Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-03-06

Israelitish army came upagainst Jericho
they said: "What is that in the win.
dow?' Some one said: '"Thatis a scarlet
line.'' 60" said some one else. that
must be the house that was to be spared.
Don't touch it." That line was thick
enough and long enough, and conspic-
nous enough to save Rahab, her father,
her mother, her brothers and her sisters
the entire family. Have our house
holds asgood protection? You have bolts
on the front door and on the back, and
~fastenings to the windows, and perhaps
burglar alarms, and perhaps an especial
Waterman blowing his whistle, at
midnight before your dwelling; but all
that can not protect your household. Is
there on our houses the sign OF a Sa
viour's sacrifice and mercy? Is there a
scarlet line in the window? Have your
children beer consecrated to Christ?
Have you been washed in the blood OF
the atonement? In what Dom DO you
have family prayers? Show me where
it is that you are accustomed to kneel.
The sky is black with the coming
deluge. Is your family inside or out
side of the ark? 1t is a sad thing for a
man to reject Christ, but to lie down in
the night of sin, across the path to
Heaven, so that his family como up and
trip over him-that is terrific.
1t is a sad thing for a 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 worldli-
ness, away from God and Heaven-alas!
alasl There may be geranium and cac-
tus in that family window, and uphol-
stery hanging over it, and childish faces
looking out Of it, but there is no scarlet
thread stretched across ii. Although
that house may seem to be on the best
street in all the town or city, it is really
on the edge of a marsh across
which sweep most poisonous malarias,
and it has a sandy foundation. and its
splendor will come down, and great will
be the fall of it. A home without Godl-
a prayerless father! and undevout moth
eri 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 hat we can not waste
any Of it on apologies, or indi-
rections, or circumlocutionA You
owe to your children, o father, o
mother, more than food. more than cloth
ing, more than shelter-you owe them
the example of a prayerful, consecrated,
pronounced, out-and-out Christian life.
You can not afford to keep it away from
them.
Still further; we want this scarlet line
OF the text drawn across the window OF
our prospects. l see Rahab anu her
father, and her mother, and her brothers
and sisters looking out over Jericho, the
city of palm trees, and across the river,
and we at the army invading, and then
up TO the mountain and the sky. Mind
you, this house was on the wall, and
suppose the prospect from the window
must have been very wide. Besides
that, l do not think that the 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 toward 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 a dim outline Of the inhabitants.
We now only here and there catch a
note Of the exquisite harmony.
But blessed be God for this scarlet
line in the window, That tells me the
blood of Christ bought that kome for my
soul, and l shall go there waen my work
is done. And as ! put my hand on that
scarlet line every thing in the future
brightens. My eyesight gets better,
and the robes of the victors are more lus-
trous, and our loved ones who went
away some time ago-they do not stand
any more with their backs to us, but
their faces are this way and their voices
drop through this Sabbath air, saying
with all tenderness and sweetness:
Come. Comet Gomez And the
child that you think of only
as buried-why, there she is, and
1t is May Day in Heaven; and they
gather the amaranth, and they pluck the
lilies, and they twist them into a gar
land for her brow, and she is one OF the
May Queens of Heaven. o, do you think
they could see our waving to-day? 1t is
quite a pleasant day-pretty clear-and
not many clouds in the sky. l wonder
IL they can see us from that good land?
l think they can. If from this window
OF earthly prospects we can almost see
them from their towers of light, l think
they can fully see us. And so / wave
them the glory, and | wave them joy,
and / say: 'Have you got through with
all your troubles?" and their voices an
swer: God hath wiped away all tears
from our eyes" l say: SIS it as grand
up there as you thought it would be?"
and the voices answer: Eye hath not
seer nor ear heard, neither hath it en-
tered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for those that
love Him." l say: 'sDo you have any
more struggle for bread?" and they
answer: 'We hunger no more, we thirst
no more" And l say: "Have you been
out to the cemetery of the golden city?"
and they answer There is no death
here" And l look out through the