Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-06-24

huoW tnat the busy occupations oi
heaven will never offer despised work
for the redeemed immortals? TIL,
words OF my text prove that. The dogs
OF the east were the scavengers. The
eastern people had no wonderful sys
TENS OF sewerage as have we. They
had no means OF carrying away by
subterranean pipes the offal and refuse
OF their large towns. But all the refuse
OF the Kitchens and the homes and the
barns We're and are thrown into the
streets. where the dogs devour them
In heaven, however, we shall have
none OF the repulsive and abhorrent
occupations with which earth has been
cursed. DO you wonder that when j
rode into Damascus and saw lying I'm
the streets the dead body OF horse
over which the dogs were lighting and
gormandizing. | should catch Il glimpse
OF n heavenly vision. where there shall
be no loathsome occupations as is this
one of the canine seavengers of the
east? Heaven is To be II place of con
tinual work. Heaven *. however. TO
be place of glorious. happy. jubilant.
homo q { or ii :.
As the Dag Dies.
The eastern dogs death IN n gloomy
picture. He dies the death OF all wild
beasts. ana mat death is tragedy.
Some years ago the author OF history
of the beasts OF the African forests
made this statement. which will long
live in my I.enugy: NO beast or bird
or reptile i'm all the dark continent dies
a natural death. No sooner does his
physical strength weaken than there
are some best:al or serpentine cannibals
or some enemy Of his species ready 10
feed upon his dying body and still the
feeble or the quick beatinSs OF his
heart" That means every deer or fawn
that dies dies II tragic death. Every
quick eyed and sharp clawed lynx must
fall in time before a mortal foe. Every
monster leader of the elephantine herd,
every shaggy named Bengal king.
mnst die "A violent death. So dies the
dog; but, thank God. so does not die the
Christian.
Sometimes It's true that the body of
man may die the death OF dog, but
the Christian has hope In his death.
Though his body perish in battle or In
accident, though 1t may be crushed or
burned. so that IL cannot be recognized,
his soul is safe. lie has the conscious
ness that Christ is able to keep that
which has been committed to him and
whatever may befall the body the soul
will be preserved.
John Il. Cough in one OF his wonder
full lectures gives n description OF the
escape of his father, who
was an old English soldier, from dying
a horrible death. 1t was during the
famous Franco English war of 1909,
when the British troops were retreat
ing before lightning horsed Marshal
Soult. Hungry and faint and sick
from exposure and lack OF food and
also from loss of blood from wound
In the chest, young Cough staggered
along with his regiment as long as he
could and then fell by the roadside to
die. HE must die" said his son. ut
seemed inevitable that he must die.
as he lay upon the ground.
a large bird of prey, with n red neck
growing out of ruffie of feathers.
came swOoping along, almost touching
my fathers body with its wings, and
then, circling up, it aliGhted on point
of rock and turned its blood red eye
on its intended victim. AS my father
saw that horrible thing watching and
TO tear him In pieces, even be-
fore life was extinct. ii so filled him
with horror that he cried: Il cnnnot
endure this. When ] am unable TO
drive that fearful thing away, 1t will
be tearing my flesh He rose to his
feet and crawled and struggled on till
Mt length he crept into n hut and found
safety" The death which menaced
that wounded man is the death which
awaits the eastern dog. When he is
incapable or defending himself he is
torn TO pieces. Men, too, have per-
Ished through the vindictive passions
OF their fellows. Some have been cru
Gifted, as was Christ; some have been
stoned, as was Stephen; some have
been beheaded, as was Paul: some have
been burned at the stake, as were Rid
Icy and Latimer. But how different
was their future from that OF the dog!
From out those crushed and mutilated
bodies the martyr spirits have gone
M. redeemed and glorIfied. to dwell
forever before the throne.
A Legend OF King solomon.
o ye mortals. destined to live for
ever either In bliss or I'm misery. does
not the offer that Christ makes you
stir your desire for salvation? Accept
his proffered gift. and then, be your
End what II may, your being rooted
NJ from this world, with its bitter
fruits or sorrow and pain and misery.
VIII mean nothing more than your be-
ng transplanted into that supernal
garden I'm which you will grow and
iourish and bear fruit to the honor
ina glory or God. There is an old leg
md that when King Solomon was
BOY one day he begged his teacher TO
show him miracle. Nathan thrust
his finger into the soil and dropped
herein little seed. Immediately that
iced began to sprout. While the lad
ooked on the two little green leaves
grew into n round stem. Then the
item swelled out with the trunk of 81
arge tree. Then the tree. like ''the
'even branches, became like the seven
OF the altars," and the
birds OF the air few into those branch
s and builded there their nests and
cared their young. While he looked
he blossoms grew upon that tree. and
hen those blossoms were changed into
he deep rich red fruit which blushed
Ike the glow OF the setting sun. That
merely legend. but there is a real
MIRACLE which can be worked in your
ives infinitely greater than young Sol. |
mon Is supposed 10 have seen.
The seed or eternal life planted by |
he Holy Spirit In your heart can
hange your whole nature. Instead of |
hose qualities which degrade YOU TO |
he level OF the brutes. instead of the
lnful propensities which distort and
erorm your being. there shall grow
rom that divine seed plant of beauty.
raceful and glorious with heavenly |
oveliness and eternal in ever develon-
ne life. "Ye shall be like tree plant.
q by the rivers OF water, that brinoetb