Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-05-31

the tOmbtUrns Of tue parents. Yes, the
one was Geyeuty-four years Of age and
the other was seventy-two, and the epi
taph says tiat 'afi r a useful life they
died a Chratian death" How appru-
priately the Sc, ,ture passage cut on the
mothers ton stone, "She hath done
what she could" And how beautiful
the passage cut on the fathers tomb
stone. Blessed are the dead who die in
the Lord, for they rest from their labors
and their works do follow them"
On over the country road we ride
the road little rough, for the spring
weather is not quite settled, and once
down in a rut it is hard to get the wheels
out again without breaking the shafts.
But at last we come to the lane in
front of the farmhouse. Let me get out
of the wagon and open the gate while
/ you drive through. Here is the arbor
under which those boys and girls many
years ago used to play. But it is quite
out of order now, for the property is in
other hands. Yonder is the orchard
where they used to thrash the trees for
apples, sometimes before they were
! quite ripe. There is the NOW where
they hunted for eggs before Easter.
There is the doorsill upon which they
used to sit. There is the room in which
they had family prayers and where they
all lnelt-the father there, the mother
there and the boys and girls there.
We have got to the fountain of pious
| and gracious influences at last. That is
the place that decided those seven earth
I ly and immortal destinies. Behold
Behold That is the secret place of
thunder. Boys are seldom more than
their fathers viii let them be. Girls
are seldom more than their mothers will
| let them be. But there come times
when it seems that parents cannot con-
| troll their children. There come times
! in boys life when he thinks he knows
more than his father does, and / remem-
ber now that l knew more at fifteen
years of age than 1 have ever known
since.
There come times in girls life when
she thinks her mother is notional and
does not understand what is proper and
best, and the sweet child says, ''Oh,
pshawr and she longs for the time when
she will not have to be dictated to- and
she goes out of the door or goes to bed
with pouting lips, and these mothers re-
member for themselves that they knew
more at fourteen years of age than they
have ever known since. But, father and
mother, do not think you have lost your
influence over your child. You have a
resource of prayer that puts the sympa-
thetic and omnipotent God into your
parental undertaking. Do not waste
your time in reading limsy books about
the best ways to bring up children. Go
into the secret place of thunder
PRAY FOR THE PREACHERS.
The reason that we ministers do not
accomplish more is because others do
not pray enough for us and we do not
pray enough for ourselves. Every min
lister could tell you thrilling story of
sermons-sermons hasty and impromptu
because of funerals and sickbeds and
annoyances in the parish, yet those ser
mons harvesting many souls for God.
And then of sermons prepared with great
care and research and toll uninterrupted,
yet those sermons falling fat or power
less, or of the same sermon nightly
blessed on one occasion and useless on
another. How well remember ser
mon preached at great outdoor meet
ing in the upper part Of this state. For
several days in that place prayers had
been offered for the success of the serv-
ice, aud l had myself been unusually
prayerful, and we had Pentecostal
blessing while was preaching it.
That afternoon took the train for a
great outdoor meeting in Ohio. I said
to myself, "This sermon was blessed to-
day and it is fresh in my mind, and
will preach it tomorrow in OHIO" And
| did preach it, but not i'll as prayerful a
spirit, and l think no one else had been
praying about it, and it turned into the
most inane and proftless discourse that
| ever delivered. 1t was practically the
same sermon, but on Wednesday it had
on it power that comes from the secret
place of thunder, and on Thursday it
had on it no such power at all.
Oh, pray for Usi Poor sermons in the
pulpit are the curse of God ON % PRAYER
less parish. People say: Wv hat is the
matter with the ministers in our time?
So many of them seem dissatisfied with
the Bible and they are trying TO help
Moses and Paul and Christ out of in
consistencies and contradictions by fix
ing up the Bible AS well lot the mu-
sicians go to work to fix up Hadyn's
Creation" or Handers Israel in
Egypt" or let the painters go to fixing
up 2aphaels "TransE. .,uration, - or archi-
tects so to fixing up Christopher Wren's
st Paul's. But l will tell you what is
the matter. There are too many uncon-
verted ministers. Their hearts have
never been changed by the grace of
God.
A mere intellectual ministry is the
deadest failure this side of perdition
Alas for the Gospel of icicles! From
apologetics and hermeneutics and dog
mates, good Lord deliver us! They are
trying to get from transcendental the
ology, or from profound exegesis, or
from the art of splitting hairs between
north and northwest side instead of get
ting their power from the secret place
of thunder. We want the power man
gets when he is alone, the door locked; !
on his knees; at midnight; with such a !
burden of souls upon him that makes
him cry out, first in lamentation and |
then in rsptures.
Let all the Sabbath school teachers /
and Bible class instructors aud all re-
formers and all evangelists and all MIN /
listers know that diplomas and dictiOn-
aries and encyclopedias and treatises
and libraries are not the source Of
moral and spiritual achievement, but
that the room of prayer, where no one