Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-02

$500 80 - eOAN@ q
lessons of 8 Saviour's love and c Saviour's
example, Of the importance Of truth anG
the horror OF 8 lie, and the virtues OF in
dustry and kindness ard sympathy and
self-sscrifce, long after the mother has
gone and the Ichild has gone and
the lettering on both the tombstones
shall have been washed out by the
storms Of tnnumerable winters,
there may be standing, Is 8 result
Of those trundle-bed lessons, flaming
eVsngels, woodworking reformers, cir
culating Summerfelds, weeping Paysons,
laundering Whitelelds, emanclpsting
Washingtons.
Good or bad influence msy skip one
generation or two generations, but 1t will
be sure to land in the third or fourth gen.
GRAFTON, just as the Ten Commandments,
speaking of the visitation Of God on fam
lilies, says nothing about the second gen.
Grafton, but entirely skIps the second Srd
speaks Of the third and fourth genera
ton: "Visit.ng the %iniQuities of the
fathers upon the third and fourth genera
tions Of them that hate me Parental
influence, wright and wrong, may Jump
over a generation, but it will
come down further on as
sure as you sit there and I stand
here. Timothy's ministry was projected
by his grandmother Lois. There are men
and women here, The sons and daughters
OF the Christian church, who are such as
q result Of the conservation of great
Observation-Disclosures. Why, who do
you think the Lord is2 You
talk as though His memory was
weak. He can no easier remember 8
prayer five minutes than he can five cen
turtles. This explsins what We often see
some msn or woman distinguished fer
beneYolence when the father and mother
were distinguished for penuriousness, or
you see some young man or woman with
q bad father and a hard mother come out
gloriously for Christ and make the church
sob and shout and sing under their ex-
h%ortations. We stand In corners of the
Yestry and whisper over the matter, and
say: SHOW Is this, such great piety in
gems and daughters of such parental
worldliness and sinsp" 1 will explain 1t
to you II you will fetch me the old family
Bible containing the full record. Let
some septuagenarian look with me clear
upon the page of births and marriages,
and tell me who that woman was with the
old-fashioned name Of Jemima or Betsy
or Mehitsbel. All, there she Is, the old
grandmother or grest-grandmother who
had enough religion to saturate q zen
tury.-
There she is, the dear old soul, Grand
mother Lois. In our beautiful Green
wood (nsy We all sleep there when our
work is done, for when I get up In the
resurrection morning | want my congre-
cation all about me)-in Greenwood
there is the resting-place of George ".
Bethune, once q minister of Brooklyn
Heights, his name never spoken among
intelligent Americans without suggesting
two things-
E~LoQUkNCK AND EVANGELISM.
In the same tomb sleeps his grandmother,
Isabella Graham, who was the chief iu-
SEPARATION. Of his ministry. You are not
surprised at the poetry snd pathos and
pulpit power OF the grandson when you
read of the faith and devotion Of his won
dertul ancestress. When you read this
letter, In which she poured out her wild
owed soul in longiDgs for a sons saliva
ton, you will not wonder that succeed
ing generations lave been blessed:
New York, MAY 20, 1791.-This day my
only son left me In bitter wringings Of
heart; he Is sgain launched OIL the ocean,
Gods ocean. The Lord saved him from
%shipWreck, brought MIN to my home, and
allowed me once more to indulge my sffec-
tons over him. He has been with me
but 8 short time, and Ill have l improved
it; ne is gone from my sight and my
heart bursts with tumultuous grief.
Lord have mercy on the Widows son,
"the Cnly son of his mother"
l ask nothing in all this world for him;
| repeat nv petition, save his soul alive,
give him salvation from sin. It is not
tie danger Of the seas that distresses me;
it is not the hsrdships he must undergo;
il is not the dread of never seeing him
more in this world; 1t is because I can
not discern the fulfilment of the
promise in him 1 can not dis
Germ the new birth nor It's fruit, but ev-
cry symptom of captivity 10 satan, the
world and self will. This, this is what
distresses me; and In connection with
this his being shut out from ordinance at
q distance from Cnristisns; shut up with
those who forget God, profsne His name
and break His Sabbath; men who often
live and die like beasts, yet are a%ccounta-
BILE creatures, who mu t answer for every
moment Of time and every word, thought
and action. o Lord, many wonders hast
Thou shown ne; Thy wsys of dealing
with me and mine have not been common
ones; sdd this wonder to the rest. Call,
convert, regenerate and establish 8 sailor
in the faith. Lord, all things are posi-
BILE with Thee; glorify Thy Son and ex-
tend bis kingdom by sea and land;
AXE THE PREY
from the strong. 1 roll him over upor
Thee. Many friends try to comfort me;
miserable comforters are they all.
Thou art the God of consols-
ton; only confirm to me Thy pre-
cious word, on which Thou causadst
me to hope in the day when Thou ssidst
to me, "Leave thy fstherless children, |
will preserve them alive" Only let this
lite be q spiritual life and 1 put a blank in
Thy hand as to all temporal things.
l wait for Thy salvation. Amen.
With sNch s grandmother would you
not have q right to expect a George W
| B~ethune? and all the thousands con.
verted through his ministry may date the
saving power back to Isabella Graham.
God fill the earth and the heavens with
such grandmothers; we must some day
go up and thank those dear old souls
Surely God will let US go up and tell
them of the results of their influence
Among our first questions in heaven
will be: "Where is grandmother"
They will point her out, for we
would hardly know her, eve if
we had seen her on earth,
so bent yer with years nee
and there so straight, so dim of eye
through the binding Il earthly tears and
now her eye az clear as heaven, 80 full of