Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-04-18
your Neglect hoW Is ae9ldins thar de..

Iailen angels as 10 VINO shall have the
mastery of that immortal spirit. Youl
children ar6 soon going out in the world.
The temptations of life will rush upon
them. The most rigid resolution will
bend in the blast of evil. What will bt
the result? 1t will require all the re.
straints of the gospel, all the strength
of fathers prayer, all the influence OF
D Christian mothers example to keeI
I .cn.
You say it is too early to bring them.
Zoo early to bring them to God? Do you
know how early children were taken tc
the ancient passover? The rule was just
as soon as they could take hold of the
fathers hand and walk up Mount Mori-
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 disembOdied spirit rises, and
you see it after the life of virtue OF
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 to per-
suade a young mechanic of the impor-
tance of family worship. Some time
passed, and the mechanic came to the
PASTORS study and said: "Do you re-
member that girl? That was my own
child She died this morning very sud
denly. She has gone to God, have no
doubt, but if so she has told him what l
tell you now-that child never heard a
prayer i'll her fathers house, never
heard a prayer from her fathers lips.
Oh, if l only had her back again one
day to do my dutyl' 1t will be a tremen-
dous thing at the last day if some one
shall say Of us: II 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, and
kindness which will throw it's charm
over the entire household. Christ will
come into that household and will say:
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
obedient to your masters" And the
family will be like garden ON a sum-
mer morning-the grass plot, and the
flowers, and the vines, and the arch of
honeysuckle standing in the sunlight
glittering with dew.
Religion In Misfortune.
But then there will be sorrows that
will come to the household. There are
but few families 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, and
they sorrow, and they die. During the
past few years there have been tens Of
thousands of men destroyed by their
distresses.
But misfortune comes to the Christian
household. If religion has full sway in
that home, they stoop gracefully. They
say, ''This is right. 7" The father says:
Perhaps money was getting to be my
idol. Perhaps God is going to make me
a 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 ont of whose hand all the fowls Of
heaven peck their. food is my Father.
He clotheth the lilies Of the field. He
will olothe me- If he takes care of the
raven, and tine hawk, and the vulture,
most certainly he will take care of me,
mis- child"
Sorer troubles come-sickness and
leath. Loved ones sleep the last sleep.
A child is buried out of sight You say:
Alas, for this bitter day God has
lealt very severely with me. can never
ook up. o God, / cannot bear it, !"
Christ comes in, and he says: Hush, o |
SOUL 1t is we'll with the child. |
will strengthen thee in all thy trot- |
lies. My grace is sufficient. When thou
,asseth through the waters. will be
With thee. "
When through the deep waters call thee
tOgo,
he rivers Of sorrow shall not overflow,
'or will be with thee thy troubles 10 bless,
Ind sanctify 10 thee thy deepest distress.
But there are hundreds of families
represented .4ere this morning where re-
igiOn has been a great comfort. There
re in your homes the pictures of your
eparted and things that have no won
erful value Of themselves, but you keep
hem previously and carefully because
ands now still once touched them. A
ather has gone out Of this household,
mother has gone ont Of this, daughter
ust after her graduation day, a son just
s he was entering ON the duties Of life.
The Family Altar.
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