Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-03-16

sermon
by Rev.
Frank De Witt Talrnase. ID. d.

Los Angeles, Cal, March I1-Pecul-
tlrly timely, in view of the great Jap
Gnese famine, is this sermon, in which
The preacher shows how marvelously
God cares for those who trust I'm him.
The text is Kings xvii. IA, 'srhe bar
rel Of meal shall not waste, neither
shall the cruise of oil fail"
God grant that gaunt haggard,
parched skinned. death dealing fam
iue may never stalk through the streets
OF our fair cities. Dore's most vivid
conceptions OF Dantes hell and Ho-
garths most horrible caricatures of
degradation and vice and vasslli We
reschagin's most realistic scenes of
the blood soaked battlefields of the
pare IN horror with the terrible sights
that have been witnessed when mad
dening famine gets in .ts work. Could
ANY paintings be more awful than the
simple photographs we saw OF menandz
women and children huddled together
in sickening groups who were slowly
starving to death in the awful Indian
famines of 1897 and 1900? Could any
war be more fearful than the simple
statement which declares that in the
famous Bengal famine OF ITO out OF
3OO00,000 of inhabitants 100000, or
one-third of the whole population, were
dead within a few months?
The same kind of fearful famine
that cursed Russia in the year 1892,
that devastated ireland in 1879 and
in 1916 and 1914, the same kind of a
famine as that which destroyed two
thirds of the inhabitants of the Cape
Verde islands in 1880, the same kind
OF famine which blasted northern
Africa during Josephs premiership aud
Is now devastating the land of Japan,
was depopulating Palestine. 20 God,
give us rain!' is crying the rich man
in his palace. 20 God, give us rainr'
cries the poor peasant in his hut "Give
us rain! Give us rain, or we dieI"
were the universal pleadings. But no
rain came. On account of King Ahab's
sins God had deereed that no rain was
to descend upon Palestine hills and
valleys for three long years
We leave the hills and the valleys of
the interior. We come down toward
tifui city OF Zarephath. situated near
to Tyre and Sidon. There we find the
desolation appalling. The horses, cat
tie and sheep died months ago. The
drought has already lasted two long
years. The cattle had no food to live
on. They had to die. The grass and
the wheat had long since disappeared
Men and women and children were dy-
ing by the scores and the hundreds
Fever and scurvy were every day add
ing TO the death list. The whole city
was becoming one great charnel house.
The fields where once grew the lar
vest were rs hard as baked and crack
ed clay. AS l stand in Imagination
upon the outskirts OF the city, amid
these scenes of desolation and death,
see n humble woman, weak and tot
tering. gathering few sticks to build
fire. Along comes tall, gaunt, dig
nified man. He looks like born lead
er OF men. He accosts the woman
something like this:
They Were Starving.
woman. l pray thee hasten and
bring me drink" She turns TO do his
bidding. Then in n matter of fact way
this stranger says, Bring me, pray
thee, n morsel OF bread in thine hand"
He practically says, when you go for
water bring little food too" The
woman. weak and tottering from star
walton, turns and looks at him in
amazement. Then she speaks in this
wise: MAN. what are you talking
about? Are you mad? We are starv-
ing We are dying. The dead In our
streets lie unburiedi I have starved
and starved. have cut the daily sup
ply OF food down and down, until now
we are at the end. have but hand
full OF meal and a little oil. am going to
cook this for my son, and then we shall
both lie down and die" With that
Elijah the Tishbite said: woman, do
rs i say and God will take care of thee
For thus saith the Lord, The barrel of
meal shall not waste. neither shall the
cruise OF oil fail. until the day the Lord
sendeth rain upon the face OF the
earth" Such is the simple story Of how.
God saved the poor widow and her son
during the Zarephath famine, because
= she was willing to do what Gods
prophet commanded. ,s.,s...s )
The Zarephath famine, In the first
place, teaches that the good and the In
nocent must conjointly suffer from the
evil results of the deeds OF the bad
Sir Walter SCOTS business partners
did wrong. The innocent Sir Walter
Scott had to suffer. The owner of Alb
botsford had to shoulder 5000 900 debt.
The son-in-law OF Francois Greyy prov
cd to be Il scoundrel. Innocent Fran
coils Greyy had to resign the presi-
dental chair of France because his
son-in-law, Wilson, was convicted of
selling the decorations and the Offices
of the government for cash The April
shower falls upon the just and the IN
just, upon the wheat and the tares
alike. The evil deeds OF a husband
curse not only himself, but his wife
and his children also. When the way
ward Hebrew prince was hung, David.
the broken hearted father, went to his
chamber over the gate and wept, and
as he went thus he SAID: % my son
Absalom, my son, my son, my son Alb
salon! Would God / had died for
thees . Absalom, my son, my COM"
The prodigal In his rags and in dis
grace In the far country tending the
herd of swine, sharing with them their
fodder and chewing the husks thrown
to the four footed. unclean, filthy
beasts, is not more pathetic than the
mourning parent, waiting and watch
Ing for his youngest boy to come back
home. Yes, yes; sin brings the famines
which affiict the good and the bad, the
innocent and the guilty alike. The evil