Connecticut western news., 1896-07-30

CnrlStlAn ancestry then you are sol emnly bound to preserve and develop the glorious inheritance, or if you have come of deprsved ancestry then it is your duty to brace yourself against the evil tendency by all prayer and Chris tian determination, and you are to find out the family frailties, and in arming the castle put the strongest guard at the weakest gate. With these smooth stones from the brook I hope to strike you, not where David struck Goliath, in the head, but where Nathan struck David, in the heart. Whose son art thou, thou young mani"
 There is something in all winter hoh- days to bring up the old folks. think many of our thoughts at such times are set to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne. The old folks were so busy at such times in making us happy and perhaps on less resource made their sons and daughters happier than you on larger resources are able to make your sons and daughters The snow lay two feet above their graves, but they shook off the white blankets and mingled in the holiday festivities-the same wrinkles, the same stoop of shoulder under the weight of age, the same old style of dress or coat, the same smile, the same tones of voice. I hope you remember them before they went away. If not, I hope there are those who have recited to you what they were, and that there may be in your house some article of dress or furniture with which you asso- ciate their memories want to arouse the most sacred memories of your heart while make the impassioned interrog atory in regard to your pedigree. Whose son art thou. thou young mani"
 A Christian Ancestry.
 First I accost all those who are de- scended of . Christian ancestry. I do not ask if your parents were perfect There are no perfect people now. and I do not suppose there were any perfect people then. Perhaps there was some times too much blood in their eye when they chastised you But, from what I know of you, you got no more than you deserved. and perhaps 8 little more chastisement would have been salutary. But you are willing to acknowledge, I think, that they wanted to do right From what you overheard in converse tions and from what you saw at the family altar and at neighborhood obse- quies you know that they had invited God into their heart and their life. There was something that sustained those old people supernaturally. You have no doubt about their destiny. You n haavaY, n meet them as you expect to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.
 That early association has been a charm for you. There was c time when you got right up from house of in- iquity 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 a sweet old face that would present itself. Tremu- lous 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 es- tate of prayer and holy example and Christian entreaty and glorious mem- ory. The survivors of the family gath cred to hear the will read, and this was to be kept and that was to be sold, and it was "share and share alike" But there was an unwritten will that read something like this: "In the name of God. amen. I, being of sound mind. be- queath to my children all my prayers for their salvation; bequeath to them all the results of hfetime's toil; l be- aueath to them the Christian religion, which has been so much comfort to me. and hope may be solace for them; bequeath to them a hope of reunion when the paTtings of life are over. Share and share alike, may they in- herit eternal riches I Ibequeath to them the wish that they may avoid my errors and copy anything that may have been worthy. In the name of God who made me, and the Christ who redeemed me, and the Holy Ghost who sanctifies mo, make this my last will and testament Witness all you hosts of heaven. Wit ness time, witness eternity. Signed, sealed and delivered in this our dying hour, Father and Mother. You did not get that will proved at the surro-
 
 read it to you I take it out of the alcoves of your heart. I shake the dust of it. I ask if you will accept that in heritance, or will you break the wills
 O ye of Christian ancestry, you have a responsibility vast beyond all measurement God will not let you of with just being as good as ordinary peo- pie when you had such extraordinary advantage. Ought not a flower planted in hothouse be more thrifty thaa 8 flower planted outside in the storm Ought not a factory turned by tht Housatonio do more work than factory turned by a thin and shallow mountain stream? Ought not you of great early opportunity be better than those whc
 had cradle unblessed? A father set his son up in business. He keeps an ac
 count of all the expenditures, so mucl
 for store fixtures. so much for rent. st much for this, so much for that, and al the items aggregated, and the fathe, expects the son to give an account Your Heavenly Father charges agains you all the advantages of pious ances try-so many prayers, so much Christian example, 60 many kind entreaties-al these gracious influences. one tremen
 dous aggregate, and he asks you for al account of it. Ought not you to be bet ter than those who had no such advan tage7 Better have been a foundlini | picked up of the city commons tha,
 with such magnificent inheritance O | conservation to turn out indifferently Ought not you, my brother. to be better
 having had Christian nurture, than tn l man who can truly say this morning
 "The first word remember my fathe | speaking to me was an oath; the frs time I remember my father taking hol'
 of me was in wrath Ipever saw Bibl
 till was 10 years of age, and then
 was told it was pack of lies. The frs
 20 years of my life I was associates
 with the vicious seemed to be walle'
 in by sin and death {"
 | A Question of Responsibility.