The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-02-12

THAT must be the house JDaJ was 10 De.
spared. Don't touch it." That line was
thick enouth and long enough and con-
spicuous enough to save Rahab, her
father, her mother, her brothers and her
entire family. Have our
households as good protectionP You
have bolts on the front door and None on
the back, and fastenings to the window,
and perhaps burglar alarms, and per-
haps an eepecial watchman blowing his
whistle at midni ight 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 a scarlet line in 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 q 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! alasl There
may be geranium and cactus In
that family window, and uphol-
stery lowering over it, and child
ish faces looking out OF 1t, but there
Is no scarlet thread stretched across 1t.
Although that house may seem to be on
the best street IN all the town or city, 1t
Is really on the edge OF a marsh across
which sweep most poisonous malarias,
and 1t 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, o
mother, more than food, more. than
clothing, more than shelter-you owe
hem the example Of prayerful, conse.
,rated, pronounced, out-nd-opt Christ
an life. You can not afford to, keep y
lway from them. tes,,ag rsgle aatUf
Now, as stand here, you do not see
my hands outstretched towards me,
md yet there are hands on my brow,
md hands on both my shoulders. They
ire hands of parental benediction. II
s quite good many years ago now
Iince we folded those hands as they be-
ran the last sleep on the banks of the
aaritan in the village cemetery; but
hose hands are stretched out towards
ne to-day, and they are just as warm
md they are just as gentle as when
vat on her knee at five years OF age
And shall never shake off those hands
do not want to. They have helped
ne so much thousand times already
and do not expect to have trouble
,r trial between this and my grave
where those hands will not help me. Il
vas not very splendid home, as the
world calls 1t; but we had family Bible
here, we'll worn by tender perusal; ant
here was family altar there, where
We knelt morning and night; and there
was a holy Sabbath there; and stretched
n straight line or hung in loops o.
| ,estoons, there was scarlet line in tn,
window. o the tender, precious, blessed
memory OF Christian home! Is tina
the impression you are making upoI
your children? When you are dead
and II will not be long before you are
when you are dead, will your child say
Tf there ever was a good Christian
father, mine was one, II there eve
was a good Christian mother, mine wa
one."
Still further, we want this scarlet lint
| If the text drawn across the window o
our prospects. l see Rahab and he
father, and her mother, and her broth
ers and sisters looking out over Jericho
the city OF palm trees, and across tn
liver, and over at the army invading
md then up to the mountains and the sky
Mind you, this house was on the wall
and suppose the prospectfrom the win
low must have been very wide. Beside
that, do not think that the scarlet lin
at all interfered with the view OF tn
landscape. The assurance 1t gave o
safety must have added TO the beauty o
the country. To-day, my friends, W
sit in the window Of earthly prospects
and we look off towerd the hills o
heaven and the landscape OF eterna
beauty. God has opened the windo'
for us, and we look out We now onl
get dim outline Of the inhabitants
We now only here and there catch
note Of the exquisite harmony.
But, blessed be God for this scarle
line In the window. That tells me tina
the blood OF Christ bought that HON
for my soul, and shall 90 there wbe
my work is done. And as | put m
hand on that scarlet line, everything l
the future brightens. My eyesight gel
better, and the robes Of the victors ar
more lustrous, and our loved ones VIII
went away some time ago--they do nc
stand any more with their backs TO Vi
but their faces are this way and the
| voices drop through this Sabbat
air, saying with all tenderness an
sweetness: "Comel Comel Comel" An
the child that you think Of onl
as buried-why, there she is, an
IL is May day In Heaven; and the
gather the amaranth, and they pluc
the lilies, and they twist them into
garland for her brow, and she is one ,
the May queens Of Heaven. o do yo
think they conld see our waving to-day
1t is quite pleasant day, pretty, clea