National Baptist world., 1894-10-05
lar or farthing in our possession that


and, for the sake of defrauding your
creditors, you put your property in
your wife's name. You might
cry until the day of judgment for
pardon, but you would not get it with
out first making restitution. In times
of prosperity it is right, against rainy
day, to assign property to your wife;
but if, in time of perplexity, and for
the sake of defrauding your creditors,
you make such assignment, you become
a culprit before God, and you may as
we'll stop praying until you have made
restitution. Or suppose one man loans
another on bond or mortgage, with the
understanding that the mortgage can
lie quiet for several years, but as soon
as the mortgage is given, commences
foreclosure-the sheriff mounts the
auction block, and the property
is struck down at half price,
and the mortgagee buys it in.
The mortgagee started to get the
property at half price, and is a thief
and robber. Until he makes restitu-
tion there is no mercy for him. Sup
pose you sell goods by sample, and
afterward send to your customer an in
ferior quality of goods You have COM
mitted fraud, and there is no mercy
for you until you have made restitu-
ton. Suppose you sell a man hand
kerchief for silk, telling him it is all
silk, and it is part cotton. No mercy
for you until you have made restitu-
tion. Suppose you sell man horse,
saying he is sound, and he afterward
turns out to be spawned and balky.
No mercy for you until you have made
restitution.
Exodus %: "If man shall steal an
OK or sheep and kill it or sell it, he
shall restore five oxen for an OK and
four sheep for a sheep. If thief be
found breaking up, and be smitten
that he die, there shall no blood be
shed for him. If the sun be risen upon
him, there shall be no blood shed for
him, for he should make full restitu-
ton; if he have nothing, then he shall
be sold for his theft. If the theft be
certainly found in his hand alive,
whether it be OK, or ass, or sheep, he
shall restore double. If man shall
cause field or vineyard to be eaten.
and shall put in his beast, and shall
feed in another mans field, of the best
of his own field and of the best OF his
own vineyard shall he make restitu-
ton"
You say: 81 cannot make restoration.
The parties whom | swindled are gone"
Then | say: ''Take the money up to the
American Bible society and consecrate
it to Cod Zaccheus was wise when
he disgorged his unrighteous gains. and
it was his first step in the right direc-
ton.
The way being clear, Christ walked
into the house of Zaccheus. He becomes
different man; his wife a different
woman; the children are different. Oh!
it makes great change in any house
when Christ comes into it. How many
beautiful homes are represented among
you! There are pictures on the wall;
there is music in the drawing room,
and luxuries in the wardrobe, and
full supply in the pantry. Even
if YOU were half asleep, there is one
word with which / could wake you and
thrill you through and through, and
that word is ''homer' There are also
houses of suffering represented, in
which there are neither pictures nor
wardrobe, nor adornment-Only one
room, and a plain cot, or a bunk in a
corner; yet it is the place where your
loved ones dwell, and your whole
nature tingles with satisfaction when
YOU think of it and call it home.
Though the world may scott at us and
pursue us, and all the day we be tossed
about, at eventide we sail into the
harbor of home. Though there be nc
rest for US in the busy world, and we
60 trudging about, bearing burdens
that we'll nigh crush us, there is a
refuge, and it hath an easy chair in
which we may sit, and lounge where
we NAV lie, and a serenity of peace In
which we may repose, and that refuge
is home. The English soldiers, sitting
on the walls around Sebastopol, one
night heard a company OF musicians
PLAYING Home, Sweet Home" and it
is said that the whole army broke out
in sobs and wailing SO great was their
inconsistencies. God pity the poor,
miserable wretch who has no home!
Now suppose Christ should come in
to your house First the wife and the
mother would feel His presence. Re
lgion almost always begins there. 1t
is easier for women to become Chris
, tians than for us nen. They do not
fight so against God # woman tempt
, ed man originally away from holiness,
now she tempts him back. She may
, not make any fuss about it, but some
, how, everybody in the house knows
that there is change in the wife and
{ mother She chides the children more
, gently. Her face sometimes lights uT
: with an unearthly glow. She goes in
: to some unoccupied room for little
r while, and the husband goes not after
her. nor asks her why she was there
He knows without asking that she
t has been praying. The husband
E notices that her face is brighter
! than on the day when, years ago. they
y stood at the marriage altar, and hi
e knows that Jesus has been putting
d upon her brow a wreath sweeter thar
< the orange blossoms. She puts th'
e children to bed. not satisfied with the
e formal prayer that they once offered
but she fingers now and tells them Q
: Jesus who blessed little children ant
e of the good place where they all hop
; to be at last. And then she kisses