Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-03-27

The young people may
Make Wide Curve
from the straight path, but they are almost
sure to come back to the right road. 1t may
not be until the death of one OF the parents
How often it is that we hear some one say
"Oh, be was wild young man, but since
his fathers death he has been different.
The fsct is that the fathers coffin or the
mothers coffin is often the altar OF repent
ance Ter the child.
Oh sthat was stupedous day, the day. OF
fathers burial. 1t was not the otflclatlng
clergyman who made the chief impression,
nor the sympathyzing mourners; it was
the father asleep in the casket The hands
that had toiled for that household so long.
The brain cooled off after twenty or forty
wears Of anxiety about how TO put that
family in right position. The lips closed
! after so many years Of COED advice, There
are more tears falling in mothers grave
than in fathers grave; but over the faith
ers tomb / think there is kind OF awe.
1t is at that marble pillar many young
man has been revolutionized. Oh, young
man with cheek flushed with dissipation,
how long is it since you have been out to
your fathers grave? VIII you not go this
week? Perhaps the storms of the last
winter may have bent the headstone until
| it leans far over. You had better go out
and see whether the lettering has been de.
faced? You had better so out and see
whether the gate of the
| go and see if you cannot find sermon in
| the growing grass. ., young man, go out
| this week and see your fathers grave. Re
| ligion did so much for our christian ances-
| trv, are we not ready this morning to be
| willing to receive it into our own house
| holds? If we do receive it let il
Come Through the Front Door,
| not through the back door In other words
| do not let us smuggle it in. There are a
great many families that want to be rellg-
| ious but they do not want anybody outside
| TO know it, They would be mortified
to death il you caught them at family
prayers. They would not sing in the wor-
Ship for fear their neighborS would hear
them. They do not have prayers when
they have company.
They do not know much about the no.
bility of the Western trapper. A traveller
going along was overtaken by night and a
storm, and he entered a cabin. There were
firearms hung up around the cabin. He
was alarmed He had large amount Of
money with him, but he did not dare To
venture out into the night in the storm.
He did not like the looks of the household.
After while the father, the Western trap.
per, came in. gun on shoulder, and when
the traveller looked at him. he was still
family were whispering together in one
corner of the room, and the traveller thought
to himself: "Oh, now my time has come !;
! [ wish was out in the storm and in the
night rather than here" But the swarthy
man came up to him and said: "Sir, we
are a rough people; we get our living by
bnnting, and we are very tired when the
night comes; but before going to bed we
always have a habit OF reading
little out OF the Bible and having prayers,
and think We will have our usual custom
tonight, and il you don't believe in that
kind of thing, il you will just step outside
the door tor little while | will be much
obliged to you" Oh, there are many
Christian parents in Brooklyn who have
not half the courage of that Western trapper
They do not want their religion project
ing TOO conspiCuously. They would like
to have it near by SO as TO call on in case of
funeral but as to having it dominant in
the household from the first of January, !
o'clock \. NJ to the 3lst Of December, 10
o'clock p. NJ, they do not want it. They
would rather die and have their families
perish with them, than to cry out in the
bold words if the soldier in my text, As
for me and my house
We VIII serve the LOrd.'
There was in my ancestral line an Incl.
dent so strangely impressive that it seems
more like romance than reality. 1t has
sometimes been so inacurately put forth
that l now give you the true incident.
Nv grandfather and grandmother liyin 9
at SUyervillc, New Jersey, went to Basking-
ridge to witness q revival under the minis
try of the Rev. DR.. Finley. They came
home so impressed with what they had
seen that they resolved on the salvation of
their children. The young people OF the
house were to go off for an evening party,
and my grandmother said: Now, when
you are all ready for the party come to my
room, for | have something very import
ant to tell you" All ready for departure,
they came to her room and she said to
them Now. | want you 10 remember
while YOU are away this evening that am
all the time in this room praying for your
salvation, and shall not cease praying
until you get back The young
people went to the party, but amid the
loudest hilarities of the night they could
not forget that their mother was praying
for them. The evening passed and the
night passed. The next day my grand
parents heard an outcry in an adjoining
room and they went in and found their
daughter implOring the salvation of the
Gospel. The 3auGSS..SS": tod them that her
brothers were at the barn and at the wagon
house under powerful conviction for sin.
They went to the barn. They found my
uncle Jehial, who afterwards became a
minister OF the Gospel, crying to God for
mercy. They went TO the wagon-house.
They found their son David. who after.
wards became my father, implOring God 5
pardon and mercy. Before great while the
Whole Family Were Saved.
and David went and told the whole story
to young woman to whom he was ai-
anced, who as n result Of the story became
| a Christian and from her own lips-my
| mother's-I have received this incident.
The story of that converted household
ran through all the neighbour ood from
family to family, until the whole region
was overwhelmed with religious awaken
ing and at the next communion in the viii
lage church, at Someryille, over 200 souls
stood up TO profess the faith of the Gospel.
Ny mother carrying the memory of this
scene from early womanhoOd into farther
life in after years was resolved upon the
salvation of her children and for many
| wears every week she met three other Chris
| tian mothers TO pray for the salvation Of
their families. | think that all the men,
bers of those families were sayed-myself,
| the youngest and the last. There were
twelve of us children. Seven OF them are
in heaven, five of lis in various ways try
ing to serve God. l trace the whole line Of
mercy back to that hour when my Chris
tian grandmother sat in her room i'm
ploring the blessing of God upon
her children. Nine of her descendants
became preachers of the Gospel. Many of
her descendants are in heaven. Many OF
them are still in the Christian conflict Did it
pay for her to spend the whole evening
| in prayer for her household? Ask her be-
fore the throne of God, surrounded by her
children. In the presence of the Christian
church to-day make this record of ances-
tral piety. Oh. there is a beauty and a
tenderness and sublimity
| In Family Religion!
| In my house have q book OF strange