Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-12-10

city OF COrinth than the letter in which Paul
put these two startling questions: "How
knowest thou oh, wife, but thou
shalt save thy husbandl How know
est thou, oh, husband. but thou shalt
save thy wifeln Any sacrifice YOU make is
cheap for salvation. Better go to the smallest
church, the weakest church, the most insiy.
niicant church on earth, and be co-partners
In eternal bliss, than that you should attend
the most gorgeouSly attractive church and
one otyou perish outside evangelical advan-
tages. Better that the drowning be saved
with scow or asloop, than that he or she
should go down while you sail past in the
gilded cabins of a Britannia or a Great
Eastern.
Remark the second: II both Of the mar
riei couple are Christians, but one is SO nat
nrally constructed as to be severely secta-
rian and could not be happy in another than
the one church or denomination preferred,
then it is your duty, YOU who are the less sec
tartan and the more liberal, to go with the one
who is very partieu lar. As for myself, II feel
about as much at home in one denomination
a' another. | have sometimes said l
think 1 must have been born near
the line. l like the solemn roll of
the Episcopal liturgy, and l like the
spontaneity of the MethodiSts, and like the
importance given to baptism by the Baptists,
and like the freedom of the Congre CATION
alis.s and like the government and tho sub
lime doctrines of the Presbyterians, and l
like score of other denominations lust as
good as those have mentioned, and l could
live happily in any one of them, and preach
and die happily, and from the sacred doors
be carried out to my last resting place. But
| some persons are born with a stout and I'M
| bending preference for some church or some
denomination, and it would be torture to them
| to be anywhere else. From the very starting
| 1t was indicated what they were to be, aud
Int 70 hot hap txrI, Ill,
cism. 1t was written on the side of their
| cradle, if father and mother had eyesght
| keen enough TO see it. When they cried in
their infancy they could not be silenced until
they had for a paything Westminster Cate
chisln or the Thirty niue Articles. Now, it
| would be torture and misery for such
| person to be i'll any denomination that was
outside of the one preferred, But you can
afford to surrender your pref
erences if you have not been born
with tho same spirit of sectarianism. 1t
Is the duty of the grapevine to follow the
sinuoSities of the oak and the hick-
DRY. If Abraham has a larger flock of
Christian graceS than Lot, who is built on a
! smaller scale then it is Abraham's duty to
| say to Lot: LET there be nc strife between
US, or between my herdsmen ard your herds
men. Is not the whole land before thee" If
| you can be happy anywhere, aud your huS-
band or your wife cannot be happy except i'll
one place, surrender your preferences, and
| surrender them without discuss on.
Another remark: If both of the married
couple are equally strong in their sectaran-
ism aud their preferences, then go to the
churches that please you best. You are not
bound t. 90 to the same church. God does
not demand that you do 50. Rel gion is some
thing between your conscience and your God
If, therefore, on Sunday morning you came
out from the front door of your house to.
| pptbnp and md tha
other goes the other way, heartily wish
each other gOot sermon and an hour of
profitable devotion, and when YOU meet at
the monday repast let it b evident each to
each and to the children and to the hired
hello that you both have been on the Mount
of TRANSPORTATION, though you went up by
different paths, and that you have been both
fed with the bread of life though it were
kneaded in different trays AMI baked in diff.
ferent ovens.
But am often askei-for am not discus.
sing this morning IN abstraction-I am
often asked by parents: "What about the
chjlden" My reply is: Let the children
make their choice" l have sometimes
thought that at ten years of age a child
knows more of religion than those who have
come on to forty, fifty sixty or seventy years
of age. We go out in the world and we get
bafogged with s-epticisms, and we hear 50
many of the discussions of unbelief, an our
life gets SO full of imperfection and SO full of
sin that have thought littls children may
know more religion than some of us VINO
have got older. At any rate, | give you the
advice, let children choose for themselves.
They will probably grow up with rever-
ence for both denominations represented by
you, the father and mother And if you,
the father, live the holy life they will have
more reverence for your denomination and
ifyOu, the mother, live the holy lite, they
,,,,1
nation: and some day you will both be found
going to the same church and the same SER
vice, and the neighbors will look out of the
windows and they will say: why, Won
der what's the matter with our neighbors,
the husband and wife going arm aud arm to
the same church, l never thought they
would 90 t. the same church | wonder
is the matter. Something very impor-
tant has happened That day the
son Of that family is announcing himself a
Christian. That day the son of that house
hold is standing in the ais to take the vows.
He had been somewhat wayWa d and had
givon his father and mother a good deal OF
anxiety; but their prayers have been an
swere in hissalvat,on, and now, as he stands
in the church allie, and tho minister Of relig
ion says to him. "Do you take the God
who made you and the God who re
deemed you for your eternal portion
and do you promise to serve Him all the
days of your ifes" and the youn man, with
manly voice, says: Il do There is at
April shower in tire pow where father anC
mother sit, and rainbow of Joy overarchins
everything that makes the difference o
creods infnitessimal Aye, on that very
day, the daughter Of the family may pu
her life on the alter of conservation, and
the sunlight coming through the church
window, falling on her brow and che3h
may make her look like the other daughter
whose face took on the brightness of another
world when God took her into His Heavenly
keeping years ago. Aye, l should not wo /.
der If those parents spent the evening Of
their days in the same church, oil taeir
church preferences overwh9l med in the JOY
OF wor5hiping il tho pla2e where their sons
and their daughters were prepared for use
tulness and for heaven.
But l will give you recipe for ruinino
your children. Angrily discuss aud contend
in your household about matters of religion
and contend that your church is ri 5ht aud
all other churches are wrong, especially the
thur, h your companion attic IDS, Drip!
sheer AMI Caricature to emphasize your opin.
IONS and your children will grow up to b.
lleve religion is q sham, and they will
want none of it, In the northeast storm
of domestic controversy the Rose of Sharon
and the Lily Of tn Valley never grow. Fight
about apostolic succession; fl yh5 about elec,
ton and free Agency fight about baptism
fight about the Dishopric; fight ahou5 gown
and surpico, and the religious Interests OF
your children will be left dead on the fiel |.
Zou will be unfortunate as Charles, Duk.
of Burgundy, who in battle lost
q diamond worth a nation, for yu
, will in the battle about church diferene 20 in
your household, lose the prize of salvatiol fol-
your own entire household. OF co lrse, say
nothing against your advocacy OF your own
belief. That is right. Gather all telling
illustrations gath, all demo1stratve fat;
gather all acute Arguments to nrove that
your theories are the right tho )rio,
} but let there be no acerbity, NJ