Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-04-05

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 l committed into your
hands?"
A dying son said to his father, ga
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 ont in the darkness.
. Oh, ye who have taught your children
how to live. have you also taught them
how to die? Life here is not so impor-
tant as the great hereafter. 1t is not so
mach the few furlongs this side Of the
grave as it is the unending leagues be-
You'd o eternity, eternity Thy locks
white with the ages, thy voice announo-
ing stupendous destiny. thy arms reach
ing across all the past and all the future
o eternity, eternity!
Go home and erect family altar.
You may break down in your prayer.
But never mind, God will take what
you mean, whether you express 1t 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 single articulation OF
speech left, cease not to pray for the re-
turn Of that prodigal. He may even now
be standing on the beach at Hongkong
or Madras, meditating q return to his
fathers house Give him up? Never
give him upl Has God promised to hear
thy prayer only to mock thee? 1t is not
too late
The Open Door.
In St. Paul's, London, there is awhis-
pering gallery. A voice uttered most
feebly at one side of the gallery is heard
distinctly at the opposite side, a great
distance off. So every word Of earnest
prayer goes all around the earth and
makes heaven a whispering gallery. 90
into the 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
a father and two daughters journeying.
They seemed extremely poor. A benevo-
lent gentleman stepped up to the poor
man to proffer some form of relief and
said, lyon seem to be very poor, sir. "
Poor, sir, replied the man, If there's
poorer man than me a-troublin the
world, God pity both of u.s." Il will
take one of your children and adopt it,
if you say So think it would be a great
relief to you. =" "a what?" said the
pour man. "A relief Would it be a re-
lief to have the hands chopped off from
the body, or the heart torn from Z
breast? A relief indeed God be good
usl What do you mean, SIR" However
many children we have, we have none
to give up. Which of our families can
we afford to spare out of heaven? Will
it be the oldest? Will it be the young
est? Will it be that one that was sick
some time ago? Will it be the husband?
Will it be the wife? No, mol We must
have them all in. Let US take the chill
dren's hands and start now. Leave not
one behind. Come, father; come, moth
er; come, son; come, daughter; come,
brother; come, sister, Only one step and
we are in. Christ the door, swings out
to admit us. And it is not the hOarse-
ness of a stormy blast that you hear, but
the voice of a loving and patient God
that addresses you, saying, Come, thou
and all thy house, into the ark. " And
there may the Lord shut us I'M