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

build your house I'm the dry season OF
the east. You will have plenty or time
TO build II. You must not be slothful
or lazy. Time flies. but IL does not fiy
SO quickly that You viii not have plen-
~ OF time TO do the work which 1 have
( given you 10 DO. il you will only con-
scientiously apply yourself 10 that
work" The rainy seasons are COM
Ing" he warns us. But the rainy sea-
sons will not come before the dry sea-
sons have given YOU plenty OF time to
prepare for the onruShiuy dcluge." Is
not this a true Interpretation OF my
text! Is not this true interpreta ton
or the history of our personal lives?
Let US reckon today how long yeur
dry season." OF years Of building. have
lasted. Ten years, twenty years. thirty
years, forty years. nifty years. have
they been. What! Fer some OF you
have they not lasted sixty years? For
the first ten or thirteen years Of your
iife you may not have been responsible
for what you did. but since. then you
certainly have been responsible. The
other day the chaplain OF one OF the
largest- state penitent iaries told my
people that few yours ago there was
sentenced to his penltentiary boy
who came there In short trousers to
serve a sentence OF many years. II
that boy, because he bad committed a
tiendish crime. was looked upon as
morally responsible, does not God hold
as morally and spiritually responsible
for what we have zbuilded since We
%
we speak those words how far they are
back In memory for some OF us. Yes,
God does not work q snap judgment
upon any one here today. He gives us
our work To do. He gives us long
dry season." or years OF preparation,
In which to do that work. What have
you builded in your years of prepare
ton? What have you done for man,
and what have you done for God?
We Are All Builders.
But while I was bordering upon our
dry seasons" UT years OF preparation
which have come to us In rearing our
life work. this thought came upon me
with driving force: During our years
OF preparation for the rainy season"
we ore all builders. We cannot get
away from that fact Every one OF
US Is building, consciously or uncon-
scioussy. We are either building upon
the rocks or we are building upon the
sands. We must be the wise man OF
the parable or the foolish man OF the
parable. There is no escape. We have
To keep doing. and we must keep
growing, growing for good or growing
for evil
In one of his sermons Mr. Spurgeon
tells US that on his grandmother's man
telpiece. among other marvels. there
was an apple In n bottle. This apple
completely filled the inside of that bot.
tile and was four or FIVE times larger
than the bottles neck. As a little boy
Spurgeon used TO climb up on n chair
and study that bottle lie kept saying
to himself. How could n great big ap.
pie like that get into that neck 2" Theu
he tried to unscrew the bottom Of the
bottle. Then be took it down and held
II to the light to see whether or no the
glass had been broken and glued to-
gether again. No. not one OF these
facts could sccount for the big aDpl,
In the bottle. But one day he found
out the explanation. While he was
playing in tue orchard be saw his
grandmother take another bottle and
place IL over very small apple and
then tie the bottle 10 the stem aud
leave IL there. Yes, she left II there
until the little apple grew into big ap.
pie and she put that second bottle with
Its apple alongside OF the drst bottle
rx-ftl tt., III.
When I read that illustration said to
myself. "Ah. that is the growth or life"
We grow up without thinking of the
future. and some day we are suddenly
halted by limitation that has been
around US from early years unknown 10
us BY some act or some neglect. some
sin or some weakness we have entered
Into bonds which limit and stunt our
growth. II seemed n light thing ct tho
beginning, only habit or q connection
that we might easily shake or, but in
our msturity We are prisoners. Be
careful how you build, for every hour
we are building for good or we are
building for evil We are laying the
foundations OF our houses upon the
-sohd rock or upon the shifting sand.
We are building. ard We cannot help
but build all through our lives.
!, -.--, .Oss Growth ssansea.
But where shall we locate these two
houses. which Christ dramatically Die.
lures In tie para Bile OF my text? SHAH
we place one away CT from the hab-
itatoLi OF man In the midst Of the
Sahara desert, SHAH we take car
avan amid the rpiLs OF old Memphis
and with these pluns;ng ships CT the
desert' travel on and or, day In ard
day out. week in and week out. month
In and month out, until we locate Ii
amid an endless sea or sand? Where
shall we build the other house? Shall
we place ii upon the highest pinnacle
OF Matterhorn or upon Mount Chin
borazo! Shall we build IL upon some
dizzy crag where the eagle builds her
eyrie TO rear her young? NAY. nav"
you answer: mot in either one OF those
places must you build one OF the two
houses OF the text. When ChrisS Illus
trated truth he never used absurd
comparisons. The house which was
puiit upon rock was not built upon an
inaccessible mountain height. The
house which was built upon the sands
was not situated Ia the center of an
impassabie desert. La all proba billy
the wise mum and the foolish man OF
this para BILE Of the text built their
houses very close together. In all prob
ABILITY these two. men were nsighbors.
ana as neighbors their families asso.
eiated with each other" My friend, l
beiieve you are right believe these
two men OF the parable were not only
heighbors. but that they had adioIn-