Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-07-20


lungs: il has sent madness into the
brain: il has filled the potter's field: it
has pitched whole armies OF the suffer
ing into crime aud wretchedness and
woe. But now that l am talking Of
Dorcas and her ministries TO the poor
| shall speak only OF the charities Of
the needle. This woman was repre-
sentative OF all those who make gar
ments for the destitute. who knit socks
for the harefooted, who prepare band
ages for the laceratcd. who fix up box
es Of clothing for missionaries. who go
into the asylums of the suffering and
destitute hearing that gospel which is
sight fol- the blind and hearing for the
deaf and which makes the lame man
leap like hart and brings the dead TO
life. immortal health bounding in their
pulses.
What a contrast between the prac-
teal bencvolence of this woman and a
great deal of the charity OF this day.
This woman did not spend her time
idly planning how the poor of the city
OF Joppa were to he relieved. She
took her needle and relieved them.
She was not Ike those persons who
sympathize with Imaginary sorrows
and go out i'm the street and laugh at
the boy who has upset his basket of
cold victuals or like that charity which
makes rousing speech on the benevo-
| lent platform and goes out to kick the
| beggar from the step. crying. Hush
your miserable hOwlingr Sufferers of
the world want not so much theory as
practice: not so much tears as dollars;
not so much kind wishes as loaves of
bread; not so much smiles as shoes:
not so much God bless yousr as jack
cts and frocks. l will put one earnest
Christian man. Woodworking. against
5000 mere theorists on the subject of
charity. There are n great many who
have fine ideas about church architec-
ture who never I'm their lives helped to
build n church. There are men who
| can give YOU the history of Buddhism
| and Mohammcdanism who never sent
farthing for evangelization. There
are women who talk beautifully about
the suffering of the world who never
had the courage, like Dorcas, to take
the needle and assault it,
Female BcncvoIcrce
l am glad that there is not page of
the worlds history which is not q rec
ord Of female benevolence. God SAYS
TO all lands and people. Come, now,
and hear the widows mite rattle down
into the poor box" The Princess of
Cont sold all her jewels that she might
help the famine stricken. Queen
Blanche, the wife of Louis VIII of
France, hearing that there were some
persons unjustly incarcerated in the
prisons, went out amid the rabble and
took stick and struck the door as n
signal that they might all strike Il. and
down went the prison door. and out
came the prisoners. Queen Maud. the
wife of Henry |. went down amid the
poor and washed their sores and adj
miniStered 60 them cordials Mrs. Ret
son. at natagorda. appeared on the
battlefield while the missiles of death
were dying around and cared for the
wounded. Is there man or woman
who has ever heard of the civil war in |
America who has not heard of the wo- |
men Of the sanitary and Christian |
commissions or the fact that before
the smoke had gone up from Gettys- !
burg and South Mountain the women
or the north met the women of the
south on the battlefield, forgetting all
their animosities while they bound up |
Che wounded and closed the eyes OF |
fhe slain? Dorcas the benefactress.
come now 10 speak OF Dorcas the
hmented. When death struck down
that good woman, oh, how much sor-
row there was i'm the town of Joppal
l suppose there were women there with
larger fortunes, women perhaps with
handsomer faces, but there was no
grief at their departure like this M
the death or Dorcas. There were moi
more turmoil and upturning in the
mediterranean sea dashing against the
wharfs ut that seaport than there
were surgings TO and fro OF grief be.
cause Dorcas was dead. There are a
great many who 80 out or life and are
unmissed. There may be q very large
funeral. there may be n great many
carriages and plumed hearse. there
may be high sounding eulogiums, the
pen may toll at the cemetery gate,
tEere may be very Il he marble shaft
reared over the resting place, but the
Whole thing may be n falsehood and
a sham.
Nothing Lost.
The church OF God has lost nothinr:I
the world has lost nothing. 1t is only
q nuisance abated. 1t is only n grum-I
bier ceasing TO find fault. 1t is only
an idler stopped yawning. II is only
dlSSipated fashionable parted from
MS Wine cellar, while on the other
hand no useful Christian leaves this
world without being missed. The
church OF God cries out, like the
prophet, Howl, fir tree, for the cedar
las fallen" Widowhood comes and
SHOWS the garments which the depart.
III had made. Orphans are lifted up
o look into the calm face or the sleep
ng Denefactress. Reclaimed vagrancy
'omes and kisses the cold brow of her
Vho charmed il away from sin, and
III through the streets of Joppa there
$ Notwithstanding because Dorcas {
dead. When Josephine OF France ;
vas carried out to her grave, there .
we're great many men and women of 1
'omp and pride and position that went
mt after her. But / am most affected I
~ the story of history that on that
rance who followed her coffin, weep- |
ne and wailing until the air rang
gain, because when they lost Joseph
ne they lost their last earthly friend. l
Oh, who would not rather have such c
bsequies than all the tears that were /
yer poured in the lachrymals that
ave been exhumed from ancient
tiles! There may be no mass for the |
cad, there may be no costly sarcopha- I
us, there may be no elaborate mauso- |
Aum. but in the damp cellars of the
ity and through the lonely huts of the
fountain glen there will be mourning.
lourning, mourning. because Dorcas {
} dead. Blessed are the dead who !
lie In the Lord. They rest from their Q
lbors and their works do follow '
hem" \
| speak to you OF Dorcas the resur- II
ected. The apostle came to where she ]
'as and said, Arise, and she sat upv'
~ hot - n