The Forrest City times., 1890-01-18

our houses we nave oiRnt or ten, hGu Wo pile them up in the corners of our Sabbath school rooms, and send great boxes of them everywhere If they get on as we'll as they are now going on in the work of ex- termination, 1 do not know but that our children may live to see the millennium Yea, if there should come time of pcrse- cution 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 extinguished the very day that infidelity and sin should be holding jubilee over the universal extinction, there would be in some closet of a backwoods church a secreted copy of the Bible. and this Joash of eternal literature would come out and come up and take the throne, and the Athaliah ot infidelity and persecution would fly out the back door of tho palace, and drop her miserable carcass under the hoofs Of the horses of the kings stables You cannot exterminate Christianity You cannot kill Joashl
 The second thought hand you from my subject is, that there are opportunities in which we may save royal life. You know that profane history is rcplete with stories of strangled monarchs and Of young princes who bave been put out of the way. Here is the story of a young king saved How Jehoshebl, the clergy mans wife, must have tremblcd she rushed into the imperial nursery and snatched up Joash. How she hushe1 him, lest by his cry he hinder the escape. Fly with himl Jehoshcba you hold in your arms the cause of God and good govern ment., Fail, and he is slain. Succeed, and you turn the tide of the worlds history in the right direction. It seems as if between hut lr and hia aoauasfp fbpra ia nothing but the frail arm of a woman. But why should we spend our time in praising this bravery of expedition when God asks the some thing of you and mot All around us arc the impcriled children of great King.
 They arc born of Almighty parentage, and will como to a throne or u crown if permit ted But sin, the old Athaiiah, goes forth to the massacre Murderous temptations arc 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 the usurper would begin with the letters T. II, F.. 0. D., and the eliet went forth from the emperors throne: kill every ybody whose name begins with T. H. E. 0. D." And hundreds and thousands were slain, hoping by that massacrs to put an end to that one usurper, But sin is more terrific in it's denunciation. 1t matters not how you spell your name you come under it's knife, under it's sword, under it's doom, un- less there be some omnipotent relief brought to the rescue. But blessed be God, there is such a thing as delivering a royal soul Who will snatch away Joashl
 This afternoon in your Sabbath school class, there will be a Prince of God-some one who may yet reign as king forever be- fore the throne; there will be some one in your class who has corrupt physical n- heritance; there will be some one in your class who has father and mother who do not know how to pray: there will be some one in your class who is destined to com mand in church or state some Crcm- well to dissolve a parliament, some
 Beethoven 10 touch the world harp strings, some John Howard 10 pour fresh air into the lazaretto some Florence Night ingae 10 bandage the battle wounds, some
 Miss DIX to soothe the cruzed brain, some
 John Frederick Oberlin to educate the be- sotted some David Brainard to change the Indians war whoop to a Sabbath song, some
 John Wesley to marshal threc-fourths Of Christeudom, some John Knox to make queens turn pale, some Joash to demoiish idolatry and str ike for the kingdom of heaven.
 There arc sleeping in your cradles by night, there are playing 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 contond-Athalah on the one side and Je- hosheba on tho other But l hear people say: What's tho use of bothcring children with religious instructioni Let them grow up and choose for themselves Don't interfere with their voltion.H 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 volilion-n Jehosheba knew right wolf that unless that dav 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 worldlness
 is because they begin too late. Parents
 wait until their children lie before they
 teach them the value of truth. They wait uutll their children swear before they teach them the importance of righteous conversation. They wait until their child ren are all wrapped up in this world be- fore they tell them Of a Letter world. Too
 late with your prayers. Too late with your discipline, Too late with your ben edct.on. You put all care upon your children between twelve | and eighteen. Why do you not put tho
 chief care between four and uinei It is too late to repair n vessel when it has got out of the dry docks 1t Is too late 10 save Joash after the executioners have brok en in May God arm US ali for this work Of
 snatchiug royal souls from death to corona. ton, Can you imagine any sublimer work than this soul savingl That was what flushed Paurs heck with enthusiasm; i; that was what led Munson io risk his life
 amid Bornesian cannibals; that was what seHt Dr. Abeei to preach under 1 the consuming skies of China; that was what gave courage to Phooas in the l Third century. N hen the military officers
 came to put him to death for Christs 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 "l mn ready,'' but they were shocked at tho idea of taking the life of ! their host He said "lt is the will of God i that l should die" nnd ye stood on tho
 margin of his own grave and they heheaded 1 him You say 1t is a mania, foolhardl.
 ness, fanaticism, Rather would call 1t 1 a glorious self ahnegation, the thrill of eternal satisfaction, the plucking of iQash 1 from death, and raising him to coronation 1 Inc third thought l hand to you from
 my text Is that the church of God Is & good l hiding place, When Jehosheba rushes into l tho nursery of tho krg and picked up l Joash. what shall she do with himi Shall l she take him 10 some room in the palace l No; for tho official dcsperadoes wlll hunt through every nook and corner of that i building Shall she take hum to tho residence of some wealthy cisixont No; | that citi&cn would not dare to harbor the | fugitive. But she has to take him some
 where. She hears the cry of the mob in ! the streets; she hears the shriek Of the dy- 1 ing nobility; so she rushes vita Joash unto
 the room of tho temple, into the house of l God. and then she puts him down. Shs | knows that Athaliah and her wic ket assas.
 sins will not bother the temple great deal !; 1 they are not apt to go very much to church. and so she sets down Joash in the temple l There he will be hearing the songs of the l worshipers year after year. there he will | brxnf ths. ,tnr .,f thA er,f3aa in