Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-03-30

1t night there may De nomen'
when you will be il urgent need o.
God. Besides that, family prayer.
will be a secular advantage. A father
went into the war to serve his country.
His children stayed and cultivated the
farm. His wife prayed. One of the
sons said afterward Father is fight
ing, and we are digging, and mother is
praying" "Ahi'' said some one, pray.
ing and digging and fighting will bring
us out of our national troubles" We
may pray in the morning: Give me
this day our daily bread, - and sit down
in idleness and stayye to death; but
prayer and hard work will give liveli-
hood to any family. Family religion
pays for both worlds Let us have an
altar in each of our households You
may not be able to formulate prayer.
Then there are Philip Henry's prayers,
and there are McDuffs prayers, and
there are Philip Doddridge's prayers,
and there are the Episcopal church
prayers, and there are scores of books
with supplications just suited to the
domestic circle.
|
competent to lead my household in
prayer" Well, do not know that 1T
is your duty to lead. think perhaps
it is sometimes better for the mother of
the household to lead. She knows bet
ter the wants of the household. She
can read the Scriptures with more
tender enunciation. She knows more
of God. l will put it palmer, and say
she prays better. OH these mothers
decide almost everything. Nero's
mother was a murderess. Lord Byron's
mother was naughty and impious. You
might have guessed that from their chill
dren. Walter Scott's mother was fond
of poetry. Washington's mother was pa
triotic. Samuel Budgets mother was
thorough Christian. St Demands
mother was undetermined So you
might have guessed from their chill
dren. Good men always have good
mothers There may, once in ten or
twenty years, be an exception to the
rule; but it is only an exception. Ben
iamin Vests mother kissed him after
she had seen his first wonderful sketch
with the pencil. Benjamin West after
ward said, That kiss made me
painter"
A young man received furlough to
return from the army to his fathers
house. Afterward he took the furlough
back to the officer saying: II would
like to postpone my visit for two
weeks" At the end of the two weeks
he came and got the furlough He
L.. II Ill hs
replied, when / left home | told my
mother | would be Christian in the
army, and l was resolved not to go
home until l could answer her first
question" o. the almost omnipotent
power of the motherl But if both the
father and the mother be right, then
the children are almost sure to be right.
The young people may make a wide
curve from the straight path, but they
are almost sure to come back to the
right road. Itmay not be until the death
of one of the parents. How often 1t is
that we hear some one say: 20, he was
wild young man, but since his fathers
death he has been different" The fact
is that the fathers coffin, or the moth
ers coffin, is often the altar of repent
ance for the child Oh! that was stu
pendous day the day of fathers burial
1t was not the officiating clergyman
who made the chief impression, nor the
sympathizing mourners: 1t was the ia
Their asleep in the casket The hands
that had toiled for that household so
so long, folded. The brain cooled off
after twenty or forty years of anxiety
about how to put that family in right
position. The lips closed after so many
years of good advice There are more
tears falling in mothers grave than in
fathers grave; but over fathers tomb
think there is kind of awe 1t is at
that marble pillar many young man
has been revolutionized.
O, young man with check flushed with
dissipation how long is it since you
have been out to your fathers grave?
win you not go out this week? Per-
haps the storms of the last few days
have bent the headstone until it leans
far over You had better go out and |
see whether the lettering has been de-
faced. You had better go out and see
whether the gate of the lot is closed. |
You had better go out and see if you
cannot find sermon in the springinR /
grass. O, young man! go out this week I
and see your fathers grave. Religion /
did so much for our Christian ancestry,
are we not ready this morning to be /
willing to receive it into our own house
holds? If we do receive it, let il /
come through the front door, not
through the back door In other words, /
do not let us smuggle it in. There are
a great many families who want to be
religious, but they do not want any.
body outside to know it They would
be mortified to Gcath if you caught
them at family prayers. They would
not sing in the worship for fear their
neighbors would hear them. They
do not have prayers when they have
company.
They do not know much about the
nobility of the western TRAINER