The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-06-16

observation-disclosures to come. He would
bring them To their senses. Tie would
send them far from home to live AS
eaptives among "A people VINO knew
nothing of the biessedness Of serving
the true God. He wouid bring them
close together there, as a man rakes
the dying enbers together 10 revive
the fire. and IN the and of captivity
possibly there VIII be a revival OF
true religion. They Will have time
10 think. They VIII reflect upon vast
ed opportunities. They will be mel
lowed by inconsistencies. re-
quired by their masters 10 sing one
Of the songs OF Zion, they win choke
and cry. How can we sing the Lords
song in a strange and 2" In the far
away land of captivity they Will learn
to cry aloud TO God. and by and by,
when they have hecomc thoroughly
~chastened, God VIII hear their cry n
bring them back.
And so the captivity Will prove a
blessing. 1t is Easy to see II in the
case of the remnant of Israel. II is
easy 10 see it in the case OF Judah.
Can we see tor believe Tin our
own?
The. lesson Illustrated.
Let me tell you II story--a make
believe" story. as the children say,
but nevertheless "A true story. as you
VIII find If you will listen to the end.
Once upon a time away out in the
backWoods / came upon a bright~eyed
little orphan boy whose heart was
almost broken by the cruel treatrne emit
of IL most inhnman master. / went
to the man and tried to reason with
him. but II was to no purpose; then
] took the little fellow and brought
him home with me. At first he seemed
truiyq grateful and ! vas very happy,
but l soon saw that he was of a suspi-
| cious nature and that he could not
trust even the friend who had deliv~
cred him from his tnhuman master. |
tried to win his confidence by show
ering kindnesses upon him. | did ey-
erything for him that the most de-
voted father could do. At times his
heart would warm toward me. but he
would Dol shrink away again Natn-
rally / found ii difficult to get him to
obey me. One day / discovered that
he had been going down to the nut of
a man who lived In the woods near
by and that they had become fast
frtends This man was an outrageous
character who never hesitated at any
thing he could do to injurs another.
Often he had poisoned my cattle and
1t vas no uncommon thing for him TO
hatt tiS >" NaAAif nv NY kOIhs IN
night / caught the boy in the act OF
setting fire to my barn-instigated by
that man. whom | saw slipping away
In the dark AS | came up. | took the
boy to my room and had q long talk
with him. | Told him how | loved him
and how gladly l would care for him
If he would only open his heart 10 me
and allow me to be his friend and dc
my bidding, Instead of allowing him
self to be led OFF by the man who was
trying to work my ruin. He broke
down and cried and promised to do
better. but it was not a week before
! found him slipping off to the hut In
truly grateful and | was very happy
the boy disobeying me more and more
an he grew up. joining his friend II
the wood In planning evil against
me. doing worse and worse, In spite
Of all my pleadinEs. never cenfdine
In me. notwithstanding all my kind
nesses. but always taking sides against
me and even treating me with scorr
in the presence of my friends. AND
all the while ] have cared for him ant
he has eaten my bread at my tabls
and gone out to conspire against me
And to-day he is forty years old anC
he Is doing ten times worse than h,
did twenty years ago. What shall
do about 1t?
This Is my story. Did ever a bo,
treat me that way? No; | can hardl,
conceive OF a boy so utterly lost tt
all sense or gratitude and decency a.
to treat his benefactor tina way. We
the children OF Israel treated thei
Father that way. Do you wonder tina
God finally allowed them 10 b., carried
away captiees2