Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-08-09

Ing In restaurants ana turning the
Sabbath day into gala day. Do you
believe that the majority of the people
living In San Francisco would find the
sweet influences OF home life a pleas
ure as you and / look upon an even
ing spent i'm the society OF our chill
dren as a pleasure? No. To a great
extent their lives crave the unhealthy
end vitlating and blasting stimuiant of
sin.
1t is an alarming symptom of n mans
spiritual condition IL the wholesome
influences of home life are repugnant
to him. My brother, although you may
be church member, your appetite for
pleasure is sinful craving if you can
not enjoy the pure, clean, refreshing
JOY of Christian association. If that is
so, for Gods sake get down on your
knees and pray to your Heavenly Fa-
Their that he will purify you so that
you may find your greatest enjoyments
among his people and among his true
consecrated followers.
But there is another Joy which comes
to the higher spiritual life. and that Is
the joy of Christian service: that is
the joy of the noble hearted men who
always want to share their blessings
with every one else; that is the JOY
or the true man who, when he has
plenty of bread, wants to share it with
the hungry. When he has n cure for
the blinded eyes, he wants to give ii to
those cropping about in darkness. When
he can unstop the deaf ears, he wants
to make the deaf to hear and the dumb
to speak. No man is true man who,
when he has an abundance. is not
ready to share his plenty with those
who are in want The poet well de-
fined this thought when he wrote:
Who seeks for heaven alone to save his
May keep the path. but will not reach the
goal,
While he who walks in love may wander
far
Yet God will bring him where the blessed
are.
A Picturesque Castle.
Many years ago Il noted painter,
Alexander Nasmyth, went to visit near
the towering cliffs in the vicinity of
picturesque Blair castle, in old Scot
land. While he was watching those
massive, overlapping crags he said, "Is
1t not too bad yonder bare rocks are
not crowned with covering Of
greene" Then he bethought himself of
two huge cannon which were mounted
in the yard OF the old castle. "Ah," he
said. 81 know what I will do. / will
have some canisters made TO fit these
old cannon. Then | Will fill those can
listers with all kinds of grass seeds
Then l will shoot those caniSters
against yonder cliffs. where no foot
OF man has ever trod. Then those
canisters will break. the seeds will
scatter and take root. and yonder cliffs
will some day be covered with mass
OF green foliage" This is just what
the Scottish painter did. Many Of
those seeds were lost but some took
root, and they sprouted, and now those
crags near old Blair castle are the
most beautiful Of all the surrounding
hillsldes. Thus is Il with the conse-
Grated gospel life when the true
Christian is filed with the Christ love.
When the face OF Jesus becomes TO
him living. loving. inspiring and all
absorbing reality. then that Christian
says, 81 must bring this Christ love
do for others what he has done for
me-" Then the true Christian. as soon
as he has developed into the higher
spiritual life, fills his hands with the
gospel seed. He goes forth into the
waste places of the earth. lie scat
tiers those seeds up in the mountains
and down in the valleys; he scatters
fhnn1 I'm hn % Il
the novels of the poor; he scatters
them everywhere. And one of the
chief reasons why know some Of you
have never been truly filled with the
Christ love is because you do not find
any Joy I'm bringing this Christ to your
Fellow men. Next to seeing Christ's
face ourselves our chief Joy should be
found In bringing that divine love into
the hearts OF sinful world.
The Greatest Joy.
But. lastly, | remark that one Of the
greatest joys OF the Christian Is the
comfort we have In dedicatIng our
dear children and our loved ones 10
his service. Every true parent knows
that when he attempts to raise fam.
lily there comes a time when he realizes
he must have supernatural aid. We
feel our children gradually and yet
surely slipping out of our hands. They
are going forth into the great wide
world, with all its manifold tempta
lions. We lift up our hands at times
In agony and cry, 20 God, if we could
only keep them by our sidesw But
We cannot. 1t Is an overwhelming
thought. but surely and swiftly the
children are moving away from our
side. Now comes the question: How
can keep my children In the path of
virtue and OF TRUTH The Bible tells
me. My God is a covenant keeping
God. My God says, "I will save thee,
and through thee 1 will save thy chill
dren." He speaks to me exactly as he
spake to Abraham Of old. He prom
ises that IL we will teach our children
about him. If we set them a good ex-
ample and commit them in prayer to
his keeping, he viii take care of them
and make them his children.
The chief trouble with our spiritual
experience is that we do not come near
enough to Jesus Christ. We do not
give ourselves up in our entirety to his
service. The reason that we find the
spiritual life burden, an irritant and
a troublous duty is because we are not
developed high enough in the gospel
graces. My brother the great trouble
with your religious life is that you are
ike tmid bather on the beach-afraid
to make one big plunge and go chin
deep and heart deep and brain deep
into the depths of Gods mercy. You
want to love him by inches and not