The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-03-20


besotted, some David Brainard, to
change the Indians war whoop to Sab
bath 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 nurs-
cries 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 chill
dren sin and holiness contend-Athaliah
on the one side and Jehosheba on the
other. But hear people say:
whats 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 Jeho-
sheba:
Don't interfere with that young Jo-
ash. 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 volition9 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 be-
fore they teach them the value of truth
They wait until their children swear
before they teach them the Importance
of righteous conversation. They wait
until their children are all wrapped up
in this world before they tell them of a
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
twelve and eighteen. Why do you not
put the chief care between four and
nine?
1t is too late to repair vessel when
it has got out of the dry docks. It
is too late to save 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 any sub
Inner 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 DIR. Abel 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: 81
am ready" but they were shocked at the
idea of taking the life of their host He
said: sit is the will of God that I should
die, and he stood on the margin of his
own grave and they beheaded him. You
say 1t is mania, foolhardiness, a
fanaticism. Rather would l call it a
glorious self-abnegation, the thrill of
eternal satisfaction, the plucking of
Josiah 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
PUSHES into the nursery of the King and
picks up Joash, what shall she do with
him? Shall she take him to some room
in the palace? No; for the official
| desperadoes 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-
lty; so she rushes with Joash unto 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 a
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 breathe
the odor of the golden censers; in that
sacred spot he will tarry, secreted unit.
the six years have passed, and he come /
to enthronement.
Would God that we were 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 his breath of the golde n |
censers all the time, and we have seen
the lamb on the altar and we have
handled the plants which are the pray
ers of all saints, and we have dwelt I'M
der the wings of the cherubim. Glori- |
GUS Enclosures! When my father and |
mother died, and the property was set |
tied up, there was hardly any thing left;
but they endowed us with a property |
worth more than any earthly possession,
because they hid US in the temple. And |
when days of temptation have come
upon my soul l have gone there for shell
ter; and when assaulted of sorrows l |
have gone there for comfort, and there !
mean to live. l want, like Joash. to
stay there until coronation. / mean to
be buried out of the house of God.
o men of the world outside there, be- |
trayed, caricatnred and cheated of the
world, why do you not come in through
the broad xUfdo-opav, Ioor of