Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-08-10

"Bosh," says the foolish man. "You
are n pesslmist. You are a miserable
hunter OF trouble. You are always an
ticipatipg tornadoes. The simple fact
Is we have had sunshine and dry sea-
son so long that do not believe we
are ever going TO have another rainy
season. Here | have selected my site,
here ] am building my house, and here
i Intend TO stay" Do you wonder that
when the delugs came that foolish
mans house was destroyed because he
would not take the advice of the wise
man. but built his house upon tho
sands?
Left Out the Foundation.
The parable OF my text divides the
whole human race into two groups
the wise mans group and the foolish
mans group. To which group do you
belong? Are you the foolish man
building your house upon the sand
and refusing to take the advice OF the
wise men who have come to us for
years begging us to stop building In
folly7a, Did L ,say for years1 Yes.
for IN all this great audience there is
not one Of us who Is building his house
upon the sands through Ignorance. No
sooner did we in youth select our
building sites upon the sand than our
loved ones gathered about us and
warned Us or our errors. Our fathers
did thus. Our mothers did thus. Our
Sunday school teacners and pastors
did thus. Our wives did thus. Our
Christian friends did thus. And still
we have gone on building our houses
h. xhal AL ~
gospel advice of our dear ones, who are
pleading with us to do right now1 oh,
how pleading and loving our would be
advisers have been! Today they seem
to come to US as we pictured the wise
man coming 10 the foolish man. They
seem to say: do not do that. Do not
commit that sin. BE true. be noble.
be upright. be Christian, be like
Christ" Would that we all might be
willing to heed the pleadlngs OF our
dear ones and put on the armor OF
God aud don the helmet of salvation
and lift the shield of faith.
But there is still another fact to
which j would call your attention.
This foolish man of the parable was
not building a barn. He was not lift
rs a ehtCPkOtN. thC vac hOt CiCNeAhS
n memorial temple or a beautiful tomb.
He was building a house. He was
building a home. He was erecting a
domicile where his wife and children
and his loved ones might gather. He
was saying to himself as he was build
Ing it: Now, here Is the dining room.
where 1 can eat with my dear ones,
and here is the nursery, where my ba-
bies can play. Now, here is q room for
my sister. Here Is my wife's room.
There is to be the guest chamber"
Yes. he built his house as home,
and when that deluge broke loose il
not only destroyed the foolish man.
but also the members of his own
house. No man spiritually can DO
saved alone or destroyed alone. He
either takes others with him to glory
or else he drags others down with him
into eternal despair.
Man in the spiritual sense is de-
stroyed as many families were de-
stroyed in the famous Johnstown
food. Wien the last sun of May,
1859, set behind the western hills of
Pennsylvania, Johnstown was filled
with hundreds OF peaceful homes and
happy flresides. Suddenly during that
awful night the Conemaugh dam broke,
and the water OF whole lake came
sumhling down upon that doomed city.
within few moments" said DR.. Da.
va Bssle, an eyewitness, nearly 5000
human beings had been launched into
eternity and $500 homes had been ut
terly demolished" In the twinkIiny
of an eye whole families were clasped
together In the arms of death. Fa-
theirs, mothers. brothers, sisters, chill
dren. all were gone. Hundreds who
were not drowned were carried down
the raging rivers upon roofs or floating
logs until that debris was halted at
tho bridge below the city, where IL
was ignited. and the men aud women
ana the children upon 1t were slowly
roasted to death aud their bodies ere
mated.
--- Families Swept Away.
III was Inv rivilaoa S1,,.a