Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1893-03-23

tSi VI oh0 SOoRSA' ~ 20 w
mercy They went to the wagon house.
They found their son David, who after
ward became my father, imploring Gods
pardon and mercy. Before great while
the whole family were saved. and David
went and told the story to a young wom-
an to whom he was ,af1anced, who as
result of the story became a Christian,
and from her own ips-my mothers
have received the incident.
coNvF osIoN OF THE TALMAGE FAMILY.
The 81, ry Of that converted household
ran through all the neighborhood fro:1
family to family until the whole region
was whelrned with religious awakening,
and at the next communion in the village
church at Somerville over 200 souls stood
up to profess the faith Of the gospel.
My mother. carrying the II nory OF this
scene from early womanhood into fur
ther life, in after years was resolved up
on the salvation of her children, and for
many years every week she met three
other Christian mothers to pray for the
salvation of their families. think that
all the members of those families were
saved-myself, the youngest and last.
There were 10 Of us children. l trace
the whole line of mercy back to that
hour when my Christian grancmoth-
er sat in her room imploring the bless
ing of God upon her children. Nine
of her descendants became preachers OF
the gospel. Many of her descendants
are in heaven, many Of them still in the
Christian conflict Did it pay for her to
spend the whole evening in prayer for
her household: Ask her before thethro
of Coo, surrounded by her children. In
the presence of the Christian church to-
day make this record of ancestral
piety Oh, there is a beauty, and 4 ten
derness, and sublinity in family re
ligion!
There are but four or FIVE pictures in
the old family Bible that inherited. but
Dore never illustrated a Bible as that book
is illustrated to my eyes Throughit can
see into marriages and burials, joys and
sorrows. meetings and partings. Thanks
giving days and Christian festivals. era
dies and deathbeds. Old. old book, speak
out and tell of the sorrows comforted
and of the diving hours irradiated. Old,
old book, the hands that held thee are
ashes, the eyes that perused thee are
closed. Whata pillow thou wouldst make
for dying head | salute all the mem
ories of the past when | press it to my
heart and when press it to my lips.
BIBLE ASSOCIATIONS.
Oh. that family Bible! The New Tes,
lament in small type is not worthy Of
being called by that name. Have a
whole Bill lie in large type, with the fam
ily record of marriages and births and
deaths. What if the curious should turn
over the leaves to see how old you are?
You are Younger now than you Will e'er
be again. The curious will find out
from those with whom you have played
in your childhood how old you are.
Have family Bible 1t viii go down
from generation to generation. full of
holy memories. A hundred years after
YOU are dead it will be a benediction I"
those who come after you. Other books,
worn out or fallen apart, will be flung
to the garret or the cellar. but this VIII
be inviolate. and it will be your protest
for centuries against iniquity and in be-
half of righteousness.
Oh. when we see what family religion
did for our fathers. household. do we not
want it to come into the dining room to
break the bread. into the nursery ~ bless
the young, into the parlor to purify the
socialitie 'nto the library to control the
reading, into the bedroom to hallcw the
slumber. into the hall to watch our going
out and our coming III? Aye, there are
hundreds of voices in this house ready to
CRY out: Yes. Yes! As for me and my
house. we vii serve the Lord"
There are two arms to this subject.
The one arm puts its hand on all par
ents. 1t say; to them: Don't interfere
with your Children s welfare. don inter
fere with their eternal happiness. don't
YOU by anything YOU do .put out yonr
foot ard trip them into ruin. Start them
under the shelter. the insurance. the
everlasting help of Christian parentaSe
Catechislns will not save them, though
catechisms are good. The rod will not
save them. though the rod may be neces-
sary Lessons OF virtue will not save
them though they are very important.
Becoming through and through, pand
down, ont and out Christian yourself
will make them Christians.
The other arm Of this subject puts its
hand upon those who had d pious bring
ing up. but who as yet have disappointed
the expectations excited IN regard to
them. | said that children brought np
in Christian households. though they
might make VIDE curve. We're very apt
to come back tothe straight path. Have
you not been curving out long enough.
and is it not inost time for you 10 begin
to curve in: