Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-11-23


to open. Then. in order to stop his cry
ing. the mother says: Eyes, Charlie.
| Here is the candy. Take it and don't
cry" What is the result? Instead of
! giving that boy healthy food which
will develop bone and muscle and
sinew she develops for him a PERM
cious appetite. The boy gets into a
condition where he absolutely refuses
to eat food which is healthy for him.
Thus some OF us treat our minds like
spoiled children. We say: Il am resting
my mind. 1 win go TO a cheap theater
or to n dance hail." No. you are not
resting it. You are feeding it with
cakes and candy. Rest of mind sim
ply comes from change Of work. What
you need to do Is to give your winter
evenings to good reading, to good
thoughts and to high ideals. This
means work. but 1t will mean work
that will recreate and strengthen your
energies, depleted by the struggles of
the day. Are we willing to pay the
price by which our evenings can pro-
vide us with true, beneficial mental
development?
True Development.
But 1 take a step farther and declare
that a large per cent of your evenings
should be consecrated to direct service
to Jesus Christ. These should be the
sacred hours when you say, Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do?' not
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do
for my own self or for my own fam
ilyT' You should say, Lord, what wilt
fhnI1 harn Tron 20 10 for no.
You know that the Lord commands us
to give tenth of our income to him.
But that is not enough. We must also
give to him our time and our service
Most OF us cannot give this time and
service during the day. Those hours
belong to our employer. MAN goeth
forth unto his work and to his labor
until the evening"" But we can give
to Gods service part of our evenings.
And we must give TO him these hours
if we are to do the work he wants us
to do.
But" you say. 81 cannot understand
you. Is not this inconsistent with your
advice to stay home with our families?
Now, how can 1 visit hospitals and go
to sickrooms and look after the poor
unless turn my back upon my family !
Can man be in two places at the
same time? Can n farmer help a neigh.
Dor build his barn and pillow his own
fields on the same day? How can one
look after his own children and yet
associate with those who need help and
who are not members of his own fami.
Typ 1 am glad you mentioned that.
You are just the person with whom
want to talk. You say you are a fami
~ man. You say you would be willing
to give up certain evenings OF your life
to serve Christ IL thereby you would
not have to neglect your home duties.
Go forth and invite TO your own home
the young men and the young women
who are living in boarding houses. Ask
them sometimes to supper. Surround
them with the influences of your Chris
tan home. You cannot serve God bet
ter than by working for him in Just
this way. 1 want to tell you the his
tory of noble Christian woman and
what she did in city of the east.
This lady was not wealthy. She had
| but little money and family Of grow
ing children. she had to do her own
housework. Man may 20 forth into
work and to his labor until the even
ing, but this woman had to work I'm the
evenings rs we'll. So she said TO her
self: 81 can do little. but that little 1
will do for my Master. Ny home shall
always be my Saviour's hcre, and ev-
cry one / can welcome here In his
name l gladly will" She went to
work for Christ. She gathered up a
large Sunday school class OF boys who.
FOR the most part, We're homeless. BY
that mean those boys who were away
from their fathers and mothers and
living In boarding houses. There were
eighteen or twenty of them. These she
used to invite to her home. Every
week she would have some OF them to
dinner. Her parlors were their par
Tors. Her books were their books.
When they were sick she took them
into her own home and cared for them.
Would you like TO know the result of
that humble Christian woman's life?
When / was called to my Chicago
church found every one of the men,
bers OF that Christian lady's Sunday
school class harnessed up in Christian
work. Although these young men had
been boarding house boys when they
nrst came to Chicago, they were then
grown up men, all of them members of
the church OF Jesus Christ and work.
ers in his vineyard. Cannot you do the
same for Christi Can you not make
your Christian home the place of spir-
ltual refuge for those who have no
Christian homes and who can be won
for Jesus by gathering them around
your freside during the winter even
ings?
; But / cannot close this talk on even
ing occupations without placing a spe-
ciai emphasis upon the fact that at
least part of each evening should
De consecrated to God for studying
his holy word and for prayer. 1t
should be the time when we should
go off alone to read the Bible or to
open the dear book in the midst of our
loved ones and find in 1t the messages
which God has written for us and the
divine commandments which teach us
how to live and how to die. The ma
Jority or people never study the Bible
intelllgently. They rarely read IL
alone. 1t is to them a sealed book ex-
cept as 1t is interpreted for them by
the pulpit. 1t is just as much a sealed
book as during the dark ages. when no
iayman was allowed to touch 1t any
more than profane hands could touch
the holy OF HOLES during Mosaic
times.
Rending the bible.
You rarely read the Bible. Yet you