Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1894-04-21

There l. contention already among
minister. spirits uf salvation and
fallen angels as Ia who shall have the
mastery of that immortal spirit. Your
children are soon going out i'll the world.
The temptations of life will rush upon
them. The most rigid resolution will
bend i'll the blast Of evil. What will be
the result: II will require all the re-
straints of the 90 pei. all the strength
of a fathers prayer. all the influence of
u Christian mothers example to keep
them.
You say il 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
rs soon is they could take hold of the
fathers hand and walk up Mount Mori-
ah they should be taken to the passover.
Your children arc 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 Won,
and their disembndied spirit rises, and
you STE 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 p:storate he tried To per
suade a young mechanic of the impor
tance 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, l have no
doubt, but il so she has told him what
tell you now-that child never heard u
prayer in her fathers house, never
heard n prayer from her fathers lips.
Oh, if / only had her back again one
day to do my duty" 1t will be a tremen-
dous thing ut the last day if some one
shall say IF US: Il never heard my IA
ther pray. 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 in
the family, the mother another favorite
Al tiiS AAihiiy, anu thSkC nc many 4urS
tions that need delicate treatment.
Tyranny and arbitrary decision have
no place i'll u household. If the parents
love God, there will be spirit Of self
sacrifice, and spirit Of forgiveness, and
kindness which will throw its charm
over the entire household. Christ will
come into that household and will say:
ssHn.I.n.I., l,s.s ~
bitter against them. Wives, see that you
reverence your husbands. Children, obey
your parents i'll the Lord. Servants, be
obedient to your masters. " And the
family will bc like "A garden on sum-
mer morning-the grass plot. and the
flowers, and the vines, and the arch Of
honeysuckle standing i'll the sunlight
glittering with dew.
Religion Ia 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 u 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 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 i'll
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
better Christian by putting me through
the furnace of tribulation. Besides that,
why should l fret anyhow! He who
owneth the cattle Oh 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. II 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. l lean never
look up . God. cannot bear il. "
Christ comes in, and he says: Hush, o
troubled soul. 1t is well with the child
i will strengthen thee i'll all thy trou-
bles. My grace is sufficient. When thou
passeth through the waters. | will he
with thee.
When through the 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
ligion 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, "A
mother has gone out of this, daughter
just after her graduation day. SON just
as he was entering Oh the duties of life.
The Family Altar.
Anu tO DtltT noItitS tTOuDit Will COiiic
say it not that you may be foreboding,
not that you may do the unwise thing
Of taking trouble by the forelock, but
that You may be ready. We must 90 one
by one. There will be partings i'll all our
households. We must say farewell We
must die And yet there are triumphant
strains that drown these trcmulous ac-
L.,
dirge. Heaven is full Of the shout Of de
hvered c;iptives. and to the great wide
field of human sorrow there come now
the reaper angels with keen sickles to
harvest the she:ives 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 your MONDAY meal. Tonight set up
the family altar Do not wait until Won