Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-06-04

sand miIos lway. We Drag about our
telephones. but here is something that
beats tho telephone in utteranco and re-
ply, for God says, "Bcforo they call. 1
Win hear." We Drag about the phono-
graph, In which man can speak, and
his words and tho tones Of his voice can
lie kept fog :eges. Snd by the tuning of
q crank the words may come forth upon
tie GERS of another century, but prayer
allows Us to speak words into the cars Of
everlasting remembrance, and on the
other side of all cternities they will be
heard. Oh, ye who ire wasting your
breath. and wasting your brains, aud
wasting your nerves, end wasting your
lungs wishing for thin good and that
good for tho church and tho world, why
10 You not go into the secret place of
thunder.
"But." Gays somo ONO. "that is bead
tiful theory, yet 1t does not work in my
case, for on in G cloud of trouble. OF o
cloud Of sickness, or clou,i of persecu-
ton, or cloud Of poverty, .or cloud Of
bereavement, or o. cloud Of porple 5ity.
How9gi HIn ttlhnts Yons 20 mo
That IS exactly the place tosWhiehs my
text refers. It was from cloud that
God answered Israel-tho cloud over tho
chasn, cut through tho Red seattle
cloud that was light to tho Israelites
and darkness to the Egyptians. 1t was
from cloud, tremendous cloud. that
God made reply. 1t was aeclond that
wac tho secret place OF thunder. so
you caanot get away from tho consola-
tion of my text by talking that way.
Let all tho people rndcr cloud hear It,
II answered thee III the secret place u
thunder"
INFLUENCE OF THE OLD HoNn.
This subject helps me to explain some
things you have not understood about
men and women, and there are multi
tudes Of them, and the multitude is null
tiplyiny by the minute. Many of thcin
have not q supersbundanco Of educa-
ton. If you had their brain In post
norton examination, and You could
weigh 1t, 1t would not weigh any heav-
Ter than tho average. They have not
anything especially impressive Ia per
eonal appearance. They are not very
fluent CT tongue. They pretend to moth
ing unusual In mental faculty or social
influence. but you feel their rOwes; you
are elevated in their prcscncc; ycr arc
better man or better woman, having
confronted them. You know that in in
teiIectual endowment you alv their ST.
pcrior, wiliio in tho matter Of moral and
religious influence they are vastly yoalr
superior. Why is thiss
TO End the revelation Of this secret
you must go back thirty or forty or
perhaps sixty years to the homestead
where this man vas brought up. It Is
winter morning. and the tallow candle
is lighted, and tho fires are kindlei.
sometimes the shavings hardly enough
to start tho wood. The mother is pre-
pairing tho breakfast, tho blue edged
dishes uro cn tho table, and the lid of
tho kettle on the hearth begins to rattle
with the steam. and tho shadow Of the
industrious woman by the Pickering
flame OH the hearth Is moved up and
down thc woll. The father Is at the
barn feeding the stock-tlio oats thrown
into the horses bin end the cattle
craunchirg the coir. Tho children. eac-
lier than they would like and after be-
ing called twice, are gathered at the
table.
The blessing of Gol is asked on the
food. and, the meal over, the family
Dible Is put upon the white tablecloth
and q chapter is reed and prayer made,
which includes ell the interests Cor this
world and the next. The children pay
not much attention to the prayer, for 1t
Is about the same thing day after day,
but It puts upon them an impression
that ten thousand years will only make
moro vivid and tremendous. As long as
the old folks 1.-Two their prayer Is for their
children and their cilildren's children.
Dayin and day out, month NJ ard month
out, year In and year out, decade IN and
decade out the IONS and daughters of
that family are remembered in earnest
prayer, and they know 1t, and they feel
It, and they cannot get away from 1t.
Two funerals after awhile-not more
than two years apart, for 1t Is seldom
that there Is more than that lapse of
time between fathers going and moth
ers gping-:wo. funerals put out Of sight
the old folks. But whore are the chill
dren7 The daughters aro IN homes
where they nro incarnntions Ct good
rc1lse, industry and piety. The sons,
perhaps one q farmer, another lner-
chant, another mechanic. another O
physician, unothor minister of the
Gospel, useful, consistent. admired, hon
oren. What power for good those
seven cons and daughters, Where did
they get tho power? From the schools,
and the scninarics, and tho collegoss
Oh, no, though these may havo helped.
From, their superior mental endowment
No, do not think they had unusual
mental caIibcr. From accidental cir
cu1nstanoos2 No, they had nothing Of
what Is called astounding good luck.
TIE FOUNTAIN OF P1oUs INFLUENCE
I think We win take tain and rao
to the depot nearest 10 the homestead
from which those men and women start
ell. The train ha1ts. Let us stop few
minutes at tho village graveyard and see
the tombstones Of tho parents. Yes, the
one was seventy-four years of ago and
the other was seventy-two, and the eV-
taph says that latter o useful life they
died a Christian death" How appro-
priatcly the Scripture passage cut on the
mothers tombstone. "She hnth done
what che could" And how beautiful |
the passage Gus on the fathers tomb
stone. blessed arc the dead who die IN
he Lord, fo- they rest from theis iabors
End their WORKS DO follow them.