South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1896-07-30

4 iurntture with which you associate their
memories- l want 20 arouse the most sacred
memories OF your heart while I make tbs
imPasssoncd tpierrogatory in regard TO your
peiigree, Whose son art thou. thou young
mani"
First accos. all those who are descended
OF a christian ancestry. do not ask II your
parents were perfect. There are no pergect
i pespie now. and do not suppose there wsrs
any perfect people then. Perhaps theirs was
suinsttmes too much blood in their eve when
teey chassfsed you. But, from what know
otyou, you got 40 more than you deserved,
and perhaps q little more chasttsemen,
would have been salu,ary. But you are
willing TO 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 neighborhood
oosequies you know that they had invited
God into their heart and their life. There
was something that sustained ttioss old
| people supernaturally. You have no doubt
| about their destiny. You expect you ever get
! 10 heaven TO meet them rs you expect TO meet
the Lori Jesus Christ
That early association has been charm
| Tor you. There was time when you got
right up from 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 a
sweet old face thar would present itself
Tremuious voices from the past accosted you
until they were seemingly audible, and you
1
an estate not mentioned In the last will and
testament. vast estate OF prayer and holy
example and Christian entreary and glorious
memory. The survivors of the family gath
cred 10 hear the will read, and this was to
be kept and that WAS 10 be sold, aud Il was
share and share alike" But there was an
unwrtlten will that real something like this.
/ III the name OF God. amen. being of souui
mind, bequeafh to my children all my pray
eIs for their salvation; bequeath TO them
All the suits OF a lifetime's toll; bedneath
10 Them the Christian religion, wl1iclI has
been 50 much comfort to me- and hone may
be solace for them; bequeath TO them
hope OF eunion when the partings OF life ara
over. Share and share alike, may they in-
herit eternal riches. 1 bequeath to them the
wish that they may avoid my errors and
copy anything that may have been worthy.
In tue name OF God who made me, and the
Christ who redeemed me, and the Holy
Ghost who sacrifices me. make this my last
will and testament. Witness all you hosts
of heiyen. Witness time, witness eternity.
Signed, sealed and delivered in this our
dying hour. Father aud Motuer." You did
not get that will proved at the surrogate's
Office, but take it out to-day and read IL
TO you. take IL out OF tina alcoves OF your
Heart shake the dust on II. L ask IL you
will accept that Inheritance, or will you
break the will!
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 people when you had sucl
extraordinary advantage. Ought not a
hover planted in a dollhouse be more thrifty
IMAM n flower planted outside III Il storm?
Oughf NOT factory turned by the Housa-
tome do more work than a factory tn ned bv
a thin and shallow mountain stream? Ought
NOT you OF great rnrly opportunity be better
than those who had n cratic unulessed? A
father sets his son up in business He
keeps an account OF all the expenditures. SO
mulch for store fixture. so much for rent, so
much Tor this, so much for that, aud all the
items aggregated, and the father expects the
sou TO give an account. Your Heavenly
Father charges against you all the advan-
taSes oil u pious aucestry-so many prayer
so much Christian example. so many kind
eDtreatics-alt these gracious influences. one
tr1 nendouS aggregate, and he ASKS you Tor
an account Of it. Ought not you TO be better
than those who han nu such advantage? Bet
ter nave been a founJliug picked no of tue
city commons than VITA such magnificent
lpheritance OF cons Grafton TO turn out in
differently. Ought not you, my brother to
be- better, having had Christian nuture than
tne man who can truly say this morning:
Ihe nrst word remember my father speak
ing TO me was au oath; the first time re-
member my father taking hold OF me was in
wrathi never saw Bible Till was ten
years OF age, and then / was told II was
pack OF lies. The first twenty years of my
life was associated with the vicious. seemed
10 be- walled ia by sin aud DEATH
NONs my DTOtu6rs OuSuI you uOt--l leave
IL ne a matter OF fairness with you ought you
not to DO better than those who had no early
Christian inhuence2 Standing as you do be-
tween the generation that Is past and the
generation that is to come, are yoa going to
pass the blessing o.. or are Won going to
have your life the gait ia which that tide of
blessing shall drop out OF sight forever? You
are the trustee OF pety in that ancestral line,
and are you going to augment or squauder
that solemn trust fund.- Are you going TO
al All 81.
heirloom which your parents left you? All.
tbat cannot be possible--it cannot be- possible
that you are going to take such position as
that. You are very careful about life insur-
auees, aud careful about the deeds. aud
careful about the mortgage. and careful
about the title OF your property, because
when You step on the stage you want your
children to get il all. Are you making no
provision that they shall get grandfather's
or grandmother religion? Oh, what last
win and testament you are making, my
brother! 'In the name Of God. amen. /,
being Of sound mind, make this my last will
and testament. / bequeath TO roy children
all the money ever made aud all the houses
own, but disinherit them. rob them OF
the ancestral grace and ths Christian in
1uence that / inherited. i have squnndered
that on my own wor dliness. Snare and
share alike must they in the misfortune aud
the everlasting Cutrage. Signed, sealed and
delivered in the presence OF Col and men
and angels aud devils and ali the genera
tious Of earth and heaven and hell, July.
1928
o ye OF highly favored ancestry, wake up
| this morning 10 q sense Of your opportunity
and responsibility. think there must be an
/ old cradle or u fr igment OF a cradle some-
l where that could tell a story OF midnight
/ duplication in your behalf. Where Is tho
/ Old rocking chair IA which you were sung 70
\ sleep with the holy nursery rhymeY Where
/ is the old clock that licked away the mo
/ meuts Of that sickness on that awful night
\ when there we're but three o. you awake
/ you and Col and mother7 Is there not m
/ Old stan IN some clOset2 We beg you 20 turn
\ over new leaf this very day.
Oh, the power Of ancestral piety. we'll H.
/ lustrated by young man n New York who
/ attended prayer meeting one night and
/ asked for prayers and then went home aud
. wrote down these words. twenty-five years
| ago tonight my mother went 20 heaven, my
I beautiful, blesse cd mother. and / have been
| al 1ne. tossed up and down upon the pillows
! ~ Hes tempestuOus ocean Shall I ever 20
/ TO heaven? She told me ] must meet her In
heaven. When she took my hand in hers and
turned her gentle. loving eyes on ms and
/ gazed earnestly aud long into my face aud
/ then lifted them 20 heaven in that last
I prayer. she prayed that I might meet her in
l heaven. 1 wonder iff ever shni2 nv moth
/ IRIS prayers--Oh. my sweet. blessed mother
/ praysrsi Did ever boy have such a mother
as / hadY For twenty-five years 7 have not
heart her pray un;il tonight have heart
her prayers ail over again. Thee have bal.
ira fact, terrible surrsction. Oh. how she
WIS wont 10 pray! She prayed ~ they prayed
tonight, 90 earnest. 20 import innate, go be-