Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-07-18

OF Christendom TO better deeds for
God and humanity.
To show what power this sickly little
woman was able TO exercise. a male
auditor gave his impression of her to a
friend in this way: when she COM
nenced TO speak, l felt sorry for her.
She seemed to be such a wee little bit
or sickly woman. so very frGil and
helpless, but when Frances Il. Willard
had been speaking a short time this
wee little bit of n woman seemed To
me to grow nine feet tall, and she
seemed to have In her hand battering
ram with which she was pounding up
on the door Of my heart until had To
open II and let the Saviour in." To
show what was the influence of this
frail little woman and the work which
she did l would quote statement
made by Wendell Phillips. He turned
to a young man, who was complaining
that there Were no great reformers to-
day, because there were no great re-
forms to champion. and said: Young
man. did you hear Frances Il. Willard
speak tonight? If you did. in that
frail, little sick body you saw one of
the mightiest powers for good this
world has ever seen. You also saw her
denouncing. perhaps, the mghtiest
curse of all ages, the curse of intoxi-
cants. Go and do as the sickly Frances
L. Willard is doing
The Solicitations OF the Saints.
Now. to you who are sitting before
me today with the pale face of an in
valid bring the salutations of the
saints who have lived in the C8sarean
palaces of physical infirmity. l would
tell YOU to do something for God in
spite OF your bodily pain. as blind John
Milton Gid; as Bella Cooke, who has
been bedridden for over forty years, is
doing: as Paul did, who was sin bodily
presence weak" Your very physical
sufferings ought to bring you closer to
Christ. Your very sicknesses ought to
make you the more anxious to do some
thing for the Saviour now that your
time ON earth may be short. They
ought to make you as anxious to do
something for Christ as was the dying
president of Union college, who. when
his physician told him he had but one
hour on earth TO live, said. 'Then place
that hour i'm prayer with God, pleading
for the salvation OF sinful soulsr'
Would that today, in the presence of
these saints who have lived in the
modern Caesars palaces of physical
torture, we might all conSecrate our
frail as well as our well bodies to the
service of the Lord Jesus Christi
L would encourage those Christians
also who are trying 20 maintain their
Christian integrity I'm spite of an evil
past. BY this statement l mean those
Christians whose past sins have been
heralded over the world. even as
Gains sin was known by the black
mark which had been stamped upon
the murdercr's brow. IL IL is hard for
n young girl TO be good and pure and
true when she is living in n Christian
home and has practically never been
out OF her mothers care, how much
harder must it he for n young girl to
be good and true and pure when she
has had her feet cut and lacerated by
treading the crooked and stony path
way of sin and has had her fair name
blackened 10y the condemnations OF
young man TO hold an honorable posi-
ton in society when his record is
clean and good, how much more diff
cult must X be for n man TO attain an
honorable life when he has served out
his time i'm felon's cell or has had his
hair cropped by the convict's shears
and his clothes striped with the marks
Of the penitentiary! IL ii is difficult
Cor n Christian 10 live right whose
tcarcst neighbors can find nothing but
good TO say OF him and his past, how
much more difficult must IL be for
man 10 live n good life who has been
n drunkard. n libertine. thief, a So
cial outcast, Would you. o Christian
merchant. today be willing TO have re-
formed eX-convicts as occupants or
your Office? Would you, o mother, al
low reformed servants I'm your home
whose past lives have been dissolute?
NO IN an PROBABILITY you would
both answer In an un-Christian way:
Il do not bear such people any I'll will,
but 1 would prefer not 10 have them
around my person. They might steal
or perhaps they might lead my chill
help would dismiss them at once"
Some time ago stood in the store of
personal friend. While there n gen.
tleman who was Il member OF the Chi
cago detective force entered TO buy
some goods. This officer sharply looked
at one. OF the clerks. Then he came
over TO the merchants side and said:
"Mr. So-and-so, that clerk is an ex-
convict. lie served term in Joliet
penitentiary. You had better keep an
eye upon him." Although that ex-eon-
Wet was n good clerk and had been in
the employ OF my friend for nearly
two years, he was Immediately dis
charged. When / spoke up in his
favor and begged that he be retained
and given chance To live n good life,
my friend answered: mo, Mr.. Tai
mage; that man is able to steal every
year thousands OF dollars without my
knowing IL. | cannot run the risk
So the poor clerk was driven out OF
that store and perhaps driven into a
future of crime.
Sinking an EVIL Past.
But though ii is so difficult for man
TO lead Christian life who has had an
evil past, yet If there are any such here
today bring to you the salutations OF
the saints in Caesars palace. 1 want tC
encourage you with the fact that, just
as some OF the greatest of moral heroes
have been physical weaklings, so some
of the greatest OF Christian heroes
have been those who have sinned ever
worse than you have sinned. Harry
Monroe. who for years has run the Pa
ciic Garden mission OF Chicago and
who has been instrumental in savins
thousands OF souls, was-what? A
college graduate? a member of 6
Christian church and a Christian
home? No. He was converted gam
bier. Jerry McAuley of New York
who did so much for the sIums of New
York, was a drunkard and n prize
fighter. John Newton was once vilely
dissolute and depraved, though in after
life he wrote the noted hymn:
i saw One hanging on a tree