Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-12-16

nun axes VIII not nnish you You will
never DO finished On forever. Up for
ever. Out of the sea of earthly Dispute
trde VIII gradually rise the reefs, the
Islands, the continents. the hemispheres
OF grandeur and glory. Men talk as
though IN this life we only had time to
build, but what we build in this life. as
compared with what we shall build in
the next life, is as a striped she'll to
Australia.
You go into an architects study and
there you see the sketch Of a temple
tho cornerstone Of which has not yet
been laid. oh, that could have an ar
chitectural sketch of what you will be
after eternity has wrought upon you I
What pillars of strength What affairs
OF supernal worshipi What pinnacles
thrusting their glittering spikes into che
sun that never setsi You do not sooid
the corallines because they cannot build
sn island in day. Why should you
scold yourself because you cannot COM
plete temple Of holiness for the heart
IN this short lifetime: You tell me we
do not amount to much now, but try as
after 1000, 600, 900 ages Of halleluiah.
Let us hear the angels chant for
1, 600, 600 centuries. Give us an eternity
with God, and then see il we do not
amount to something. More slowly and
marvelously accumulative Is tho grace
In the soul than anything can think
Of mo mention shall be made OF coral. :"
A Primo virtue.
Lord, help rs to learn that which
most OF us are deficient in-patience. II
thou canst take through the sea anem-
ones millions of years TO build one bank
or coral, ought we not to be willing to
do work through 10 years or so years
without complaint, without restlessness.
without chafing Of spiritl Patience with
the erring; patience that we cannot
have the millennium IN q few weeks;
patience with assault Of antagonists:
patience at what seems slow fulflitnent
or Bible promises; patience with phys
ical ailments; patience uader delays Of
Providence; grand. glorious. all sndur-
ing, all oonquering patiencei Patience
like that which my lately assembled
friend, DIR. Abel Stevens, describes
when writing of one OF Wesley g preach
ers, John Nelson, who, when q man had
him put in prison by false charges and
being for long time tormented by his
enemy, said, "The Lord lifted up a
standard when the anger was coming
ON like food, else i should have
wrung his neck 10 tho ground and set
my foot upon It,"
Patience like that of Pericles, the
Athenian statesman who, when a man
pursued him to his own door, hurting
at him epithets and arriving there when
1t had become dark, sent his servant
with torch to light his enemy back to
his homo. Patience like that eulogized
by the Spanish proverb when it says, 81
have lost the rings, but here are the
fingers still" Patiencei The sweetest
sugar for the sourest cup, the balance
wheel for all mental and moral ma
chinery, the foot that treads into placid.
ity stormiest lake, the bride for other
wise rash tongues, the sublime silence
that conquers the boisterous and blatant
Patience like that of the most illustri.
Gus example of all the ages, Jesus Christ
patient under betrayal. patient under
the treatment Of Pilates oyer and ter
miner, patient under the expectoration
OF his assailants patient under tiagelia-
tons, patient under the charging spears
of the Roman cavalry, patient unto
death. Under all exasperations employ
1t Whatever comes, stand it. Hold on.
wait, bear mp.
Take my hand again, and we will 60
little farther into this garden of the
sea, and we shall find that in proportion
rs the climate is hot tho coral is wealthy.
Draw two isothermal lines at GO degrees
north and south Of the equator, and you
find the favorite home of the coral. Go
to tho hottest part of the Pacific seas,
and you find the finest specimens of
coral Coral is u child of the fro, but
more wonderfully do the heats and
fires OF trouble bring out the Jewels of
the Christian soul Those are not the
stalwart men who are asleep ON the
shaded lawn, but those who are pound
ing amid the furnaces. / do not know
OF any other way of getting a thorough
Christian character. will show you n
picture Hero are father and a mother
30 or 80 years OF age, their family around
them. It is Sabbath morning. They
have prayers. They hear the children's
catechism. They have prayers every day
Of the week. They are in humble cir
eumstances, but after awhile the wheel
OF fortune turns mp, and the man gets
has $50, 600. Now he has prayers on
Sabbath and every day of the week, but
he has dropped the catechism. Tho
wheel of fortune turns up again, and he
gets his $4,000. Now he has prayers
ON Sabbath morning alone. The wheel
OF fortune keeps turning up, and he has
$500. 600, and now he has prayers on
Sabbath morning when he feels like it
and there is no company. The wheel Of
fortune keeps ON turning up, and he has
his $500. 600 and no prayers at all Four
leaf clover In pasture field is not 80
rare as family prayers in the houses Of
people who have more than $500, 900.
But now the wheel OF fortune turns
down. and the man loses $500. 600 ont
OF the $500, 900. Now ON Sabbath morn
ing he is on stepladder looking for q
Bible under the old newspapers ON the
bookcase. He is going to have prayers
His affairs are moro and more compli-
Gated, and after awhile crash goes his
last dollar. Now he has prayers every
morning, and he hears his grandchil-
dreu the catechism. Prosperity took
him away from God; adversely drove
him back to God. Hot climate to make
the coral; hot and scalding trouble to
make the jewels of grace In the soul.
We all hato trouble, and yet 1t does a
great deal for us You have heard per-
haps of that painter who wished to get
an expression of great distress for his
canvas and who had his servant lash q
man fast and put him to great torture,
and then the artist caught the look ON
the victims face and Immediately trans
ferred 1t to the canvas Then he said to
the servant, More torture. {" and under
more torture there was more thorough
expression Of pain, and the artist said:
stop there. Wait till catch that ex-
preston. Therei Now have 1t upon
the canvas. Let loose the victim. have
a work that will last forever 4" "Oh,"
you say, "he was an inhuman painter"
No doubt about it. Trouble is cruel and
iUhupaQn INIT ho 20 a oraof rNoSufar an1