Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-14

or out on the wall, or in the sweltering factory
Hang up the plane, drop the adze, slip th'
for the body, for the mind and for the soul.
Welcome, sweet day OF rest
| That saw the Lord arise;
Welcome to this reviying breast
And these rejoicing eyes.
Again remark, we ought to have in the Sab
bath the joy of domestic reunion and consecra
tion. There are some very good parents who
| have the faculty OF making the Sabbath great
| gloom. Their children run up against the
wall of
| PARENTAL RIGHTEOUSNESS
on that day. They are sorry when Sunday
comes and glad when it goes away. They think
of everything bad on that day. 1t is the worst
day to them, really, in all the week. There are
persons who because they are brought up in
Christian families, where there were wrong no.
| tions about the Sabbath have gone out into dis
sipation and will be lost. A man said to me:
81 have perfect disgust for the Sabbath day.
1 never saw my father smile on Sunday. 1t
was such dreadful day to me when was a
boy never got over it and never will" Those
| parents did not ''call the Sabbath delights"
| they made it gloom. But there are houses
| represented here this morning where the chill
Sunday will conner They are anxious to have
it come. hear their hosanna in the house:
hear their hosanna in the school. God intended
tn e Sabbath to be especially day for the
day comes, and God says to the father, who has
been busy from Monday morning to Saturday
night at the store or away from home: Ihls
is your day. See what you can do In TINS little
flock in preparing them for heaven. This day
i set apart for you"
You know very well that there are many par
ents who are mere suffers of the household;
they provide the food and raiment; once in a
while, perhaps, they hear the child read line
or two in the new primer; or if there be a case
of special discipline, and the mother cannot
&c in fhp nnrf-
martial of the fathers discipline and punished.
That is all there is of it. No scrutiny of that
chlld's immortal interests, no realization Of the
fact that the child will soon go out in world
where there are gigantic and overwhelming
temptations that have swamped millions But
in some households it is not that way: the
home, beautiful on ordinary days, is more
beautiful now that the Sabbath has dawneo.
There is more Joy in the good morning."
there is more tenderness in the morning
prayer. The father looks at the child, and the
child looks at the father. The little one dares
now to ask questions, without any fear of being
answered: Don't bother me-I must be off to
the store" Now the father looks at the child,
and he sees not merely the blue eyes,
the arched brow, the long lashes, the
sweet lips He sees IN that child
long line of earthly destinies; he sees in that
child an immeasurable eternity. As he touches
that child, he says: II wonder what Will be the
destiny of this little one?" And while this
Christian father is thinking and praying, the
sweet promise flows through his soul: 'Of
ioy, not like that which sounds in the dance,
or is waited from the froth of the wine-cup or
that which is like the cracking of tnorns under
a pot" but the joy of domestic reunion and
conservation.
Have l been picturing something that is
merely fanciful, or is it possible for you and
for me TO have such home as that? I believe
it is possible.
have q statistic that would like to give
you. A great many people You know, say there
is nothing in the Christian discipline of house
hold. In New Hampshire there were two
neghborhoods-the one of six families, the other
of five families. The six families disregarded
the Sabbath. In time, five of these families
were broken up by the separation of husbands
and wives; the other by the father becoming
thief. Eight or nine of the parents became
drunkards, one committed suicide, and all came
to penury. OF some 40 or so descendants, about
20 are known to be drunkards and gamblers and
dissolute Four or five have been in State |
prison. One fell in 4 duel Some are in the |
almshouse. Only one became Christian, and |
he after first having been outrageously dissi- |
pated. The other five families that regarded |
the Sabbath were all prospered. Eight or ten |
of the children are consistent members of the |
church. Some of them became officers in the |
one is a minister OF the gospel; one is |
a missionary in China.
NO POVERTY AMONG ANY
of them. The homestead is now in the hands |
of the third generation. Those who have died |
have died in the peace of the gospel. Oh, is |
Gods holy day? Can it be possible that those |
who disregard this holy commandment can be
prospered for this life or have any good hope of |
the life that is to come?
Again, we ought to have in the Sabbath the
Joy of Christian assemblage. Where are all |
those people going on the Sabbath? You see
them moving up and down the street. Is it
festal day? people might ask. Has there been
some public edict commanding the people to
come forth? No, they are only worshipers of |
God who are going to their places of religious
service. In what delicate scale shall l weigh
the Joy of Christian convocation? 1t gives
brightness to the eye and flush to the cheek
and pressure to the hand and thrill to the
heart. You see the aged man tottering along
on his staff through the aisle. You see the lit
tie child led by the hand of its mother. You
ook around and rejoice that this is Gods day,
and this the communion of saints Zone Lord,
One faith, one baptism" Some familiar tune
sets the soul a-quiver and aquake with rapture.
We plunge into some old hymn, and all our
cares and anxieties are bathed off. The glo-
-ious Gospel transports u.s. the Spirit descends,
Jesus appears, and we feel the bounding, |
spreading, electric joy of Christian convoca-
ion.
look upon the Church of God as one vast
losanna. Joy dripping from the baptismal
ont, joy glowing in the sacramental cup, joy
he gate of heaven with a halleluiah like the
Toice of mighty thunderings. Beautiful for
ituat1on! The joy of the whole earth is Mount
Zion. 1t is the day and the place where Christ
eviews his troops, bringing them out in CON-
,anies and regiments and battalions, riding
long the line, examining the battle-torn flags
If past combat, and cheering them on to future
Ictories. Oh, the joy of Christian as
remark also we are to have in this day the
oy of eternal Sabbatism. do not believe it
possible for any Christian to spend the Lords's
lay here without thinking of heaven. There
S something in the gathering of people in
hurch on earth to make one think of the rapt
of the skies. There is something In
he song of the Christian Church to make one
hink of the song of the elders before the
hrone. the harpists and the trumpeters of God
the harmony. The light of a
'etter Sabbath gilds the top of this, and earth
nd heaven come within speaking distance of
ach other, the song of triumph waving back
yard and forward now tossed up by the Church
f earth, now sent back by the Church of
eayen.
Day of all the week the best,
Emblem of eternal rest.
The Christian man stands radiant in its light |
lis bereft heart rejoices at the thought of q
ountry where there is neither coffin nor
and where there are no burdens to carry and
10 exhaustive journeys to take. He eats the |
rapes of Eshcol. He stands upon the mount
in top and looks of upon the promised land. |
lie hears the call of the eternal towers and the
ramp of the numberless multitude with sins
orgiven. This is the day which the Lord hath
1ade. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Oh We |
Eho have been hunting for Sunday pleasures
n the street and on the river bank and in the
ouses of sin, commend to you this holy day
nd holy service! do not invite you TO swai-
DIV a great bitterness or to carry a heavy yoke;
ut invite you to feel in body, mind and soul |
he thrill of joy which God has handed down
D the chalices of
THE GOLDEN SABBATH,
With what revulsion and with what pity we
lust look out on that large class of persons in
ur day who would throw discredit upon the
ord's day. There are two things which Chris
an people ought never to give up; the one is
ne Bible, the other is the Sabbath. Take
way one, and you take both. Take either, and
areweIl to Christianity in this country fare
ell to our civil and religious liberties. When
hey &C, all go. He who has ever spent Sunday
Paris, or Antwerp, or Rome, if he be an in
alligent Christian, will pray God that that day