Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-12-09

neighboring pews, and 20 with him to any one
OF o hundred chui ches, till his soul Is saved
and he Joins you In the march to heaven.
More important than that ring on the third
finger Of your left hand, 1t Is, that your
heavenly Father command the angel Of mercy
concerning your husband at bis conversion, as
In the parable of old: "Pu. q ring ON his
hand" No letter Of more Importance ever
what was called the Bridge of the Sea- and
glistening with sculpture, and gated with
style Of brass which the following ages have
not been able successfully to initiate, and
overshadowed by the Aero Coripthus, fortress
Of rock 1000 feet high--1 say no letter ever
came to that great city Of more Importance
than that letter in which Paul puts the two
startling questions: what knowest thou, 0
wife, whether thou shalt save thy husbandl
Or how know knowest thou, o man, whether
thou shalt save thy wife2n
ANYTHING TO SECURE SALVATION.
The dearest sacrifice on the part of the one
is cheap II 1t rescue the other. Better go to
the smallest, weakest, most Insignificant
church on earth, and be co-partners In eternal
bliss, than pass your earthly membership In the
most gorgeously attractive church, while your
COMPANION stays outside of evangelical privil-
eye. Better have the drowning saved by a
scow or sloop than let him or her go down
while you sail by in the gllded cabins Of a
Brittanic or Great Eastern. -....
Second remark: IL both Of the married
couple be Christians, but one Is so naturally
constructed that 1t is impossible to enjoy the
services OF a particular denomination, and the
other Is not so sectarlan or punctilous, let the
one less particular 60 with the other who Is
very particular. As for myself feel as much
at home in one denomination OF evangelical
Christians as another, and think ] must
have been born very near the line. like the
solemn roll OF the Episcopal liturgy, and / like
the spontaneity of the Methodists, and | like
the Importance given to the ordinance of bap-
hu tha RAJ ti nd tha INt., pf
the Congregationalists, and like the govern.
ment and the sublime doctrine Of the Presby-
terians, and like many OF the Others just
good as any have mentioned, and ! could
happily live, and preach, and die and be buried
from any OF them. But others are born with
so stout and unbending and memorable lik-
ing for some denomination that it is posa.
tive necessity they have the advantage OF that
one. What they were intended to be in eccle-
slasticism was written in the sides OF their
cradle, If the father and mother had eyes keen
enough to see it. They would not stop crying
until they had put in their hands as plaything
a Westminster catechism or the Thirty-niue
articles.
FOLLOWING THE LESS PLIABLE ONE.
The whole currant Of their temperament and
thought and character runs into one sect of
religionists as naturally as the James river
into the Chesapeake. 1t would be a torture TO
such persons to be anything outside of that
one church. Now, let the wife or husband
who is not so constructed sacrifice the milder
preference for the one more infexible and
rigorous. Let the grapevine follow the rugos
| tiles and siuuosities of the oak or hickory.
Abram, the richer 10 flocks of christian grace,
should say to Lot who Is built on q smaller
| scale! LET there be no strife, | pray thee,
between me and thee and between my herd
men and thy herdmen. Is not the whole land
| before theei" AS you can be edited and hap
| py anywhere, go with your companion to the
| church to which he or she must go or be miser-
| able
Remark the third If both the married
couple are very strong in their sectarianism,
| let them attend the different churches pre-
| ferred. 1t Is not necessary that you attend
| the same church. Religion is between your
conscience aud your God. Like Abram and
| Lot agree to differ. When on Sabbath morn
ing you come out Of the door of your home to-
gether, and one goes one way aud the other
the other, heartily wish each other a good ser
| mon, and Il time of profitable devotion, and
when you meet again at the MONDAY repast,
let II be evident, each to each, and to your
children, and to the hired help, that you have
both been on the Mount of TRANSPORTATION, al
though you went up by different paths, and
! that you both have been fed by the bread of
life, though kneaded by different hands In
different trays, and baked in different ovens.
UNITED BY THE CHILDREN.
"But how about the childrenW | am often
asked by hundreds of parents. Let them also
make their choice. They will grow up with
reverence for both the denominations repre- -
sented by father and mother, if YOU, by holy
| lives, commend those denominations II the
father lives the better life, they will have the
| more favorable opinion of his denomination.
| If the mother lives the better life, they will
| have the more favorable opinion of her de-
nomination. And some day both the parents
| will, for at least one service, 90 to the same
| church. The neighbOrs will say: II wonder
| what is going on to-day, for l saw our neigh
hpr nd wifi. ub nj IN MT
| churches, going arm In arm to the same
sanctuary Well, will tell you what has
| brought them together, arm in arm to the
| same altar. Something very important has
| happened. Their son to-day is uniting with
| the church. He is standing in the aisle TAX
| ing the VOWS of Christian He had been
somewhat Maynard, and gave father and
mother good deal of anxiety, but their
| prayers have been answered in his conversion,
and as he stands in the aisle and the minister
| of religion says DO you consecratc yourself
to the God who made aud redeemed you, and
| do you promise to serve Him all your daysn'
and with manly voice he answers Il do,''
| there is an April shower in the pew where
| father and mother sit, and rainbow of JOY
| which arches both their souls, that makes all
| differences of creed inhnitesimal. And the
| daughter who has been very worldly and gay
| and thoughtless puts her life on the altar OF
conservation, and as the sunlight OF that
| Sabbath streams through the church window
| h,
| like their other daughter, whose face was
lumined with the brightness of another world
| on the day when the Lord took her into Hi:
| heavenly keeping years ago
now TO RUIN THE YOUNG.
| | should not wonder if, after all, these par
| ents pass the evening of their life in the SAINT
church, all differences of church preference
| overcome by the JOY of being in the house o
God where their children were prepared TO
usefulness and heaven.
But can give you recipe for running youl
| children. Augrly contend In the household
that your church is right and the church o
| your companion is wrong. Bring sneer ant
| carIcature to emphasize your opinions anC
your children will make up their minds tina
| religion is a sham, and they will have none o
it. In the northeast storm of domestic con
| troversy the rose OF Sharon and the lily OF the
| valley will not grow. Fight about apostolic
| succession, fight about election and free agen
CIV, fight about baptism, fight about the Dish
| opric, fight about gown and surplice, and tn
religious prospects Of YOUR children Will b
nate as Charles, duke Of Burgando, who il
battle lost q diamond the value Of a nation
for in your fight you will lose the jewel OF sal
walton for your entire household. This 1
nothing against the advocacy of your own re
| ligious theories. Use all forcible argument
bring all telling illustration, array all demon
strative facts but let there be no acerbity, n
singing retort, no mean insinuation, no su
perciliousness, as though all Others wer
wrong andyou infalliby right.
CHRIST THE ONE CENTER.
Take hint from astronomy. The Ptolemai
| system made the earth the center of the solar
system and everything was thought to turn
| round the earth But the Copernican system
came and made the sun the center arount
which the planets revoIved The bigot make
his little belief the center Of everything bu
the large souled Christian makes the Sun O
Righteousness the center, and all denomina
tions. without any clashing, and each of ii
} own light and in its own sphere revolving
J around it. Over the tomb Of Dean Stanley Il
J Westminster abbey is the passage of Scriptur
"Thy commandments are exceeding broad.
Let no man crowd us on to path like tn
bridge, Al Strait which the Mohammeda
J thinks leads from this world over the abyss IL
to hell or paradise, the breadth of the bridg
less than the web of a starved spider or th
edge of sword or razor, off the edges OF whic
many fall. No, while the way is not wild
enough to take with us any of our sins 1t
! wide enough for all Christian believers to pas
7 | without peril into everlasting safety.
But do not any Of you depend upon wha
you call a sound creed for salvation. A ma
may own all the statutes Of the state of NeN
York and yet not be a lawyer, and a man ma
| all ha haef nd