Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-01-16

late to repair a vessel when il hps got Of
the dry docks. II is TOO late to save
Joash afterthe executioners 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 saving2 That
was what flushed PAuls 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 l
should die, and he stood on the margin
of his own grave and they beheaded
him. You say it is o mania, afooihardi-
ness, fanaticism. Rather would call
it glorious self abnegation, the thrill
of eternal satisfaction, the plucking of
Joash from death, and raising him to
coronation.
/ - nC bulLu buOuRub nduQ w yOu 1IOu
my text is that the Church of God is O
good hiding place. When Jehosheba
rushes into the nursery of the king and
picks up Joash, what shall she do with
him2 Shall she take him to some room
in the palace? No; for the official des-
peradoes will hunt through every nook
and corner of that building. Shall she
take him to 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 nobil-
ity; so she rushes with Joash into the
room of the temple, into the house of
God, and then she puts him down. She
knows that Athaliah and her wicked
assassins will not bother the temple
great deal; they are not apt to go very
much to church, and SO she sets down
Joash in the Temple. There he will be
hearing the songs of the worshipers
year after year; there he will breath the
odor OF the golden censers; in that sa-
cred spot he will tarry, secreted until
the six years have passed, and he come
to enthronement.
4 Would God that we were all as wise
. as Jehosheba, and knew that the Church
/. of God is the best hiding place. Perhaps
our parents took us there in early days;
they snatched us away from the world
and hid us behind the baptismal fonts,
and amid the Bibles and the psalm
books. o, glorious inclosurel We have
been breathing the breath of the gol-
den censers all the time, and we have
seen the lamb on the altar and we have
handled hephials which are the prayers
| - A., 4 I.
der the wings of the cherubim. Glori
Gus inclosure! When my father and
mother died, and the property was
settled up, there was hardly anything
left; but they endowed us 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 have gone there
n for shelter; and when assaulted of sor-
rows, / have gone there for comfort, and
| there mean to live. I want, like Joash,
! to stay there until coronation, | mean
to be buried out of the house of God.
/ 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
, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of their income?
& 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 clutch; and giving is an
/ affection to most people when it ought
/ to be an exclamation 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
J 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 berediction.
I don't care how hard you are, that is so.
said to man of the world: Your son
and daughter are going to join our
church next Sunday Have you any
OOJEGtAOn64 lbAGbp Yuu3 40 buAu3 OD-
jections? I wish all my children be-
longed to the church. don't attend to
those matters myself know am
wicked but am very glad they are GO
ing. and shall be there to see them. I
am very glad, sir; am very glad.
J want them there" And so, though you
may have been wanderers from God, and
Though you may have sometimes carr
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 inclosure.
More than that, you yourself will
want the church for hiding place
when the mortgage is foreclosed; when
your daughter, just blooming into
womanhood, suddenly clasps her hands
in slumber that knows no waking;
when gaunt trouble walks through the
!, !, parlor, and the sitting room, and the
dining hull and the nursery, you will
want some shelter from the tempest.
; All, some of you have been run upon by
! misfortune and trial; why do you not
come into the shelter; I said to q Wild
7 owed mother after she had buried her
/ only SON months after said to her:
: How do you get along nowadays2'
. aOh, she replied, 4I get along tolerably
7 we'll except when the sun shines.
! said: What do you mean by thatP
when she eaid:i Il can't bear to see the
!. sun shine; my heart is so dark that all
1 tha briphtness OF the natural world