The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-12-25

next door to you, or perhaps under your
very roof, there dwells some man or
woman who only lives to pour his
hearts warm currents into a weaker
life, less favored spirit. There are
sick-rooms in this city where sufferers
are bearing the sharp bite of bodily
pain with all the peaceful resignation
in which Christian men and women
once bore the thumbscrew and the rack;
and in those same sick-rooms are watch
ers, who for simple Christian love have
renowned the world, and given them
selves to this gentle service, in spirit
of conservation, as genuine as ever sent
a soul into the converts seclusion.
In this differentiation of Christian
character, this darkening of the light
already in the world, we find parallel
of the misgiving which prevails among
brave to-day as when war was the con-
slant occupation of manhood. 1--WE
must have wal" said Count Won Moltke,
Ito keep up manly virtues" That is
what unhappy Europe thinks to-day
that is what America thought twenty
fveyears ago. We were actually afraid
when the peace of our land was threat
ened, that long years Of serenity had
untitled men for heroism, and under
| hn oto Of
But what revelation that battle season
gave Then stepped from behind the
counter, and the desk, to bivouac in
pelting storms, and climb steep hill
sides, blazing with the rifles cracking
flame The quiet little fellow, the
household favorite, carried his regi-
ment's colors to the rampart's top and
held them there while his fingers stiff
ened in death. These heroes were not
made by war Peace nurtured them,
and hid every fibre in their strong,
brave hearts; and war only revealed
them by the glare of its horrid fires.
That heroism was not generated in the
four short years of fighting and cam
paigning. 1t had been drilling all the
years of generation, in the steady dis
cipline of daily life, the field of COM
mon activities. And it only needed
the summons, to leap out in thousands
of hearts and give us heroes by the reg
iment.
And so, to-day, whenever the tests
of Christian character are applied, the
age we live in furnishes a type as fine
as ever. Let but the summons be made,
the emergency present itself, the need
appear, and you will see that every
home and every shop, the school-room
and the church, the laborer's cottage,
and the millionaire's palace will fur
nish it's heroes and its heroines, ready
for all duties, bearing health, strength,
love, life itself as offerings for the altar
Of duty. 1t is libel on our Christian
life to say that the crosses of to-day are
padded to fit weak shoulders, and that
they who bear them are degenerate sons
and daughters of the noble line of saints
and martyrs. In the great roll-call of the
ages. the nineteenth century will show
larger quota of saints and martyrs in
proportion to its population than any
of the centuries that precede it.
But if we discern the present ascen-
dency and rule of the spirit of Jesus
Christ in mems attitude toward duty,
still more clearly shall we see it in the
relation men sustain to the home, their
sentiment toward the domestic virtues.
We have special need to be thankful at
Christmas, for the light which fills our
homes, and which has followed the ris-
ing of Bethlehem's morning star. Per-
| haps the grandest achievement of the
Christian religion has been the regen-
Grafton, had almost said the creation
of the home. When Christianity ele
waited woman from her degradation, and
made her the equal of her brother; ;
when it sanctified marriage, and trans
formed it from contract to a sacra-
ment; when it blessed the life of child
hood, and reconsecrated the old filial
virtues, it practically re-established the
family in broader and truer life. For
the home, noble product of the purest
affections and relationships of mankind,
the home whose bonds are about all
our hearts, and lash them to the high
est life we live; the home as you and
know it, dates from the rising of Beth
lehem's star.
OF course, when l speak thus, l dis
tinguish between the home and the
family. The family has existed since
the days of Eden. Its influence and the
obligations it imposes are universal.
1t is the basis ON which the home al
ways rests. But the two are not iden-
tical. A house to live in does not make
ahome. A family herde together does
not make one. Many well-kept man.
sions never sheltered a home. Many
large and well-governed families know
nothing Of the joys of home. For
a home is a dwelling place, cheered,
warmed, and lighted by love. 1t is the
family inspired, controlled, and held to-
gether by mutual sacrifices and service.