Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-03-24
REV. DR.. YALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine'S Sun.
day Sermon.
subject: "RsiigiOn at Hsme." Issued at
Chicago, ~

HuDteCI9 ReAAh w. -
Chicago. ~
TYR. as for me and my house, iCe ,yM
sS,.re he Lord. Joshua xiv, 10.
Absurd. Joshuai You viii have no time
fo1. family religion; you are military
,,harscter and vour time will b. taken up
with affairs connected with the army; YOU
SIRE statesman, and your time win be
taken nm with public affairs, you are the
WASHINGTON. the Wellington. the McNahon
of the Israalitish host you will have great
many questions to settle; you will have no
time for religion. But Joshua, with the
same vo;ca with which he commanded the
s,n and moon to halt and stack arms of
Iicbt on the parade ground of thu heavens,
saws "As for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord"
Before we adopt the resolution OF this old
soldier we want to be certain 1t is wise
resolution. If religion is going TO put my
niano out of tune and clog the feet of ths
Children racing through the hall, and sour
the bread. aud put Grape on the doorbell,
do not want it in my house. | once gave s.
70 hear Jenny Lind MARBLE. / have never
Given a cent to hear any ono groan. Will
this religion spoken OF in my text do any.
thing for the dining hall, for the nursery,
Tor the rar.or, for the sleeping apartment?
II is a great deal easier to invite a dis
agreeable guest than to get rid OF him. Il
Won do not want religion, you had better not
ask it to come. for after coming 1t may stay
a great while. I-aac Watts went to visit
ST. Thomas and LADY Abney at their place
in Tbeoha!d and was to stay week and staid
th,rty-fve years, and If religion once gets
into your household the probability is it will
sfav there forever.
Now. the question l want to discuss is,
What will religion DO for the household?
Question the first: WHAT did it do for your
fathers house If you were brought up in a
Christian homer
T, at waole scene mas vanished. but it
comes back TO-DAY. The hour for morning
PRAYERS came. You were invited in. Some
what fidgerv you sat ami hstensi. Your
father maize no pretention to rhetorical
reading, and be just went through the caap.
ter in a plain, straightforward way. Then
Won all knelr. II was about the same prayer
morning by morning and night by night,
for he had TIE same sins to ask parton Tor.
and be had the same blessings for which to
be grateful day after day and year after
year.
The PRAYER was longer than you would
like 10 have had it. for tue game at ball was
waiting, or the skates were lying under the
shed. or the schoololoks needed ous or two
more LOOKING at the lessons. YOur pafadSs,
somewhat f'.su.ha.'c end stiRsuad vito age,
found it difficult to rise from their Sueeiny.
The chair at w0ich they knelt is gone. ths
Bible out Of which they read has perhaps
fallen 10 pieces, the parents are gone, the
CHILDREN scattered north, east, south and
west, but that whole scene flashes upon your
memory to-day.
Was that morning and evening ex arcisa in
your fathers house dsbasing or eievatinys
= =. ~nsaNr
cencsss You were n I as devotional as some
OF tue older members OF your fathers mouse
who were Eneeling with you at the time, and
you old not bow your head as oSely as they
did. ami you looked around AMI you saw
lust the posture your father AMI mother
assumed whine they were kueeiing on the
floor. The whole scene is so photographed
on your memory that II you were an artist
You could draw it now just as they knelt
For now mucI woutI you have that scene
obliteratei IRON your memory? IL All comes
back to-day. and you are IN the noneSteat
again. Father is there, mother Is there, all
of YOU children are there. il Is the sans old
PRAYER, open ng WITH the same petition,
Closing with tbs sams thanksgiving. The
family prayers Of 1S4150 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 it? Why,
many time it has neld you steady in the
struggle OF life. You once started for
pisce AMI that memory jerKed you back,
and you could not enter.
The broken prayer OF your father has hal
more eff CT on you tnar all you ever read In
Shakespeare and Milton aud Tennyson AMI
Dante. You have gone over mountains AMI
across seas. You never for moment got
out Of sight o. that domestic altar. On, my
friends. IS it your opinion this morning that
the 10 or Is minutes substracted from
each-Gay for family devotion was an econ
omy or a waste OF time in your fathers
hous .hol 2 ! think some Of us are coming
to the conclusion that the religion which
was in our fathers house would be q very
appropriate religion for our homes. Iffam-
lily prayers did not damage that household,
thsr, IS uc ,~obability that they viii dsmage
our household.
as God dead.' said child to her father.
4'Non ne replied ''Why do you ask thatW
well" she said, when mother was living,
we used 10 have prayers. but sincs her death
we haven't had family prayers, and didn't
know but that Go was des too" A family
that is launched in the morning with family
PRAYERS is well launched. Breakfast over,
the family scatter, some to $4,000, some to
household duties, some to business. During
the day there will be a THOUSAND perils
abroad-perils Of the street. car, OF the SCAT
folding OF the uugovsrnsd horse, OF the mis-
step, OF the aroused temper, OF muitltudin
Gus temptations To do wrong.
Somewhere between 7oclock 10 the morn
Inc AM 10 o'clock at night thsre may be a
mQpavfit wuen you will be in urgent neet OF
Goo. Besides that family prayers will be
secular advantage. a father went into the
war to serve his country. His children
stayed and cultivated the farm. HIS W 10
prayed. One of the sons said afterward,
''FatheT is lighting, and we are digging ana
mother is praying" "An," said some one,
''prsyins and digging and lighting will
bring Us cut OF our national troubles.
We may pray in tia morning. "Give US
this day our daily bread" and SIT down in
idleness and starvs TO deata; but prayer
ana hard work will give livelihood to any
family. Family religion pays for ootn
worlds. Let us nave an altar in eacn one OF
our households. You may not be able TO
formulate a PRAYER. Then there are Philip
Henry's prayers, and there ara McDuns
prayers, anu there are Pnil1p Doadr1oges
prayers, and there are the Episcopal cnurca
prayers. and there are scores OF BOOKS WIN
SUP locations just suited to the domestlc
erce.
"Oh. n saws some man, 81 don't feel com:
petent to cad my household in PRAYER"
We'll &C not knew that IL is your duty 70
lee thinK ssrho-s e s1r,Ss.--.cs -n.sssr
Tor the mother OF the household 10 lead. she
Knows Uetter the wants OF the household.
She can read toe Scriptures vita more
tender enunriation. Sac knows more OF
God. Will put il plainly and say she praYs
better. On. these mothers deciie almost
everSshingi Nero's mother was murier.
ess. lord Byron's mother was hau Snty aao
lmpious. You might have guessed that iroI
their chill iren.
Water sjcott's mother was fond OF poetry.
Washin1ton's mother was patriotic. ga nuei
Bu5xet's mother was q thorough Cnrisclan.
st. Bsrnara's mo5ner was noble minded.
So YOU might have guessed iron their cali
dren. Good men always have good motnera
There NAV once IN ten or twenty years %
an execution to toe rule, but IL IS only an
exception. Benjamin Vests IN th-r kissed
him after she hsd seen his first won ieriui
sketch with the pencil. Benjamin west
afterward said, SHAT kiss maze me
painter" -
A yOup9 man received furio igh 70 re"
tnrn from the army to MS fathers house
Afterward he took the Through back TO the
officer SAYING 81 would like TO postpone my
visit for two wees" At the end OF the
two weeks he came ana got toe lu ..ls'
he was asket why he waited Ell, ne
replied. .'When left home told my mother
wouli he a Christian in the army. AMI |
was resolved not To 90 homa until could
answer her FIRST question" Oh, the aImos!
omnipotept mower o. the rnotherl But II
both the father and the mother be rlghu,