The Penn's Grove record., 1889-02-02


Eight or nine Of the parents became
drunkards, n committed suicide, and
all came to penury. or some forty or
fifty descendants, about twenty are
known to be drunkards and gamblers
and ~dissolute. Four or FIVE have been
in State-prison. One fell in q duel.
\ Some are In the almshouse. Only one
became a Christian, and he, after FIRST
having been outrageously dissipated.
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 Church;
one is q minister of the gospel; one Is a
missionary to China No poverty
among any of them. The homestead is
now in the hands of the third genera
ton. Those who have died have died
In the peace of the gospel. Oh, Is there
nothing In a household that remembers
Gods holy dayy Can it be possible
that those who disregard this holy COM
mandment can be prospered for this lite,
or have any good hope OF the life that
is to Gomez
Again, we ought to have in the Sab
bath the
CHRISTIAN AsSEMBLAGE.
| Where are all those people going on the
| Sabbath You see them moving up and
| down the street. Is it a festal dayp
people might ask. Has there been
| some public edict commanding the
people to come forthp No, they are
only worshippers Of God, who are going
to their places of religious service. In
what delicate scale shall Iweigh the joy Of
Christian convocation? 1t gives bright
ness to the eye, and flush to the cheek,
and a pressure to the hand, and a thrill
to the heart. You see the aged man
tottering along on his staff through the
aisle. You see the little child led by the
hand of its mother. You look around
and rejoice that this is Gods day, and
this the communion of saints.
I look upon the Church Of God as
one vast hosanna. Joy dripping from
the baptismal font, joy glowing in the
saeramental cup, joy warbling In the
anthem, joy beating against the gate Of
Heaven with a hallelujah like the voice
of mighty ~thunderings. beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion." II is the day and place
where Christ reviews His troops, bring
ing them out in companies and regi-
ments and battalions. riding along the
line. examining the battle-torn flags of
past combat, and cheering them on to
future victories. Oh, the joy of Chris
tan assemblagel
/ remark also, VIC have III this day
the joy of
ETERNAL sABBATISM.
I do not lie 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 make II 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
harplsts and the trumpeters of God ac-
companying the harmony. The light
Of a better Sabbath gilds the top of thus.
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.
"Day 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 a coffin nor grave; his weary
body CLOVIS at the idea of a land where
there are no burdens to carry, and no
exhaustive Journeys to take. He eats
the grapes of Eshcol. He stands upon
the mountain-top, and looks of upon
the promised land.
TWO TREASURES TO PROTECT.
With what revulsion, and with what
pity we must look out on that large
class of persons in our day who would
throw discredit upon the Lords day.
There are two things which Christian
people ought never to give up; the one
Is the Bible, the other is the Sabbath.
Take away one, and you take both.
Take either, anil farewell to Chris
tianity in this country, farewell to our
civil and religious liberties. When they
go, all go. He who has ever spent Sun
day in Paris, or Anta err, 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. l had a
friend in Syracuse who lived 10 be one
hundred years of age. lie said to me
in his ninety-ninth yeaI: II went
across the mountains in The early
history of this country. Sabbath
morning came. We were beyond the
reach Of civilization. My comrades
were all going out for All excursion, ]
said: NO, l won't go; it Is Sunday. ;
Why. they laughed. They said: We
haven't any Sunday here oh, yes,
1 said, you have. / brought IL with
me over the mountains
There are two or three ways in which
we can war against notwithstanding
usages in this day; and the first thing is
to get our children right upon this sub
ject, and teach them that the Sabbath
day is the hottest of all the days. and
the best and the gladdest. Unless you
teach your children under the paternal
roof to keep the Lords day, there ara
nine hundred and ninety chances out
of a thousand it will lever learn to
keep the Sabbath. You may think 10
shirk responsibility in the matter, and
send your child to the Sabbath-school
and the house of God; that will not re-
lIeye the matter. I want to tell you, in
the nam of Christ, that
YOUR EXAMPLE
will be more potential than any instruc'
ton they get elsewhere; and If you dis
regard the Lords day yourself, or in
any wise throw contempt upon it, you
are blasting your children with an In.
finite curse. 1t is a rough truth,
know, told in a rough way; but it l.
Gods truth, nevertheless. Your chill
may go on to seventy or eighty years Of
age, but that child will never get ovel
the awful disadvantage Of having had
a misunderstanding father or a 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 a day oi
great conservation and Joy. We re-
member the old faces around the table
AtuA Sabbath rNnn nnr Innrf,