National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-03-22

to you what they were, and that there may
he IN your house some article OF dress or |
furniture with which you associate their |
memories. l want to arouse the most
sacred memories Of your heart while |
make the imprisoned interrogatory In re-
gard to your pedigree
"Whosc son art thou, thou young many,
First, accost all those who are descended
Of q Christian ancestry. | do not ask If
your parents were perfect. Perhaps there
were sometimes too much blood In their
eye when they chastised you. But from
what know Of you, you got no more than
you deserved, and perhaps a little more
than you deserved, and perhaps little
more chastisement would have been salu-
tary. But you are willing 10 acknowledge
think, that they wanted TO DO right
From what you overheard In conversations,
and from what you saw at the family altar
and at neighborhood obscQuies, you know
that they had invited God into their heart
and life. There was something that sus.
tanned those old people supornaturally.
| You have no doubt about their destiny.
You expect If you ever get to heaven to
| meet them MS certainly rs you expect to
meet the Lord Jesus Christ.
That early association has been charm
| for you. There was q time when you got
| right up from n house OF iniquity and
walked out into the fresh air because you
thought your mother was looking at you.
| lou nave never DCeu very uuppy III Sill UG-
| cause OF sweet old face that would present
itself. TremulOus voices from the past ac-
COsted you until they were seemingly audi
| BILE, ana YOU looked around to sec who
! spoke There was estate not mentioned in
the last will and testament, q vast estate of
prayer ana holy example and Christian Gu
treaty aud glorious memory. The survl-
vors of the family gathered to hear the will
read, and this was to be kept, and that was
| to be sold, and II was share and share alike.
| But there was an unwritten will that read
something like this: sin the name OF God,
amen. !, being OF sound mind, bequeath
to my children all my prayers for their sal
walton; / bequcath to them the Christian
religion which has been so much comfort to
me, and ] hope may be soace for them; |
bequeath to them hope Of reunion when
the partings Of life are over, share and
share alike may they have In eternal riches.
bequeath to them the wish that they may
avoid my errors and copy. anything that
may have been worthy. In the name Of
the God who made me, and the Christ who
redeemed me, and the Holy Ghost who
sanct6cs me, make this my last will and
testament. Witness, all ye hosts Of heaven.
Witness, time, witness, eternity Signed,
sealed, aud delivered In this our dying
hour Father and mother.n
You did not get that will proved at the
surrogate's Office, but take 1t out to-day
and read II to you. l take it out of the
alcoves of your heart; | shake the dust off
Of It; | ask you will you accept that inheri-
lance, or will } ou. break the will? o ye of
Christian ancestry, you have responsibility
vast beyond all measurement God will
not let you of with Just being as good as
ordinary people when you had such eXtraor-
binary advantage. Ought not u flower
planted In dollhouse be more thrifty than
q flower planted outside in the storm /?
Ought not factory turned by the Housa-
tonic do more work than q factory turned
by thin and shallow mountain streamS
Ought not You of great earthly oppor-
tunity be better than those who had a
cradle unblessed2
A father sets his son mp In business. lie
keeps an account Of all the expenditures.
So much for store fixtures, so much for
rent so much for this, so much for that,
} and all the items aggregated, and the father
expects the son to give an account. Your
heavenly Father charges against you all the
advantages of a pious ancestry-so many
prayers, SO much Christian example, SO
many kind entreaties-all these gracious In
Eucnces one tremendous aggregate, aud lie
asks you for an account of 1t. Ought not
you to be better than those who had nc
such advantagesY Better have been Q
, founding picked up of the city commons
than with such magnificent inheritance Of
l conservation o turn out indiferently.
, Ought not you, my brother, to be better
! having had Christian nurture, than tina
! man who can truly say this morning: "ThC
l first word remember my father speaking
: to me was an oath; the first time | remem
Der my father taking hold of me was Il
4 wrath; ! never saw Bible till was tel
a wears Of age, and then | was told 1t was
i pack of lies. The first twenty years of m
, life was associated with the vicious.
Q seemed to be walled In by sin and death.
1 Now, my brother, ought you mott leav
Y | Of fairOnEa with IIUh
y you not be far better than those who has
r 10 carly Christian influence Standing q
/ you do between the generation that Is pas
$ and the generation that is to come, are yo'
: going to pass the blessing on, orare yOl
4 going to have your life the gulf in whicl
@ that tide of blessing shall drop out OF sigh
S forever You are the trustee OF piety IL
j. that ancestral line, and arc you going t
J.. augment or sQuander that solemn trus
}, fund.- Are you going to disinherit you
d sons and daughters OF the heirloom whicI
}. your parents left you? All! that cannot b
/ possible, that cannot be, POSSIBLE
c that you are going to take sucl
very careful about the life assurances, anj
1t careful about the deeds, and careful abou
/, the mortgages, and careful about the It'll
h Of your property, because when you ste
., of the stage you want your children to &c
r; it all. Are you making no provision th(
- luGN klull ItJ EIululuNhNl anu ElilN
r mothers religiOnY Oh, what last wi
st and testament you are making, my brother
lie SIN the name of God, amen. l, being {
% sound mind, make this my last will an
d testament. / bequeath to my children a
Is the money ever made and all the houses
Al own, but l disinherit them, rob them {
d the ancestral grace and the Christian Unfit
y ence that Inherited. | have squandere
1t that on my own worldiness. Share an
T. share alike must they in the misfortur
q and the everlasting outrage. Signed, sealet
~ and delivered in the presence OF God an
Ot men and angels aud devils and all the gel
q erations Of earth and heaven and bel
If ! March, 1861
Il o We highly favored ancestry, wake u
Of this morning to sense ofy your opportuni
by | and YOUR responsibility. / think the
TO must be an old CRADLE or fragment Of
80 cradle somewhere that could tell asstory
CO midnight supplication In your behal
a. Where is the old rocking chair IN whic
lg you were sung to sleep with the no
nursery rhymeY Where Is the old clot
Is. that licked away the moments OF that sic
I'm ness on that awful night when there we
be but three of you awakc-you and God al
rn mother? Is there not an old staff In son
TO closetY Is there not an old family Bible {
some shelf that seems to address you, So
n. ing: "My son, my daughter, how can yC
to reject that God who so kindly dealt wi
o. us all our lives and to whom we commend,
he you in our prayers living and dying ]
CIV the memory OF the old homestead, by Il
" family altar by our dying pillow, by Il
he graves in which our bodies sleep while o.
NV spirits hover, we beg you to turn over
ne new leaf and that now.n oh, the pow
NJ of ancestral piety, well illustrated by
en- young man Of New York who attended
ly prayer meeting one night and asked (
to prayer, and went home aud wrote the
n. words:
RI, "Twenty.nve years ago tonight 1
20. mother went TO heaven, my beautlfj