Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-12-11

until they had put in their hands as a
plaything a Westminster Catechism or
the T~hirty-nine Articles. The whole
current of their temperament, and
thought, and character, runs into II
sect of religionists rs naturally as the
James river into the Chesapeake. 1t
would be a torture to such persons to
be anything outside of that one church.
Now, let the wife or husband who is
not so constructed sacrifice the milder
preference for the one more inilexible
and rigorous. Let the grapevine fol-
low the rugositics and sinuosities of the
oak or hickory. Abram, the richer in
flocks Of Christian grace, should say to
Lot, who is built on a smaller scale:
''Let there be no strife, l pray thee, be-
tween me and thee, and between my
herdmen and thy herdmen. Is not the
whole land before theep" AS you can
be edited and happy anywhere, 60
with your companion to the church to
which he or she must go or be miser-
able.
'.BUT HOW ABOUT I'll CHILDRENp"
l am often asked by hundreds of par
ents. Let them also make their choice.
They will grow up with reverence for
both the denominations represented by
father and mother, if you, by holy lives,
commend those denominations. If the
father lives the better life, they will
have the more favorable opinion of his
denomination. If the mother lives the
better life, they will have the more ia
vorable opinion of her denomination.
And some day both the parents will,
for ut least n service, 90 to the same
church. The neighbors will say: II
wonder what is going on to-day, for |
saw our neighbor and his wife, who
always go to different churches, going
arm in arm TO the same sanctuary
Wen. | will tell you what has brought
them together, arm in arm,
TO the same altar. Something
very important has happened.
Their son is to-day uniting with the
church. He is standing in the aisle
taking the VOWS of Christian. He had
been somewhat maynard, and gave
father and mother a good deal of anx-
iety, but their prayers have been an
swered in his conversion, and as he
stands in the aisle and the minister of
religion says: '.Do you consecrate
yourself to the God who made and re-
deemed you, and do you promise to
serve him all your daysp" and with
manly voice he answers, Il do"
there is
AN APRIL SHOWER
in the pew where father and mother
sit, and IA rainbow of joy which arches
both their souls, that makes all differ
ences of creed infinitesimal. And the
daughter who had been very worldly,
and gay, and t~houghtless, 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 an
other world, on the day when the Lord
took her into his heavenly keeping
years ago.
| should not wonder if, after all,
'ii'Np pbi CINo pass tIiC SNtiiIS VI tICll
life in the same church, all differences
of church preference overcome by the
joy of being in the house of God where
their children were prepared for useful
ness and heaven.
Bnt a give you a recipe for
running your children. Angrily con-
tend in the household that your church
is right and the church of your COM
panion is wrong. Bring sheer and car
feature to emphasize your opinions, 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 the lily of the valley
will not grow. Fight about apostolic
succession, fight about election
and free agency fight about Baptism,
fight about b~ishopric. fight about
gown and surplice. and the religious
prospects of your Children will be left
DEAD IN THE FIELD.
You will be as unfortunate as Charles,
Duke of Burgundy, who in battle lost
a 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 advocacy of
your own religious theories. Use all
forcible arguments, bring all telling il
lustrations. array all demonstrative
facts. but let there be no acerbity, no
singing %retort, no mean insinuation,
no superciliousne,s, as though all 9th
ers were wrong and you infallibly
right. Take a hint from astronomy.
The Ptolemaic system made the earth
the centre of the solar system, and ev-
erythiug was thought to turn round
the earth. But the Copernican system
came, and made the sun the ccrtre
around which the planets revolve. The
bigot makes his little belief the centre
of everything, but the l~arge-souled
Christian makes the Sun of Righteous
ness the centre, and all denominations,
without any clashing, and each at its
W light, and in its own sphere. re-
vOlving around it.
In olden times in England before the
modern street lamps were invented, ev-
cry householder was expected 10 have
a lantern suspended in front of his
house, and the cry Of the watchmcn in
London rs they went along ut eventide