The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-12-02

ADO you consecrate yourself to the God who
made and redeemed you, and do you promise
to serve him all your daysP and with manly
voice he answers aI do.n There is an April
shower in the pew where father and mother
sit, and rainbow Of joy which arches both
their souls, that makes all differences Of creed
fnfinitesimal. And the daughter who had
been very worldly, and gay, and thoughtless,
puts her life on the altar of conservation, and
as the sunlight of that Sabbath streams
through the church window and falls upon
her brow and cheek, she looks like their other
daughter, whose face was lumined with the
brightness of another world, on the day when
The Lord took her into His heavenly keeping
years ago.
l should not wonder If, after all, these
parents pass the evening Of their life in the
same church, all differences of church pref
erence overcome by the joy of being in the
house of God where their children were pre-
pared for usefulness and heaven.
But can give you a recipe for running
your children. AngFily contend In tho
household that your church is right and the
church of your companion is wrong. Bring
sneer and caricature to emphasize your opin-
ions, and your children will make up thei
minds that religion is sham, and they viii
have none of it. In the northeast storm of
domestic controversy, the rose of Sharon and
the lily of the valley will not grow. Fight
about apostolic succession, fight about election
and free agency, fight about baptism. hight
about the bishopric, fight about gown and
surplice, and the religious prospects of your
children viii be left dead on the field. You
will be as unfortunate as Charles, duke of
Burgundy, who in battle lost diamond the
value of a nation, for in your fight you win
lose the jewel of salvation for your entire
household. This is nothing against the adj
vocacy of your own religious theories. Use
all forcible argument, bring all telling illus
tration, array all demonstrative facts, but
let there be no acerbity, no stinging retort,
no mean insinuation, no supersiliousness, as
though all others were wrong and you in
fallibly right.
Take a hint from astronomy. The Ptole-
naic system made the earth the center of
the solar system, and everything was thought
to turn round the earth. But the Copernican
system came. and made the sun the center,
around which the planets revolved. The
bigot makes his little belief the center of
everything, but the large souled Christian
makes the Son of Righteousness the center,
and all denominations, without any clashing,
and each at its own light and in its own
sphere, revolving around it. Over the tomb
of Dean Stanley in Westminster abbey is
the passage of Scripture: S'Thy command
ments are exceeding broad" Let no man
crowd US on to a path like the bridge Al
Sirat, which the Mohammedan thinks leads
from this world over Il abyss of hell into
paradise, the breadth Of the bridge less than
the web of a starved spider or the edge of q
sword or razor, Off the edges of which many
fall. No; while the way is not wide enough
to take with US any of our sins. it is wide
Ill half TO
without peril into ever lsting safety
But do not any of you depend upon what
you call sound creed for salvation. A man
may own all the statutes of the state of New
York, and yet not be lawyer, and man
may own all the best medical treatises and
not be physician; and a man may own all
the best works on painting and architecture,
and not be either painter or architect; and a
man may own all the sound creeds in the
world, and yet not be a Christian. Not
what you have in your head and on your
tongue, but in your heart and in your life,
will decide everything.
In olden times in England, before the mod
ern street lamps were invented, every house
holder was expected to have lantern sus-
pended IN front of his house, and the cry of
the watchmen in London as they went along
at eventide was: @Hang out your ightsI"
AItSo5du VI 0AoIubAliS JOu AoiiAO e+OOuS OAtc
different kinds of lantern, as a watchman on
the walls Of Zion l cry: "1et your light so
shine before men that they, seeing your good
works, may glorify your father which is in
heaven" Hang out your hghtsl You may
have thousand ideas about religion, and yet
not the great idea of pardoning mercy. 1t is
not the number of your ideas, but the great
ness of them. A mouse hath ten offspring in
her nest, while the lioness hath one in her lair.
All ideas about forms and ceremonies and
church government put together are not
worth the one idea of getting to heaven your
self and taking your family with you.
But do not reject Christianity, as many do,
because there are so many sects. Standing
in Westminster hotel, London, looked out
of the window and saw three clocks, as near
as 1 can remember, one on the Parliament
house, another on st. Margaret's chapel,
another on Westminster abbey, and they
were all different. One said 10 o'clock at
noon, another said los, another said 1906.
l might as well have concluded that there is
no such thing as time, because the three time
pieces were different, as for you to conclude
that there is such thing pure Christian
ity because tho churches differ in their state
ment of it. 1t is about 10 o'clock noon. of
the glorious Gospel dispensation, although
the church clocks somewhat differ, and under
the present light you have no excuse for
neglecting your duty because you do not like
this or do not like that. allow shall we
escape if we neglect so great salvationn
But let us all rejoice that, although part
of our family may worship on earth in one
church, and part in another church, or
bowed at tho same affairs, it must be in a
compromise of preferences; we are, if re-
deemed, on the way to perfect church, where
all our preferences will be fully gratified
Great cathedral of eternity, with arches of
amethysts, and pillars of sapphire, and
floors of emerald, and windows aglow with
the sunrise of heavenl What wide aisles,
spacious enough to allow empires to enterI
What amphitheatres of piled-up splendor,
gallery above gallery, princes and prin-
cesses, kings and queens bending over
theml What stupendous towers, with
chimes angel hoisted and angel rungI
What myriads of worshipers, white
robed and coronetedi What en- ofici-
ator at the altar, even "the great high priest
of our professionl" What walls, hung with
the captured shields and flags, by the church
militant passed up to be church triumphant
What doxologies of all nationsl Coronet to
coronet, cynlbal to cymbal, harp to harp,
organ to organl Pull out the tremulent stop
to recall the sufferings pasti Pull out the
trumpet stop to celebrate the victoryl
When shall these eyes thy heaven built walls
And pearly gates beholdf
Thy bulwarks with salvation strong,
And streets of shining gold