The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-04-17

|
mo, no. said the mother, mot you. not
you. Is there not some good mother here
the officer of the law in mercy and pity took
| the child to carry it away to find home
for it, the mother kissed it lovingly goodby
and said: "Godby, my darling 1T is better
| yOu should neV"r see AGAIN"
However worldly and sinful people are
they want their children good. How are
| you going to have them good? Buy them
! Il few good books? Teach them few eX-
cellent cateChlsmS? Bring them to church?
That is all very We'll but OF little final re-
! SUIT unless you do 1t WIN the grace OF God
in your heart DO you not realize that your
children are started for eternity? Are they
on the fight road? Those little forms that
are now so bright and beautiful, when they
have scattered in the dust there will be an
immortal spirit living on in Il mighty thea
ter OF action and your faithlulnesS your
! neglect now Is deciding that destiny.
There is contention already among minis
teflnS spirits Of salvation and fallen angels
as to who shall have the mastery of that
! immortal spirit. Your children are soon GO
ing out in the world. The temptations of
lie will rush upon them. The most rigid
resolution will bend in the blast of evil.
| What will be the result? 1t VIII require all
| the RESTRAINTS OF the pei, anu the s,ft.is n
! OF fathers prayer, all the influence of a
! CHRISTIAN mothers example, to keep them
! >, on say 1t is too early to tring them
| Too early to bring them to God? Do YOU
| know how early children sHere taken to the
| ancient Passover? The rule was just as
Sooh as they could take hold of the fathers
! hand and walk up Mount Morah they
should be taken to the Passover. Your chill
/ dren are not too young to come to God.
| While you sit here and think of them per
! maps their forms now bright and heautl-
| ful vanish from YOU, and their ,lisemUod!ed
sPrit rises, and you see it after the life of
! virtue or crime is past and the judgment IS
! gone and eternity is here.
Christian minister said that in the first
| year OF his passionate he tried to persuade a
| young mechanic of the Importance of family
worship Some time passed and the me
| cn&nlc came TO the pastors study and said,
DO you remember that girl? That was
| oh Lh II lied
suddenly; she has gone to God, have no
"e,i,.~., out %, 81 n ,a to-. linn wnat
prayer in her fathers house-never heard a
-,.r u.. l",nera lips. on if l
only had her back again one day to do my
duty" 1t viii be a tremendous thing at
the last day if some one shall say of US, Il
I never heard my father pray; / never heard
/ my mother pray.
Again, | remark, we want religion in all
our nome sorrows. There are ten thousand
questions that come up in the best regulated
household that must be settled Perhaps
the father has one favorite in the family,
the mother another faVorte in the family,
and there are many questions that need del
! lcdte treatment.
Tyranny and arbitrary decision have no
place i'll i household If the parents love
! God there will be a spirit OF self-sacrilice,
and IL spirit of forgiveness, and a kindness
which will throw its charm over the entire
household. Christ will come into that
housenold. ana VIII say. "Husbanns. rove
your wives and be not bitter against them;
wives, that you reverence your nus
Lord servants. be obedient to your mas
ters" and the family will be like garden
on a. summer mornnS-the Grassplot, and
the flowers, and the vines, and the arch of
honeysuckle standing in the sunlight gilt
terinS with dew.
But then there will be sorrow that will
come to the household. There are but few
families that escape the stroke of financial
misfortune. Financial misfortune comes to
a house where there is no religion. They
kick against divine allotments; they curse
e.. ~. uut lncun4uG ctittHlty, tney VITA
draw from the world because they cannot
h..a .~ ln2h :" pos g. on IN society as theE
once did, and they fret and they scoWl, ana
they sorrow. and they die. During the past
few years there have been tens of thou
sands of men destroyed by their financial
But misfortune comes to the Christian
household. If religion has full sway IN tnat
home, they StoOp gracefully. They say,
This is right" The rather-say Perhaps
God is going to make me better Christian
by putting me through the furnace of trib-
ulation. Besides that, why should l fret
anyhow? He who owneth the cattle on a
Thousand hl&& anA 'ls OF WDise hama an
lht, ,,d like To correspond M N.tiicl 'se.-De-
-'rfen fifteen and sixteen years o. age
of lie raw "a .ano Cht.nawk and the vuftu' :.
most certainly He will take care of me, His
) FER troubles come-sicilness and death.
Loved ones sleep the last sleep a en-, child is is
this bite day God has dealt very severe
" with me. ! can never lock up. O, Cod
| cannot bear it" Christ comes in and He
with the child [ will strengthen thee in all
thy trouble. My grace is sufficient When
thou passeth through the waters, l will be
with thee
When, through the deep waters I call thee
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For ! will be with thee thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
But there are hundreds of families repre-
scented mere this morning where religion has
f,1pn n
homes the pictures of your departed, and
things that have no wonderful value of
themselves; but YOU keep them previously
/ ana careIuuy because haldS NOW atlh Ulce
touched them. A father has gone out of
IN nouaehoid, mother has gone out Of
this daughter, Just after her graduation
day, a son Just as he VIZ entering on the
duties of life.
| And to other homes trouble will come /
that you may do the unWiSe thing of TAX
ing trouble by the forelock, bat that YOU
/ There viii he pdrtngS in all our households
! We must say farewell. We must die And
I yet there-are triumphant strains that drown
these tremulous accents, there are anthems
/ that Whelm the dirge. Heaven is full of
the shout of delivered captiVeS. and to the
great WIDE field of human sorrow there
! cone now the reaper angels with keen
| sicllles TO harvest the sheaves of heaven.
saints will to the end endure;
Safely will the Shepherd keep
Those he purchased for his sheep.
Go home this day and ask the blessing on
/ Npui HuyH4'tE meal. ! On 2h' set uU the
family altar. Do not wait until YOU become
a CHRISTIAN yourself. Ins day unite Christ
to your household, for the Bible. distinctly
says that God will pour out His fury upon
the families that call not upon His name
open Inc Bibe and read 4 chapter; that
w,d m"F" vou strong. kHeel down and
offer the first prayer in your household. 1t
alay he a broken petition. it may be only
"Cod be merciful to me- sinner" but God
lie will ,,I,., .1,rl,J I,