Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-29
HELP ONE ANOTHER.
The Need of Every Age is for Men
and Women Who Live but to
FIND NEW WAYS OF DOING GOOD.
A SeasOnabIs Sermon on Charity and Con-
SerTatism.
CHRISTMAS IN THE FAMILY CIRCLE
rwRITTEN EoR THR DIsPArcH.I

So Christmas, which few DAYS AGO vas
christmas present." is now "Christp,ss
past" And pleasant Christmas in the
memory, let US hope, Of all who met it with
the greeting gs ofthe season, and in the spirit
Of the day.
The trouble with most Of us is that vs
miss just the best spirit Of the day. The
good viii toward men, we have in abun-
dant measure. But the glory to God in
the highest, f" which comes first, and is best,
and contains precisely the essential mean
ing Of the real Christmas iov-soms of rs
miss that And this is where the sermon
comes in. 1t is the business of the sermon
to keep usfrom letting Christmastlds 20 bv
with only the lower thoughts about It in our
hearts.
So I go on where left off last week. and
speak again Of the meaning of Christmas in
the family. The holy family is the abode
OF Christian charity. The father and mother
are always reaching out helping hand for
the love OF Christ and in His name, Thev
are always helping somebody, or planning
TO help somebody. They are always think.
ing about others; the sick, the afflicted. the
poor, they are always remembering, in that
spirit which, according to st. James, makes
up considerable part Of pure and unde-
filed religion. They are always about that
kind OF gracious ministry which has the
emphatic promise Of our Lord that will be
blessed at the last. Indeed, it is blessed AZ
the first. and all the way through the doing
is the blessing. The light in the face of the
helped flashes into the face of the helper.
In such family it is q blessing for q child
to be brought up. The child catches the
family spirit. He is enrolled from the be-
ginning in league of minislering children.
He runs gladly upon the srrands of mercy,
and inVents
NEW WAYS OF DOING GOOD.
I know somebody who, last Christmas.
begged gifts and candy enough among her
friends to set up Christmas trees for the
children of six families in a Door ueiphbor,
hood. IknoW somebody who last week bro
Vided Christmas gift for every child in a
mission Sunday school, doing up every
package separately and marking it with 3
ehild's name. In the presence Of such q
genuinely Christian spirit, it is a privilege
for child to live. All the unselfshness
which is natural to unspoiled childhood is
nurtured and strengthened in him.
The need of every age is for men and
women who have this fine instinct of help
ing. 1t is such men and women who make
the world habitsble and worth living in. Il
is such as these who are following in His
blessed steps who went about doing good.
Boys and girls grow up into such men and
women out of the training of holy families,
Another quality which enters into house.
hold holiness is Christian conservation. Bv
this mean the more directly religious side
Of lite. By Christian courtesy, OF which I
spoke last week, I intended the love of the
members Of the family for each other; by
Christian charity meant the widening ont
of this love to take in all that family in
which all men are brothers. And now, BY
Christian conservation, I mean the reaching
out Of this love upward.
Daily remembrance of God is made in the
ideal family by the gathering of father and
mother and children to the hearing of the
message of Gods word, the utterance Of the
common faith, the Offering Of the common
prayer. Few influences can bring religion
close to children and make it 50 real To
them as the daily family devotion. 1t pres
sents religion ino its best way, as an inhu-
ence which touches the home and enterH
into daily life, and as
SOMETHING ENTIRELY NATURAL.
Without it religion is apt to be considered
as a set of teachings meant principally for
Sunday, as something which is shut ND in
a dark church six days Of the week and
guarded by the minister. This is as
wrong as it can be. The mis-
sion of the Christian religion is the
sanetifeation of common life. The repre-
sentation Of the Christian religion to every
boy ought to be his father; and to every girl,
her mother. There they should look for
their ideal Christian. There they should
turn for religious guidance and instruction.
That father and mother know not how much
they lose, whose children, coming to the
age when great thoughts begin to crowd
upon the soul, and great questions begin to
clamor for answer, and the spiritual self
comes to be conscious Of its being, have to
turn to some one else for sympathy for salts
faction.
day. Sunday'is not the Sabbath. The let
ter Of the fourth commandment does not
touch it. It is not a Weekly-reeurring op-
portunity for soaring and torturing chill
dren. The whole meaning of the Christian
Sunday is in the name which st. John
gives 1.-THE Lords Day. And the spirit Of
it is indicated in the words of the psslter:
''This is the day which the Lord hath made,
let us be glad and rejoice in it, Sunday
is day 10 rejoice and be glad. It's day in
which to make children happy. But It is
tue lOIu uoys IL - Ql5blucLlNelY re-
ligious day. He who knows what the
Christian religion is sees no inconuruitv
here. That religious day should be an
happy and delightful day
ought to be the most natural thing in the
world.
The day may be made notable and desira-
ole for the littlest ones by special books and
.oys, better than the weekday playthings
which shall be brought out on Sunday.
A PLEASANT REST.
In the holy family Sunday is made rest
lay by distinct change of occupation.
People do not get rested by laziness. Rest
zones by change of scene, of thought, Of
work. Different books and papers to read
mark the day; all chosen with the remem-
oranee that Sunday is the Lords day, and
ret with that wide and true Interpretation
# the words which accounts whatever
makes us better, stronger, truly happier. as
ervice rendered acceptably TO God. The
Bible is the Sunday book of the holy family.
In the afternoon the mother tells its beauti-
ul stories to the little ones.
And all this-this daily and Sunday
erviee-is but the external expression of 4
,enuine spirit Of love for Him Of whom the
Ehole family in heaven and earth is named.
That spirit eludes definition and descrip-
ion. But you know when it is present ana
Vhen it is absent; and the children, with
heir clear ewes, know infallibly.
No other influence so impresses itself unon
he family, so sets the tone OF the family life.
s this elusive and indefnable spirit. A
ook into the face Of man or woman who
loves God helps every receptive
oul instantly. No wonder Christ aid
niraclesl No wonder the sick looked into
His face aRd were we'll They beheId one
Fho loved God supremely. His presence
'rought blessing. He did not need to
peak. Il was enough that He stood where