The Penn's Grove record., 1893-03-24
1t may not be until the death Of one of the

1t was not the officiating clergyman who
made the chief impression. nor the sympa-
thizing mourners. 1t was the father asleep
IN the casket.
The hands that had toilsd for that house
mold so long, folded. The brain coolei of
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 the fathers to nh I think there is a kind
of awe. 1t is at that marble pillar many a
young man has been revolutionizsd.
On. young man with cheek flushed with
Iissipationi how long is 1t since you have
been out to your fathers gravel Will you
not go this week. Perhaps the storms OF the
last few days may have bent the headstone
until it leans far over. You had better go
out and see whether the lettering has been
defacsd. You had better 60 out and see
whether the gate of the lot is closed. You
had better go and see il you cannot find q
sermon in tho springing grass. On, young
man, go out this week and see your fathers
gravel
Religion did so much for our Christian an
:estry, are we not ready this morning to be
willing to received it into our own hou ssholdsi
II we do rec it, let it 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 It. They would BE-
.nv, oiueu ~ ue..u Al You caught them at
their family prayers. They would not sing
in the worship for fear the neighbors woul1
hear them. They do not have prayers when
they have company.
1hey do not know much about the nobility
Of the western trapper. A traveller going
along was overtaken by night and a storm,
and he entered a cabin. There were firearms
hung up around the cabin. He was alarmed.
He had a large amount Of money with him,
but he did not dare to venture IN into the
of the household. After awhile the father,
the western trapper. came in, guu ON
shoulder, and when the traveller looked al
him he was still more a~ffrighted.
After awhile the family were Whispering
together in one corner Of the room, and the
traveller thought to himself: 'Oh! now my
time has come; 1 wish l was out in
the storm and in the night rather
than here" But the swarthy man came up
10 him and said: '.Sir, VT are a rough peo-
pie; We get our living by hunting. an we are
very tired when the night comes; but before
going to bed We always havsa habit of read
ing a little out of the Bible and having
prayers, aud l think we will have our usual
custom tonight, and il you don't believe in
that kind OF thing il you will just step out
side the door for a little while 1 will be much
obliged to you"
Uni there are many christian parents
who have not half the Courage OF that
western trapper. They do not want their
religion projecting too conspicuously. They
would like TO have it near by so AS TO call on
it III case of a funeral, but as to having 1t
dominant in tho household from the LIST of
January, I O'CLOCK a. m, TO the 3lst OF De-
cem0er, 10 o'clock p. m, they do not wan
It. Tney would rather lie AMI have their
families perish with them than to cry out in
the bold words of the soldier in my text,
A for rue and my house, we win serve
the Lord"
There was, In my anc .stral line. an Incl
lent 50 strangely impressive that it seems
more like romance than reality. 1t has
sometimes been so inaccurately put forth that
| now give you the true incident. My grand
father and grandmother, living at Somer-
| vile. N. j., went to Baskinridge to witness
a revival under the ministry Of the Raw. DIR.
Finley. They came nome so impressed with
what they had seen that they resolved on
the salvation of their children.
The young people of the hou 30 We're to go
'ff for an evening party, AMI my grand
mother said:
Nov, WHEN you are all ready for the
Jarty, come TO my room, for 1 have some-
thing very important 10 tell you" All
ready for departure, they came to her room,
aud she said to them, Nov, 1 want you to
remember, while you are away this even
ingg, that 1 am all the time in this room
praying TOR your salvation. and l shall not
cease praying until you get back" The
young people went to the party, but amid
the ioudest hilarities Of tine night they could
not forget that their mother was praying
Tor them. The evening passed, and the night
passed
The next day my grandparents heard an
1utcry in an adjoining room, and they went
in and foun 1 their daughter impioring the
salvation OF the gospel. The daughter told
| tl.r, shat har hrntLara - - IL. H.
and at the wagon house under powerful con-
viction of sin. They went TO the barn.
They found my Uncle Jehiah, who after
ward became a minister OF the gospel, cry-
ng to God tor marcy. They went to sns
wagon house. They found their son David,
who after ird became my father, imptor-
ing Gods pardon and mercy. Before a great
| while the whole family were saved, and
David went and told the story to a young
woman to whom he was afiauced, who as a
result OF the story became a Christian, and
from her own lips-my mother's-l have re-
,eived the incident.
The story of that converted household
ran through all the neighborbood from
family to family until the whole region was
whelmed with religious awakening, and at
the next communion in the village church
At Somerville over go souls stood up to pro-
less the faith Of the gospel My mother,
carrying the memory OF this ecens from
.arly womanhoo1 into further life. in after
years was resolved u pom 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. /
mink that all the member of those families
we're saved-myself, tbs youngest and last.
There we're IL of us children. / trace the
| whole line of mercy back to that hour when
nv Christian grandmother sat in her room
| imploring the blessing OF God upon her
,bildren. Mint Of her descendants became
preachers of the gospel. Many OF her de-
| scendants 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 the throne
| of Col, surrounded by her children. In the
| presence OF the Christian church to. day l
make this record OF ancestral piety. Oh,
| there is a beauty, and a tenderness, aud a
sublimity in family religioni
There are but four or five pictures in the
| ,ld family Bible that [ inherited, but Dore
| never illustrated a Bible as that book is Ii
lusuated to my eyes. Through it | can see
into marriages and burials. joys and sor-
rows, meetings and psrtings. Thanksgiving
DAYS and Christian festivals. cradles anil
| deathbeds. Old old book, speak out aud tell
Of the sorrsws comforted and of tho dying
! hours irraiiated. Old, old book, the hands
that held thee are ashes, the eyes that per.
sued thee are c.osed. What a pillar thou
woul1st make for a dying head. l salute
| dl lhC hieuhCh VI "a PNSs "hch i acSo u
to my heart and when l press It TO my lips.
On, that family Biblel The New festa-
msnt in small type is not worthy of being
called by that name. Have a whole Bible in
large type with the family record of mar
riages and births and deaths What it the
curious should turn over tho leaves to SOS
how Old you aref You are younger now
than you will ever be again. The curior.
will lind put from those with whom you
have played In your childhood how old yos
are. Have a family Bible. II will 60 down
from generation to generation, full OF holy
memories. A hundred years after you are
dead it will be a benediction to those who
come after you. Other books, worn out or
fallen apart, will he flung to the garnet or
the cellar, but this will be inviolste. and 10
will be your protest for centuries against
jniQuity aud In behalf of righteousness
Ga, when we see what family religion did
tor our fathers household, do we not want
1t 10 come into the dining room to break the
bread. into the nursery to bless the yonng,
into the parlor to purify the socialities, into
the library to control the reading. into the