, 1886-03-28

alike must they IN the misfortune and the
everlasting outrage. Signed, sealed and do
iivercd In the presence OF God and men and
angels and devils and all the generations Of
earth and heaven and hell, March. 1885,.
o, We highly favored Ancestry, wake up
this morning 10 a sense OF your opport nifty
and your responsibility / think there mus
lie an old cradle, or n fragment OF n cradle.
somewhere that could tell n story OF midnight
supplication in your behalf Where is tie old
rocking chair in which you were sung to sleep
with the holy nursery rhymei Where is the
old clock that licked away the moments OF that
sickness ON that awful night when there weru
but three OF you awake-you and God and
motheri Is there not ap old staff In some
closeti Is there not an old family Bible on
some shelf that seems 10 address you saying,
my son, my daughter, how can you reject
that God who so kindly dealt with US all ous
lives, and TO whom we commended you in our
prayers, living and dyingf By the memory
Of the old homestead, by the family altar.
by our dying pillow, by the graves in which
our bodies sleep while our spirits hover, we
beg you TO turn over a new leaf, and that
now Oh, the power of ancestral piety, well
illustrated by n young man Of New York
who attended n prayer meeting one night and
asked for prayer. and went home and wrote
these words:
twenty-five years ago tonight my mother
went TO heaven, my beautiful. blessed mother,
and | have been alone. tossed up and down
upon the pillows of LIES tempestuous ocean.
Shall l ever go to heaveni She told me ]
must meet her in heaven When she took
her boys hand in hers and turned hor gentle,
loving eyes on me and gazed earnestly and
long into my face. and then lifted them 70
heaven in that last prayer, she prayed that !
might meet her in heaven. l wonder II ]
ever shalt
my mothers prayerl Oh, my sweet,
blessed mothers prayersl Did ever boy have
such a mother as 1 hadf For twenty-five
years | have not heard her pray until to-
night have heard all her prayers ever
again. They nave had, in fact, n terrible
resurrection. Oh, how she was won't TO
prayi She prayed ms they prayed to
night-so earnest, so importunnte. so believ-
ing. Shall | ever DO a Christiani She
was a Christian Oh, how bright and
pure and happy was her lfel She was a
cheerful and happy Christian. There is my
mothers Bible. l nave not opened it for
years Did she believe l could ever neglect
her precious Biblel She surely thought l
would read it much and often. How often
has she read It to mel
Blessed mother, did you pray in vain for
your boyi 1t shall not be in vain. All,
no, no; it shall not DO in vain. |
will prsy for myself. Who has sinned
against so much instruction as l havei
Against so many precious prayers put up to
heaven for me by one of the most lovely,
tender, pious, confiding, trusting of mothers
in her Hea venly Fathers care and grace. She
never doubted. She believed She always
- vol ne N che Ifl NJ nfII. 49,.
mothers Bible and my conscience teach
what l am and what l have made myself
Oh, the bitter pangs of an accusing con.
%sciencei need a Saviour, mighty to save.
l must seek him l will. am on the sea OF
existence, and | can never get of from it.
l am afioat No anchor, no rudder, no com
pass, no book Of instructions, for l have put
them all away from me. Saviour OF the per-
ishing, save or | perishIn
Do you wonder that the next day he arose
In a prayer meeting and said; MY brethren.
| stand before You a monument OF Gods
amazing mercy and goodness, forever blessed
be His holy name: all | lave and all | am |
consecrate to Jesus, my Saviour and my
GodF Oh. the power OF ancestral prayer.
Hear i'll Hear it,
~Second-But l turn for u moment to those
who had evil parentage, and l want 10 tell
you hat the highest thrones in heaven and
the mightiest triumphs and the brightest
crowns will be for those who had evil parent
age, but who by the grace Of God con
quered- As useful, as splendid a gen
tlemAn as / know OF today had
for father a man who died bias
pheming God until the neighbors had TO put
their fingers In their ears to hut out the hor-
ror. One Of the most consecrated and useful
Christian ministers Of to-day was born Of a
drunken horse jockey. The It'd OF evil is
tremendous in some families. 1t is like
Niagara rapids, and yet men nave chung to O
rock and been rescued.
There is a family in New York whose
wealth has rolled up into many millions, that
was founded by a man who, after he had
vast estate, sent back a paper of tacks be
cause they were two cents more than he ex-
pected. Grip and grind and gouge in the
fourth generation-I suppose it viii be grip
and grind and gouge in the twentieth genera
ton. The thirst for intoxicants has burned
down through the arteries Of a hundred and
fifty years. Pugnacity or combativeness
characterize other families. Sometimes
one form OF evil, sometimes another form OF
evil But 1t may be resisted, it has been
resisted. II the family frailty be ~avarice,
cultivate unselfshness and charity, and teach
your children never TO eat an apple without
offering somebody else half OF it. Is the
family frailty combativeness, keep out Of the
company OF quick-tempered people, and
never answer an impertinent question
until you have counted a hundred
both ways, and after you have written
an angry letter keep 1t a week before you
send il, and then burn it upl Is the family
frailty timidity and cowardice, cultivate back
bone. read the biography OF brave men like
Joshua or Paul, and see II you cannot get O
little iron in your blood. Find out what the
family frailty is, and set body, mind and soul
in battle array,
| think the genealogical table was put in
the first chapter Of the New Testament not
only to show our Lords pedigree, but to show
that a man may rise up in an ancestral line
and beat back successfully all the influences
OF bad heredity. See in that genealogical
table that good King Asa came OF vile
King Abba See in that genealogical table
that Joseph and Mary and the most illus
trious Being that ever touched our world, On
ever vii. touch 1t, had in their ancestral line
scandalous Rehohoam and Thamar and
Bathsheba- II this world is ever to be Eden.
zed-and il will be-an the infected families
OF the earth are to be regenerated, and there
will some one arise in each fnmily line and
open a new genealogical table.
But Whatever your heredity, let me say
you may be sons and daughters OF tho Lord
God Almighty. Estranged children from the
homestead, come back through the open gate
OF adoption. There is royal blood in our
veins. There are crowns on our escutcheon.
Our Father is king. Our Brother is king.
We may be kings and queens unto God for
ever. Come and sit down on the ivory
bench OF the palace. Come and wash
in the fountains that fall into the
basins OF crystal and alabaster. Come
and look out Of the upholstered win
dow upon gardens OF azalea and amaranth.
Hear the full burst Of the orchestra, while
you banquet with p~otentates and victors.
Oh, when the text sweeps backward, let IL
not stop at the cradle that rocked your in.