Milford chronicle., 1889-01-18

the hand Of its mother You look around
and rejoice that this is Gods day,
and this the communion Of saints. Zone
Lord, one faith, one baptism Some familiar
tune sets all the soul a-quiver and a-quake
with rapture. We plunge into some old
hymn and all our cares and 0nxietics ere
bathed Off The glorious Gospel transports
US, the Spirit descends, Jesus appears, and
We feel the bounding, spreading, electric joy
of Christian convocation.
1 look upon the Church Of God as one vast
hosanua. joy dripping from the baptismal
font, JOY glowing in the sacramento cup, joy
warbling In the anthem, joy beating against
tho gate of heaven with hallelujah like the
voice of mighty thunderings. Beautiful for
situationl The joy of the whole earth is Mount
Zion. It is the day and the place where Christ
reviews his troops, bringing them out in com
panies and regiments ana battalions, riding
along the line, examining the battle torn flags
of past combat, and cheering them on to
future victories. Oh, the joy OF Christian as
semblagel
/ remark also, We are 10 have in this day
the joy of eternal Sabhatisn. 1 do not be
lieve 1t possible for any Christian to spend
the Lords day here without thinking Of
heaven. There Is something in the gathering
of people in church on earth TO mako ono
think Of the rapt assemblage Of the skies.
There is something in the song Of the Chris
tian church to make one think Of the song Of
the elders before the throne, the harpists and
the trumpeters of God accompanying the
harmony. The light Of q better Sabbath
gilds the top of this, and earth and heaven
come within speaking distance Of each other
the song of triumph waving backward and
forward, now tossed up by the church of
earth, now sent back by the church Of
heaven.
Dav Of all the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest.
The Christian man stands radiant in its
light. His bereft heart rejoices at the thought
Of a country where there is neither coffin nor
grave; his weary body glows at the idea of
land where there are no burdens to carry and
no exhaustive journeys to take. He eats the
grapes of Eshcol he stands upon the noun
tain top and looks of upon the promised
land. lie hears the call Of the eternal tow
ers and the tramp of the numberless multi
tude with sins forgiven. This is the day
which the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice
and be glad in it. Oh, yo who have been
hunting for Sunday pleasures in the street
and on the river and in the house of sin,
commend to you this holy day and holy serv-
icai do not invite you TO swallow a great
bitterness or carry a heavy yoke; but in
vito you to feel in body, mind and soul the
thrill of joy which God has handed down in
the chalices Of the golden Sabbath.
THE JEERERs AND JIBERs AT THE SABBATH.
With what revulsion and with what pity
we must look out ON that large class Of per-
sons in our day who would throw discredit
upon the Lords day. There are two things
which Christian people ought never to give
Is pf nr, ia fhn Sab
bath Take away one, and you take both,
Take either, and farewell TO Chris
tianity in this country, farewell to our civil
and religious liberties. When they go, all
60. He who has ever spent Sunday in Paris,
or Antwerp, or Rome, if be be an intelligent
Christian, viii pray God that the
day will never come when the Sabbath
Of continental Europe shall put its foot
upon our shores. had friend in Syracuse
who lived to be 100 years of age. He said to
me in his 99th year; Il went across the
mountains in tho early history of this coun-
try Sabbath morning came. No were be-
yond the reach of civilization. Ny comrades
were all going out for an excursion. l said:
No, / won't 60; it is Sunday Why, they
laughed. They said: We haven't any Sun
day here oh, yes l said, you have l
brought it with mo over the mountains.
There are two or three ways in which we
can war against sabbath breaking usages in
this day and the first thing is to set our chill
drcn right upon this subject, and teach them
that the Sabbath day is the holiest Of all the
days, and the best and the gladdest Unless
you teach your child under the paternal roof
to keep the Lords day, there are nine hundred
and ninety chances out Of n thousand it will
never learn TO keep tho sabbath. You may
think to shirll responsibility in the matter,
and send your child to the Sabbath school and
tho house Of God; that viii not relieve the
matter l want to tell you, in the name Of
/ Christ, my Maker and my Judge, that your
/ example viii be more potential than any in
/ struction they get elsewhere; and if you disre-
| gard the Lords day yourself, or in any wise
| throw contempt upon it, you are blasting
I your children with an infinite curse. 1t is a
/ rough truth, / know, told in a rough wayi
/ but it is Gods truth, nevertheless Your
child may go on to seventy or eighty years
/ Of age, but that child Will never get over the
, awful disadvantage Of having had Sabbath
! breaking father or a Sabbath breaking
mother It is the joy Of many Of rs that we
can look back to an early home where God
was honored, and when the Sabbath came 1t
was a day Of great conservation and JOY.
{ We remember the old faces around the table
that Sabbath morning. Our hearts melt
when VIC think Of those blessed associations,
and we may have been of and committed
many indiscretions and done many wrong
things; but the day viii never come when we
forget the early home in which Gods day
was regarded, and father and mother told us
70 keep holy tho Sabbath.
i HOW THE EVIL IS TO BE FOUGHT,
There is another way in which We can war
ngainst tho Sabbath breaking usages Of the
country at this time, aud that is by making
Il our houses Of worship attractive and the re
ligious services inspiridng. l plead not for
i a gorgeous audience chamber, plead not fol-
Il groincd rafters or magnificent fresco; but
4 do plead for comfortable churches, home like
chnrchss-p places where the church going
population behave as they ought to. Make
the church welcome to all, however poorly
clad they may be, or whatever may have
been their past history for think the churcl
Of God is not so much made for you who
could have churches in your own house, but
for the vast population Of our great cities
who are treading on toward death, with nc
voice Of mercy TO arrest them Ahi wher
the prodigal comes into the church, do no
stare at him as though he had no right e
come. Give him the best seat you can fine
for him. Sometimes a man wakes up from
his sin, and he says; "Ill 60 to the house O.
God Perhaps ne comes from one motive
perhaps from another. He finds the ehurcl
dark and the Christian people frigid Can'
there are no people on earth who can b
more frigid than Christian people when the
t1yl and the music is duh, and he never come
again. Suppose one Of these men enters tn
) church. As he comes in he hears SOM
which hig mother sang when he was boy
he remembers it. He sits down, and som
one hands him book, open at
Jerusalem my happy home,
Name ever dear TO me
"Yes," he says 81 have heard that man.
! times" Ele sees cheerful Christian peopl
there, every, mans face a psalm Of THANKS
giving to God. He says: ''n~-
so every Sund.
house of God va
tiaTs we're lngul