The national leader., 1889-01-26

lieve tho matter. [ want to tell YOU. in
the name of Christ. that
| YOUR EXAMPLE
will be more potential than any instruc.
tion they get else ere; and if you dis
| regard the Lorn lay yourself, or in
any wise throw u Tempt upon it, you
are blasting yd{ sildren with an in
| finite curse. o. q rough truth, L
know, told in q ugh way; but it is
Gods truth, ne Iheless. Your child
may go on to So uty or eighty years of
age,( but that child will never get over
the awful disadvantage Of having had
Sabbath breaking father or Sabbath
breaking mother. 1t is the Joy of many
of us that we can look back to an early
home where God was honored, and
when the Sabbath came it was day of
great conservation and joy. We re-
| member the old faces around the table
that Sabbath morning. Our hearts
| melt when we, think of those blessed
associations, and we may have been off,
and committed many indIscretions, and
done many wrong things; but the
| day will never come when we forget
the early home in which Gods day was
| regarded. and father and mother told
us to keep holy the Sabbath.
There is another way in which we
can war against the Sabbath breaking
usageS of the country at this time, and
that is by making our houses of worship
| attractive. and the religious services in
spirlting. / plead not for gorgeous
audience-chamber; | plead not for groin
ed rafterS or magnificent fresco; but 1
do plead for comfortable churches,
home-like churches.
MAKE THE CHURCH WELCOME
to all, however poorly clad they may be,
or whatever may have been their past
history; for think the Church 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 no voice of mercy to arrest them.
All, when the prodigal comes into the
church, do not stare at him as though
he had no right to come. Sometimes a
man wakes up from his sin, and he says:
''l'll go to the house of God" Perhaps
he comes from one motive, perhaps
from another. He finds the church
dark and the Christ an people frigid
(and there are no people on earth who
can be more frigid than Christian
people when they try, and the music is
dull, and he never comes again, Sup
pose one of these men enters the church.
AS he comes in he hears song which
his mother sang when he was boy; he
remembers it. He sits down, and some
one hands him book, open at
Jerusalem, my happy home,
| Name ever dear to me-"
"Y es," he says, ST have heard that
many timeS.'' He sees cheerful Chris
tian people there, every mans face
psalm of thanksgiving to God. He
says: "Do you have this so every Sun
day? | have heard that the house Of
God was doleful place. | have really
enjoyed mySelfl'' The next Sabbath the
man is again in the same place. Tears
of repentance start down his cheek; he
begins to pray: and when the commun-
ion-table is spread, he sits at 1t, and
someone reaches over and says: II am
surprised to find you here! | thought
you didn't believe in such things"
'Ah.i he says, 81 have been captured.
/ came i'll one day, and | found you
were all so loving and cheerful here
that L concluded l would come among
you. All! you can't drive men out OF
their sins, but you can coax them-yOu
can charm them out.
would TO God that we could all
come to higher appreciation of this
Sabbath heritage! We cannot count the
treasures of one Christian Sabbath. 1t
spreads out over lis the two wings OF
the archangel Of mercy. Oh, blessed
Sabbath! They scott a great deal about
THE OLD PURlTANIC SABBATHs,
and there is wonderful amount of wit
expended upon that subject nOw-the
SabbathS they used to have in New
England. | never lived in New Eng
lard. but l would rather trust the old
Puritanic Sabbath, with all its faults,
than this modern Sabbath, which is
fast becoming no Sabbath at all. If
our modern SaDbatism shall produce as
stalWart Christian character as the old
New England Puritanic Sabbatism, l
shall be satisfied, and | shall be sur
prised.
Oh, blessed day! blessed day! should
like to die some Sabbath morning when
the air Is full of church music and the
bells are ringing. Leaving my home
grouped with dying blessing, should
like to look off upon some Christian as
semblage chanting the praises of God
as went up to join the thousands OF
thousands standing around the throne
ofJesus. Hark! hear the bell of the
old kirk on the hillside of heaven. 1t
is wedding-bell, for behold, the Bride
groom cometh! 1t is victor's bell, for
we are more than conQuerors through
Him that loved us.
"Oh when, thou city of my God,
Shall 1 thy courts ascend?
! Where congregations ne'er break up,
| And SAbbaths have no end