The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-04-10

dying pillow, which of them will be
there: In the day of eternity will they
bail you out:
Ny friends and neighbors, come in
right away. Come in through Christ,
the wide door-the door that swings
out toward you. Come in and be
saved. Come and be happy. The
Spirit and the Bride say, Come.
Room in the ark. Room in the ark.
But do not come alone The text
invites you to bring your family. 1t
says. Thou and thy sons and thy
wife. You cannot drive them in. If
Noah had tried to drive the pigeons
and the doves into the ark, he would
only have scattered them. Some pa
rents are not wise about these things.
| They make iron rules about Sabbaths,
and they force the catechism down
the throat as they would hold the
child's nose and force down dose of
rhubarb or calomel You cannot
drive your children into the ark. You
can draw your children to Christ, but
you cannot coerce them. The cross
was lifted not to drive. but to draw.
IF I be lifted up, I will draw all men
unto me" AS the sun draws up the
drops of morning dew so the son of
righteousness eXhales the tears of
repentance.
Be sure that you bring your hus-
band and wife with you. How would
Noah have felt if when he heard the
rain pattering on the roof of the ark
he knew that his wife was outside IN
the storm. No she went in with him.
And vet some of you are on the ship
outward bound for heaven, but
Your companion is unsheltered. You
remember the day when the marriage
ring was set. Nothing has yet been
able to break it. Sickness came and
the finger shrank, but the ring staid
on. The twain stood alone above
child's grave, and the dark mouth OF
the tomb swallowed up a thousand
hopes, but the ring dropped not into
the open grave. Days, of poverty
came, aud the hand did many a hard
days work, but the rubbing of the
work against the ring only made it
shine brighter. Shall that ring ever
be lost! VIII the iron clang of the
sepulchre gate crush it forever? |
pray God that you have been married
on earth may be together in heaven.
Oh, by the quiet bliss of your heaven
ly home, by the babes cradle, by all
the vows of that DAY when you started
life together, I beg you to see to 1t
that you both get into the ark.
Come in and bring your wife or
your husband with you-not by fret
ting about religion or dingdonging
them about religion, but by a consist
ent life and by a compelling prayer
that shall bring the throne of God
down into your room. Go home, and
take up the Bible, and read it together,
and then kneel down and commend
your souls to him who has watched
you all these years. and before you
rise there will be futtering of wings
over your head, angel crying to an
gel, Behold they pray"
But this does not include all your
family. Bring the children too. God
bless the dear children. What would
our homes be without them?-Ne may
have done much for them. They have
done morefor us. What salve for a
wounded heart there is in the soft
palm of child's hand. Did harp or
flute ever have such music as there is
in child's good night" From our
coarse, rough life the angels of God
are often driven back, But who comes
into the nursery without feeling that
angels are lowering around? They
who die in infantcy 60 straight into
glory, but you are expecting your
children to grow up in this world.
Is it not question, then, that rings
through all the corridors and wind
ings and heights and depths of your
souls. what is to become of your sons
and daughters for time and for eter-
nity2 "Oh," you say, II mean. to see
that they have good manners" Very
well. II mean to dress them well, if
I have myself to so shabby" Very
good. Il shall give them an educa-
ton. shall leave them a fortune. "
Very well. But is that all2 Don't
you mean to take them into the ark?
Don't you know that the storm is
coming and that out of Christ there is
no safety, no pardon, no hope, no
heaven?
How to get them in? Go in your
self. If Noah had staid out do you
not suppose that his sons, Shem, Ham
and Japheth. would have staid out?
Your sons and daughters will be apt
to do just as you do. Reject Christ
yourself, and the probability is that
your children will reject him.
An account was taken Of the rell-
gious condition of families in GER
tain district. In the families of pious
parents two-thirds of the children
were Christians. In the families
where the parents were ungodly only
one twelfth of the children were Chris
tians. Which way will you take your
children? Out into the deluge or into
the ark? Have you ever made one
earnest prayer for their immortal
souls? What will you say in the
judgment when God asks: Where is
George or Henry or Frank or Mary
or Anna: Where are those precious
souls whose interests committed lntO
your hands!'
A dying son said to his father,
Father, you gave me an education,
and good manners, and everything
that the world could do for me; but,
father, you never told me how to die,
and now my soul is going out in the
darkness.
Oh, ye who have taught your child
ren how to live, have you also taught
them how to die2 Life here is not so
important as the great hereafter. It is
not so much the few furlongs this side
of the grave as it is the unending leag-
ues beyond. O eternity, eternity. Thy
locks white with the ages! Thy voice
announcing stupendous destiny Thy
arms reaching across all the past and
all the future. O eternity, eternity.