The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-04-20
your neglect nom Is deciding that des-

your neglect nom is deciding that Dies
tiny.
There is contention already among
ministoring spirits of salvation end
fallen angels ~ to WHO shall lave tho
na, tefy Of that immortal spht. Your
Chi fet ARC soa,i going ent IL 4 o world.
Tho temptations OF life viii rash apoi,
them. The most rigid resolution will
bend in the blast of evil. What will he
the rerult? 1t viii require all the re-
straints of the gospel, all the strength
Of fathers prayer, all the influence OF
n Christian mothers example to keep
thehh
You say 1t Is too early to bring them
Too early to bring them to God? Do you
know how early children We're taken I'd
the ancient passover? The rule was just
as soon as they could take hold Of the
fathers hand and walk up Mount Mort
ah they should be taken to the passover.
Your children are not too young to come
to God. While you sit here and think
of them perhaps their forms now so
bright and beautiful vanish from you,
and their disembodicd spirit rises, and
you see it after the life of virtue or
crime is past, and the Judgment is gone,
and eternity is here.
Prayer In the Home.
A Christian minister said that in the
first year of his pastorate he tried tot er-
suade young mechanic of tho ml or.
lance of family worship. Som, tine
passed, and the mechanic came to The
pastors study and said: ''Do you 1o.
member that girl? That was my owa
child. Sho died this morning very sud-
denly. Sho has gone to God, have no
doubt, but il SO she has told him what
tell you now-that child never heard q
prayer in her fathers house, never
heard a prayer from her fathers lips,
Oh, if l only had her back again enc
day to do my dutyV" 1t will be Il trench
dous thing at the last day if some one
shall say CT Us: Il never heard my ia
ther pray. | never heard my mother
pray"
Again. remark, we want religion in
all our home sorrows. There are 10, 900
questions that come up in the best regu
lated household that must be settled.
Perhaps the father has one favorite in
the family, the mother another favorite
in the family, and there are many ques-
tions that need delicate treatment
Tyranny and arbitrary decision have
no place in household. If the parents
love God, there will be spirit of self
sacrifice, and spirit of forgiveness, aud
a Kindness which will throw it's charm
over the entire household. Christ will
como i,ito that household and will sayi
Husbands, love your wives and be not
bitter against them. Wives see that you
reverence your husbands. Children, obey
your parents in the Lord Servants, be
obcdient to your masters. And the
family will be like a garden on a sum-
mer morning-the grass plot, and the
flowers, and the vines, and the arch of
honcysuckle standing in the sunlight
glittering wit, dew.
Religion In Misfortune.
But then there will be sorrows that
will como to the household. There ere
but few fllailies that escape the stroke
of financial misfortune Financial mis-
fortune comes to a house where there is
no religion. They kick against divine
allotments they curse God for the in
coming calamity, they withdraw from
the world because they cannot hold as
high position in society as they once
did, and they fret, and they scowl, end
they sorrow, and they die. During the
past few years there have been tens Of
thousands of men destroyed by their
financial distresses.
But misfortune comes to the Christian
household. If religion has full sway in
that home, they stoop gracefully. They
say, "This is right The father says:
Perhaps money was getting to be my
idol. Perhaps God is going to make me
better Christian by putting me through
the furnace of tribulation. Besides that,
why should | fret anyhow? He who
owneth the cattle on a thousand hills
and out Of whose hand all the fowls of
heaven peck their food is my Father
He clotheth the lilies Of the field. He
will clothe me. If he takes care Of the
raven, ard the hawk, and the vulture,
most certainly he will take care of mc,
his child. "
Sorer troubles come-siclncss and
death. Loved ones sleep tho last sleep.
A child is buried out of sight. You say:
Alas, for t.lis bitter day! God has
dealt very severely with me. ] can never
look up. o God, l cannot bear it.
Christ comes in, and he says: Hush, O
troubled eoul! 1t is well with the child
l VIII strengthen thee il I'll thy trou
bles. Ny grace is sufficient. When thou
passeth through the waters, l will be
with thee. :"
When through the deep waters ! call thee
toga,
The rivers of sorrow shall not ovt rflow,
For l will be with thee thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify TO thee thy deepest distress.
But there are hundreds Of families
represented here this morning where re-
ligion has been great comfort. There
are in your homes the pict,lrls of your
departed and things that have no won
derful value OF themselves but you keep
them previously aud carefully because
hands now still once touched them. A
father has gone out Of this household, a
mother has gone ont of this, daughter
just after her graduation day, a son just
as he was entering on the duties Of life.
The Family Altar.
And to other homes trouble will come
say it not that you may be foreboding,
not that you may dc the unwise thing
Of taking trouble by Ae foreloclS, bnt
that You may be ready. We must go one
by one. There will be partings in all cur
households We must say farewell We
must die. And yet there arc triumphant
strains that drown these trcmulous ac-
cents, there are anthems that whelr, the