Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-03-24

NOW, Wncn YOU are All TeduY lOT
the party, come to my room, for have
something very important 10 tell you"
All ready for departure, they came to
her room, and she said TO them: Now,
want you to remember, while you are
away this evening, that / am all the
time in this room PRAYING for your sal
walton, and shall not cease praying
until YOU get ba *" The young peo-
pie went to the party, but amid the
loudest hilarities of the night they
could not forget that their mother was
praying for them. The evening passed
and the night passed.
The next day my grandparents heard
an cutlery in an adjoining room, and
they went in and found their daughter
imploring the salvation of the Gospel.
The daughter told them that the broth
ers were at the barn and at the wagon
house under powerful conviction of
sin. They went to the barn. They
found my uncle Jehiah, who after
wards became minister of the Gospel,
crying to God for mercy. They went
to the wagon-house. They found their
son David, who afterwards 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
voman to whom he was atiiahced, who.
as result of the story, became Chris
tian, and from her own IIps--my moth
er s-I have received the incident.
The story of that converted house
hold ran through all the neighbor-
hood, from family to family, until the
whole region was whelmed with relig-
ious awakening, and at the next COM
munion in the village church at Somer-
vile, over two hundred souls stood up
to profess the faith of the gospel. My
mother, carrying the memory of this
scene from early womanhood into
father life, in after years was resolved
upon the salvation of her children, and
for many years every week she met
three 9th a. Christian mothers TO pray
for the salvation of their families. l
think that all the members of those
families were saved-mysclf, the
youngest and the last.
There were twelve of us children. |
trace the whole line of mercy back to
that hour when my Christian grand
mother sat in her room imploripg the
blessings 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 even
ing in prayer for her household? Ask
her before the throne of God, sur
rounded by her children. In the es-
ence of the Christian Church to-day, l
make this record of ancestral piety.
Oh! there is beauty, and "a tenderness,
and n sublimity in family religion.
lNttf ttra mi. - in,
the old family Bible that | inherited,
but Dore never illustl ated Bible as
that book is illustrated to my eyes.
Through it l can see into marriages
and burials, joys and sorrows, meet
ings and partings, Thanksgiving days
and Christmas festivals, cradles and
death. beds. Old, old book! speak out
and tell of the sorrows comforted, and
of the dying hours irHadiated. 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! l salute all the
memories of the past when press it To
my heart, and when l press it to my
lips.
Oh, that family Bible! The New
Testament in small type is not worthy
whole Bible in large type, with the
family 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 ever 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 will
go down from generation to genera
ton, full of holy memories. A hun
dred years after you are dead it will
be benediction to those who come
after you. Other books, worn out or
fallen apart will be flung TO the gar
ret or the cellar; but this will be invi-
olate, and it will be your protest for
centuries against iniquity, and in behalf
of righteousness.
OH when we see what family relig-
Il did for our fathers household, do
we not want it to come into the dining
room to break the bread, into the
nursery to bless the young, into the
parlor to purify the socialities, into
the library to control the reading, into
the bedroom to hallow the slumber,
into the hall to watch our going out
and our coming in? Aye, there are
hundreds of voices in this house ready
to cry out. Yes! Yes! AS for me and
my house we will serve the Lord"
There are two arms TO this subject.
The one arm puts its hand on all par
ents. 1t says to them: Don't inter
fere with your children's welfare. Don't
interfere with their eternal happiness,
don't you by anything you do, put out
your foot and trip them into ruin. Start
them under the shelter, the insurance,
the everlasting help of Christian par
entage. Catechisms will not save them,
though catechisms are good. The rod
will not save them, though the rod may
be necesss ry. Lessons of virtue will
not save them, though they are very
important. Beconing a through and
through, up and down, out and out
Christian yourself will make them
Christians"
The other arm of this subject puts its
hand upon those who had a pious bring
ing up, but who as yet have disappointed
the expectations excited in regard to
them. l said that children brought up
in Christian households, though they
might make wide curve, were very
apt to come back to the straight path.
Have you not been curving out long
L - g..