Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-04-06
but Won capnot coerce them Tho cross

but you cannot coerce them. The cross
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
righteousness exhales the tears Of re-
pentance.
Be sure that you bring your husband
and wife with You. How would Noah
have felt if. when no heard the rain pat
tering on the roof of tho 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 I'M
sheltered. You remember the day when
the marriage ring was set. Nothing has
yet been able 10 break it. Sickness came.
and tho 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 tho
hand did many hard days work, but
the rubbing Of the work against the ring
only made 10 shine brighter. Shall that
ring ever De 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 heav
en-. Oh, by the quiet bliss of your earth
~ home, by the babes cradle, by all
the vows Of that day when you started
life together. beg you to see to it that
you both get into the ark.
For the whole Family.
Come in. and bring your wife or your
husband with you-not by fretting about
religion or dingdonging them about re-
ligion. but by consistent life and by
compelling prayer that shall bring tho
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 fiuttering of wings
over your head. angel crying TO angel,
Behold. they prayl'
But this does not include all your
family. Bring the children too God
bless the dear childrenl What would
our homes be without them? We may
have done much for them. They have
done moro for us. What salve for
wounded heart there is in the soft palm
Of child's hand! Did harp or flute ev-
er 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 tho
nursery without feeling that angels are
lowering around. They who die in in
fancy go straight into glory. but you
arc expecting yonr children to grow up
in this world. Is it not question. then,
that rings through all the corridors and
windings and heights and depths of your
soul. what is TO become of your SONS and
daughters for time and for eternity?
"Oh," you say, Il mean to see that
they have good manners Very we'll
II mean to dress them well, if / have
myself to go shabby" Very good. II
shall give them an education; shall
leave them fortune. Very well. 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 YOURSELF
II Noah had staid out. do you not sup
pose that his sons-Shcm, Ham and
Japheth-would have staid ont! Your
sons and daughters will DO apt to do
just as you do. Reject Christ yourself.
and the probability is that your chill
dren will reject him.
The Family Altar.
An account was taken of tho religious
condition Of families in certain dis
trict. In the families Of pious parents
two-thirds Of the children were Chris.
tians In the families where the parents
were ungodly only one-twelfth of the
children were Christians. Which way
will you take your children? Out into
tho 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 l committed into your
hands?"
A dying son said to his father, "Fa-
Their. 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 children
how to live, have you also taught them
how to die? Life hero is not so impor-
tant as tho great hereafter. Il is not so
much the few furlongs this side of the
grave rs it is the unending leagues be-
yond. o eternity. eternityi Thy locks
white with the ages, thy voice announc-
ing stupendous destiny. thy arms reach
ing across all the past and all tho futurel
o eternity, eternity
Go home and erect n family altar.
You may break down in your prayer.
But never mind. God will take what
you mean, whether you express it intel
lightly or not Bring all your house in
to the ark. Is there one son whom you
have given up? Is he so dissipated that
you have stopped counseling and pray
ing? Give him up? How dare you give
him up? Did God ever give you up:
While you have a single articulation Of
speech left, cease not to pray for the re-
turn of that prodigal. He may even now
De standing ON the beach at Hongkong
or Madras. meditating a return to his
fathers house. Give him up? Never
give him upl Has God promised TO hear
thy prayer only to mock thee? Ii is not
too late.
The Open Door.
In st. Paul's, London, there is whis-
pering gallery. A voice uttered most
feebly ut one side Of the gallery is heard
distinctly at the opposite side, great
distance off. So every word OF earnest
prayer goes all around the earth and
makes heaven a whispering gallery. Go
into tho ark-not to sit down, but to
stand in the door and call until all the
family come in. Aged Noah. where is
Japheth? David, where is Absalom?
Hannah, where is Samuel?
On one of the lake steamers there were
n father and two daughters journeying.
They seemed extremely poor. a benevo-
lent gentleman stepped up TO the poor
man 10 proffer some form of relief and
said, You seem to he very poor, sir. ="