Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1896-08-06

iiCA :. L wait 70 AROUSE IOp InCS1 sacra0
memories Of your heart while l make the
impassioned interrogatorv in regard TO your
pedigree, Whose son art thou. thou young
man.
First | accos. all those who1are descended
OF Christian ancestry. l do not ask IL your
parents were perfect. There are no perfect
people now, and l do not suppose there were
any perfect people then. Perhaps there was
sometimes too much blood in their eve when
they chastised you. But. from what I know
OF you. you got no more than you deserved.
aud perhaps a little more chastisement
would have been s~alutary. But YOU are
willing 70 acknowledge. think. that they
wanted to do right. From what you over
heard In conversations and from what YOU
saw at the family altar and at neighborn0od
obsequies you know that they had invited
God into thec heart and tneir life. There
was something that sustained those old
people systematically. You have no doubt
about their destiny. You expectif you ever get
TO heaven 10 meet them as YOU expect to meet
the Lord Jesus Christ.
That early association has been a charm
Tor you. There was a time when YOU got
right up from n house Of iniquity and walked
out into the fresh air because you thought
your mother was looking at YOU You have
never been very happy in 'sin because Of Il
sweet old face that would present itself.
Iremulous voices from the past accosted you
until they. were seemingly audible, and you
looked around to see who spoke. There was
an estate not mentioned in the last will and
testament, a vast estate Of prayer and holy
Pile and .Christian e~ntreaty and glorious
memory. The survivors Of the family gath
cred to hear the will read. and this was TO
be kept and that was to be sold. aud it was
share and share alike But there was all
unwritten will that read something like this
In the name Of God. amen. 1 being of sound
mind, bequeath to my children all my pray
ers Tor their salvation,1 hequeath TO them
all the results Of a lifetime's toll; l bequeath
to them the Christian religion,r which has
been 50 much cOmfortto me-, and | hope may
b. solace for them; l bequeath TO them Il
hope OF reunion when the par;ings OF life are
over. Share and share alike. may they III
herit eternal riches. | bequeath to them tht
wish that they may avoid my errors an
copy anything that may have been worthy
In the naU, 81 God wheLnade me. and tht
Christ :no redeem I'd me, and the Hol,
Ghost who sacrifices me. | make this my } )
Will and testament. Witness all you t,3st
OF heaven. Witness time, witness ete1hity
Signed. sealed and delivered IN thi5 on
dying hour. Father and Mother. 1Su die
not get that will proved at the Surrogate
Office. but | take It out to-day 4hi read j
70 you. take it out OF the alcovis Of YOU
) heart. shake the dust off it. I ask if 30,
will accept that inheritance. or will vol
break the will?
W q ,CuFlStlan ancestry. you nave
responsibility vast beyond all measurement
: God will not let you off with just being a
/. good as ordinary people when You had sucI
extraordinary advantage. Ought not
!, flower planted in a dollhouse be more thrift
f 1ilalt a flower planted outside. III a storm
Ought not a factory turned by the Housa
3 tome do more work than a factory turned b.
| a tnln and shallow mountain stream? OUgh
5 not you OF great early opportunity be bette
| than those who had a cradle lnblessed?
father sets his son up III business. II
keeps an account Of all the expenditures, s.
: much for store fixture. SO much for rent, :
Q much for this, 50 much for that. and all tn
' items aggregated, and the father expects tn
= son 10 give an account. Your Heaven!
| Father charges against you all the adv2I
taGeS OF Il piOua anceStry-sO many prayer:
: 50 much Christians example. so many sin
e rntrca!ics-all these gracious Influences. on
tremendous aggregate, and be asks you 10
!. an account of il. Ought not you to be bette
0 than those who had no such advantage? Bet
: ter have been founding picked up off tn
. city commons than with such magni1iceI
3 inheritance OF conservation to turn out III
g differently. Ought not you. my brother. t
: be better. having had Christian nuture. tina
the man who can truly say this morning
The first word | remember my father speaE
n ing to me was an oath; tie first time | re
{ member my father taking hold of me was j
wrath; l never saw a Bible till l was tie
years Of age. and then | was told it was
g pack OF lies. The first twentv years Of IN
Il life was associated with the vicious. | SCENE
: to be walled i'll by sin and death.
Now. my brother. ought YOU mott leav
it IL Il matter of fairness with vou-0uSht vo
{ not to he better than those who had no earl
II Christian influence? Standing as you DO ~
{ tween the generation thai is past and tn
generation that is to c0me. are voH going t
pass the. blessing on. or are vOu going /
a ha w E1ltr Iif. tho svuIf in which that tide {
blessing shall drop out OF sight forever? 70
are the trustee OF piety il that anccstralli lin,
# and are YOU going TO augment or Sluandt
k that solemn trust fund? Are you going
n disInlerit Your sons and ~daughters.of til
! heirloom which vonr parents left vou? "
thai cannot lie pOssible-it cannot be possibI
that yon are going TO take such a position ;
. tins. You are very careful about life insu,
k anees. and careful about tho deeds. an
o careful about the mortgage. and carefl
about the tito of your property, hecau-
. when yor step off the stage You want vor
a children 10 get it all. Are you makigc Il
provision that they shall Get grandfather
n or :randmother's religion? Ga. what a la
viii and testament You are making. II
brother. In the name Of God. amen.
II being OF sound MUD. make this my last wi
andtestament. / hequeath 10 my chilAre
n all the money ever made aud al the hou~
/, own. but | disinherit them. | rob them
the ancestral grace and the Christian il
fueree that | inherited. | have squaniert
that on my own wor dimes. Snare aI
! share alike must they III the misfortune al
the everlasting outrage. Signed, ,aaled IL
J., delivered IN the urcscn"e 81 Col and ms
and angels aud devils and all the cener
Y. tions OF earth and heaven AID hell. Jul
n 1896.
III O y" q hi-hly favored ancestry, waNe !
n this morning To a sense Of your opportEui
to and responsibility. think there must he
ld Old cradle or n fragment Of q cradle som
i where that could tell a story 81 nidnlc
AZ sIpViicatieu in YOU behalf. Where i I
ne Old rocking char IL which You were sung
n See! with the holy nursery rhyme? Whe
IN Is the old clock that licked away the II
ly iuents Of that sickness on that awful mig
10 when there were but three OF yol awake
r. YOU and Col and mother? + there not
be Old stan IN some closet We tee you . tn
4 over new leaf this very day.
~ Or. the power o. ancestral pictv. Vel
- Illustrated by a Young man II New YORK V.
he attended q PRAYER meeting one night i
SO asked for PRAYERS and then went home n
il wrote Gawn these words: TWENTY-FIVE yea
Fir tonight my mother went 70 heaven. !
,ct beautiful. blessed mother. and | hove be
Oh alone. tossed up and down upon III" billie
gu Of lies temfeStuoUs ocean. Shall 1 ever
Il heaven She told ne | must meet her