The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1894-04-21
Et4nr the to church? That is all

Are lNey Oh Tic liSAU lO""' AHo7N
little forms that are now 50 brl 9ht
and beautiful, when they have seat
tered in the dust there will be an i'm
mortal spirit living on in mighty
theater of action, and your faithful
ness or your neglect now is deciding
that destiny.
There is contention already among
ministering spirits of salvation and
fallen angels as to who shall have the
mastery of that immortal spirit. Your
children are soon going out in the
world The temptations Of life will
rush upon them The most rigid reSo-
luton will bend in the blast of evil
! What will be the result? 1t will re-
ouire all the restraints Of the gospel,
| all the strength Of a fathers prayer,
all the influence of a Christian mothers
example, 80 keep them.
You say if 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 Moriah 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.
! A Christian minister said that in the
first year Of his passionate he tried to
persuade a Young mechanic of the i'm
portance of family worship. Some
time passed, and the mechanic came to
| the pastors study and said: DO you
remember that girl? That was my
! own child; she died this morning very
suddenly; she has gone to God, have
| no doubt, but if so, she has told him
what tell you now; that child never
heard prayer in her fathers house
never heard prayer from her father 5
| lips Oh. if only had her back again
one day to do my duty" 1t will be a
tremendous thing at the last day if
some one shall say of us, Il never
heard my father pray; l never heard
my mother pray"
Again | remark we want religion in
all our home sorrows There are ten
! thousand questions that come up in
the best regulated household that must
be settled. Perhaps the fatEer has
one favOrite in the family, the mother
another favorite in the family, and
there are many questions that need
delicate treatment
Tyranny and arbitrary decision have
no place in a household. If the par
ents love Cod there will be a spirit Of
self sacrifice, and a spirit Of forgive
ness, and a 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
the grass plot, and the flowers, and
the vines, and the arch ofhoneysuckle
standing in the sunlight glittering
with dew.
But then there will be sorrows that
will come to the household There
are but few families that escape the
stroke of financial misfortune Finan-
cial misfortune comes to a house
where there is no religion They kick
against divine allotments; they curse
God for the incoming calamity, they
withdraw from the world because they
can not hold as high position in soci-
ETY. 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 dis
tresses.
When queen died, her three sons
brought an Offering to the grave One
son brought gold another brought
silver but the third son came and
stood over the grave and opened one
of his veins and let the blood drop
upon his mothers tomb, and all who
saw it said it was the greatest demon
stration of affection. My friends,
what is the grandest gift we can bring
to the sepulchers Of Christian ances,
try? 1t is life all consecrated to the
} God who made us and the Christ who
redeemed US. | can not but believe
: that there are hundreds of parents in
this house who have resolved to do their
. whole duty, and that at this moment
| they are passing into a better life; and
having seen the grace of the gospel in
this place to-day, you are now fully
ready to return to your own house, and
| show what great things God has done
unto you.
> Though parents may in covenant be,
And have their heaven in view;
, They are not happy till they see
Their children happy too.
May the Lord God of Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers
. be our God and the God of our children
forever