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


the home circle, and it ought to be one
to make Christian men and women
especially thankful for the influences,
born with the Christ, and maturing
through the ages, which have wrought
the home into means of grace and a
nursery of the Lord.
Out of Christian homes have come
the greatest and best souls that have
blessed our modern life. And we who
have shared these inestimable benefits
know how truly they were the sources
of whatever was best within us. We
know that our few scattering virtues
date back to the loving influences of
Christian homes. We know that the
hawser which has stood the strain of
life's heaviest seas, and held us to our
anchorage in integrity when in the worst
temptations, was spun and twisted
out of the home affections. Many a
soul has hung through awful gales of
trial, when wave after wave rolled over
the passion-tossed heart, and the black
reef of perdition roared close at hand,
held by single rope which would not
| part nor stretch, because some mother
was patient and wisely loving, when
she twisted the threads of righteous in
| fluences and bound them round her
child's heart. And souls have often
gone down in the black night because
there was no one to equip them thus.
The heart bows reverently at the
shrine of the home saint, whose labors
have been the leaven of it's life. The
writer stood one August day in the lit
tie enclosure which marked Gods acre,
on rocky islet of the Pine Tree State.
1t was dreary spot in which to lay
the tired bodies of the departed. Not a
tree cast it's grateful shade on the sandy
mounds. No flowers sprang over the
dead. A little grass waved here and
there, and tangled vines and bushes hid
the poverty of the soil. But one object
there cast glow Of beauty on a scene
otherwise desolate and depressing. 1t
was plain and simple stone erected, !"
as it's legend ran, &C To the memory of
a good Mother, by her sons" And he
who read those words, felt that it need
ed no tree, nor shrub, nor velvet turf, to
keep that grave beautiful. For it was
adorned in manly hearts with many
tender memory, and decked every day
with gratitude.
In this blessed Christmas tide, when
the interchange of loving tokens and
the words of goodwill and friendship
freshen all the better feelings of our
hearts, let our love and loyalty to the
homes God has given us, be renewed
and purified. Let US make them the
object of our highest regard, our purest
loyalty. We have high honors for those
who spring to arms, when war sounds
| its call, to defend their homes from in
vasion. 1t is not thought too much to
commemorate in marble and bronze the
valor which gave life for the integrity of
the home. But that which is easy when
trumpets stir the blood men are apt to
forget altogether in the quiet round of
homes own duties. But peace has its
wars, and there is none waged for high
er end than the integrity of the home.
Let us all be enlisted in that service
Defend your home from every mean
vice. Drive out the rudeness which
breaks up home harmony. Besiege the
sullen temper till it yields. Sacrifice
as much to save the household from the
tyranny of harshness, indifference, ha-
tired, as you would to deliver it from
the hand of despot.
And let us not forget at this season
that the star which shone out when the
Infant of days was born shines bright
ly still for the children. Aud because of
the light it brings, childhood to-day is
better treated and better loved than ever
in the world before. Canon Farrar says:
SIT is only since the dawn of Christian
ity that childhood has been surrounded
with the halo of romance" But, thank
God, ever since the star shone at the
Saviour's birth the world has been
growing to sense of the true place of
the children in the worlds economy.
Perhaps there is little need to make
this plea. For most men and women
feel the trust lying uppermOst in their
hearts. But we all need to be remind
ed that the children are quite helpless
in the hands of older people, and as a
matter of honor as well as love, we are
bound not to make their early years I'M
happy. We do not lift up any voice
for weak, short-sighted indulgence, for
any dread of discipline which, to save
present tear, prepares the way for Bit
ter weeping hereafter. But in the
name of Him whose love makes this the
gladdest season of the year, let us not
neglect one single chance God gives us
to bless the life of childhood.