West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1889-01-24

30 swallow a great bitterness or 10 carry a
heavy yoke: but I invite you 20 feel IN body,
mind and soul the thrill OF Joy which God
has handed down In the chalices Of the golden
Sabbath.
With what revulsion aid with what pity
we must look out on that large class az Der.
sons I'm our day who would throw discredit
which Christian people ought never 10 give
up; the one Is the Bible, the other Is the Sab
hath. Take away one. ard you take both.
Take either, and farewell 10 Christianity in
this country, farewell 10 our civil and relig-
ious liberties. When they 60, all go He who
has ever spsnt Sunday I'm Paris, OF Antwerp,
or Rome, II he be an intelligent Christian.
will pray God that the day will never come
when the Sabbath Of Continental Europe shall
Put its foot upon our shores. I had a friend
I'm Syracuse who lived to pe 100 wears Of age.
He said to me-, in his ninety-ninth year: 81
went across the mountains I'm the early his
tory of this country. Sabbath morning came.
We were beyond the reach OF civilization.
My comrades we're all going out for an excur-
sion. / said: No. j won't go: 10 Is Sunday
Why, thew laughed. They said: We haven't
any Sunday here oh. yes l said you
tainsiB WIN "0 over 'ns noun
There are two or three ways In which we
can war against Sabbath breaking usages I'm
this day: and the first thing is to get
our children right upon his subject, and
ANLsA AAAh NhO 2ADhnLh - - AAG
holiest of all the days. and the best and the
gladdest. Unless you teach Your child under
the p%aterDal roof to keep the Lords dey,
there are nine hundred and rinety chances
out OF n thousand 1t will never learn to keep
the Sabbath: You may think 70 shirk re-
sponsibility in tte ~fflatter, aud send your
child TO the Sabbath-schoo aid the hotfse OF
God; that viii not relieve the matter. I
want to tell you, in the name OF Christ. my
Maker and my Judge. that your example
Will DO MORO potential than any instruction
thoy get elsewhere: and II you disregard the
Lords day yourself, or in any Wise throw
contempt upon 1t, YOU are blasting your
children with an infinite curse. It is d
rough truth. / know. told in n rough way:
but it rs Gods truth, nevertheless. Your
child may go OH 20 seventy or eighty years
OF age, but that child will never get over the
awful disadvantage of having had n Sab.
bath breaking father or n Sabbath breaking
mother. IL is tho Joy of many of us that we
can look back TO an early home where God
was honored, and when the Sabbath came IL
was a day of great conservation and ioy.
We remember 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 mover 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 wav in which we can war
hEn NN1 tihlNlk uNNLtA vi IUO
country at this time. and that is by making
our houses of worship attractive and the re.
ligious services inspiring. / plead not for a
gorgeous audience chamber; ] plead not for
Rroined rafters or magnificent fresco: but /
do Plead for comfortable churches. home-like
churches-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 I 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 IN toward death
with no voice of mercy to arrest them.
Ali when the prodigal comes into
the church, do not stare at him rs
though he had no right to come. Give
him the best seat you can find for him,
Sometimes n man wakes up from his sin, and
he says: "pll go to the house OF God" Per-
baps he comes from one motive, perhaps
from another. He finds the church dark
and the Christian 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. suppose one OF these men enters
the church. As he comes i'm lac hears a song
which his mother sang when he was a bow:
he remembers il. He sits down, and some
one hands him book, open at
Jerusalem, my happy home,
Name ever dear 10 ineH
eyes, he says, al heard that many
timeS." lie sees cneeIIui CuTlStlan pSopN
there, every mans face a psalm of thanksgiv
ing to God. He says: ID you have this Sc
every Sundayl 1 have heard that the house
of God was n doleful place, and Christians
were lugubrious and repellingi Ihave really
enjoyed myselfr' The next Sabbath the man
is again in the same place. Tears OF re-
pentanGe start down his cheek; he begins TO
pray; and when the communion table IS
spread he sits at it,and some one reaches over
and says: 81 am surprised to find you here.
j thought you didn't believe in such things
"Ahl' he says, Il rave been captured. /
came in one day, and l found you were all so
loving and cheerful here that l concluded
j would come among you. Where thou goest
/ will 90: thy people shall be my people, and
thy God my God. Where thou diest will j
die, and there will I be buried"
Ali you can't drive men out Of their sins,
but you can coax them out-you can charm
them out.
! would to God that we could all come to
a higher appreciation of this Sabbath heri-
tagel We can not count the treasures OF
one Christian Sabbath. 1t spreads out over
us the two wings of the archangel OF mercy
Oh. blessed Sabbath blessed Sabbath They
scott a great deal about tho cd FuritaniC
Sabbaths, and there is n wonderful amount
of wit expended upon that subject now-the
Sabbaths they used TO have IN New England.
/ never lived i'm New England, but / would
rather trust tho old Puritanic Sabbath, with
all its faults, than this modern Sabbath,
which IS fast becoming no Sabbath at all. II
| our ulOutIu DhbldbloHA small pIbAuGt aa cltl'
wart Christian character as the old New
England Furitanic Sabbatism. ] shall bt
satisfied, and / shall be surprised.
Oh, blessed dayl 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 group with n
dying blessing, / should like TO look off upon
some Christs% assemblage chanting the
praises Of GOlas ! went tp to join the one
hundred and Z Rtv and four thousand and
the thousands OF thousands standing around
the throne Of Jesus Harki j hear the bel
Of the old kirk on tic hill side OF heaven. il
Is n wedding-bel for behold the Bride room
cometh. IL is a victOr's bell for we are more
than conquerors through Him who hath