The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-11-02

and y! 1t - too late TO rSpd1r a vessel
when it has got out of the drydocks.
It is too late to save after the
e~xecutioners have broken in May God
arm US all for this work OF snatchnig
royal souls from death TO coronation.
WORK OF SOUL SAVING.
Can you imagine any sublimer work
than this soul saving That was what
flushed Paul's cheek with enthusiasm;
that was what led MunSon to risk his
life amid Bornesian cannibals; that
was what sent DR.. Abeel to preach I'M
der the consuming skies of China; that
was what gave courage TO PhocaS 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 hen came back and said 1
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 I
should die" and he stood on the mar
gin OF his own grave, and they be-
headed him. You say it is a mania, a
foolhardiness, a fanaticism. Rather
would I call ii a glorious self abnega-
ton, the thrill of eternal satisfaction.
the plucking of Joash from death and
raising him to coronation.
The third thought / and to you is
that the church of God is a good hid
ing place. When Jehosheba rushe
into the nursery of the king and picks
up Joash, what shall she do with him?
Shall she take him to some nook and
corner of that building. Shall s take
him to the residence of some wealthy
citizen? No; hat citizen would not
dare to harbor n 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 nobility;
90 che r,1chaC nifh Tooch unto tho yanro
of the temple, into the house of God,
and there 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 h sets
down Joash in the temple. There he
will be hearing the songs of the wor-
shippers year after year.; there he will
breathe the odor of the golden censors;
in that sacred spot he will tarry, Sc
GREETED until the six years have passed
and he come to enforcement.
THE BEST HIDING PLACE.
Would Goo that we were all as wise
as Jehosheba and knew that the church
of God is the best hiding piaceI Per-
haps our parents took us away from
the world and hid us behind the bap-
tismal fonts and amid the Bibles and
psalmbooks. Q glorious inclosurei
We have been breathing the breath of
the golden censers all the time, and we
have seen the Lamb on the altar, and
we have handled the Walls in which
are the prayers of all saints, and we
have dwelt under the wings of the
cherubim. Glorious Enclosure! When
my father and mother died and the
property was settled up. there was
hardly anything left. But they endow-
ed us with a property worth more than
any earthly possession because they
hid US in the temple. And when days
Of temptation lave come upon my soul
I have gone there for shelter, and
when assaulted of sorrows 1 nave gone
there for comfort, and there l mean to
live. I want, like Joash, to stay until
coronation.
0 men of the world outside there, be-
trayed, caricatured n cheated of the
world, why do you not come in through
the broad, wild open door of Christian
communion? I wish 1 could act the
part of Jehosheba today and steal you
away from your perils and hide you in
the temple. How few of us appreciate
the fact that the church of God is a
hiding place! There are so many peo-
pie who put the church at so low a
mark that they begrudge it everything
even the few dollars they give toward
it. They make no sacrifices. They dole
a little out of their surplusage. They
| pay their butchers bill. and they pay
their doctors bill, and they pay their
landlord, and they pay everybody but
the Lord, and they come in at the last
to pay the Lord in his church and
frown as they say: There. Lord, it
is. Send me a receipt in full and
don't bother me soon again" There is
not more than one man out of a thou
sand that appreciates what the church
is. Where are the souls that put aside
one-tenth for Christian institutions
one-tenth 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
affliction to most people when it ought
to be an eX~hilaration and a rapture.
Oh, that God would remodel our souls
on this subject and that we might ap-
preciate 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 shade
the church. If the church does not
get hem, the world will.
CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
All, when you pass away-andi it will
not be long before you do-when you
pass away, - will be a satisfaction to
see your children in Christian society.
You want to have. them sitting at the
holy You want them
mingling in Christian associations. You
would like to have them die in the sa-
cred precincts. When o are On you
dying bed n 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
benediction. I do not care how hard
you are; that is so. 1 said. to a man of
the world: Your son and daughter
are going to join our church next Sun
day. Have you any objections?"
Bless you!" he said. Objections? I
wish all my children belonged to the
church. I don't attend to those mat
ters myself nov 1 am very wicked
but I am very glad they are going,
and I shall be there to see them. am
very glad, sir; I am very glad. I want
them there" And so, though you may
have been wanderers. from God and
though you may have sometimes Carl
catured the church of Jesus, it is your
great desire that our sons and daugh-
tiers should be standing all their ives
within the sacred Enclosure.
More than that, you yourself will