Sharp County record., 1890-02-27
-, ....bor. lNe must take this red

40 ,,,indow of our households. W hel
tho t IsraoIitisb army came up agalnS'
Jericho thev said: what is that IN Vhe
window?r Some one said: "Ib'S IS
scarlet line." "Oh," said some one eISe'
M+bot must be the house that was 10 O9
snorod Don't touch it," That Hno
was thick enough and long enough
and conspicuous enough to save han"o W
her father, her mother, her D.o'n9L'
and bor sisters-the entire 1amlly.
TIoro our households as good protecUioh'
Won have bolts on the front door ana Oh
+bo hack, and fastenings to the WIN,
dows, and perhaps burglar alarms anu
norhans an especial watchman blowing
bis whistle at midnight before your
dwelling, but all th%t can not pro-
foot vour household. Is there on
onr houses the sign of Saviour8 Sacrl-
free and mercy? IL there scarlet line
in the window? Have your children
hoan consecrated to Christ? Have you
boon washed in the blood Of the atone
mont? In what room do you have
family prayer? Show me where IL IS
won are accustomed to kneel Inc
sI,v is black with the coming dcI-
noe Is your family inside or OUTSIDE
of the ark? 1t is sad thing for man 10
rofnot Christ. but to lie down in the
nirht of sin, across the path to Heaven,
90 that his family come up and trip over
bim-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 NAV be geranium and cactus IN
that family window, and upholstery
lowering over it, and childish faces
LOOKING out of it, but there is no scarlet
thread stretched across it, Although
that house NAV seem to be on the best
straotin all the town or city, 1T IS really
on the edge of marsh, across Whlch
sweep most poisonous malariaS, and
il has a sandy foundation, and It's
snlendor will come down. and great VIII
be the fall of it. A home without God!
A nrayerle33 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, 0 father, 0
mother. more than food, more than
clothing, mora than sholter-you owe
them the example Of prayerfol, conSo-
Grated, pronounced, out-and-out Chris
tian life. You can not afford to keep it
away from them.
Now, as I stand here, you do not see
anv hands outstretched toward me, and
vet 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 began the
last sleep on tho banks OF the Raritan IN
tho village cemetery, but those hands
are stretched out toward me to-day,
and they are just as warm and they are
lust as gentle as when l sat on her knee
| at five years of age. And I shall never
shake off those hands. do not want
to. They have helped me so much a
thousand times already, and | do not
expect to have trouble or trial be-
tween this and my grave where those
hands will no5 help me. 1t was not a
very splendid home, as the world calls
it, but we I'd a family Bible there,
we'll worn by tender parusal; 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 or
| festoons there was scarlet line
in the window. Oh, the tender,
precious, blessed memory of a Christian
home! Is that the impression you are
making upon your children? When you
are dead-and it will not be long before
YOU are-when you are dead, will your
child say: ''If there ever was a good
Christian father, mine was one. Il
there ever was a good Christian mother,
! mine was one"
Still further; we want this scarlet line
Of the text drawn across the window of
our prospects. l see Rahab, and her
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 invad-
ing, and then up to the mount
aims and the sky, Mind you, this
house was on the wall, and | sup
pose the prospect from the window
must have been very wide. Besides
that, l do not think that the
scarlet line at all interfercd 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 to-
ward the hills of Heaven and the land
scape of eternal beauty
But blessed be God for this scarlet
line in the window. That tells me that
the blood of Christ bought that home
for my soul, and l shall go there when
my work is done. And as put my hand
on that scarlet line every thing in the
future brightens. My eyesight gets bet
ter and the robes of the victors are more
lustrous, and our loved ones who went
away some time ago-they do not stand