Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-10-22
want like Joash. to stay until coro-


through the broad, wide open door Of
Christian communion? l wish 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 so
low mark that they begrudge it ev-
erything, even the few dollars they
give toward it. They make no sacri-
fees. 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 receipt
in full and don't bother me soon
again. 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-teuth 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 aff1iction to most peo-
pie when it ought to be an eXhilaration
and a rapture. Oh, that God would re-
model our souls on this subject and
that we might appreciate the house Of
God as the great refuge! 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.
All. when you pass away-and it will
not be long before you do-when you
pass away, it 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
Cling 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. 1 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 Sunday.
Have you any objectionsY" "Bless
you" he said. COLLECTIONS? 1 wish all
my children belonged to the church. 1
don't attend to those matters myself. I
know I am very wicked. But / am
very glad they are going. and 1 shall
be there to see them. 1 am very glad,
sir; l am very glad. l want them
nd no
been wanderers from God and though
XOu may have sometimes caricatured
Tie church of Jesus, it is your great de-
sire that your sons and daughters
should be standing all their lives with
in this sacred Enclosure.
More than that. You yourself will
want the church for q hiding place
when the mortgage is foreclosed, when
your daughter, just blooming into wo-
manhood, suddenly clasps her hands In
a slumber that knows no waking;
when the gaunt trouble walks through
the parlor and the sitting room and the
dining hall and the nursery, you will
want some shelter from the tempest.
All, some of you have been run upon
by misfortune and trial Why do you
not come into the shelter?
l said to a widowed mother after she
had buried her only son-months after
i said to her, "How do you get along
nowadays?" ooh" she replied, 81 get
along tolerably we'll except when the
sun Shines" 1 said, what do you
mean by that?' when she said: ST can't
bear to see the sun shine. My heart is
so dark that all the brightness of the
natural world seems a mockery to me-"
o darkened soul! o broken hearted
man, broken hearted woman! Why do
you not come into the shelter? 1 swing
it from wall to wall. Come in! Come
in! You want a place where your trou-
bles shall be interpreted, where your
burdens shall be unstrapped, where
your tears shall be wiped away.
Church of God, be a hiding place to
all these people! Give them a seat
where they can rest their weary souls. |
Flash some light from your chande-
liers upon their darkness. With some
soothing hymn hush these griefs. oh, |
church of God, gate of heaven, let me |
go through it! All other institutions |
are going to fail but the church of God |
its foundation is the Rock of Ages, |
keys are held by the universal Proprie- |
tor, its dividend is heaven, its presi- |
dent is God!
Sure thy truth shall last,
To Zion shall be given
The highest glories earth can yield
And brighter bliss of heaven.
God grant that all this audience. the
youngest, the eldest, the worst, the
best may find their safe and glorious
hiding place where Joash found it-in
the temple!