The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1886-12-16

portance that came to tho great city
of Corinth-that city situated on what
was called a bridge Of the sea, glistening
with sculpture and gated with a style OF
prass so magnificent that the following ages
have not been able successfully to initiate il,
oyershadowe1b by the Acrocorinthus a fortres,
of rock 400 feet hight say no letter of
greater Importance ever came to that great
city Of Corinth than the letter in which Paul
put these two startling questions: "How
knowest thou, oh, wife, but thou
shalt save thy hushand' How know.
est thou, oh, husband. but thou shalt
save thy witer Any sacrifice you make is
cheap for salvation. Better go to the small ast
church, the weakest church, the most insig.
niticant church on earth, and be co-partners
In eternal bliss, than that you should attend
the most gorgeously attractive church and
ono OF you perish outside evangelical advan-
tages. Better that the drowning be saved
with scow or sloop, than that he or she
should go down while You sail past in the
gilded cabins Of a Britanntc or Great
Eastern
Remark the second: II both of the mar
ried couple are Christians, but one is so nat.
uraly constructed as to be severely secta-
rian and could not be happy in another than
the one church or denomination preferred,
then it is your duty, YOU who are the less sec
tartan and the more liberal, to go with the one
WHo Is very PARTICULAR. AS Ior my SOIL, L leel
about as much at home in one denomination
as another l have sometimes said l
think / must have been born near
the line. / like the solemn roll of
the Episcopal liturgy, and l like the
.pontaneity OF the Methodists, and / like the
importance given to baptism by the Baptists,
and like the freedom of the Congre cation
alis's, and like the government and tho sub
lime doctrines of the Presbyterians, and
like score of other denominations Just as
good as those l have mentioned. and could
li9. happily in any one of them, and preach
and die happily, and from tn, sacred doors
be carried out to my last resting place. But
some persons are born with stout aud un-
bending preference for some church or some
denomination, and it would be torture to them
to be anywhere else. From the very starting
1t was indicated what they were to be, and
what was to be the style of their ecclesiasti-
cism. 1t was written on the side of their
cradle, if father and mother had eyesight
keen enough to see it. When they cried in
their infancy they could not be silenced until
they had for playthins Westminster Cate
chism or the Thirty nine Articles. Now, it
would be torture and q misery for such
person to be in any denomination that was
outside of the one preferred But you can
afford to surrender your pref
erences if you have not been born
with the same spirit of seetariauism 1t
is the duty of the grapevine to follow the
sinuostieS of the oak and the hick-
ory. If Abraham has a larger flock of
Christian graces than Lot, who is built on a
smaller scale, then it is Abrahams duty to
say to Lot: Let there be nc strife between
u.s. or between my herdsmen and your herds.
men. Is not the whole land before thee" II
you can be happy anywhere, and your huS-
band or your wife cannot be happy except in
one place, surrender your preferences, and
surrender tn em without discuss on.
Another remark: If both of the married
couple are equally strong in their sectarian-
ism and their preferences, then go to the
churches that please you best. Yol are not
bound to go to the same church. God does
not demand that you do SO. Religion is some-
thing between your conscience and your God.
If, therefore, on Sunday morning you came
out from the front door of your house to.
gether, and one goes one way and the
other goes the other way, heartily wish
each other goo1 sermon and an hour of
profitable devotion, and when you meet at
the monday 1epast, let it be evident each to
each and to the children and to the hired
helD that you both have been on the Mount
uf TrausngurotiOu, though you Went up by
different paths, and that you have been both
fed with the bread of life though it were
kneaded in different trays AMI baked in diff.
ferent ovens.
But l am often aske flor l am not discus.
sing this morning al abstraction-I am
often asked by parents: "What about the
childens" My reply is: Let the children
make their CHOICE l have sometimes
thought that at ten years of age child
knows more of religion than those who hav,
come on to forty, fifty, sixty or seventy yearA
of age. We go out in the world and we get
befogged with scepticisms, and we hear 50
many Of the discussions of unbelief, an our
life gets so full of imperfe stion and D full of
sin that have thought littl, children may
know more religion than some of us VINO
have got older. At any rate, give you the
advice, let children choose for themselves.
They will probably grow up with rever-
ence for both denominations repre- Sented by
you, the father and mother. And if you,
the father, live the holy life they will have
more reverence for your denomination, and
if you, the mother, live the holy lite, they
will have more reverence for your denoml.
nation: and some day you will both be found
going to the same church and the same SER
vice, and the neighbors will look out Of the
windows and they will say Why, Won
der what's the matter with oar neighbors,
the husband and wife going arm and arm to
the same church? l never thought they
would go to the same church. | wonder
what's the matterl' l will tell you what
is the matter. Something very impor-
tant has happened That day. the
son of that family is announcing himself a
Christian. That day the son Of that house
hold is standing in the aisle to take the vows:
He had been somewhat waywa and had
given his father and mother good deal of
anxiety: but their prayers have been an
swered in his salvation, and now, as he stands
in the church aisle and the minister of relig.
ion says to him: 'Do you take the God
who made you and the God who re.
deemed you for your eternal pEtion!
vi do IN Him all the
days of your lifeh' and the young man, with
a manly voice, says Il do" There is ar
April shower in the pew where father and
mother sit, and rainbow Of joy overarchine
everything that makes the difference OF
creeds in6nitessimal. Aye on that very
day, the daughter Of the family may put
her life on the alter of conservation, and
the sunlight coming through the church
window, falling on her brow and cheek
may make her look like the other daughter
whose face took on the brightness of another
world when God took her into His Heavenly
keeping years ago. Aye, l should not VOL
der if those parents spent the evening OF
their days in the same church, all their
church preferences oyerwh elmed in the joy
OF worshiping in the place where their sons
and their daughters were prepared for USE
fulreSs and for heaven.
But ! will give YOU recipe for running
your children. Angrily discus; and contend
in your household about matters of religion,
and contend that your church is right and
all other churches are wrong, especially the
church your companion atte IDS, br.nS
sneer aud carcature to emphasize your opln-
ions, and your children will grow up to b.
leve religion is a sham, and they will
want none OF it. In the northeast storm
of domestic controversy the Rose of Sharon
and the Lily of tn, Valley never grow Fight
about apostolic succession; isht about cleo
ton and free agency; fight abolt baptism;
fight about the bishopric; fight abou5 gown
and surplice, and tho religious interests of
your children will bs left dead on the tiel |.
You will be unfortunate as Charles, Duke
Of Burgundy, who in battle lost
diamond worth a nation, for yIu
will in the battle about church differen ce' in
your household. lose tn, prize of salvation for
your own entire household. OF coarse, / saw
nothing against your advocacy of your own
belief. That is right. Gather all telling
illustrations, gather all denonstrative IA is,
gather all acute arguments to prove that
your theories are the right the eores,
but let there be no acerbity, no
stinging retort, no insinuation, no
superciliousness as though you were right
and everybody else wrong. Take a hint
from astronomy. The Ptolemic system taught
that the earth was the center and the worlds
turned around the earth The Copernican
system cams and taught that the sun was
the center, and the worlds turned around
that The bigot thinks his little belief is the