The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-04-20
your neglect now is deciding that des-

Iallen angels as TO VINO Shall nave the
mastery of that immortal spirit. You
children are 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 be
the result? 1t will require all the re-
straints of the gospel, all the strength
of fathers prayer, all the influence OF
a Christian mothers example to keep
them.
You say it is too early to bring them.
Too early to bring them to God? Do you
know how early children were taken to
the ancient passover? The rule was just
as soon as they could take hold of the
fathers hand and walk up Mount Mort
alb 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 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 to per-
suade young mechanic of the impor-
lance 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
prayer in her fathers house, never
heard prayer from her fathers lips.
Oh, if l only had her back again one
day to do my dutyp' 1t will be tremen-
dous thing at the last day if some one
shall say Of us: 81 never heard my IA
Their pray. 1 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 i'll
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 i'll household. If the parents
love God, there will be a spirit of self |
sacrifice, and spirit of forgiveness, and |
a 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 a sum-
ner morning-the grass plot and the
lowers, and the vines and the arch of
standing in the sunlight
Offering with dew.
Religion In Misfortune.
But then there will be SORROWS that
viii come to the household. There are
'ut few families that escape the stroke
If financial misfortune Financial mis-
ortune comes to house where there is
10 religion. They kick against divine
lllotments they curse God for the in
coming calamity, they withdraw from
he world because they cannot hold as
ugh position in society as they once ;
i'd, and they fret, and they scowl, and
hey sorrow, and they die. During the
ast few years there have been tens of
thousands of men destroyed by their |
nancial distresses
But misfortune comes to the Christian
ousehold. If religion has full sway in
hat home, they stoop gracefully. They
ay, "This is right" The father says: I
Perhaps money was getting to be my
lol. Perhaps God is going to make me !
better Christian by putting me through
ne furnace of tribulation. Besides that,
Thy should fret anyhow? He who
wneth the cattle ON thousand hills 4
nd out of whose hand all the fowls of
eaven peck their food is my Father.
-e clotheth the lilies of the field. He
i'll clothe me. If he takes care of the +
wen, and the hawk, and the vulture, :
lost certainly he will take care of me, !!
is child
Sorer troubles come-sickness and
cath. Loved ones sleep the last sleep.
child is buried out of sight. You say:
Alas, for this bitter day God has
,alt very severely with me. 1 can never
ok up o God, l cannot bear it"
hrist comes in, and he says: Hush, o
Dubbed soul! 1t is well with the child.
will strengthen thee in all thy trou-
es. My grace is sufficient. When thou
Isseth through the waters, 1 will be
it'll thee -
hen through the deep waters 1 call thee
togo,
e rivers of sorrow shall not overflow,
r will be with thee thy troubles to bless.
I'd sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
But there are hundreds of families
presented here this morning where re-
non has been great comfort There
3 in your homes the pictures of your
parted and things that have no won
rful value of themselves, but you keep
EN- previously and carefully because
nds now still once touched them. A
her has gone out of this household, a
'ther has gone out of this, a daughter
1t after her graduation day, a son Just
he was entering ON the duties of life.
The Family Altar.
And to other homes trouble will come.