Arizona republican., 1899-05-15
SOUTH SIDE.
TEMPE.

TEMPE.
 Dudley Craig came down from the
 Iron ranch to Tempe to visit his
 mother Mrs. Iron. The Iron ranch is
 located on the divide between Pinal and Globe It consists of fields of fine
 alfalfa, fine orchard, plenty Of small fruits, a good spring of water and
 cozy house surrounded by flowers If
 the road from Mesa to Globe is com p-eted it will be fixed up fer a summer resort Good camping places all around
 the ranch in the forest suggests to
 those who live in the Salt River valley pleasure, rest and fine camping during the hot summer months
 The Baptist Sunday school yesterday
 was just twice as large as enc year ago. Professor FrizzeH in short speech presented the church and Sun day school the song books bought by the B. '. P |. The name of the book is Church Hymns and Gospel Songs In his speech he showed the usefulness Of good pieces of music in Sunday school and church. Rev Mir. Whitta- ker in a short and interesting speech received the same and in behalf Of the church thanked the B. |. P L. for the offering.
 Rev. William c. Whitaker preached at the Baptist church yesterday morn ing on the text. Neh. X, 39: We will net fOrsake the house of our God" an~ nouncing as his theme A Worthy Resolution He spoke in part as fol- lows:
 ''The book of Nehemiah is book of revival and reform, an instructive and helpful book to the present day church and present day ChFistians. It illus trates the power of prayer. the un- conquerableness of faith. ths import ance of cooperative endcaYOr and the compassion and long, suffering of God The book tesms with lessons of divine truth which gre pertinent to present conditions and preserE reads. and one of these We have in the text of the morning. And first let us seek 10 en- ter into thorough understanding of 1 its meaning What did Israel near when they said, We will not fOrsake 1 the house of our GCd?' They meant i practically this: We will not permit l ourselves to become indifferent to the i gathering together of Gods people We | will not habitually absent ourselves l from the place of public worship We | will not allow trivial excTses to ke5p I Us away from the sanctuary.
 The resolution of the text involves | the planning of our other duties. if it | be possible. so that we can have time 1 and opportunity to meet God in the | place where His boncr dwelleth. Ana | such resolution as this is certainly a worthy resolution.
 Second let us carefully consider the | question: Are there any good reasons | which may present themselves to cur minds why we should make it a point not to fOrsake the house of God As a minister of Jesus Christ and a mem ber of a Christian church I am going to take the ground at the outset, that attendance upon public wOrsh$2 is of sufficient importance to warrant the resolution of the text.
 And first. it is important because it is God ordained. It has been well remarked by another that as soon ever God had singled out a people f. r himself He commanded them to raiset 2 tabernacle of witness and of wOr- ship, and gave them the minutest in structiOns for it's construction, it's fur nislings and it's ordinances. And this suggests the thought that public worship is pleasing to God, and if there were no other reason for making the resolution of the text, this in itself ought to be sufficient. Our God. who has loved us with an everlasting love. W 4AO NtOH L6tIl Otl1 SEdIo W lLI IA4c | Goodness, He wants Us to meet Him in His sanctuary; He exhorts us ECt to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and that of itself ought to be 1 enough
 Second, attendance upon public : worship is important as manifest by l Christ's indOrsement of it. and Christs { example in reference to it. In Lukes 7 gospel we read that when he came to ( Nazareth where He had been brought up, as His custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Jesus Christ was an exceedingly busy man. tOiling often to the point of e1 I trsme physical weariness, no doubt, I and yet he was not too busy nor too | hard worked to frequent the house of f God And it would not be different. l | believe, were He here today. He would C not so yield to the spirit of the age, the spirit Of incesSant toll. as to make Himself unfit for the sanctuary of GCd. And we ought not to fOrsake the house of God, because Jesus