Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-12-02

I INFLUENCES OF EARLY rRAIxIre.
! Two young men come to the door Of sin.
I They consult whether they will So In. The
young man goes In and the other retreats. 0,
you say, the last had better resolution No,
that was not II. The first young man had no
| early good influences the last had been pious-
/ ly trained, and when be stood at the door Of
| sin discussing the matter, he looked around as
| If to see some one and he felt an invisible
hand on his shoulder, saying: Don't go In,
don't GO inn Whose hand was III A moth
er's hand, fifteen years ago gone to dust
! gentleman was telling me OF the fact that
some years ago there were two young men
! who stopped at the door Of the Park theater In
| New York. The question was whether they
should go In That night there was TO be a
| very immoral play enacted in the Park theater.
One man went in; the other stayed out The
| young man who went 10 went on from sin TO
sin, and through crowd OF fniquitics, and
died In the hospital of deirium tremens The
other young man who retreated chose Christ,
went into the gospel, and Is now one OF the
most eminent ministers Of Christ In this coun-
try. And the man who retreated gave as bis
reason for turning back from Park theater that
night, that there was an early voice within
him saying: Don't go in don't go in" And
for that reason, my friends, believe so much
In Bible classes But there is something bet
ter than the Bible class, and that is the Sun
day school class. like 1t because IL takes
children at an earlier point: and the infant
class like still better because 1t takes chill
dren before they are beginning to walk or
talk straight and puts them on the road to
heaven. You can not begin too early. You
stand on the bank Of a river flowing by. You
can not stop that river, but you can travel
days and days toward the source OF it, and
you find after awhile where IL comes down
dropping from the rock, and with your knife
you make score In this or that direction
for the dropping to take, and you decide the
course OF the river. You stand and see your
childrens character rolling on with great I'm
petuosity and passion. and you can not affect
them. Go up toward the source where the
character first starts, and decide that 1t shall
take the right direction, and 1t will follow the
path you give II.
EXAMPLE BETTER THAN PRECEPT
But want you to remember, q father! o
mother that 1t Is what you do that is going to
affect your children and not what you say.
You tell your children to become Christians
while you are not, and they will not. Do you
think Noah's family would have gone into the
ark If he had not gone In, They would say:
mo, there Is something about that boat that
is not right; father has not gone in" You can
not push children into the kingdom Of God;
you have got TO pull them in. There has been
many general In tower Or castle looking
at his army fighting, but that is not the kind
OF man to arouse enthusiasm among his
troops. 1t is a Garibaldi or Napoleon |. who
leaps into the stirrups and dashes into the
conflict and has his troops following him
off in your impeniteDt state and tell your
children to go ahead into the Christian life, |
and have them GO You must yourself dash
into the Christian conflict; you must lead
them and not tell them to go. Do you know
that all the instructions you give to your chill
dren In q religious direction goes for moth |
ing unless you Illustrate 1t In your own life! |
The teacher at q school takes a copy-book, |
writes a specimen of good writing across the |
top of the page, but makes a mistake In one |
letter Of the copy. The boy comes along on the |
next line, copies the top line, and makes the
mistake, and II there be fifteen lines on that |
page they will have the mistake there was In |
the copy on the top. The father has an error |
in his life-a very great error. The son comes |
along and copies it now, tomorrow, next |
year, copies 1t to the day OF his death. 1t is
what you are, not so much what you teach
HOW TO WIN THF YOUNG.
Have family altar! Let it be cheerful !
place, the brightest room in the house. Do |
not wear your children's knees out with long |
prayers. Have the whole exercise spirited |
II you have melodeon, or an organ, or a pi- |
ano in the house, have 1t open. Then lead in |
prayers. II you can not make prayer of your |
own take Matthew henrys prayers of the Epis-
copal prayer book. None better than that. |
Kneel down with your little ones morning and |
night, and commend them to God. Do you |
think they will ever get over It? Never! After |
you are under the sod o good many years. |
there will be some powerful temptation around |
that son, but the memory Of father and mother |
at morning and evening prayers will have Its
effect upon him; 1t will bring him back from |
the path Of sin and death.
But want you to make strict mark, a |
sharp, plain line between innocent hilarity on |
the part OF your children and O vicious pro-
clivity. Do not think your boys will go to
ruin because they make a racket. glum,
child makes the worst form of
villain. Children whe,. they are healthy al
ways make racket l want you at the very |
first sign of depravty in the child to correct it.
Do not laugh because 1t is smart II you do
you will live to cry because It is malicious.
Do not talk Of your olildrens frailtIes lightly
in their presence, thinking they do not under
stand you; they do understand Do not talk
disparagingly OF your child making him feel
that he is reprobate. Do not say to your
kneww II you do he WI he the worst man
you ever knew. Are your children safe for
heaven: You can tell better than anyone
else. put to you the question; "Are your
children safe for heaven,"
BROUGHT TO BEIGMPTIoN.
| heard of a mother who, when the house
was aire in the excitement of the occasion,
got out great many OF the valuable things
many choice articles of furniture-but did not
think to ask until too late: is nv child safe2n
all; the child was gone! o, my dear friend,
when sea and land shall burn in the final con-
fagration, WI your children be safe!
| wonder If what have said this morning
udS uOJ u H sumo one IN tle
audience who had good father and mother,
but who is not yet q Christians Is that your
history' Do yol know why you came here
this mornngl God sent You to have that
memory revived. Your dear Christian mother,
how she loved you! You remember when YOU
were sick, how kindly she attended you; the
night was not too long, and you never asked
ler to turn the pillow but she did I'll You
her prayers also; you remember
how some of you'll do not know where the
nan Is in the audience-how some one here
broke his mothers heart. You remember her
,orrOv over your waywardness; you remember
he old place where she did you so many kind
lesses; the chairs, the table, the doorslll where
;ou played tine tones of her voice. Why, you
AN think them back now. Though they were
borne long ago on the air, they come ringing
through your soul to-day, calling you by the
irst name. You are not Mister to her; It is
Just your plain, first name. Is not this the
time when her prayers will be answered. Do
you not think that God sent you In to-day to
have that memory of her revivedl II you
should come TO Christ this morning, amid all
the throngs of heaven, the gladdest of them
would be your Christian parents who are in \
glory waiting for your redemption. Angels OF |
God, shout the tidhgs, the lost has come back J
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