The Penn's Grove record., 1893-03-24
REV. DR. TAIN Ugh,
The Br oklyn Diyinc's
Suna y Scrmen.
Subject: "Refi2ion at Home.n is
sued at Chicago, ILL

TEXT: "As for me aud my house, iUo ,ciu
se7'ue the o rd.n-Joshus xiv, Is.
Absurd, Joshuai You will have no tine
for family religion; yoI are a military
character, and your time will b. taken up
with affairs connectel with the army; YOU
are a statesman, and your time will be
taken up with public affairs; you are the
Washington, the Wellington. the Mcmahon
OF the lsraelitish host; you will rave a great
many questions TO settle; You will have no
time for religion. But Joshua, with the
same voice with which he commanded the
sun and moon t0 halt and stack arms Of
light on the parade ground OF tn. heavens,
says, las for me aud my house. we will
serve the Lord"
Before We adopt the resolution of this old
soldier we want to be certain it is a wise
resolution. 1t religion is going to put my
piano out of tune. and clog the feet of the
children racing through the hall, and sour
the bread, and put Grape On the doorbell, [
do not want it in my house. | once gave is
to bear Jenny Lind MARBLE. / have never
given a cent to hear any one groan. Will
tins religion spoken of in my text do any
thing for the dining hall, for the nursery,
Tor the ar'or, for the sleeping apartment
1t is a great deal easier to invite a dis
agreeable guest than to get rid OF him. IL
you do not want religion, you had better not
hSh IL W Olit VI dittE tullilnE IL may stay
Il great while. Isaac Watts went to visit
ST. Thomas and Lady Abney at their place
in Theobald and wast to stay a week and staid
th,rty-five years, and If religion once gets
into your household the probability is it VIII
stay there forever.
Now, the question | want to discuss is,
What will religion DO for the household
Question the first: What did it do for your
fathers house il you were brought up in 9
Christian homer
That whole scene has vanished, but il
,omes back to dav. The hour for morning
prayers came. You were invited in. Some
what fidgety, you sat and listened. Your
father made no pretention to rhetorical
reading, and he Just went through the chap
ter 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 to ask pardon for,
and he had the same blessings, for which to
be grateful day after day aud year afteJ
year.
Theprayer was longer than you would
like to have hal it, for the game at ball was
waiting, or the skates were lying under the
shed, or the schOolbookS needed one or two
more looking at the lessons. Your parents,
somewhat rheumatic and stiffened with age,
found it difficult TO rise from their kneeling.
The chair ut which they knelt is gone, the
Bible out of which they read has perhaps
fallen to pieces, the parents arc gone, the
children scattered north, east, south and
west, hut that whole scene flashes upon your
memory to-day.
Was that morning and evening en .rcis. in
your fathers house debasiDg or elevatin2t
Is IL not among the most sacred reminis-
cenc-sf You We're II { as devotional AS some
oil the older members OF your fathers house
who were k~neeling with you at the time, aud
you did not bow your head as closely as they
did, and o looked around and you saw
Just the posture your father AMI mother
ASSUMED while they were kneeling on the
I'he whole scene is So photographed
on YOUR memory that if you were an artist
ymI could draw 1t now just as they knelt.
For how much would you have that scene
obliteratei from your memoryg 1t all comes
back to-day, and you are in the homestead
again. Father is there, mother is there, ali
of you children are there. 1t is the same old
prayer, opening with the same petition,
closing with the sams thanksgiving. The
family prayers of 1910 50 as fresh in your
memory as though they were uttered yester-
day. The tear that starts from your eye
melts all that scene. Gone, is itf Why,
many "a time it has held you steady in the
struggle of life. You once started for a
place, AMI that memory jerkei you back,
and you could not enter.
The broken prayer OF your father has had
more eff ct on you than all you ever read in
Shakespeare aud Milton and Tenuyson and
Dante. Nou have gone over mountains and
across seas. You never for a moment got
of sight OF that domestic altar. Oh, my
friends, is it your opinion this morning that
the 10 or Is minutes substrscted from
each day for family devotion was an econ
omy or a waste of time in your fathers
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. Iffam-
lily prayers did not damage that household,
ther, is no probability that they will damage
our household.
as God deadly sail a child to her father
mo" he repliel why do You ask thstf
.'W ell" she said, when mother was living,
we usel to have prayers. but sincs her death
We haven't had family prayers, AMI | didn't
but that Go I was dead too" A family
that is launched in the morning with family
prayers is well launched. Breakfast over,
The family scatter, some to school, some TO
duties, some to business. Daring
the day there will be Il thousand perils
abroad--perils of the street car, of the scat.
folding. Of the ungoyerned horse, Of the mis-
step. OF the aroused temper, OF multitudin
Gus temptations to do wrong.
Somewhere between 1oclock In the morn
ing and 10 O'Clock at night there may be a
moment when you will he in urgent need OF
God. Besides that, family prayers will bs a
secular advantage. A rather went into the
war to serve his country. His children
stayed and cultivated tue farm. His wife
Oae of the sons said a~fterward,
Father is fighting, and we are digging, and
is praying" "Ab," said so ne one,
''praying and digging and lighting viii
bring US out Of our national troubles.
We may pray in the morning, Give us
this day our daily bread" AMI SIT down in
IL - ..,r-. 80 Ia.th. E,1k 80 xE.Y.
and hard work will give a livelihood to any
family. Family religion paws for both
worlds. Let US have an altar in each one OF
our households. You may not be able to
formulate a prayer. Then there are Philip
Henry's prayers. and there are McDufs
and there are Philip Doddridge's
and there are the Episcopal church
prayers, and there are scores OF books with
supplications just suited to the domestic
.rcie.
oh. saws some man. 81 don't feel con.
petent to lead my household in prayer"
We'll, 1 do not know that it is your duty TO
lead. 1 think perhaps it is sometimes better
for the mother OF the household TO lead. Shs
knows better the wants of the household.
She can read the Scriptures will a more
tender enunoiation. She knows more OF
God. l will put it plainly and say she pravs
better. Oh. these mothers decide almost
everything! Nero's mother was a murder
ess. Lord Byron's mother was naughty and
impious. You might have guessed that FROM
their children.
Walter SCOTS mother was fond OF poetry.
W~ash'ngton's mother was patriotic. Samuel
Budgets mother was a thorough Christian.
St, Bernari's mother was noble minde
So YOU might havs guessed from their Call
dren, Good men always have good mothers,
There may once in ten or twenty years be
an exception 10 the rule, but it is only an
exception. Benjamin Vests mother kissed
him after she had seen his first wonderful
sketch with the pencil. Benjamin West
afterward said, 'rbst kiss u'aie me .
I~ainter."
A young man received a furiolgh to re
turn from the army to his fathers house.
Afterwarl he took the furlongh back to the
officer, saving, II would like to postpone my
visit for two weeks AT the end OF the
two weeks he came and got the furlough.
He was asked why he waited. well, y no
replied, when left home / told my mother
l would he a Christian in the army, and I
was resolved not to go homie until | could
answer her first question" Oh, the almost
omnipotent power OF the motherl But II
both he father and the mother be right
then the children ara almost sure to he
right. The young people may make a wide
curve from ths straight path. but they are
almost rurA to came back 70 haright road.