Connecticut western news., 1900-10-25

ton. You put all care upon your cnIi- dren between 12 and 1S Why do you not put the chief care between and g.? It is too late to repair vessel when it has got out of the drydocks. It Is too late to save Joash after the execution CTS have broken In. May God arm us all for this work of snatching royal souls from death to coronation.
 subIimest of All Work.
 Can you imagine any sublimer work than this soul saving2 That was what flushed Paups cheek with enthusiasm, that was what led Munson to risk his life amid Bornesian cannibals, that was what sent Dr. Abeel to preach un- 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 then came back and said, "I am ready" But they were shocked at the idea of taking the life of their host. He said, Ut Is the will of God that should die," and he stood on the mar gin of his own grave, and they be- headed him. You say 1t Is a mania, a foolhardiness, fanaticism. Rather would I call 1t a glorious self abnega- ton, the thrill of eternal satisfaction, the plucking of Joash from death and raising him to coronation.
 The third thought hand to you Is that the church of God Is 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 official desperadoes will hunt through every nook and cor ner 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 streets, she hears the shriek of the dying mo- bility, 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 wick ed assassins will not bother the temple a great deal. They are not apt to go very much to church, and so she sets down Joash in the temple. There he will be hearing the songs of the wor- shipers year after year. There he will breathe the odor of the golden censers. In that sacred spot he will tarry, se- creted until the six years have passed and he come to enthronement.
 The Best Hiding Place.
 Would God that we were all as wise as Jehosheba and knew that the church of God Is the best hiding place! Per haps our parents took us there In early days. They snatched us away from the world and hid us behind the baptis- nal fonts and amid the Bibles and psalm books. O glorious inclosure! 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 all saints, and we have dwelt under the wings of the cheru- bim. Glorious inclosure! When my father and mother died and the prop erty was settled up, there was hardly anything left, but they endowed us with a property worth more than any earthly possession, 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 comfort, and there I mean to live. ! want, like Joash. to stay until coro- nation.
 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 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 hiding place. There are many people who put the church at 50 low a mark that they begrudge 1t ev- erything, even the few dollars they give toward 1t. They make no saori- fees. They dole 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, 1t is. Send me a receipt | in full and don't bother me soon | againr' There Is not more than one man out of a thousand that appreciates | what the church is. Where are the | souls that put aside one-tenth for | Christian institutions one tenth of l their income? Where are those who, | having put aside that one-tenth, draw | upon 1t cheerfully? Why, 1t is pull and | drag and hold on and grab and clutch, and giving Is an aff1iction to most peo- pie when 1t ought to be an exhilaration and rapture. Oh, that God would re-
 model our souls on this subject and that we might appreciate the house of God as the great refugel If your chill dren are to come up to lives of virtue and happiness, they will come up under the shadow of the church. If the
 church does not get them, the world | will.
 | Open the Church Doors.
 | An, when you pass away-and It will
 not be long before you do-when you
 pass away, 1t will be a satisfaction to
 see your children in Christian society.
 You want to have them sitting at the holy sacraments. You want them min- gling in Christian associations. You
 would like to have them die in the sa- cred precincts. When you are on your
 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 church's
 benediction. I do not care how hard
 you are, that Is so. said to a man of
 the world: Your son and daughter are
 going to join our church next Sunday
 Have you any objectionsr "Bless