The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-01-17


God had ever given them-he pitched the
book with it's contents into the fire and stirred
it with the tongs, and spat on it and cursed
it, and said: ''Susan, never have any more
of that damnable stuff herel'
How many individual and organized at
Biblel Have they done it? Have they ex-
terminated the American Bible Society,"
Have they exterminated the British and
Foreign Bible Society? Have they extermi-
mated the thousands of Christian in
stitutions, whose only object is to
throw them broadcast around the
world? They have exterminated until IN
stead of one or two copies of the Bible in our
houses We have eight or ten, and we pile
them up in the corners of our Sabbath school
rooms, and send great boxes Of them every
where. If they get on as well as they are
now going on in the work of determination,
do not know but that our children may
live to see the millennium Yea, if there
should come time of prosecution in which
all the known Bibles of the earth should be
destroyed, all these lamps of light that blaze
in our pulpits and in our families extinguish-
ed-in the very day that infidelity and sin
should be holding jubilee over the univer-
sal extinction. there would be in some closet
of q 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 Athalah of infidslity and
persecution would fly out the back
door OF the palace, and drop her miserable
carcass under the hoofs of the horses of the
Kings stables. You cannot exterminate
Christianity! You cannot kill Joash!
The second thought that hand you from
my subject is, that there are opportunities in
which we may save royal life. You know
that profane history is replete with stories
of strangled monarchs and of young princes
who have hpon mt o1t Of tho -
the story of young King saved. How
she hushed him. lest by his cry he hinder es-
cape. Fly with him! Jehosheba, you h old in
your arms the cause of God and good
government. Fail. and he is slain.
Tos bstor2 in rpbt OF t1t
seems as if between that young king and
his assassins there is nothing but the trail
arm of woman. But why should we spend
our time in praising this bravery ofex pedi-
ton when God asks the same thing of you
and me? All around us are the imperiled
children OF q great king
They are born of Almighty parentage, and
will come to throne or a crown, if permit
ted. But sin, the old Athaliah, goes forth
to the massacre. Murderous temptations
are out for the assassination. 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-
Il. E. o. D.. and the edict went forth from
the emperor's throne: "Kill everybody whose
name begins with T. H. E. 0. 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 it's de-
nuncation. 1t matters not how you spell
your name, you come under it's knife, under
its sword. under it's doom, unless there be
some omnipotent relief brought to the rescue.
But, blessed be God, there is such thing as
delivering royal soul. Who will snatch
away Joash?
This afternoon, in your Sabbath school
class there will he prince of God-sone one
who may yet reign us 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
u father and mother who does 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 a parlia-
ment, 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
the Indians war whoop to Sabbath song,
some John Wesley to marshal three-fourths
of Christiandom, some John Knox to make
queens turn pale, some Joash to demolish
idolatary and strike for the kingdom ofheav-
en-.
There are sleeping in your cradles by night,
there are praying in your nurseries by day,
imperial souls waiting for dominion, and
whichever side the cradle they get out will
decide the destiny of empires. For each one
of those children sin and holiness contend
Athaliah on the one side and JehQsheba on
the other. But hear people say: What's
the use of bothering children with religious
instruction? Let them grow up and choose
for themselves. Don't interfere with their
volition." Suppose some one had said to
Jehoseba: "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 Volt
ton" Jehosheba knew right we'll that unless
that day the young King was rescued, he
would never be rescued at all.
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 before they teach
them the value of truth. They wait uutil
their children swear before they teach them
They wait until their children are all wrap
ped up in this world before they tell them of
better world. Too late with your prayers.
Too late with your discipline. Too late
with your benediction. You put all care
upon your children between IL and 18.
why 90 you not put the cnlef care between
4 and 9? 1t is too late to repair q vessel
when it has got out of the dry dock. 1t is
too late to see Joash after the executioners
have broken in. MAY God arm us all for
this work of snatching royal souls from
death to coronation, Can you imagine SUBJ
liner work than this soul saying? That
was what flushed Paul's cheek win ehtthusi<'
asm; that was what led Munson to risk his
life amid Bornesian cannibals; that was
what sent DR.. Abeel to preach under the con-
Stunning skies of China; that was what gave
courage to Phocus in the third century.
When the military 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, II
am ready" but they were shocked at the
idea of taking the life ofther host. He said.
sit is the will of God that should de-, and
he stood on the margin of his own grave and
they heheaded him. You say it is a mania,
a foolhardiness, q fanaticism. Rather would
call it a glorious self abnegation, the thrill
of eternal satisfaction, the plucking OF Joash
from death, and raising him to coronation.