, 1886-03-28

~ W aAAa 8HtftI AAo XVI ARa8
inheritancs; or, II you have come OF a do
PRAYED ancestry, then it Is your duty to brace
yourself against the evil tendency by all
prayer and Christian determination, and you
are to find out what are the family ~frailties,
and in arming the castle put the strongest
guard at the weakest gate. With these
smooth stones from the brook / hope TO strike
you, not where David struck Goliath, in the
bead, but where Nathan struck David, in the
heart "Whoss son art thou, thou young
manf'
Sometime, in the winter holiday, when we
are accustomed TO gather our families to-
gether, old times have come back again, and
our thoughts have been set to the tune Of
AUD Lang Syner The old folks were so
busy at such times IA making us happy, and
perhaps on less resource made their sons and
daughters happier than you on larger resources
are able to make your sons and daughters
happy. The snow lay two feet above their
graves, but they shook Off the white blankets
and mingled in the holiday festivities
tho same wrinkles, the same stoop OF
shoulder under the weight OF age, the
same old style OF dress or coat, the same
smile, the same tones OF voice. l hope you
remember them before they went away. II
not, l hope there are those who have recited
10 you what they were, and that there may
be in your house some article of dress or fur
niture with which you associate their
memories | want TO arouse the most sacred
memories Of your heart while l make the i'm
FASHIONED interrogatory in regard to your
pedigree:
who's son art thou, thou young manr
First l accost all those who are descended
OF a Christian ancestry. l do not
ask II your parents were perfect
Perhaps there was sometimes too much
blood in their eyes when they chastised
you. But from what | know OF you, you got
no more than you deserved, and perhaps a
little more than you deserved, and perhaps a
little more chastisement would have been
salutary. But you are willing 10 acknowl-
edge, l thint, that they wanted to do right
From what you overheard in conversations,
and from What you saw at the family altar
and at neighborhood ~obsequies, you know
that they had invited God into their heart
and life. There was something that srs-
tanned those old people supernaturnlly. You
have no doubt about their destiny. You ex-
pect IL you ever get to heaven to meet them
as certainly as you expect to meet the Lord
Jesus Christ
That early association has been a charm
for you There was a time when you got
right up from a house Of iniquity and walked
out into the fresh air because you thought
your mother was looking at you You nave
never been very happy in sin because OF a
sweet old face that would present itself.
Tremulous voices from the past accosted you
until they were seemingly audible. and you
looked around to sec who spoke. There was
estate not mentioned in the last will and
testament, a vast estate Of prayer and holy
example and Christian entreaty and glorious
memory. The survivors of the family gathered
TO hear the will read, and this was to be
kept, and that was TO be sold, and it was
share and share alike. But there was an I'M
written will that read something like this:
"In the name OF God, Amen l, being of
sound mind, bequeath to my children all my
prayers for their salvation; l bequeath t.
them the Christian religion, which has been
so much comfort to me, and, / hope, may be
solace for them; l bequeath to them a hope
of reunion when the ~partings of life are over;
share and share alike may they have in eter-
nal riches; l bequeath to them the wish that
they may avoid my errors, and copy
anything that may nave been worthy.
In the name OF the God who made
me. and the Christ who redeemed me,
and the Holy Ghost who sanctihes me, Imake
this my last will and testament Witness, all
ye hosts Of heaven. Witness, Time; witness,
Eternity. Signed, sealed and delivered in
this our dying hour. Father and mother
You did not get that will proved at the
u = ObA1t O4I a bhAo Al Odl Jun III
I read it to you; I take 1t out of the alcoves Of
your heart; / shake the dust Off OF It, l ask
you will you accept that inheritance,
or will you break the Will o We OF
Christian ancestry, you have a respon-
sibility vast beyond all measurement
God will not let you off with just being as
good as ordinary people when you had such
extraordinary advantages. Ought not a
flower planted In a dollhouse be more thrifty
than a flower planted outside in the storml
Ought not a factory turned by the Housa-
tonic do more work than a factory turned by
a thin and shallow mountain streaml Ought
not you OF great early opportunity be better
than those who had a cradle unblessedi
A father sets his son up in business. He
keeps an account OF all the expenditures. SO
much for store fixtures, so much for rent, so
much for this, 80 much for that, and all the
items aggregated, and the father expects the
son to give an account Your Heavenly
Father charges against you all the advantages
OF a pious ancestry-so many prayers, 80
much Christian example, so many kind en-
treaties-an these gracious influences one tire
mendous aggregate, and He asks you for an
account OF it Ought not you TO be better
than those who had no such advantagesl
Better have been a founding picked up off
the city commons than with such magnificent
Inheritance OF conservation to turn out indif-
ferently.
Ought not you, my brother, to be better,
having had Christian nurture. than that man
who can truly say this morning; 1.-The first
word l remember my father speaking to me
was a n oath; the first time l remember my
father taking hold OF me was in wrath l
never saw a Bible till | was 10 years Of age,
and than l was told it was a pack of lies. The
frst twenty years Of my life / was associated
with the vicious | seemed TO he wallet in
by sin and death" Now, my brother,
ought you not-I leave It us a mat
ter Of fairness with you-olght you
not be far better than those who had no
early Christian influenced Standing as you do
between the generation that is past and the
generation that Is to come, are you going to
pass the blessing on, or are you going to have
your life the gulf In which that tide Of bless
ing shall drop out OF sight foIeveri You are
the trustee Of piety In that ancestral line,
and you are going to augment or squander
that solemn trust fund.- Are you going to
disinherit your sons and daughters Of the
heirloom which your parents left youi All,
that cannot be possible; that cannot be
possible that you are going to take
such a position as hat You are
very careful about the life assurances, and
careful about tho deeds, and careful about
the mortgages, and careful about the title Of
your property, because, when you step of
~ stage, you want your children to get it.
sb Are you making no provision that they
shall get grandfather's and grandmotheras re-
1igionI Oh. what a last will and testament
you are making, my brothorl "In the name
Of God, Amen. l, being of sound
mind, make this my last will and
testament l bequeath to my chill
drcn all the money ever made and all
the houses | own; but disinherit them; | rob
them OF the ancestral grace and the Christina
influence that ! inherited. | have squandered