The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-04-25

them. The most rlg1d resolution Will
bend in the blast Of evil. What will be
the result? 1t will require all q re-
~straints of the gospel, all the strength
Of a 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 oring 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 passionate he tried topper
suade a young mechanic Of the lmpor-
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 " n
child. She died this morning very sud
denly. She has gone to God, 1 have no
doubt, but if so she has told him what l
tell YOU now-that child never heard a
a Y in her fathers house, never
heard a prayer from her fathers lips.
Oh, if I only had her back again Il
day to do my duty!" It will be a tremen-
dous thing at the last day if some Il
shall say of Us: 81 never heard my IA
Their pray. I never heard my mother
pray"
Again, 7 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 cues
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 a 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 a garden on a sum-
mer morning-the grass plot, and the
flowers, and the vines, and the arch OF
honeysucke standing in the sunlight
glittering with dew.
Religion In Misfortune.
But then there will be sorrow that
vii! come to the household. There are
but few families that escape the stroke
of financial misfortune. Financial mis-
fortune comes to d 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 a 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:
.sPerhaps 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 I 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 vulture,
most certainly he will take care Of me,
his child"
Sorer troubles come-sickness and
death. Loved ones sleep the last sleep.
A child is buried out Of sight. You say:
''Alas, for this bitter day! God has
dealt very severely with me. lean V
look up. O God, I cannot bear it."
Christ comes in, and he says: "Hush, 0
troubled soul! It is we'll with the child.
I will strengthen thee i'll all thy trou-
bles. My grace is sufficient. When thou
passeth through the waters, I will be
with thee"
When through the deep waters l call thee
TO 60,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow,
For I 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-
ligion has been a 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, a
mother has gone out Of this, a daughter