Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-03-25

THO Prayers OF Father and Mother OutIns'
sAll. Other Early Innuonces-The Prayers
Il IN Pious GRANDMOTHER a footed ALI II CT
Observation-Disclosures circumstance.
CHICAGO. March l0.-Rev DR.. Tai
image who is now in this city on brief
!.SssiAtid did not preach today. He prepared
I for the press. however. the following
5discourse ON Religion at Home" the
Z Z text selected being Joshuaxxiv Is, LAS
forme and my house. we will serve the
Lord.
j Absurd, Joshua! You will have no
sstiniefor family religion; you are mill
4 tary character. and your time will be
taken up with affairs connected with the
army: you are statesman, and your
q time will be taken up with public affairs;
1 yoir are the Washington, the Yelling
a tor. the Mcmahon of the Israelitish host;
yoasWill have great many questions to
sEsettae; you will have no time for religion.
BUD oshua. with the same voice with
which he commanded the sun and moon
.EItosnalt and stack arms of light on the
parade ground of the heavens says, "As
4 for. me and my house. we will serve the
4 |sEioItdd."
Eefore we adopt the resolution of this
s.oldssoldier we want to be certain it is
visa resolution If religion is going to
aEpufmy piano ont Of tune, and clog the
Efeerof the children racing through the
4 halks,tnd sour the bread, and put Grape
onsthe doorbell. do not want it in my
house. once gave SO to hear Jenny
Lind warble. have never given cent
Eto;Ilear any one groan. Will this religion
SPOKEN of in my text do anything for the
dining hall. for the nursery, for the par
/ lor,sfor the sleeping apartment?
tits great deal easier to invite dis
agreeable guest than to get rid of him.
If yeusdo not want religion, you had bet
ter Hot ask it to come, for after coming
lit:may stay great while. Isaac Watts
wentffto visit st. Thomas and Lady Alb
neYsat their place in Theobald and was
.tto;sfay q week and staid IS years, and if
religion once gets into your household
the probability is it will stay there for
laTerss
Now, the question ] want to discuss is,
4 Whattwill religion do for the household?
EQuestion the first: What did it do for
! your fathers house if you were brought
upina- Christian homer
THE FATHERS PRAYER
That whole scene has vanished, but it
comes. back today The hour for morn
ling.prayers came You were invited in.
Somewhat fidgety, you sat and listened
Your father made no pretention to rhe-
torical reading. and he just went through
lthe5chapter in a plain, straightforward
Way Then you all knelt 1t was about
the same prayer morning by morning
and night by night. for he had the same
sins.t ask pardon for. and he had the
same. blessings for which to be grateful
day after day and year after year.
The prayer was; long than y ou would
~: :s-.Ts have: had it, for the game.at ball;
EMHad S er the shed, or the schoolDooKs heeu=
ed one or two more looking at the les
sons. Your parents, somewhat rheumat-
| lie and stiffened with age, found it diff
cult to rise from their kneeling. The
chair ut which they knelt is gone, the BIZ
BILE out of which they read has perhaps
fallen to pieces. the parents are gone, the
children scattered north, east, south and
west. but that whole scene flashes upon
your memory today
Was that morning and evening exer-
else in your fathers house debasing or
elevating? Is it not among the most sa-
cred "reminiscences? You were not as de-
| yotional as some Of the older members
of your fathers house who were kneel-
| ing with you at the time, and you did
not bow your head as closely as they did,
and you looked around and you saw just
the posture your father and mother as
sumed while they were kneeling on the
floor. The whole scene is so photo
rraphed on your memory that if you
were an artist you could draw it now
Just as they knelt.
For how much would you have that
scene obliterated from your memory? 1t
all comes back today and you are in the
Homestead again. Father is there, moth
er is there, all of you children are there
| It is the same old prayer, opening with
the same petition, closing with the same
thanksgiving. The family prayers OF
| $4,000 as fresh in your memory as
though they were uttered yesterday
| The tear that starts from your eye melts
all that scene. Gone. isit3 Why, many
| a time it has held you steady in the strug-
igles of life. You once started for place,
and that memory jerked you back and
you could not enter.
1 The broken prayer of your father has
had more effect on you than all you ever
read in Shakespeare and Milton and Ten
nyson and Dante You have gone over
. mountains and across seas. You never
for moment got out of sight OF that
domestic altar. Oh, my friends. isityour
opinion this morning that the 10 or 10
minutes subtracted from each day for
family devotion was an economy or a
waste of time in your fathers house
hold? think some of US are coming to
the conclusion that the religion which
was in our fathers house would be a very
appropriate religion for our homes. Ii
family prayers did not damage that
household. there is no probability that
they will damage our household
DO NOT LET MOTHERS RELIGION GO.
"Is God dead:" said child to her ia
ther. NO" he replied. why do you
ask that?" WELL" she said. "wher
mother was living, we used to havt
prayers, but since her death we haven't
had family prayers, and | didn't know
but that God was dead too" A family
that is launched in the morning Will
family prayers is well launched. Break
fast over, the family scatter, some tt
school, some to household duties, SOM ,
to business. During the day there vii
be a thousand perils abroad-perlls OF tn
street car, of the scaffolding, OF the un
governed horse. of the misstep, OF III
&c ,,,,,1tit11 6iDOuQ tenn