Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-22

Oh, what a last viii and testament you
are making, my brother! Gin the
name of God, amen. |, being Of
sound mind, make this my last
Will and testament; / bequeath to my
children all the money | ever made and
all the houses | own; but l dtsinherlt
them, rob them of the ancestral grace
aud the Christian influence that inherit
ed. have squandered that on my own
worldliness. Share and share alike must
they in the misfortune and the everlast-
ing outrage. Signed, sealed and delivered
in the presence of God and men and an
gels and devils and all the generations OF
earth and heaven and hell, March, 1856.
O we highly favored ancestry, wake up
this morning TO sense Of your opportun-
ity and your responsibility. think there
must be an old cradle, or fragment OF a
| cradle, somewhere that could tell story
OF midnight supplicatOn in your behalf
Where is the old rocking-chair in which
you were sung to sleep with the holy nur-
sery rhymeY Where is the old clock that
licked away the moments Of that sickness
on that awful night when there were but
three OF you awake-you and God and
motherg Is there not an old stan in some
closet? Is there not an old family Bible
on some shelf that seems to address y0u,
saying: "My son, my daughter, how can
you reject that God who 50 kindly dealt
with us all our lives and TO whom we
commended you in our prayers living and
dying! BY the memory Of the old home
stead, 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 new leaf, and that now"
Oh, the power of ancestral piety, we'll
illustrated by young man of New York
who attended 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 ever go to
heaven? She told me l must meet her in
heaven. When she took her boys hand
IN hers and turned her gentle, loving eyes
on me and gaZed earnestly and long into
my face, and then lifted them to heaven
in that last prayer, she prayed that /
might meet her in heaven. | wonder If /
ever shall?
my mothers prayerl Oh, my sweet,
blessed mothers prayersl DID ever boy
have such mother as had? FJr TWEEN
ty-fve years have not heard her pray
until tonight. IbaVe heard all her pray
ers over again. They have had, in fact, a
terrible resurrection. Oh, how she was
wont to pray! She prayed as they
prayed tonight, so earnest, 80 importu-
nate, so believing. Shall ! ever be a
Christian? She was a Christian. Oh,
how bright and pure and happy was her
life! She was a cheerful and happy
Christian. There is my mothers Bible.
have not opened it for years. Did she
! believe ! could ever neglect her precious
Bible? She surely thought / would read
it much and often. How often has she
read it to me-
blessed mother, did you pray in vain
! for your boy? 1t shall not be in vain. Ali
no, no, it shall not be in vain. | will
pray for myself. Who has sinned against
so much instructions as | have? against
50 many precious prayers put up to heav-
en- for me by one of the most lovely, ten
der, pious, cOntding, trusting of mothers
in her heavenly Fathers care and grace
She never doubted. she believed. She
always prayed as il she did. My Bible,
my mothers Bible and my conscience
teach what l am and what | nave made
myself. Oh, the bitter pangs Of an accus-
ing consciencel / need Saviour mighty
to save. | must seek Him. / will. am
on the sea of existence, and | can never
get off from IL. | am ail0at. No anchor,
no rudder, no compass, no book of instruc-
tiOns, for ! have put them all away from
me. Saviour OF the perishing, save or |
perish!"
Do you wonder that the next day he
arose in prayer-meetlng and said: "My
brethren, stand before you monument
OF Gods amazing mercy and goodness,
forever blessed be His holy name; all /
have and all / am | consecrate to Jesus,
my Savior and my Cod" Oh, the power
of ancestral prayer. Heart! Hear it!
.. But l turn for moment to those
who had evil parentage, and l want to
tell you that the highest thrones In heav-
en- and the mIghtiest trumphs and the
brightest crowns will be for those who
had evil PAL entage, but who by the grace
OF God conquered. AS useful, as splendid
a gentleman as / know OF to-day had for
father a man who died disappearing God
until the neighbOrs had 10 put their fin
gers in their ears to shut out the horror.
One of the most cOnsecrated and useful
Christian ministers of to-day was born of
"A drunken horse jockey. Tide OF evil ire
mendOus in some families. 1t is like Nj
agara Rapids, and yet men have chung TO
a 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 paper Of tacks
because they were two cents more than
he expected. Grip and grind and gOuge
in the fourth generatiOn-I suppose IL
will be grip and grind and gouge in the
twentieth generation. The thirst for In
toxicants has burned down through the
artefies OF a hundred and fifty years.
Pugnacity or com batIveness characterizes
other families. Sometimes one form OF
evil, sometimes another form of
evil. But it may be resisted, IL has been
resisted. II the family irailty be ayarice,
cultivate unseiishness and charity, and
teach your children never TO cat an apple
without Offering somebody else half OF 10.
is the family frailty combatiYeneBs,
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 IL a week before you send IL, and
then burn 10 upl Is the family frailty,
timidity and c0wardice, cultivate back
bone, read the biography Of brave men
like Joshua or Paul, and see you cannot
get 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 10 show our Lords pedigree, but
TO show that a man may rise up In an an
cestral 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 illustrious Being that
ever touched our world, or ever
will touch it, had In their
o.,..traf linz ooandaln,.a Uohnkna..