Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1893-03-23

scendanrs are m heaven, manyor tnefs ssliil
IN the Christian conflict. Did Il pay for her
to spend the whole evening In prayer for
her househoIdf Ask her before the throne
Of God surrounded by her children. In the
presence Of the Christian church today
make this record OF ancestral piety. Oh,
there is a beauty and tenderness and a
sublimity in family religionI
There are but four or five pictures in the
old family Bible that | inherited, but Dore
never illustrated Bible as that book is
illustrated to my eyes. Through it can
see into marriages and burials, joys and
sorrows, meetings and partings, Thanks
giving days and Christmas festivals, era
dies and deathbeds. Old, old book speak
out and tell Of the sorrows comforted and
of the dying hours irradiated. Old, Oh
bookl the hands that held thee are ashes,
the eyes that perused thee are closed.
What pillow thou wouldst make for a
dying headI salute all the memories Of
the past when press it to my heart and
when press it to my lips
THE OLD FAMILY BIBLE.
Oh, that family Biblei The New Testa-
ment in small type is not worthy Of being
called by that name. Have whole Bible
in large type, with the family record Of
marriages and births and deaths. What il
the curious should turn over the leaves to
see how old you arei You are youngernow
than you will ever be again. The curious
will find out from those with whom you
have played II your childhood how old you
are. Have family Bible. twill down
from generation to generation full OF holy
memories. A hundred years after you arc
dead Il will lie benediction to those who
come after you. Other books worn out OF
fallen anart will be faug 70 tne yarIs:.t A.. oy
the ce,,:..s:, but this will be inviolate, and II
will be your protest for centuries against in
iquity and in behalf Of righteousness.
Oh, when we see what family religion
did for our fathers household, do we not
want it to come into the dining room tc
break the bread, into the nursery to bless
the young, into the parlor to purify the
socialities, into the library to control the
reading, into the bedroom to hallow the
slumber into the hall to watch our going
out and our coming in? Aye, there are
hundreds of voices in this house ready :.
cry out: "Yesl Yes! AS for me and naJ
house, we will serve the Lord"
There are two arms to this subject. The
one arm puts its hand on all parents. II
says to them: Don't interfere with your
childrens welfare. Don't interfere with
their eterpa. happiness. Don't you by any
thing you do put out your foot and trip
them into Iuin. Start them under the shel.
ter, the insurance, the everlasting help Of
Christian parentage. Catechisms will not
save them, though catechisms are good
The rod will L. OF save them, though the rod
may be necessary. Lessons Of virtue will
not save them, though they are very i'm
portant. Becoming u through and through
up and down, out and out Christian your
self will make them Christians"
The other arm of this subject puts it.
hand upon those who had pious bringing
up, but who as yet have disappointed the
expectations excited in regard to them.
said that children brought up in Christian
households, though they might make q
wide curve, were very apt to come back tc
the straight path. Have you not beer
curving out long enough, and is it moi
most time for you to begin to curve ins
"Oh," you say, 'they were too rigid.
Well now, my brother, think you have {
pretty good character considering what you
say your parents were. Do not boast toe
much about the style in which your parent.
brought you up. Might it not be possible
that you would be an exception to the gen
eral rule laid down, and that you might
spend your eternity in different worlt
from that in which your parents are spend
| ing theirse
CHRISTIAN soLICITUDE.
feel anxious about you; you feel anx
! ious about yourself. Oh, cross over intt
the right pathl If your parents prayed fol
you twice dey-each of them twice da!
for 90 years-that would make %, 900 pray
| ers for you. Think of theml
BY the memory of the cradle in which
| your childhood was rocked with the foo
| that long ago ceased to move; by the crib II
| which your own children slumher night by
night under Gods protecting care; by tht
| two graves in which sleep those two oil,
hearts that beat with love SO long for YOU
welfare, and by the two graves in which
| you, now the living father and mother, will
find your last repose, urge you to the dis
charge of your duty.
Though parents may in covenant be
And have their heaven in view,
They are not happy till they see
Their children happy too.
Oh, you departed Christian ancestr.
fathers and mothers in glory, bend from th
skies today and give new emphasis to wha
you told us on earth with many tears an,
anxieties! Keep place for us by you
blissful side, for today, in the presence 0
earth and heaven and hell, and by the hel
of the cross, and amid overwhelming an,
gracious memories, we resolve, each one 70
himself, "As for me and my house, we vii
serve the Lord"