more terrific in its denunciation. 1t
matters not how you spell your name.
you come under its knife, under its
sword, under its doom, unless there be
some Omnipotent relief brought to the
rescue. But blessed be God, there is
such thing as delivering a royal soul.
Who will snatch away Joash?
This afternoon in your Sabbath
school class, there will be a prince of
God-some one who may yet reign as
king forever before the throne; there
will be some one in your class who has
a corrupt physical inheritance; there
Will be some one in your class who has
a father and mother who do not know
how to pray; there will be some one in
your class who is destined to command
in church or state-some Cromwell to
dissolve parliament, some Beethoven
to touch the worlds harp strings, some
John Howard to pour fresh air into the
lazaretto, some Florence Nightingale to
bandage the battle wounds, some Miss
Dix to soothe the crazed brain, some
John Frederick Oberlin to educate the
besotted, some David Brainard to change
the Indians war whoop to Sabbath
song, some John Wesley to marshal
three-fourths of Christendom, some
John Knox to make queens turn pale.
some Joash to demolish idolatry and
strike for the kingdom of Heaven.
There are sleeping in your cradles by
night, there are playing in your nurser-
dominion, and whichever side the cradle
they get out will decide the destiny of
empires. For each one of those chill
dren sin and holiness contend-Athaliah
on the one side, Jehosheba on the other.
But l hear people say: What's the use
of bothering children with religious in
struction? Let them grow up and choose
for themselves. Don't interfere with
their volition." Suppose some one had
said to Jehosheba: Don't interfere
with that young Joash. Let him grow
up and decide whether he likes the
palace or not, whether he wants to be
king or not. Don't disturb his volition.
Jehosheba knew right we'll that unless
that day the young King was rescued,
lie would never be rescued at all.
l tell you, my friends, the reason we
don't reclaim all our children from
worldliness is because We begin too late.
Parents wait until their children lie be-
fore they teach them the value of truth.
They wait until their children swear be-
fore they teach them the Importance of
righteous conversation. They wait I'M
Til their children are all wrapped up in
the world before they tell them of bet
ter world. Too late with your prayers.
Too late with you discipline. Too late
upon your children between twelve and
eighteen. Why do you not put the chief
care between four and nine? It is too
late to repair a vessel when it has got of
the dry docks. 1t is too late to save
Joash afterthe cxecutioners have broken
in. May God arm us all for this work
of snatchiug royal souls from death to
coronation. Can you imagine any sub
liner work than this soul saving? That
was what flushed Paul's cheek with en-
thusiasm; that was what led Munson to
risk his life amid Bornesian cannibals;
that was what sent DR.. Abeel to preach
under the consuming skies of China;
that was what gave courage to Phocus
in the Third century. When the mill
tary officers came to put him to death
for Christ's sake, he put them to bed that
they might rest while he himself went
out, and in his own garden dug his
grave, and then came back and said, Il
am ready but they were shocked at the
idea of taking the life of their host.
He said, 1t is the will of God that
should die" and he stood on the margin
of his own grave and they beheaded
him. You say it is mania, a fooihardi- !
ness, a fanaticism. Rather would l call |
it a glorious self abnegation, the thrill
of eternal satisfaction, the plucking of
Joash from death, and raising him to
coronation.
The third thought hand to you from
my text is that the Church of God is a |
good hiding place. When Jehosheba
rushes into the nursery of the king and