The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-02-26

lsraelitlsh army came up against Jeri- |
cho, they said: what is that in the
Window Some one said: "That is the
scarlet line" So" said some one else,
shat must be the house that was to be
spared. Don't touch it." That line was
thick enough and long enough and con-
spicuous enough to save Rahab, her
father, her mother, her brothers and her
sisters-the entire family. Have our
hou schools as good protection? You
have bolts on the front door and one on
the back, and fastenings to the window,
and perhaps burglar alarms, and per-
haps an especial Waterman blowing his
whistle at midnight before your dwell
ing; but all that can not protect your
household. Is there on our houses the
sign of Saviour's sacrifice and mercy?
Is there scarlet line i'll the window?
Have your children been consecrated to
Christ? Have you been washed in the
blood of the atonement? In what room
do you have family prayers? Show me
where it is you are accustomed to kneel.
The sky is black with the coming del
uge. Is your family inside or outside
of the ark? 1t is sad thing for man
to reject Christ but to lie down in the
night of sin across the path to heaven,
so that his family come up and trip over
him-that is terrific. 1t is sad thing
for mother to reject Christ, but to
gather her family around her and then
take them by the hand and lead them
out into paths of worldliness, away from
God and heaven, alas! alas! There
may be geranium and cactus in
that family window, and uphol-
stery lowering over it, and child
ish faces looking out of it, but there
is no scarlet thread stretched across it.
Although that house may seem to be on
the best street IN all the town or city, it
is really on the edge of marsh across
which sweep most poisonous malarias,
and it has sandy foundation, and its
splendor will come down. and great will
be the fall of it. A home without God!
A prayerless father! An undevout
mother! Awful awful Is that you?
Will you keep on, my brother, on the
wrong road, and take your loved ones
with you? Time is so short that we can
not waste any of it on apologies, or in
directions, or circumlocutions. You
owe to your children, o father, 0
mother, more than food, more than
clothing, more than shelter-yOu owe
them the example of prayerful, conse
Grated, pronounced, out-and-out Christ
ian life. You can not afford to keep it
away from them.
Now, as | stand here, You do not see
any hands outstretched towards me,
and yet there are hands on my brow,
and hands on both my shoulders. They
are hands of parental benediction. 1t
is quite good many years ago now
since we folded those hands as they be-
gan the last sleep on the banks of the
| Raritan in the village cemetery: but
those hands are stretched out towards
me to-day, and they are just as warm
and they are just as gentle as when l
sat on her knee at five years of age.
And shall never shake off those hands.
Ado not want to. They have helped
I me so much thousand times already,
and do not expect to have trouble
or trial between this and my grave
where those hands will not help me. l.
was not very splendid home, as the
world calls it; but we had family Bible
there, well worn by tender perusal: and
there was a family altar there, where
we knelt morning and night; and there
was holy Sabbath there; and stretched
in a straight line or hung in loops CT
festoons, there was scarlet line in the
window. o the tender, precious, blessed
memory of Christian home! Is that
the impression you are making upon
your children? When you are dead
and it will NOT DE long before you are
when you are dead, will your child say
"If there ever was good Christian
father, mine was one. If there ever
was good Christian mother, mine was
u one."
Still further, we want this scarlet line
of the text drawn across the window OF
our prospects. l see Rahab and hei
father. and her mother, and her broth
ers and sisters looking out over Jericho
the city of palm trees, and across the
river, and over at the army invading,
and then up to the mountains and the sky
Mind you, this house was on the wall
and suppose the prospectfrom the win
dow must have been very wide. Besides
that, do not think that tho scarlet line
at all interfered with the view of the
landscape. The assurance it gave OF
safety must have added to the beauty OF
the country. To-day, my friends, we
sit in the window of earthly prospects
and we look off towerd the hills OF
heaven and the landscape of eternal
beauty. God has opened the window
: for us, and we look out. We now only
get dim outline of the inhabitants
J We now only here and there catch a
J note of the exquisite harmony.
But, blessed be God for this scarlet
, line in the window. That tells me thai
the blood of Christ bought that home
for my soul, and shall go there wher
my work is done. And as l put my
hand on that scarlet line, everything il
, the future brightens. My eyesight gets
better, and the robes of the victors arc
/. more lustrous, and our loved ones who
, went away some time ago-they do mo-
, stand any more with their backs to us
but their faces are this way and theil
voices drop through this Sabbath
air. saving with all tenderness ant
, sweetness ''Come! Come! Gomez Ant
} the child that you think of only
as buried-why, there she is, ant
il is Nav day in Heaven: and they