Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-10-26

raising him TO coronation
The third thought hand TO YOU Is
that the church OF God Is n 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 20 some room .u the
palaceT 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 10 h8rbor the fugitive But she
has To take him somewhere. She
hears the cry OK the mob In the streets
! she hears the shrek OF the dying no
| bil'ty. 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
cd assasSins Will not bother the temple
n 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-
shippers year after year. There he VIII
breathe the odor of the golden censers
In that sacred spot he will larry. Sc
creted Gntil the six years have passed
aud he come 20 enthronement
The Best Hiding Place.
Would God that we were all as wise
as Jchosheb3 and knew THAI 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-
fonts hO
psalm books. o glorious inclosurel 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 Walls i'm which are
the prayers of all saints, and we have
dwelt under the wings of the chcru-
bin. Glorious inclosurel When nv
father and mother died and the prop
erty was settled up, there was hardly
| anything left. but they endowed US
with 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 Cor shelter, and when
assaulted OF sorrows | have gone there
for comfort. and there I mean to live.
want, like Joash. to stay until coro-
nation.
Q 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? l wish 1 could
act the part of Jehosheba today and
steal YOU away from your perils and
I'm hn
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 il cv-
erything. even the few dollars they
give toward it. They make no sacri-
fees, They dole little out of their
surplusage. They pay their butchers
bin. 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 ia
his church and frown as they say:
There, Lord, IL is. Send me n receipt
In full and don't bother me soon
again!' There is not more than one
man out OF thousand that appreciates
what the church is. Where are the
souls that put aside one-tcuth for
Christian institutions - one tenth of
their incomel Where are those who.
having put aside that one-tenth. draw
upon 1t cheerfully? Why, IL Is pull and
drag and hold GA and grab aud clutch.
and giving is an afiliction TO most poo
pie when IL 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 REFUGEE II your chill
dren are 20 come up to lives OF virtue
and happiness, they viii come up under
the shadow OF the church. IL the
church does not get them, the world
will.
Open the Church Doors
All. when you pass away-and IL win
not be long before you do-wben Won
pass away. II will be n 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
oenediction. do not care how hard
you are, that is So i said to n man OF
the world: Your son and daughter are
going TO join our church next Sunday.
Have you any objections?" BLESS
you" he said. objections? / wish all
my children belonged TO the church.
don't attend 10 those matters myself.
know l am very wicked But I am
very glad they are going. and | shall
be there to see them. | am very glad,
sir; l am very glad. want them
there" And so. though you may have
been wanderers from God and though
you may have sometimes caricaturvd
the church OF Jesus. IL 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 n hiding place
when the mortgage Is foreclosed. when
your daughter, just blooming into wo-
manhood, suddenly clasps her hands in
slumber that knows no waking:
""NH 'hC Suuht uOutie WulkS through
the parlor and the sitting room and the
dining han 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 shelterY
said to widowed mother after she |
ma buried her only son-months after |
Il said to her How do Won oet alone,
nowadaysT oh" she replied. 81 get |
along toierably well except when the
sun shines" said. what do Won +
mean by thatYs when she said: 81 can't |
bear to see the sun shine. Ny heart is
30 dark that all the brightness of the
natural world seems a mockery to me-"
y darkened SOUL o broken hearted
man. broken hearted woman! Why do
you not come into the shelter? | swing
{ from wall 10 wall Come inl Come
n! You want place where your trou-
Dies shall be Interpreted. where your