Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1893-03-31

then the children are almost sure to be
right The young people may make q wide
curve from the straight path. but they are
almost rure TO come back TO the right road.
IL may not be until the death Of one Of the
parents
How often 1t Is that we hear some one
say. 'Oh, he was wild young man, but
since his fathers death he has been differ
entp The fact Is that the fathers coffin or
or the mothers coffin is often the altar Of
repentance for the child. Oh that was
stupendous day, the day OF fathers burial.
IL was not the officiating clergyman who
made the chief impression. nor the sympa-
thizing mourners. It was the father asleep
In the casket
The hands that had toiled for that house.
hold so long, folded. The brain cooled 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, nut
over the fathers tomb think there Is a kind
Of awe. 1t is at that marble pillar many
Young man has been revolutionized.
Oh, young man with cheek flushed with
iisspationl how long is it since you have
been out to your fathers gravei viii you
aot 60 this week. Perhaps the storms of the
asst few days may have bent the headstone
,ut and see whether the lettering has been
lefacsd. You had better 90 out and see
whether the gate of the lot is closed. You
1ad better go and see II you cannot find a
iermon in tho sprtnglng grass. Oh, young
nan, go out this week and see your father
gravel
Religion did 80 much for our Christian an.
.estry, are we not ready this morning to be
willing to receive 1t into our own households
IL we do receive il, let it come through the
front door, not through the back door. In
other words, do not let US smuggle it in.
There are great many families who want
10 be religious, but they do not want any
body OUTSIDE TO know it. They would be
their family prayers They would not sing
in the worship for fear the neighbors would
hear them. They do not have prayers when
they have company
They do not know much about the nobility
OF the western trapper. A traveller going
along was overtaken by night and a storm,
aud he entered cabin. There were firearms
hung up around the cabin. He was alarmed.
He had large amount OF money with him,
but he did not dare to venture ON into the
night in the storm. He did not like tho looks
Of the household. After awhile the father,
the western trapper, came in, gun on
him he was still more affrighted.
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 was out in
the storm and In the night rather
than here" But the swarthy man came up
TO him and saidi ''Sir, We are a rough peo-
pie; we get our living by bunting, and We are
very tired when the night comes; but before
going TO bed we always havea habit OF read
Ing a little out OF the Bible and having
prayers, and think We will have our usual
custom tonight, and IL you don't believe in
that kind Of thing II you will just step out
side the door for little while | will be much
obliged TO you"
OH there are many Christian parents
who have not half the courage of that
western trapper. They do not want their
religion projecting too conspcuously. They
would like 70 have 1t near by 50 as 10 call on
IL in case Of funeral, but as to having 1t
dominant in the household from the lst Of
January, O'Clock a. M. TO the 3lst or De-
cember, 10 o'clock p. m, they do not want
1t. They would rather die AMI have tIeir
families perish with them taan to cry out in
the bold words of the soldier in my text
"As for me and my house, We will serve
the Lord"
There was, in my anc sstral line, an incl
dent 30 strangely impressive that it seems
more like romance than reality. 1t has
sometimes been so inc ccurately put forth that
l now give you the true incident Ny grand
father and grandmother, living at Soner-
vile, n. j., went 70 Baskinridge to witness
revival under the ministry Of the Rev. DR..
Finley. They cInie nome so impressed with
what they ha Soan that they resolved on
the salvation OF their children.
The young people OF the hou'e were to 90
of f1r an evening party. and my grand
mother said:
Now. when you are all ready for the
party, come to my room, for l have some-
thing very important to 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 even
ingg, that am all the time in this room
praying for your salvation. and l shall not
cease praying until you get back" The
young people went to the party, but amid
the loutest hilarities Of the 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
outcry in an adjoining room, and they went
in and founi their daughter imploring the
salvation of the gospel. The daughter told
them that her brothers wsrs at the barn
and at the wagon house under powerful con
viction OF sin. They went to the barn
They found my Uncle Jehiab, who after
ward became minister OF the gospel, cry
ing to God for mercy. They went to the
wagon house. They found their son David.
who afterwArd became my father, implor-
ing Gods pardon and mercy. Bsfore a great
while the whole family were saved, and
David went and told the story to young
ta xvhn ha oaa -hA
result Of the story became a Christian, aud
from her own lips-my mother's-I have re
ceived the incident
The story of that converted household
ran through all the neighborhood 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 200 souls stood up to pro-
fess the faith Of the gospel. My mother,
carrying the memory Of this scene from
early womanhood into further life, in after
years was resolved upon 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-mvsslf, the youngest aud last.
There were 10 of us children. trace the
whole line Of mercy back to that hour when
my Christian grandmother sat In her room
imploring the blessing Of God upon her
children. Nine of her descendants became
preachers Of the gospel. Many Of her de-
scsndants are In heaven, many of them still
In the Christian conflict. Did 1t pay for her
to spend the whole evening in prayer for
her household Ask her before the throne
of God, 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 tenderness, and a
sublimity In family religion!
There are but four or five pictures In tn,
old family Bible that inherited, but Dort
never illustrated Bible as that book Ia Il
lustratsd to my eyes. Through 1t I can se'
into marriages and buriats. joys and sor
rows, meetings and partings, Thanksgiving
days and Christian festivals, cradles Ant
deathbeds. Old old book, speak out and tel
of the sorrows comfortsd and Of the dyini
hours irradiated. Old, old book, the hand
that held thee are ashes, the eyes that per
sued thee Are closed. What a pillar tho,
wouldst make for dying head. sslut
.n +ha Of tha naat xvhaf I f,raae