, 1886-03-14

tian principles into your home Is there in
any Of tie homes Of this congregation one
family in which tho voice OF prayer is never
heard What, no supplication at night for
protection What, no thanksgiving in the
morning for cnrei
What, o father and mother, will you
answer to God and TO judgment in regard to
your influence over your childreni Do you
not know that in the tenth chapter OF
Jeremiah God says, ~ viii pour out My fury
on the families that call not upon My
name and after you, o father and
mother, me dead and gone, and the
mos covers the inscription on your
tombstone, will your children be able 10 take
up tho family Bible and see the marks and
tears Of contrition, aud tears over consoling
promises teaTs wept by eyes long since CLOSED
in darknessi Why, father and mother, UNI
less you warned your children against sin,
unless you invited them to holiness and TO
God, unless you inculcated into their souls
Christian principles, and they, after n while,
fell into dissipation, and wandered out over
tho great Sahara desert OF infidelity, l tell
you plainly that ON their dying bed and in
the day OF judgment they viii curse you
How would it b. II the parents standing in
the room at home saw coming out OF the wall
the mortal and immortal history Of their
children. But | tell you the parent Is now
writing the history OF the child, composing 1t
into a song, or tuning it unto a groan.
Ny mind runs back this morning to ono of
the best OF early homes Prayer hoycIed
over It, Peace, like an atmosphere, was in
it. Parents, the pcrsonifcation Of faith in
trial and comfort In darkness. The two
pillars Of the home long ago crumbled into
dust, but shall l ever forget that early homel
Yes, whom the flower forget the sun that
Nynrffgt II Nae tpbut tho utuFfnar. for
gets the star that guided him. Yes,
when love dies at tho hearths altar, and
memory empties its urn into f~orgetfulness.
Then, home Of my early childhood, I will
forget thee. Family altar; fathers importu-
nifty and mothers tenderness, the voices Of
affection; the funerals OF our dead father and
mother. With interlocked arms like the in
terlocking branches of trees, making n per
potual harbor of love and peace and kindness,
then l will forget, but not until then. Oh,
You who have such an early home you will
never get AWAY from the influence Of it, and
il you had a bad home you will never get away
from the influence Of that either.
l remark also that home is a type OF
heaven. Christ's love is home. Oh, how far
lie came TO take US to our home. There came
n time in the history Of heaven when its
most ilustriOus citizen must absent himself.
He was not TO go from beach 10 beach as you
and / have often done. He was not TO go
from hemisphere 10 hemisphere as one of us
have done, but he was TO go from world TO
world out, and out, and out, and on, and ON,
and On, and down, and down, and down,
until there was but one to greet him. Not
even a hostler viii his lantern went out
10 the King Oh, how far he came
10 take us home. How far he travelled from
his home. IL is 100000 miles from here to
the sun, the astronomer tells us, and they tell
us that our solar system Is only one Of the
smaller wheels in the great machinery of the
heavens, and that all this machinery
turns around some greater center,
which Is supposed to be heaven. II
this is so, oh, how far from home Christ came
TO take us to our home, and how homesick he
must have been. We have been homesick
sometimes a few miles away. Christ was 30
far that ninety-five million miles was only
short part Of the distance. You have been
homesick after a few days absence. Christ
WINS absent from his home thirty-three
years. You sometimes are homcsick amid
picturesque surroundings, but Christ
lodged in humble cots, and was on his way
from being born in another mans barn, TO be
buried in another mans grave. Oh, how
homesick he must have been. There has been
other exilcs, but none like this. Abraham in
exile, John in exile from Epepus, Coscruk
in exile, Emmet in exile from Ireland, Victor
Hugo an. exile from France, Kossuth an ex-
lie from Hungary; but o this cxpatriated our
the Lord Jesus Christ. How far from His
home did He come to fetch us homei l tell
you, my brother and my sister, hat this
world is not our home; heaven is our home.
No death win ever come within that gate; in
all that land there will not be a single grave.
Oh, what a home that will be! We parted
with our friends Mt the door OF tbs
sepulcher; we win meet them again
ut the door OF Immortality face to face.
Corruption, interruption; mortality, immor-
tality. The captstone OF amethyst gntes of
pearl: hut all this does not affect my soul 50
much rs the thought of home. Once there,
let the world roll like an everlasting sea:
home, let thrones fall and empires scatter;
home, let the world die in earthquakes, strug-
gle and be buried amid falling spheres; home.
let infinite ages roll IN in irresistible sleep;
home, sweet home; final home; home with
God; home with the angels; home with each
other.
Some time ago at the close of n very tire
some day laid down ON a lounge in my
house to rest, and my children We're in the
room full Of romp and hilnrity and sport.
While they were in there and lying on the
lounge resting, half asleep and half awake. l
dreamed this dream: ! wns in a ar-awny
country. 1t was not Persia, although
morn than oriental splendor crowned
tho place. IL was not in the tropics, al
though more than tropical luxurianoe' filled
tho curtains. II was not Italy. although
moro than nm Italian softness filed tho air.
and | went forth and l looked for the nettles
and l found none; and 1 saw the sun rising
and / wondered when the sun would set.
and il sank not; and | looked out
and l saw all the people were in Holt
day apparel, and l said, when will
! these worknen change their gnrb and put Off
this holiday attire, and again delve in mine
and weld at the forge, but they did not put
of their holiday apparel And then 1 went
into the suburbs Of the city 10 see where the
dead slept, and | saw castles and temples. hut
not Il monument or a sarcophngils or white
slab could l find. And I entered the great
chapel, and l looked around and | said:
Where do the poor sit in this chapel Where
are the hard benchesl And the nnsvcr was.
There are no poor in this land. Then ] wnn-
dered along through the parts OF the city
where ! thought | might find the homes Of
some that were destitute, and | found palaces
81 ambef, and palaces OF ivory, and
palaces Of gold, and not a sigh could 1
hear, and not n tear did ] sec, and I found
that just ms soon as any one reached that
land he was rich irrespective OF his earthly
condition And l went and sat down under
the branch OF a great tree, and | said to my
self, where am II and who am II and whence
did all this scene comoi And then out from
among the leaves and beds, and nosyery
paths, and acruss the bright stream there
came IA brilliant throng, md when |
raw their steps, l thought l knew It,
and when heard their voices l thought |
anew Il, and ~ gloriously were they arrayed,
~ beyond anything / had ever imagined,
that bowed Ms a stranger to n stranger.