The Russellville Democrat., 1889-01-24
da, turned 0ut more var material than

the Lords days and at the close of the year, now that we keep the Sabbath, And We turn out more iron and have larger profits than any year when we worked all
 the seven days" The fact is, Sabbath : made ropes will break, and Sabbath made
 shoes will leak, and Sabbath made coats
 will rip, and Sabbath-made muskets will
 miss fire, and Sabbath occupations will De blasted A gentlemen saidi "I invented
 shuttle on the Lords day. l was very busy, SO 1 made the model of that new
 shuttle on the Lords day. So very busy
 was during the week that 1 had to occupy
 many Sabbaths, It was great success. | enlarged my buildings. built new fac- tories. and made hundreds of thousands l of dollars. but have to tell you that all the result of that work on the Sabbath has been to me ruin. enlarged my build ings, | made great many thousands of dollars, but have lost all, and charge it to the fact of that Sunday shuttle" l | will place in two companies the men in this community who break the Sabbath and the men who keep it, and then l ask | you who are the best friends of society," l Who are the best friends of morals Who | have the best prospects for this worldf | Who have the best for the world that is to | comeS
 | Again, i remark, we ought to have in the | Sabbath the joy of domestic reunion and | conservation. There are some very good | parents who have the faculty of making | the Sabbath a great gloom. Their chil. I dren run up against the wall of parental l lugubriousness on that day. They are | sorry when Sunday comes, and glad when | itigoes away. They think of every thing bad | on that day. It is the worse day to them, | .,, ara nor who, because they were brought up in | Christian families, where there were l wrong notions about the Sabbath, have gone out into dissipation and will be lost. l A man said to me: ''I have a perfect dis | gust for the Sabbath. 1 never saw my l father smile OF Sunday. It was such | dreadful day to me when l was boy, never got over 1t, and never will" Those parents did not "call the Sabbath de- | light" they made it a gloom. But there are houses represented here this morning 1 where the children say through the week: 1 II wonder when Sunday will come" l They are anxious to have it come. hear | their hosanna in the house; hear their l hosanna ln the school. God intended the l Sabbath to be especially day for the | father. The mother is home all the week. | Sabbath 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: This is your day. See what you can do in this little flock in pre- | pairing them for Heaven. This day set apart for you.'
 You know very we'll that there are many parents who are mere suttlers of the | household; they provide the food and raiment. Once in awhile, perhaps, they hear the child read line or two in the
 new primer; or, if there be case of es- pecial discipline, and the mother can not | manage it, the child is brought up in the court-martial of the fathers discipline and punished That is all thore is of it. No scrutiny of that child's immortal in terests; no realization of the fact that the child will soon go out in a 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 dawned. The fe 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 the father.
 The little one dares now to ask questions
 without any fear of being answered:
 Don't bother nae-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 lip. He see in that child long
 line of eertsiy destinies he sees in that
 child an immeasurable eternity. As he
 touches that child, he says; 'I 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 such is the
 kingdom of Heaven" And he feels joy,
 not like that which sounds in the dance,
 or is waited from the froth of the wine
 cup, or that which is like the "craokling
 of thorns under pot" but the joy of domestic reunion and conservation.
 Have 1 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 a statistic that I would like to give you. A great many people, you know, say there is nothing in the Christian dis cipline of household. In New Hamp shire there were two neighborhoods-the one of six families, the other of five fam lilies. The six families disregarded the Sabbath. In time five of these families were broken up by the separation of hus- bands and wives; the other by the father u UT uiuc OI hhc parents became drunkards, one commit ted suicide, and all came to penury. Of some forty or fifty descendants, about twenty are known to be drunkards and gamblers, and iissolute. Four or five have been in State prison. One fell in a duel. Some are in the alms- house. Only one became 0 Christian, and he after first having been outrageously dissipated. The other five families that regarded the Sab bath were all prosperous. Eight or ten of the children are consistent members of the church. Some of them became officers in the church-one is a minister of the Gospel, one is a missionary to China. No poverty among any of them. The home stead is now in the hands of the third gem eration. Those who have died have died in the peace of the Gospel. Oh, is there nothing in a household that remembers Gods holy day? Can it be possible that those who disregard this holy command ment 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 mp and down the | streets. Is it festal dayi people might | ask. Has there been some public edict | commanding the people to come forthi | No; they are only worshipers of God who | are going to their places of religious serv- ice. In what delicate scale shall I weigh | the joy of Christian conyocationf It gives | brightness to the eye, and a flush to the l cheek, and pressure to the hand, and a l thrill to the heart. You see the aged man | tottering along on his staff thr ough the | aisle. You see the little child le by the | hand of its mother. You look around | and rejoice that this is the Lords day, | and this the communion of saints. "One | Lord, one faith, one baptism." Some ia miliar tune sets all the soul a-quiver and | a-quake with rapture. We plunge into some old hymn and all our cares and anxi- | cites are bathed of. The glorio us Gospel l