Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-08-17

the garments out and hung them up
to air upon line. Having been wrap
ped up for months In camphor, the gar
ments smellcd OF the camphor. Thus
are these morning clouds OF repent
ance. They live so near to the earth
that they never learn what repentance
in Christ truly means. Let me ex-
plain more in detail.
Not Enough.
Here. for instance is n man who has
been a drunkard for fifteen years. His
wife at last makes up her mind that
for her own sake and for the sake of
her children she will not stand the
misery any longer. With that the hus-
band begins to plead and beg. He
says: ~ repent. will sign the pledge.
promise. / promise. PROMISE"
Well, man, what do you promise? ''Oh.
promise I will not get drunk any
more" Is that all you promise? why,
yes. What more do you want me to
proHiseT' Or here IL q woman who
enters a rescue home. She says: 81
promise promise.' What do you
promise? "why. promise that will
cease TO be a social outcast." Is that
all you promise? "Yes, that is all.
What more do you want me to prom
Use? Is not that my besetting SNIP
Nay, my friend-nay, that Is not your
besetting sin. That Is q mere result
OF your besetting sin. Your besetting
sin is that you do not throw yourself
upon the mercy of Jesus Christ and
have him cleanse you wholly, and then
he will give you strength to resist all
sin. The gospel of Jesus Christ Is not
a mere matter of negation. 1t does not
consist of a long succession of "don'ts"
don't do this and don't do that and
don't do the other things. But it does
consist in one positive assertive act.
and then all the other attributes of
| Christian life shall be yours. seek
We first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all things will be
added unto you The great trouble
with our morning cloud" repentances
| Is that they live too near the soil and
they smell of the earth earthly.
Are you ready to here and now seek
| first the kingdom of God and his right
| eousness and have all things added
unto you? John Cough, the temperance
| orator, used TO tell this pathetic story:
| In Edinburgh many years ago there
was a clubhouse rented for the pur-
| pose OF caring for reformed drunkards
| One night there staggered into that
house a man who was appallingly
drunk. "Do you know what place this
is?'' the superintendent said. This is
not a saloon. This is teetotalers'
club" II know it." said the man.
nd n x<~o
| totaler? Why, you are beastly drunk
II know that" said the man. 81 know
I am awfully drunk. but l am tee
totaler just the same. signed the
| pledge an hour ago. and I have not
touched drop since. have come here
| for safety. 1 want to keep the pledge
but / know I caEnot keep 1t In my
| own strength, SO I have come here to
have you help me keep It." All, the
man was right. Not in his own strength
could he keep the pledge. Not IN our
own strength can we keep from sin
ming. Let us sign the pledge. Let us
resolve not TO sin. But let us run to
| Christ to have him help us TO keep that
pledge. In our own strength we are
helpless. Let us be like the cirrus
| clouds living high up in the heavens
and not like the morning clouds living
| near the soil and of the earth, smelling
earthly.
| Protected by the Air.
But the morning clouds, in addition
| to all their short lived beauty. are
capable or producing the most mar
Vicious optical illusions. The etmos-
phere Is an elastic invisible fluid which
surrounds our old planet. Its height
has never been determined any more
than the depths OF some parts of the
ocean have been fathomed The at
mospheric area may be miles high: il
may be hundreds OF miles high. But.
no matter how high 1t is. one fact Is
certain-the atmosphere among it's
many duties, acts as a protector to
| the earth. 1t COOKS of the heat OF the
sun before the sun rays reach the
earth's surface. 1t acts as sum
shade. IL IL were not for the cooling
process OF the, atmosphere and the
sums rays were allowed to strike al
rectly upon the face of the earth the
sun would burn mp this old earth as
quickly an splinter would be con-
sumed In Nebuchadnezzar's furnace.
But Ia passing through its atmosphere
tne suns rays may be detected when
they meet the morning clouds. The
morning clouds may act in the same
way as does looking glass in the
hands Of schcolboy. These rays are
not SO much concentrated by the morn
ing clouds into one great bail of fire
as they are sometimes scattered to
produce the strangest pictures and the
most enhancing decisions.
The mirages seen at sea and those
which have lured to death the lost
traveller looking for cases in the des-
ert may be caused by the reflections of
the morning clouds. Monge, the noted
savant who accompanied Napoleon
Bonaparte on his African Journey.
! tells how the French army one day
saw beautiful mirage when ON an
Egyptian march. The soldiers had been
Tor hours without water. No sooner
dic the aerial delusion appear than be-
fore their eyes they saw a beautiful
woodland. Out OF this woodland was
flowing clear stream. Upon the
banks OF this stream the cattle were
coming down to drink. Not only one
man saw this mirage, but the whole
army saw IT, At once the soldiers and
was chargers broke ranks and ran on
toward the supposed river bank. where
tney expected to Quench their thirst.
Ihey ran ON and on until they dropped
from exhaustion. Napoleon nearly
met bis Waterloo on that awful day.
Had the future conqueror been destroy