Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-08-18

huSe roSAS, touched by Gods finger.
bad been changed into a huge. living
coal. Higher and higher rose the sun.
as the glowing headlight of the oncom-
ing locomotive or in the Distance Is
seen coming out of HOosic tunnel.
Lakes become FURNISHED mirrors OF
light, and the mighty sen or in the dis
lance becomes reservoir OF light.
and the rivers. as parts OF great
network spread at your feet. be-
come silver threads. The heavens drip
with light and tie earth IS flooded
with 1t. The birds begin to sing and
the cocks begin to crow. on In the
distance the farmers are seen starting
for the fields and the cattle for the
pasture. The sun has at last risen.
and morning has lighted her many con-
flagrations. who Is she that cometh
forth as the morning. fair as the moon
and clear as the sun!' Cannot you
grasp IL? The church. the conquering
church-the church, clear in her d.
vine beliefs. clear in her conception OF
Jesus Christ, In order to have a con-
quering church we must hold fast to
Christ as the alpha and omega, the
beginning and the ending. which is
and was and which Is to come, the al
mighty aud omnipotent Christ. The
conGuering church must be clear in
reference to her belief In the atone
ment What the sun rising In the
east and setting in the west is to the
natural world the Sun OF Righteous
ness is to the conquering church.
Do not Christ's own words prove that
the more we exalt him the more we
shall conquer in his dear name? Read
his promise as recorded in the twelfth
chapter OF John. "And /, il / be lifted
up. will draw all men unto me-" What
does that mean? You find the eonnec-
ton between that statement and an
other in the third chapter OF the same
book. "As Moses lifted up the serpent
In the wilderness, even so must the
Son OF man be lifted up" Methinks
/ am wandering about In the Israelit-
ish camp in the ''land OF Edom." On
account OF the sinful dissatisfaction Of
the people God has sent them the
plague OF serpents. We can hear their
hiss everywhere. The people with
clubs and swords and spears are kill
ing the serpents by the hundreds and
the thousands, but the more they kill
the more the serpents seem to spring
up. Suddenly one of these serpents
buries its fangs in the naked leg Of a
man on the outskirts OF the camp.
Come" cry his companions, come
and look ut the brazen serpent which
Moses has lifted, and you shall live"
But the deadly poison Is doing its
work. Like man benumbed by the
billiards. cold and determined to lie
down In the snowdrifts and sleep. this
Hebrew wants TO lie down and sleep
the sleep OF death. let me alone. -
be mutters, "iet me sleep" His friends
rouse him. They beat him to keep UP
the circulation. But it does no good.
Sleep he will. Then. by main force, as
drowning man is pulled out OF the
surf, they drag him over the sand TO
the foot OF the brazen serpent. 20
God" they cry. lis IL too late? VIII
he not open his eyes and look? Man.
you are dyingl Look. look and Iver'
At last, as in n drowning stupor, he
halfway opens his eyes and looks. A
tremor. n life giving tremor, shoots
through his body. He has looked, and
he will live. So. my friend. the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be n
conQuering church when she lifts high
the Cross.
To that Cross we must lead, and, IL
necessary, even drag those who are
lrugged and poisoned and stupetied by
their sins That does not mean that
we should make shrine out OF n sec
tartan creed that does not mean that we
should struggle TO make Episcopalians
out OF Methodlsts or Presbyterians out
OF Baptlsts, but IL does mean that we
shall bring men and women. benumbec
oy sin, no matter how far they have
wandered away from God, back to a
Saviour's love and SavIours redemp-
ton Hear ye not the divine assur-
ance, And i, II be lifted UP, will
draw all men unto meT' o God, give
Us eonquering church, clear rs the
sun. Make the light OF our church
shine from the loving. pardoning eyes
OF Christ. who has died that sinful man
might live. "Clear as the sun"-aye,
clear as theSun OF righteousness, which
viii scatter every black mist out OF the
dark night Of every sinful horizon.
An Invading Army.
But we cannot picture the conquer
Ing church as a great invading army,
with her banners flying In the winds
and her soldiers singing their hallelu-
iahs OF triumph as they tramp along,
until we find her flair as the moon" as
well as "clear as the SUM-" The queen
OF night" here offers her symbols as
well as the golden chariot OF the day"
The moon has just as much n part to
play with the advancing hosts OF the
eonquering church as has the clearness
OF the sun. AS the children or Israel
were led through the wilderness In the
long journey OF forty years by the pill
lar OF fire as well as by the pillar OF
cloud SO we now find the '.falr moon"
and the "clear sun" are concomltapts.
They must move along side by side
They must continually be seen at the
same time by watching world. The
twain, as ut a marriage altar, must In
decd become one In life.
"Oh," some one says to me, ''but that
is impossible. You cannot have the
sun and the moon shining at the same
time. When we were children back on
my fathers farm we used to have
moonlight sleighriding parties. We
would wait until the sun had set. Then
we would have supper. Then the big
sieighs. with their heavy robes. would
be driven up. About or o O'Clock
over the eastern hills the pale faced
moon would arise. With her mellow
light she would food the valleys and
the white robed trees. Then over the
crisp snow the runners would slide,
the bells would Jingle. the dogs would
bark and the merry songs would be
sung. But we would not expect a
moonlight ride and sunlight ride at
the same time" Perhaps not, my
friend. But. though we cannot see the
sun and the moon rise and set at the
same time. II you have ever camped
upon the heights OF old Greylock OF
the Berkshire hills in the early hours