Connecticut western news., 1895-04-04

pulses fail The heart stops. The soul flies Dead, and outside the arkl
 I have no doubt that derision kept many people out of the ark Tine world laughed to see man go in and said: "Here is a man starting for the ark. Why, there will be no deluge. If there is one, that miserable ship will not weather it. Aha, going into the ark! We'll. that is too good 10 keep. Here, fellows, have you heard the news? This man is going into the arkn' Under this artillery of scorn the mans good resolu- tion perished.
 And so there are hundreds kept ont by the fear of derision. The young man asks himself: What would they say at the store tomorrow morning if l should become Christian? When 1 go down to the clubhouse, they will shout, Here comes that new Christian. Suppose you will not have anything to do with us now. Suppose you are praying now. Get down on your knees, and let us hear you pray. Come, now, give us touch. Will not do it, eh? Pretty Christian, you areI'" Is it not the fear of being laugh ed at that keeps you out of the Kingdom of God? Which of these soorners will help you at the last? When you lie down on dying pillow, which of them will be there? In the day of eternity will they bail you out?
 An Invitation.
 My friends aud 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" " Boom in the ark l Room in the ark!
 But do not come alone. The text in- vites you to bring your family. It says, ''Thou and thy sons and thy wife" You cannot drive them in. If Noah had tried to drive the pigeons ard the doves into the ark, he would only have scattered them. Some parents are not wise about these things. They make iron rules about Sabbaths, and they force the cate- chism down the throat as they would hold the child's nose and force down a dose of rhubarb and calomel. You can not drive your children into the ark. You can draw your children to Christ, 
 was lifted not to drive, but to draw. ''If be lifted up, will draw all men unto me-. AS the sun draws up the drops of the morning dew so the sun of righteousn ess exhales the tears of re- pentance.
 Be sure that you bring your husband and wife with you. How would Noah have felt if, when he hear the rain pat tering on the roof of the ark, he knew that his wife was outside in the storm? No; she went with him. And yet some of you are on the ship outward bound" for heaven. But your companion is un- sheltered. 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 the child's grave, and the dark mouth of the tomb swallowed up thousand hopes, but the ring dropped not into the open grave. Days of poverty came, and the hand did many hard days work, but the rubbing of the work against the ring only made it shine brighter. Shall that ring ever be lost? Will the iron clang of the sepulcher gate crush it forever? pray God that you who have been mar ried on earth may be togsther in heay- en. Oh, by the quiet bliss of your earth ly home, by the babe's cradle, by all the vows of that day when you started life together, 1 beg you to see t) it that you both get into the ark.
 For the Whole Family.
 Come in, and bring your wife or your husband with you-no5 by fretting about religion or dingdonging them about re- ligion, but by consistent 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 com mend your souls to him who has watch ed you all these years, and before you rise there will be a fluttering of wings over your head, angel crying to angel, Behold, they prayr'
 But this does not include all your family. Bring the children too. God bless the dear children! What would our homes be without them? We may have done much for them. They have done more for us. What salve for a wounded heart there is in the soft palm of a child's hand Did harp or flute ev- CT have such music as there is in a 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 in- fancy go straight into glory, but you are expecting your children to grow up in this world. Is 1t not question, then, that rings through all the corridors aud windings and heights and depths of your toul, what is to become of your sons and daughters for time and for eternity? "Oh," you say, 'I mean to see that they have good manners. " Very we'll. ''I mean to dress them well, if I have myself to go shabby" Ve-. good. II shall give them an education; shall leave them a fortune. Very we'll. But is that all? 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 yourselfl If Noah had staid out, do you not SUD- pose 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 chil- dren will reject him.
 The Family Altar.
 An account was taken of the religious condition of families in a certain dis triot. In the families of pious parents two-thirds of the children were Chris tians. In tho families where the parents were ungodly only one-twelfth of the children were Christians. Which way will you take your children? Out into the deluge or into the ark? Have you