Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1857-05-13
A&Iiiaiiolls Ae1ainq.
THE EVENING PRAYER-.-"OUR FATHER"

"Our father" The mothers voice was
low tender and solemn.
"Our father" On two sweet voices the
words were bone upward. 1t was the inno-
cence of reverent childhood that gave them
utterancc.
"Who art in the heavens repeated the
children, one with her eyes bent meekly
down and the other looking upward as if she
would penetrate the heavens into which her
heart inspired.
Hallowcd be thy name"
Lower fell the voices of the little ones.
In gentle murmur they said" Hallowed
be thy name
"Thy kingdom come.
And the burden of the prayer was still
taken up by the children-"Thy kingdom
come"
"Thy will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven"
Like low sweet echo from the land Of
angels" Thy will be done on earth as it is
in Heaven" filled the chamber.
And the mother continued-"Give us this
day our daily bread"
"Our daily bread" fingered moment
on the air, as the mothers voice was hushcd
| into silence.
"And forgive us our debts as We also for
give our debtors"
The eyes of the children had dropped for
a moment. But they were uplifted again as
they prayed" And forgive MS our debts as
we also forgive our Debtors
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liver us from evil For thine is the king
dom, and the power and the glory, forever
Amen"
All these holy words were said piously
and fervently, by the little ones, as they
knelt with claspcd hands beside their moth.
er. Then as their thoughts, uplifted on the
wings of prayer to their heavenly Father,
came back again and rested on their earthly
parents, warmer love came gushing from
their hearts.
Pure ksses-tendcr cmbraces---thc fond
"good night" What a sweet agitation per
vaded all their feelings Then two dear
heads were placed side by side on a snowy
pillow, the mothers last kiss given and the
shadowy curtains drawn.
What pulseless stiffness reigns through
out the chamber! Inwardly the parents
listening ears are bent. They have given
these innocent ones in the care of Gods an
gels, and they can almost hear the rustling
of their garments as they gather round
their sleeping babes. A sigh, deep and
tremulous, breaks on the air. Quickly the
mother turns to the father of her children
with look of earnest inquiry on her coun-
tenance. And he answers thus her silent
question:
Far back, through many years, have my
thoughts been wandering. At my mothers
knee, thus l said nightly, in childhood, my
evening prayer 1t was the best and holi-
est of prayer, Our Father" that she taught
me. Childhood and my mother passed
away. went forth as man to the world,
strong, confident, and selfseeking. Once |
came into great temptation. Had fallen
in that temptation, | would have fallen, !
sadly. fear, never to have risen again. The
struggl in my mind went on for hours. |
was about yielding. All the barriers could
oppose to the rushing flood seemed just rea-
dy to give way, when, as sat in my cham
Der, first occupied in many weeks, the mur-
mur of low voice was heard. | listened.
At first no articulate sound was heard, yet
something in the tones that stirred my heart
with new and strange emotions. At length
there came to my ears, in the earnest, loving
voice of a woman, the words Deliver us
from evil" For an instantt seemed to me
as if the voice was that of my mother
Back, with sudden bound, though all a
child in heart again, was kneeling at my
mothers knee.
Humbly and rcverelltly said over the
words of the holy prayer she had taught inc;
heart and eyes uplifted to Heaven. The
hour and power of darkness had passed |
was no longer standing in slippery places
with flood of waters ready to sweep me
to destruction; but my feet were on arock.
My mothers pious care had saved her son.
In the holy words she taught me in child
hood there was living power to resist evil
through all my after life. All that un-
known mother, as she taught her child to re-
peat his evening prayer, how little dreamed
she that the holy words were to reach a
strangers ear, and save him through the
memories of his own childhood and his own
mother! And yet it was so. What pow
er there is in Gods word, as it flows into
and rests in the hearts of innocent children.
MARCHING OS.-What mighty process
sion has been machjng toward the grave du-
ring the past year. At the estimate, since
the first Of January 1856, more than l $780,
600 of the worlds population have gone
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