Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1907-05-17

as In times OF JoyI once read or an
old Danish captain who gave battle to
an English frigate. After the battle
had been raging for some time a flag
OF truce was raised. and the old cap
tain I'm rowboat pulled over to the
English frigate and made this strange
request. He said: MY powder has run
out. Win you please furnish me some
Of your powder. and we will continue
to fightT' Well no one ever heard of n
man going to an enemy for help. but
we have heard OF his going to his
friends. All. yes, our friends In the
past have helped us again and again
and again, Thank God for your friendsl
Thank God for noble, true hearted,
brave, self sacrificing friendsl
The Altar of God.
Again. this cleansed leper must have
been thankful that the doors of the
temple were once more opened to give
him Il welcome to the altar of God. In
olden times, leprosy was looked upon
as the symbol of heinous sin. Thus the
poor leper not only felt that he was
barred from fellowship with man, but
also from communion with God. Me-
thinks can see these lepers some Sab
bath day gathering upon one OF the
hillsides near to Jerusalem. The serv-
ice is going on within the sacred walls.
The music, which cannot be circum-
scribed by four walls. drifts through
the portal and, like bird. scars over
the hills. The poor lepers are listening
to the sweet psalms. As the choir
Of lo .bn, ..
used to gather in the temple with the
worshipers. And methinks 1 see the
tears rain down their parched cheeks
as they weep and cry: 80 Lord, why
hast thou shut me out from thy love?
Why am / barred from thy holy wor-
ship? Wilt thou never again speak to
me in tones of pity and pardon? Witt
thou never forgive me my past sins?''
Then when Jesus cured the poor sick
man of his leprosy he seemed to say:
'Son, thy sins are forgiven theel Thou
are welcome now TO join in public
worship. Thou mayest now go into
the temple and sing Gods praises.
Though thy sins are as scarlet, yet
they shall become white as snow"
Thus hear the poor leper cry: Lord,
thank thee that when thou hast
cleansed me of my leprosy thou hast
forgiven me my sins. 1 thank thee.
Lord. / thank theew Today can you
not glorify God like the poor leper.
because Christ by his atoning blood
has made it possible for you to be
cleansed Of all your past iniquitles, so
that in the sight of God you can be
pure through his word?
Blotting Out Sin.
oh, the power of the blood Of Jesus
to blot out sin! Who has tongue elo-
quent enough to fully describe IT.?
There is a beautiful story told that
many years ago woman came to her
pastor bemoaning her sins. "They are
a heavy burden" she said. "They are
like load of wet sand" The minister
heard and agreed. "Have you ever
been on that strip of sand by the bea-
CONF he asked. ooh, yes; many
times" she said. eco there now"
said he, ''and dig. Pile the wet sand
up into great mound. Pile It as high
as you can and then see what becomes
OF IT." "Ah," exclaimed the penltent
woman, 81 know what you mean. The
flowing tide will come and wash IL all
away" EYES," said the minister, 80
the blood of Jesus Christ can wash
away all your sins, though they may
be as infinite ~ number as the sands
of the sea-" Like the poor burdened
woman and like the leper who was
cleansed OF his fatal scales, should not
YOU thank God that by the death OF
his only begotten Son il is possible for
you to be cleansed of all sin?
We wonder what the later life of that
leper was. Did his gratitude exhaust
itself in that loud voice with which he
glorified God? We cannot think so.
Day by day as he went around in
health and strength he would remem-
Der who IL was that gave him his new
life and would strive TO live In accord
nnce with Chrlst's teaching. Is not
that our duty? Shall we praise him
for delivering us from sin and then go
away and forget our obligations? The
life that Christ has given us. A,e that
he gave the leper. should be ,silfe de-
voted TO him, consecrated TO him and
TO his service. He has told us how we
may show our gratitude. He died
that they who live should henceforth
live not unto themselves, but unto him
who died for them"
4 Ioo- ~ o,,t. Iyio,..k