The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-12-02

HDo you consecrate yourself to the God who
made and redeemed you, and do you promise
to serve him all your dayss" and with manly
voice he answers ~ do" There is an April |
shower i'll the pew where father and mother
sit, and rainbow of Joy which arches both
their souls, that makes all differences of creed
infinitesimal. 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.
1 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 1 can give you a recipe for running
your children. Angrily contend in the
household that your church is right and the
church of your companion is wrong. Bring
sheer and caricature to emphasize your opin-
ions, and your children will make up their
minds that religion is a sham, and they will
have none of it In the northeast storm of
domestic controversy, the rose of Sharon and
about apostolic succession, fight about election
and free agency, fight about baptism, fight
about the bishopric, fight about gown and
surplice and the religious prospects of your
children will be left dead on the field. You
will be unfortunate as Charles duke of
Burgundy, who in battle lost diamond the
value of a nation, for in your fight you will
lose the jewel of salvation for your entire
household. This is nothing against the adj
-
all forcible argument, bring all telling illus
tration, array all demonstrative facts, but
let there be no acerbity, no singing retort,
no mean insinuation, no superclllousnesS, as
though all others were wrong and you in
fallibly right.
Take hint from astronomy. The Ptole-
maic 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 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: "Thy command
ments are exceeding broad" Let no man
| Sirat, which the Mohammedan thinks leads
| from this world over the abyss of hell into
| paradise the breadth Of the bridge less than
| the web of a starved spider or the edge of a
| 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
enough for all Christian believers to pass
without peril into everlasting safety.
But do not any of you depend upon what
| fo- a
may own all the statutes of the state of New
| York, and yet not be a lawyer, and man
| may own all the best medical treatises, and
not be physician; and 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 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 lights 7
Instead of disputing in your home about the
different kinds of lantern, as a Waterman OF
the walls of Zion cry: LET your light 81
shine before men That they, seeing your gooe
|
heaven" Hang out your lights! You may
have a thousand ideas about religion, and ye
not the great idea of pardoning mercy. It i
not the number Of your ideas, but the great
ness of them A mouse hath ten offspring il
her nest, while the ioness hath one in her lair
All ideas about forms and ceremonies ant
church government put together are no
worth the one idea Of getting to heaven your
self and taking your family with you.
10, Tlr;of Il,
because there are SO many sects Standin,
in Westminster hotel, London, looked GU
of the window and saw three clocks, as nea
as can remember, one on the Parliamen
house, another on St Margarets chapel
another OH Westminster abbey, and the
were all different. One said Ii o'clock a
noon, another said 11:55, another said 1910
1 might as well have concluded that there
no such thing as time, because the three time
, pieces were different, as for you to conclud
, that there is such thing pure Christian
ity because the churches differ in their STATE
ment of it. It is about 10 o'clock noon c
, the glorious Gospel dispensation, althoug
, the church clocks somewhat differ, and unde
the present light you have no excuse fc
) neglecting your duty because you do not Liz
, this or do not like that "How shall W
escape if we neglect so great salvation"
. But let us all rejoice that, although PAL
of our family may worship ON earth IN or
church, and part in another church, {
bowed at the same affairs, it must be in
: compromise of preferences, we are, if r
| deemed. on the way to perfect church, whel
all our preferences will be fully gratifie,
l Great cathedral of eternity, with arches
: amethysts, and pillars Of sapphire, an
o floors of emerald, and windows aglow wit
r the sunrise of heavenl What wide aisle
l spacious enough to allow empires to ente
/ What amphitheatres of piled-up splendid
t gallery above gallery, princes and pri
r cesses, kings and queens bending ove
o theml What stupendous towers, Wi
/ chimes angel hoisted and angel rum
j What myriads of worshipers, whi
( robed and coronetedI What an ofit
n ator at the altar, even 'the great high prize
i. Of onr rrofessionIr What walls hung Wi