The Penn's Grove record., 1896-09-04

ages OF light or darkness. Tne home nm
the school decide the republic or the despot-
Ism; the barbarism or the civilization; the
upb9ilding OF an empire. or The overthrow
Ing OF 1t. Higher than Parliament or Con-
| gress are the school aud the family, and the
sound of q chlld's loot ma mean more than
the tramp of n host. What, then, are YOU
doing for the purpose of bringing your chill
dren into the Kingdom of Cod II they are
50 susceptible, and IL this is the very best
| time to act upon their eternal Interests. what
are you doing by way OF right impuisionp
There were some harvesters in the fields Of
Scotland one hot day; an | Hannah Lemond
was helping them gather the hay. She laid
her babe under a tree. White she was busy
In the field, there was a tiutter Of wings in
the afr, and a golden eagle ciuchel the wad
ding band of the babe, and h'w ii'yay With
It to the mountain eyrie. All the haryesters
and Hannah Lemond started for the ellis.
II was two miles before they cnme to the
foot of the cliffs. Getting there. who dared
10 mount the ciiffs2 No human foot bad
ever trod 1t. There were sailors thUre who
had gone up the mast in the day OF terrible
tempest; they did not dare risk 1t. Hannah
Lsmond sat there for a while and looked up
and saw the eagle in the eyrte, and then
she leaped to her feet. and she
started up where no human foot bad ever
irod, crag above crag, catching hold OF this
root or that root, until she reached the
| eyrie and caught her babe, the eagle swoop-
) Ing in fierceness all around about her.
Fastening the chill 10 her back, she started
for her friends and for home. Oh, what II
dizzy descent! sliding from this crag to that
crag, catching by that vine and by that root,
coming down further ami further. to the
most dangerous pass, where she found II
goat and some kids. She said; Nov III
follow the goat; the goat will know just
which Is the safest way downs" and she WAS
| lad hu tho animal down In tho main When
she got there. all the people criei: "Thank
| God! thank Godl' her strength not giving
way until the rescue was effected. Aud they
nned: ''Stand back, now. Give her air.
| Oh, If woman will do that for the physical
life OF her child, what will You do for the
eternal life of your boy and your girl2 Let
1t not be told in the great day of eternity
that Hannah Lemond put forth more exer-
ton for the saving of the physical life OF
her child than you, o parent, have ever put
forth for the eternal life of your little one.
God help you!
I pass on to consider the power which a
child Yields over the parental heart. We
often talk about the influence of parents up
on children. l never heard anything said
about the influence of children upon their
parents. You go to school to them. You no
more educate them than they educate you.
With their little hands they have caught
hold OF your entire nature aud you cannot
wrench yourself away from their grasp. You
are different men and women from what you
were before they gave you the first lesson.
they have revolutioni2ed your soul. There
are fountains Of joy 10 your heart which
never would have been discovered had they
\ not discovered them. Life is to you a more
u%upendous thing than IT was before those
little feet started on the pathway to eternity.
Oh, how many hopes, how many joys, how
many solitudes that little one has created in
your soul You go to school every day-a
Ichool of self-denial, u school OF patience, in
which you are getting wiser day by day; and
that influence of the child over you will in
crease and increase; and though your chill
dren mny die, from the very throne of Goo
they Will reach down an influence TO your
soul, leading you on and lealing You up un~
III you mingle with their voices and sit be-
side their thrones.
The grasp which the child has over the
parents heart is seen in what the parent
Will do for the child. Storm aud darkness
aud heat and cold are nothing to you If they
stand between you and your child's welfare.
A great lawyer, when yet unknown, one day
stood in the court room and made an elo-
quent plea before some men of great legal
~attainments; and a gent eman said to him
afterward; "How could YOU be so cain
standing in that august presenceY' "oh,"
said Erskine, IT felt my children pulling ut
my skirts crying for bread" What stream
will you not swim, what cavern will you not
enter, what battle will YOU not Eight, what
/ munger Will you HOT euuuE6 IoE NOuI Culi-
dren2 Your children Yonr children must
have bread though you starve. Your chill
iren must be we'll clothed though you go in
rags, You say: "My children shall be edu-
sated though j never had any chance"
What to you are weary limbs, and aching
head, and hands hardened and c%alious, IL
only the welfare of your children can be
wrought out by IT? Their sorrow Is your
sorrow, their joy your joy. their advance
ment your victory. And, oh, when the last
sickness comes, how you light back the
parch Of disease. and it is only after a ire
mendous struggle that you surrender. And
Then when the spirit has fed. the great deep
Is broken up, and Rachel will not BIO COM
forted because her children are not, and
David goes up the palace stairs, crying:
, h0h, Absalom, my son, my son, would God
I had died for thee, oh, Absalom, my son,
The brightest lights that can be kindled,
Christ has kindled. Let us, old aud young,
rejoice that heaven Is gathering up so much
that Ia attractive. In that far LAM We are
not strangers. There are those there who
speak our name day by day. and they won
der why so long we tarry. II l could count
up the names OF all those who have gone
,ut from these families into the kingdom of
heaven, 1t would take me all day to mention
their names. A great multitude before the
throne. You loved them once; you love them
now; and ever and anon you think you hear
khot 'NtSNo NN ~ t l ~
they have gone out from all these families,
and you want no book to tell you of the dy-
Ing experience of Christian children. You
have heard it; 1t has been whispered in your
ear, o father, o mother, o brother, o sister.
Toward that good land all Chris ans are
bearing. This swapping of heart-str ,ngs, this
flight Of years, this tread of the heart emind
us that we are passing away. UnIer spring
blossoms, aud through summer harvests, and
across autumnal leaves; and through the
wintry ~snowbanks, we are passing on. Oh,
rejoice at 1t, children of God, rejoice at It'll
How we shall gather them up, the loved and
the lostl Before we mount our throne, be-
fore we drink Of the fountain, before we
strike the harp of our eternal celebration,
we will cry out: "Where are our loved and
lost?'' And then, how we snail gather them
upl oh, how we shall gather them up!
In this dark world Of sin and pain ~
We only meet to part again;
But when we reach the heavenly shore
We there shall meet to part no more.
The hope that we shall see that day
Should chase our present gr.efs away;
When these short years OF pain are past
Well meet before the throne at last.