St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-11-24

Shall she take MIN 10 some room IN
the palace? No, for the official des.
peradoes viii 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 streetsi she hears the
shrek OF the dying nobility: 30 she
rushes with Joash unto the room oi
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 60
very much to church, and so she seta
down Joash in the temple. There he
will be hearing the songs Of the wof-
slippers year after year; there he will
breathe the odor Of the golden cen
sers; in that sacred spot he will tarry.
secreted until the six years have
passed and he come to enthronement;
Would God that we were all a wise
as Jehosheba and knew that the
church of God is the best hiding placei
Perhaps our parents took us there in
early days. They snatched us away
frem the world and hid US behind the
baptismal fonts and amid the Bibles
and psalm books. o glorious In
closure! 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
vials in which are the prayers Of Ill
saints, and We have dwelt under the
wings of the cherhbim. Glorious it-
closure! When my father and mother
died and the property was settled up,
there was hardly anything left. But
they endowed us with q property
worth more than any earthly posses
sion because they hid us in the temple.
And when days Of temptation have
come upon my soul have gone there
for shelter. and when assaulted OF
sorrows I have gone there for COM
fort, and there mean to live. Iwant,
like Joash. - stay until coronation.
o men Of the world outside there.
betrayed. caricatured and cheated Of
the world, why do you not come in
through the broad, wide-open door Of
Christian communion? I wish I could
act the part of Jehoshebs to-day 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 q hiding place! There are
maLy people who put the church at so
low mark that they begrudge 1t
everything, even the few dollars they
give toward 1t. They make no sacri-
fees. They dole little out OF their
eurplusage. 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 re-
ceipt in full and don't bother me soon
again. Thereis not more than one
man out of a thousand that appreci-
ates what the church IL. 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 drug and hold on and grab and
clutch, and giving is an affliction to
most people, when it ought to be an
and rapture. Oh, that
God would remodel our souls on this
subject and that we might appreciate
the house of God as the great refugei
II your children are to come up to
lives OF virtue and happiness, they
will come up under the shadow Of the
church. II the church does not get
them, the world will.
All, when you pass away-and II win
hot be long before you do-when you
pass away. it will be satisfaction to
zee your children in Christian society.
You want to have them sitting at the
hoy sacraments. You want them
in Christian associations.
You would like to have them die in the
sacred precincts. When you are on
four 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
.hurch's benediction. / do not care
how hard you are; that is 20. I said
o a man of the world "Your SON and
laughter are. going to join our church
next Sunday. Have you any objec
ions?" "Bless you!" he said. "Objec-
ions? I wish all my children belonged
o the church. don't attend to those
matters myself know I am very
am very glad they are
yoing, and shall be there to see them.
nm very glad. sir; am very glad. !
sant them there" And 20, though
'ou may have been wanderers from
God and though you may have some
lines caricatured the church Of Jesus.
I is your great desire that your sons
md daughters should be standing all
heir lives within this sacred inclosure.
More than that, you yourself viii
want the church for . hiding place
when the mortgage is sforeclosed; wlren
our daughter. just blooming into
suddenly clasps her hands
n a slumber that knows no waking;
when gaunt trouble walks through the
,arlor and the sitting-room and the
lining hall and the nursery, you viii
want some shelter from the tempest.
III, some of you have been run upon
~ misfortune and trial! Why do you
lot come to the shelter?
Church of God. be hiding place to
II these people! Give them a seat
rhere they can rest their weary souls.
flash some light from your chandeliers
,pon their darkness. With some sooth-
ng hymn hush their griefs. Oh, church
4 God. gate of Heaven, let me go
through it! All other institutions are
'oing to fail, but the church OF Cod
Is foundation is the Rock of Ages, its
harter is for everlasting years.. its
.eys are held by the universal Propri-
tor, its dividend il Heaven, its presi-
lent is God!
Sure as thy truth shall last.
To Zion shall be given
The highest glorses earth can yield
And brighter bliss of Heaven.
God grant that al this audience, the