Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-02-26


| appropriate time for the spiritual prep
nration for Christs coming to the
home. The children should be told all
| about him and be prepared 10 welcome
the Saviour as friend. The cook and
the chambermaid should be told all
about him. so that they may know how
Christ loved Martha. the busy cook. as
well as the gentle Mary who sat at his
feet. Home friends should be told all
about him, SO that they also may come
In and honor tho divine guest. As we
In the Brooklyn home read aud reread
the writings OF the English poet In or
der 10 know what his thoughts might
/ be. SO, to prepare for the advent of
Christ In the home we should read and
reread the words which be spoke unto
his disciples OF old. We should prepare
to greet Christ not as stranger, but
as a long loved ana anxiously awaited
friend.
4 Far Hctter Church Life.
The Lentep season Is an annual plea
for the Standardization or the church.
Ministers Of the different Protestant
churches are more and more getting
into the custom OF going into n ere
treat at least once a year, where by
fasting ana prayer they may spiritual,
! ~ prepare themselves for their 60,
clesiastical ministra lions. At least
once a year rs church members we
should go into spiritual retreat"
In that retreat" we should call upon
our Heavenly Father that the Holy.
Spirit may bless us in our relation
ship with our midwcek prayer meet
ings and Sunday schools ard Christian
Endeavor societies. and LESS Us in our
relationship TO his great church at
large.
After Jesus Christ drove tho money
changers out OF the temple. were the
attempts to secularize the house OF
God into place FOR mere educational
and literary and musical and social
and financial enjoyment forever eban-
donedf Do not some OK US, conscious
" and unconsoioxsly, fall into the err
ror Of coming to church merely on &C.
count OF the oratottcel gifts OF the
| preacher? Did not thousands upon
thousands Of worshipers sit at the feet
OF Beecher. a Cumming. Rowland
Hill and John Wesley. not because
they were worshiping God, but rather
because they were worshiping a bril-
liant manf Do not thousands upon
thousands Of people go to the great
cathedfAls of Europe in order to hear
the music. just as those same musical
| lovers would sit at the feet of List,
| D PadeFewski or n Damrosch?
We know that the finest living mu=
steal composer of Italy leads the Yati-
can choir and the finest organIst OF all
London is master OF St PauPs famous
organ and that Plymouth church was
not more noted for the fact that IL had
one OF the greatest OF preachers than
that 1t had one of the greatest of mu-
sicianss who was able TO make its or
| gan pipes weep and sob as well as
sound mighty hosanna. Are not some
OK our churches on account OF their
wealth being more and more secular
lied into mere social clubs? Do not
many professional men go to church
not for the spiritual good they may get
| out OF those churches, but that they
may be able TO come In touch with
those who worship I'm those eongrega-
tons? Is IL not becoming more and
| more the custom for the members of
the church boards OF trustees to Judge
Of the success or the failure OF the
| church by the criterion of money-by
the way that church in its collections
Is able to take In as well as give out
wealth?
Heed the Summons.
Oh, yes, my friends, the church men,
| bers should heed the Lenten summons.
They should heed the spiritual call,
which scars above the discordapt ones
| Of the busy marts even as the clear
note OF the thrush may be heard above
the bedlam of the woods sounding the
| reveille OF the morning. They should
hear the Lenten call which says TO the
clergyman, "Oh, ordained undershep-
herd Of the Christian pulpit. down on
your knees and prayr' Lent calls to
the elders and deacons and Sunday
school officers, Down on your knees
and pray" II calls TO the lay members,
whether bediamonded and in silks or In
humble honespun, Down on your
knees In prayerr' oh. that we might
all heed the spiritual Lenten call and
make Christ's church a veritable "house
OF prayer"
| Thus, my friends, the spring fast
| calls TO the men I'm the social world
and to the men in the business world
and to the men in the home and To the
men In the church to come to prayers.
IL calls at this time because on the
coming OF Ash Wednesday we shah
celebrate the beginning of one OF the
most triumphant and yet saddest times
or all Christ's earthly existence. The
Jordanic baptism was just over. Christ
was about to begin his divine mission.
We know not how far the human ma
ture he assumed may have obscured
Tor the time the divine attributes he
possessed. Ii may he that In those for
~ days or solitary thought and prayer
he realized more clearly than I'm his
former years the sublImity OF his work
and or his sacrifice. He saw what his
work was to be. He saw how he must
carry the burden of mans sins and die
Tor man aud he resurrected before he
could return TO his Fathers throne.
May this coming spring fast OF the
Lenten season be to you also n time of
spiritual awakening May II be a time
when you will not only realize that
God has a glorious earthly work for
you TO do, but time when you can
e s"ae ntter work Is uone You
shall live on and on and with Christ
and never die. May you during the
next coming forty days be much in
prayer. much in earnest beseechment
May you also feel and know that the
way you are TO be best fitted for that
earthly work is by the depth OF your
repentance as well as by the height of
your glorious and triumphant faith.
May God bless this Lenten season to
us all!
copyright. 1904. by Louis Klopsch.l