Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1894-04-21
Prayer In the Home.

CduCo OF family Worship. OOue IlL1e
passed, and the mechanic came to the
pastors study and said: ''Do you re-
member that girl? That was my OWL
child She died this morning very sud-
denly. She has gone to God, I have nc
doubt, but if so she has told him what
tell you now-that child never heard q
prayer in her fathers house, never
heard q prayer from her fathers lips.
Oh, if I only had her back again one
day to do my duty" 1t will be 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, I remark, we want religion in
all our home sorrows. There are 10, 900
questions that come up i'll 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-
lions that need delicate treatment.
Tyranny and arbitrary decision have
no place in a household. If the parents
love God, there will be a spirit of self
sacrifice, and spirit Of forgiveness, and
O kindness which will throw its 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 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 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 a 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
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
a better Christian by putting me through
the furnace of tribulation. Besides that,
why should 1 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, and the hawk, and the yultre,
most certainly he will take care OF nae,
his child. -
Sorer troubles come-sickness and
h;vti.4v- T---.a1-nnne a]oan the last slaen.
ALAS, for this bitter dayl God has
dealt very severely with me. I can never
look up. o God, I cannot bear it. !"
Christ comes in, and he says: Hush, y
troubled SOUL It is we'll with the child.
l will strengthen thee in all thy trou-
bles. Ny grace is sufficient. When thou
passeth through the waters, l will be
with thee ?"
When through tho deep waters l call thee
togo.
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
represented here this morning where re-
lieion has been great comfort. There
are in your homes the pictures OF your
departed and things that have no Won
derful value of themselves, but you keep
them previously and carefully because
hands now still once touched them. A
father has gone out of this household, q
mother has gone out of this, daughter
lust 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.
I say it not that you may be forebodlng,
not that you may do the unwise thing
of taking trouble by the forelock, but
that you may be ready. We must go one
by one. There will be partings in all our
households. We must say farewell. We
must die. And yet there are triumphant
strains that drown these tremulous &C.
cents there are anthems that whelm the
dirpe. Heaven is full of the shout OF de-
livered captivcs, and to the great wide
field of human sorrow there come now
the reaper angels with keen sickles tc
harvest the sheaves Of heaven.
Saints will to the end endured
Safely will the Shepherd keep
Those he purchased for his sheep.
90 home this day and ask the blessing
on your monday meal. Tonight set VI
the family altar. Do not wait until you
become a Christian yourself. This day
unite Christ to your household, for the
Bible distinctly says that God Will poul
out his fury upon the families that cal
not upon his name. Open the Bible ant
read a chapter; that will make you
strong. Kneel down and offer the frs
prayer in your household 1t may be
broken petition; 1t may be only God b.
merciful to me, sinner" But God vii
stoop, and spirits will listen, and angel
will chant, Behold, he praysP
Do not retire from this house thu
morning until you have resolved upol
the matter. You will be gone. Twill b
gone Many years will pass, and per
6aps your younger children may forge
almost everything about you, but a
years from now in some Sabbath twi
light your daughter will be sitting witt
the family Bible on her lap reading t.
her children when she will stop, and pc
culiar solemnity will come to her face
l,n oh