Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-08-22


ent Christian churches. You know, as
well as | know. that though some OF
the church members may be hypo-
critics the vast majority are men and
women who have banded themselves
together for the purpose of prayer and
communion with God and OF trying TO
make their fellowship better and purer
and truer and more Christlike. There
are thousands and tens of thousands
of church members who are no more
hypocrites than your Christian father
and mother, who were also members
OF Christian church. were hypocrites.
To demonstrate how much you really
respect the Christian church. though
you may not know il. | would like to
ask you question. If you were strand
| ed as young woman i'm distant
| city, without money or friends, TO
whom would you 80 for help? To the
| saloon keeper? To the rich brewer?
| No, no, Without doubt you would go
straight to some Christian minister's
home. You would go TO him. just as
many young men and women have
come to me. and you would say. MY
! father and mother are members of DIR.
| So-and-so's church. in such and such
town. have no money. 1 want to
| get home. VIII you help met" To
have you realize how much you respect
| the church OF the Lord Jesus Christ
would picture YOU stranded as ship
wrecked sailor upon a strange coast
What would you most prefer TO see
a fortress. Il kings palace. an army en-
campment or the stecple OF Christian
church? You know as well as every
intelligent man or woman knows that
the community which lives under the
shadow Of the church spire is God
fearing community. The community
which does not protect the Christian
church is an unsafe community In
which to dwell. and there is no excep-
ton to the rule.
what the Church Is For.
When you criticise the sincerity OF
certain church members, you should
not forget that the church OF Christ
was instituted for the imperfect as
well as the perfect, for the moral Grip
pies as well as for those who are spir-
ituaily whole. In the church there are
60 be found members like a man whom
friend OF mine was one evening de-
Tending. Howard Crosby came TO this
gentleman and said: Doctor how can
you like such man? You know he is
not what he ought to be- My friend
turned and said: "Dr. Crosby, if you
had little child who had lost an eye
or was deaf or who was born lame
would you despise him on account of
his infirmity? Well, my friend is n
moral cripple. | do not like him be-
cause he has lost one eye and one leg
and one arm. but do love him be-
cause, by the grace of God, he is try
ing to struggle against his daily temp
tations and his spiritual deformities."
So you will find i'm the church of God
today moral cripples. They are strug-
Cling every day of their lives against
sinful temptations; they keep on strug-
Cling; keep on praying; keep on reach
ing up TO God; keep on staying in the
church because they know that Christ
did not come to institute n church for
perfect men. He came to heal the sick
and not the well. The church of God
is the great earthly spiritual hospital,
where Christ, us the surgeon. loves TO
set the crooked limbs; where Christ, as
the spiritual opthalmoloGist. loves to
open the eyes that are blinded OF sin.
Well" observes another nearer, "the
reason | do not join the church Is be-
cause | believe man can be Just as
good Christian outside the church as
inside" Now. would not assert that
all men who are nonchurchgoers are
unchristian men. John Newton used to
say: when I get TO heaven. / shall
have three grcat surprises. One great
surprise will be TO find so many peo-
pie there did not expect TO see. The |
next surprise will be to find so many |
people absent whom | expected TO see, |
and the third great surprise will be to |
find that | 80; to heaven myself" Like |
John Newton, when most OF us reach |
heaven-I pray we may all be there-I |
believe we shall be very much sur
prised TO find there some people who |
never entered the church door and |
never publicly professed their faith at |
the church altar. Mr.. Beecher once |
beautifully and POLITICALLY said: 81 am |
glad that some gospel seeds have been |
blown over the church wall and that |
fruit trees and flowers most pleasant |
10 the eye are springing up outside the |
church garden as well as inside, and.
though / wish they were within the
Enclosure, where the boars out of the
woods could not waste them and the
wild beasts OF the field devour them.
yet love them and am glad TO see
them growing there"
The Spiritual Household.
But, though there may be Christian
men and women living outside of the
church fellowship for one do not be-
lieye could be Christian and not be
n processing member of. the church of
Christ. i do not believe that could
surn my back upon my church and still
love my Christ as | love him today,
and, my brother and sister, neither do
L believe you can turn your back upon
the church of God and yet give to
Christ your true and fervent love. be-
cause believe that, as Christians, we
should look upon the church as a col
lection OF Gods children. Therefore
we should accept and love its men,
Ders as our spiritual brothers and sis
tiers. children OF God, and we our
selves should long TO be OF the spirit
ual household.
An old Boston merchant loved q
young man from Kentucky, who was
the friend OF his dead boy. This old
Boston merchants only son had enlist
ed for the civil war. Down at the
front In 1864 he was shot Wounded
unto death, he was carried into the
home of southern lady and nursed
there until he died. But just before
his death he looked up into the sweet
face of the southern lady and said: IL
am the only son of rich Boston mer-
chant. My father will be heartbroken
when he hears of my death. After the
war Is over. and as your money is all
swept away, want your son to go to
Boston and see my father. want him
TO tell my father that you have nursed
me for weeks and months. Then nv
father will love your son for my sake"
And the dying boy with trembling fin.
gers wrote upon a slip of paper: Dear
rather am dying, This young man
Is the son OF the dear lady who has
taken your place and mothers. Take