The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-30

Day in and day out. month in and month out,
year in and year out, decade in and decade
out, the sons 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 it is seldom that there is
more than that lapse Of time be-
tween fathers going and mothers
going-two funerals put out of sight
the old folks. But where are the children9
The daughters are in homes whore they are
incarnations Of good sense, industry and
piety. The sons, perhaps one q farmer,
another a merchant another a mechanic,
another physician, another a minister of
the gospel. useful, consistent, admired, hon
ored. What power for good those seven
sons and daughters! Where did they get the
power? From the schools and the semina-
ries and the collegesl o. no, though these
may have helped From their superior
mental endowment No, do not think
they had ull mental caliber. From
accidental circumstances No, they had
nothing of what is called astounding good
luck.
think we will take train, and ride TO
the depot nearest to the homestead from
which those men and women started. The
train halts. Let us stop few minutes at
the village graveyard and see the tomb
stones OF the parents. Yes, the one was
seventy-four years Of age and the other was
seventy-two, and the epitaph says that latter
useful life, they died Christian death )"
How appropriately the scripture passage
cut on the mothers tombstone: "She hath
done what she could And how beautiful
the passage cut on the fathers tombstone:
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,
for they rest from their labors and their
works do follow them" On over the coun-
try road we ride-the road a little rough,
for the spring weathar 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 farm house.
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
is the NOW where they hunted eggs before
Easter. There is the doorsill upon which
they used to sit. There is the room in which
they all knelt-the father there, the mother
there, and the boys and girls there. We
have got to the fountain of pious aud
gracious influences at last. That is the
place that decided those seven earthly aud
ALhtiSi Vol oS6hlhlOos 11ChSA0! DOhOhu4 AhhI
is the secret place of thunder. Boys are
seldom more than their fathers will let
them be. Girls are seldom more
than their mothers will let them be.
But there come times when it seems
that parents cannot control their
children. There comes times in a boys
life when he thinks he knows more than his
father does, and | remember now that
knew more at fifteen years of age than
have ever known since. There comes times
10 girls life when she thinks her mother
is notional and does not understand what is
proper and best, and the sweet child says,
20, pshawm 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
remember 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
resource OF prayer that puts the sympa
thetic and omnipotent God into your
parental undertaking. Do not waste your
ways to bring 10 children. Go into the
secret place of thunder.
The reason that we ministers do not &C
complish more is because others do not pray
enough for US. and we do not pray enough
for ourselves. Every minister could tell
you thrilling story of sermons-sermons
hasty and impromptu, because of
funerals and sickbeds and annoyances
in the parish; yet those sermons
then of sermons prepared with great care
and research and toll uninterrupted; yet
those sermons falling fiat or powerless. Or
of the same sermon nightly blessed on one
| occasion and useless on another. How well
remember sermon L preached
at great outdoor meeting in
| the upper part of this state. For
been offered for the success of the service,
and had myself been unusually prayerful,
and we had a PentecoStal blessing while
was preaching it. That afternoon l took
! the train for great outdoor meeting in
Ohio. 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 in as prayerful
spirit, and think no one else had been
praying about it, and it turned into the
most inane and profit.ess discourse that
| ever delivered. 1t was practically the same
| sermon, but on Wednesday it had on it a
power that comes from the secret place of
thunder, and on Thursday it had on it no
| such power at all.
o. pray for us! Poor sermons in the pull
pit are the curse of God on a praYless
| with the ministers in our time? So many
Of them seem dissatifed with the Bible and
! they are trying to help Moses and Paul and
Christ out of inconsistencies and CONTRA
dictions by fixing up the Bible" As well
let the musicians go to work to fix up
Haydn's Creation or Handel's Israel in
Egypt" or let the painters go to fixing up
Raphaeps TRANSPORTATION" or archi-
tects go to fixing up Christopher Wrens
st. Paul's. But will tell you what is
the matter. There are too many I'M
converted 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 ioiclesl From apologetics, and
hermeneutics, and dogmatics, good Lord de-
liver us They are trying to get their
power from transcendental theology, or
from profound exegesls, or from the art of
splitting hairs between north and northwest
side, instead of getting their power from
the secret place of thunder. We want the
power a man gets when he is alone, the door
locked; on his knees; at midnight; with
such burden of souls upon him that makes
him cry out, first in lamentaticn and then
in raptures
Let all the Sabbath school teachers and
Bible class instructors, and all reformers,
ana all evangelists, and all ministers know
that diplomas, and dictionaries. and ency-
clopedias and treatises, and libraries, are
not the source of moral and spiritual
achievement, but that the room of PRAYER
where no one but God is present, and no one