The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-11-07

world? They have exterminated until in
stead OF one or two copies OF The Bible In
our houses we have eight or. ten, and we
nile them up in Lne corners Of our Sabbath
school rooms and send great toXes OF
them everywhere If they get on as well
as thev ar. now going on in the work OF
determination, I do not know but that
our chldi n may live to see the mll!en-
mum. lea. If there should come time
of persecution in which all the known 81,
h!es of the earth should be destroyed, all
these lamps OF life that blaze in our pull
pits and in our families extingulshed, IN
the very day that infidelitv AID sin SHOULD
be holding Jubilee over the universal eX.
tinction there would be in some clo.et OF
a bacfwoods church a secretcd copy OF the
Bible. and this .Joash of eternal literature
would con out and come up and take the
throne, and the Athaliah of iniidelty and
persecution would fly out the back door OF
the palace and drop her miserable carcass
under the hoofs of the horses OF the KING 8
stables. You cannot exterminate Chris
tianity! You cannot kill Joash!
The second thought I hand you from
my subject is that there are opportunities
in which you may save roya! lite. You
know that profcne history is replete with
stories of strangled monarchs and OF young
princes v..o have been put out OF the
way. Here is the story of young king
saved. How Jehosheba. the clergymaln aS !
wife, must have trem5led as she rushed
into the imperial nursery and snatclled up
Joash! How she hushed him lest by his
cry he hinder the escape! Fly with him,
Jehosneba You hold in your arms the
caus, of God md good goyernme 1t. Fall
and he is slain. Succeed, and you, turn
the tide of the worlds history in the right
direction. 1t seems as if between that
young king and his assassins there is moth
ing bu the frail a-ll of q woman. But
why should we spend our time in praisinng
this, bravery Of expedition when God asks
the same thing of you and me? All
around us the imperiled children OF a
great king. They are born of Almighty
parcntage, and will come to throne or
crown if permitted. But sin, the old Ath.
allah, goes forth to the massacre. Muir
derous temptations are oIt for the assas,
that there vas somebody in his realm who
would rsurp his throne, and that the name
of the man who should be the usurper
would begin with the letters T, b, f., y,
D, and the edict went forth from the En-
peror's throne, Kill everybody whose
name begins with T, b, f, o, d.. And
hundreds of thousands were slain, hoping
BY that massacre to put an end to that
one usurper. But Gin is more, terrific IN
it's deuunciation 1t matters not how You
spell your name, you come under its knife,
under its sword, under its doom, unless
there be some omnipotent relief brought to
the rescue. But, blessed be God2 there rs
such thing as delivering. a. To ~ soul.
Who viii snatch away JoashgGssN
Can you imagine any subiimer Rk
than this soul savings That was what
flushed Paul's cheek with enthusiasm, that
was what led @lunson to rish his life amid
Bornesian cannibals, that was what sent
DR.. Abeel to preach under the consuming
skies OF China, that was what gave eour:
age to Phocas in the third century, When.
the military. officers came to put him, TO
bed that they might rest, while he him
self went out and in his own garden dug
his grave, and then came back and said,
II am ready But they were shocked at
the idea Of taking the life OF their host.
He shid, 1T. is the. will Of God that j
should die, and he stood ON the margin
of rs own grave, and they beheaded him.
You say it is a. mania, u foolhardiness,.
fanaticisn. Rather would. i call it a ,glo..
rious self abnegation, the thrill OF eternal
satisfaction, the'plucking of Joash from
defSh and raising him; to coronation.
The third thought hand to you 10 that
the church Of God is a good hiding place
When Jehosheba rushes 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 ofli'
'cia1 '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 t, barbor the; fugitive. But she
has to take him somewhere. She hears
the cry of tho mob in the streets, she
hears the shrek of the dying nobility, SO
she rushes with Joash unto the room 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 great deal. They are
not apt to 90 very much to church, and SO
she 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, censers.
In that sacred spot he will tarry,, Sc:
creted until the six years have passed and
he,come to enthronement.
How few Of us appreciate the fact that
the cuhrch of God is hiding place. There
are many people who put the church at so
low mark that they begrudge it every.
thing, even the few dollars they give to.
ward it. They make no sacrifices. They
dole little out of their 3urpluslge. They
nav their butchers bill, and they pay their
doctors bill, and they pay their landlord,
and they ,ay 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 receipt in
full, and don't bother me soon again!" -
Oh, that God would remodel. our souls
on this subject and that we might appre-
ciate the house of God as the great ret
uge! IF your, children are to come up to
lives of virtue and happirass, they will
If the church does not get them; the
world will.
p All, when you ass away-and it will not
be long before. you do-when you pass
away, it will be satisfaction 10 see
your children in Christian society. You
want to have them sitting at the holy sac
raments. You wan them mingling in
Christian associations. You would like
to have them die in the sacred precincts.
When you are on your dyins bed and your
little ones cor , up to take your last word,
and you look into their bewildered fScss,
you will want to leave them under the
church's benediction. do not care how
hard you are, that is so. 90.
And so, .kough you may have been wan
derers from God, and though you may
have some times caricatured the church OF
Jesus, it is your great desire that your
sons and daug ghters should be standing all
their lives WITHIN this sacred inclosIre.
More than that, You yourself will want
the church for hiding plase when the
mortgage is foreclosed, when your laugh
ter, Just blooming into womanhood, sud
denly clasps her hands in siumber that
knows no waking; when the gaunt t.cuble
walks through the parlor and the sitting
room and the dining hall and the nursery.