Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-04-22

say, as did Jephthah, % God, II thou
wilt allow me to succeed In life will
sacrifice upon thy altar. IL she comes
forth first to greet me. even my only
child. my lovely daughterr"
A Sacred Trust.
oh. parent, 1t is an awful crime to
endanger the physical and temporal
and spiritual welfare OF your children!
No crime among all recorded crimes
ought to be more Stunned or condemn
ed And yet this crime we see flaunt-
ing itself everywhere. Parents seem
TO be too busy seeking earthly fame
and temporal success to care for their
own flesh and blood. Said prominent
English judge TO young man stand
ing In the felon's dock, do you re-
member your fatherY' Perfectly"
said the youth. Whenever l entered
his presence he would say: Run away:
run, my lad. and don't trouble me. 1
must write now; must write" Who
was that father? He was the great
lawyer" said Or. Potter. "who was
the author OF the famous work on
The Law Of Trusts and his only
son in due time furnished a practical
commentary on the way in which his
father had discharged the most sacred
OF all trusts committed to him In the
person OF his own child"
ED, where is your mother?" I once
asked young school friend when din
ing in the home of his mother. "Oh,
mother is not here to dinner today.
Mother is very seldom at home. She
is always Off addressing those religious
meetings" Do you wonder that In
this answer 1 read the future doom of
that son? Do you wonder that that
boy turned out badly? What right had
that mother to attend any series of
meetings which would compel her TO
Systematically neglect the spiritual
training OF her offspring by her own
Preside? No temporal success of life
should be allowed to demand for its
affairs the sacrifice of mans children.
the sacrifice of a mothers home.
Christian Integrity.
For temporal success, no matter how
great, God would never have us de-
stroy our Christian integrity. He
would never have us mix an alloy In
with the pure gold OF Christian char
acter In order to make It harder and
to give 1t louder ring. BE would new
er say to us, "Oh, child OF God, you
can tell Just one big lie or commit one
big sin If by that means you can win
great earthly success. and then you
will be ready to reconsecrate your
whole life to me-" And ret there are
many men and women who believe that
In the sight of God and man a great
temporal success In one way may atone
for the illegitimate and dishonest
means by which that success is won.
To them the cloven foot OF Satan NAV
be allowed to stand In the front rank
Of the worlds honored ones IL 1t be
only covered with the shining kid Of
patent leather shoe.
who is that gentleman riding down
the street" / ask. oh" he answers.
that is one of the most influential and
respected men In our town. He Is not
only at the head Of all reformatory
movements, but he is one Of the Dill
lars OF Rev. DIR. So-and-sos church."
How did he make his money? '
WELL" he answers, and with that he
looks around to see no one IS within
hearing distance, there Is a dark sto-
~ connected with his life. People do
say he got his start by dishonest.
means. He Is said to have been once
a very poor young man and clerk in
his uncle's Office. This uncle was the
owner of some very valuable coke
lands. This uncle was a director in
one OF our large private banks and
i~
directors, upon notes aggregating some
millions of dollars in value. The bank
failed. These directors were response
BILE for the notes. In order to liqui-
date those notes that uncle would have
had to hand over most OF his property.
What did he do? In order to escape
these legitimate obligations he placed
his coke property in the hands of his
nephew and then went into court and
swore he was penniless. After he had
perjured himself thus this uncle went
to his nephew and said. Now, my boy.
deed me back my coke lands oh. no.
SAID the young man; you gave them
to me, and / Will keep them. II you
are dishonest / can be dishonest too
That is the way Mr.. So-and-so was
start in life. But, of course, as he Is
SO rich and generous with his money
the church and the world are ready to
overlook this sin OF his youth" Al
great temporal success is held by some
TO atone for the sinful means by which
that success is won.
Emptiness of Temporal Success.
rink not this illustration purely i'm
aginary. ] am speaking about one of
whom Dame Rumor Is telling this
story at this moment. And vet. my
brother, as l relate this incident, i |
want you to answer this question.
Does God ever allow us to make any
successes true In his sight, at the ex.
pense or our Christian Integrity p VIII
ne forgive US our past sins because we
bring to him our gold and silver and
precious Jewels that have beea stolen
from the Golfers OF anothers treasure
vaults! What Is worth having Is worth |
paying for; but we always pay too high
Tor our temporal successes when wa
pay Tor them with the coin of decsit |
ana dishonesty and theft and with
gold smelted by unlawful and immoral |
nres. "A good name is rather to be |
chosen than great riches" That means |
tnough you pile upon one side of your
scales all the gold buried under a thou
sand hills, and all the securities that |
make the money markets fawn at your
reet and all the diamonds taken from
Goiconda mine, and yet put upon the |
otner Side or thar moral scale one dis. /
honest act by which those riches were
Won. In the sight OF God and Christian
men you have paid for your wealth at
TOO high price. You have paid for
them at the expense OF your Christian
integrity.
but there Is still another very foolish
sacrince many men and women make
Ior temporal successes OF life. That "a
the respect and love which all good
men and women should feel toward
their Fellow men. 1t Is one thing to be
careful about our Christian integrity
that others may think well of us. But
II IS another and q more fmnorSo ne