The Yale expositor., 1900-10-26

swear before they teach them the i'm
portance of righteous conversation.
They wait until their children are all
wrapt up in this world before they tell
them of better world. Too late with
your prayers. Too late with your dis
cipline. Too late with your benedic-
ton. You put all care upon your
children between twelve and eighteen.
Why do you not put the chief care be-
tween four and nine? 1t is too late
to repair vessel when it has got out
of the drydocks. 1t is too late to save
Joash after the eXecutioners have
broken in. May God arm us all for
this work of snatching royal souls
from death to coronation.
Work OF Soul Saving
Can you imagine any sublimer work
than this soul saving? That was what
flushed Paul's 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,
II am ready" But they were shocked
at the idea of taking the life Of their
host. He said, at is the will of God
that l should die" and he stood on
the margin of his own grave, and they
beheaded him. You say it is a mania,
a foolhardlness. fanaticism. Rather
would l call it glorious self-abnega-
ton, the thrill of eternal satisfaction,
the plucking of Joash from death and
raising him to coronation.
The third thought l hand to you is
that the church of God is a good hid
ing place. When Jehosheba rushes into
the nursery of the king and picks up
Joash, what shall she 90 with him?
Shall she take him to some room in
the palace? No, for the official des-
peradoes will hunt through every
nook and corner of that building.
Shall she take him to the residence Of
some wealthy citizen? No, that citi-
zen would not dare to harbor the flu
gitive. But she has to take him some
where. She hears the cry of the mob
in the streets; she hears the shrek of
the dying nobility; so she rushes with
Joash into the room of the temple,
into the house of God, and there she
puts him down. sac knows that Atha-
liah and her wicked assassins will
not bother the temple a great deal.
So they are not apt to go very much
to church, and so she sets down Joash
in the temple. There he will be hear
ing the songs of the worshipers year
after year; there he will breathe the
odor of the golden censers; in that
sacred spot he will tarry, secreted un-
til the six years have passed and he
come to enforcement.
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!
Perhaps our parents took us there in
early days. They snatched us away
from the world and hid us behind the
baptismal fonts and amid the Bibles
and psalm books. glorious inclos-
ure! 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 in which are the prayers OF all
saints. and we have dwelt under the
wings of the cherubim. Glorious in
closure! When my father and mother
died and the property was settled up,
there was hardly anything left But
they endowed us with a property
worth more than any earthly posses
sion 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 sor-
rows l have gone there for comfort,
and there l mean to live. l want, like
Joash, to stay until coronation.
Christian Associltion.
All, when you pass away-and it
will not be long before you do-when
you pass away, it will be satisfaction
ETY.. You want to have them sitting at
the holy sacraments. You want them
mlngling in Christian associations.
You would like to have them die in
the sacred precincts When you are
on your dying bed and your little ones
come to take up your last word and
you look into their bewildered faces,
you will want to leave them under the
church's benediction. l do net care
how hard you are; that is 50; / said
to a man of the world: Your son
and daughter are going to join our
church next Sunday. Have you any
objections? "Bless you!" he said.
COLLECTIONS? ] wish all my children
belonged to the church. l don't at
tend to those matters myself know
l am very wicked-but / am very glad
they are going, and / shall be there
to see them. l am very glad, sir; !
am very glad. l want them there"
And Gu though Won rnoy bovo hoau