The record-union., 1897-11-22
HOME AND THE CHURCH.
YESTERDAYS SERMON BY PAS
TOR HOSKINSON.
"a Thoughtful and Touching Dis
course That Appeals to Think
ing Men.

The following discourse was delivered
by Rev. w. S. Hoskinson at the morn
ing service yesterday at the Sxteehth-
street Lutheran Church:
Behold, and the children whom the
the Lord hath given me-" Isaiah vlli.'
49,
The prophet goes on to say, salo the
speaker, that there are for signs anu
wonders in Israel, from the Loru Oh
hosts that dwelleth in Mount Zion he
presents himself and his children TO the
Lord, gives himself and them into his
hands. They are rightly the Loro
gifts, and for higher end than to share
In the everyday fortune of the family.
In the history of redemption they serve
as signs and portents, pointing to some
thing to come or to be done in the fu-
ture. Isaiah and his wife and family,
with the faithful followers, We're the
stock of the church there must be in
every well ordered home. And the
flower of love blooms most brightly
where there is perfect confidence. Each
must give the best to the home. The
choicest gleanings must be brought
from the shops, the office, the street
the store, and given, not to society, nor
the lodge, nor business, not to the out
side world. but to the home; Just as
the bee brings the honey from all the
sweetest flowers right to the hive. it's
home.
And the more each one gives to the
nome the more it will give back. The
more 1t is to each one the more he will
be to it. His dividend will be as he
invests in it, and the promise of the
church of Christ in the future. 1t was
the little church within the church here
spoken of, the Christian home of Isa-
lah.
The true home is the brightest spot
since the Garden of Eden. But it does
not make itself nor come by chance.
Each member has a share and a duty
mere. Only where this is done can
Gods choicest blessings come. The
soil where the happy home grows is
the union of hearts and hands toward
some OBJECT. Each one may do much,
but no one can do all. When there is
a sympathetic blending together, like
IN the harmony of sweet music, then the
best may be done. Any part failing
brings dfscord
Some think their home joys are not
much. How much have these contrib
uted to the home? If they SOW not
neither shall they reap. All may make
the home a perennial spring of COM
Tort II they will. God intends il to be a
bright beacon in this worlds light And
Its light should shine with the arc
light splendor upon all around so that
the moving away would mean the alb
sence of much light in that place It
is Gods institution and the first he
ever made, and the best
Some of the sweetest words our lam
guage has pertain to it. Home, son,
daughter. father mother Wife hus-
band, have much of charm for all. Hus-
band 'house-band') is the band of
strength about the home to uphold and
protect and keep it together Stand
ing at the head he is at the beginning
of all the worthiest elements of society.
For the germs of the church and the
State are in the home Here the hus-
band plants the seeds of religion for
the church and authority for the State.
The family becomes the fountain for
the nation. Any poison dropped in
here endangers the nation at It's foun-
tain head. Here is the source of pur-
est spiritual and civil life. and much
of it is in the hands of the parent. Be-
hold, what manner of man he ought to
be- He will join with the wife in the
training Of children for usefulness here
and heaven hereafter.
No husband should let the wife pray
alone All in the household need pray
er-old and young, and all alike He
should not let her go to church alone.
nor stand at the communion table alone.
nor leave the Christian education of the
children to her alone; for alone in all
this, she is a bird with only one wing.
1t is a great wrong to the wife to put
all these heavy duties on her when God
lays them equally on him.
The fact is this: That a married
couple can never be truly one. in the
greatest and profoundest interest of
life, until both are Christians. The
most sacred and blessed side of the soul.
that bordering on eternity, they cannot
walk together in until they together
know the Lord
Barren, after all. is welded joy. to
live together on earth and for eartn
only, without the bright hope of dwell
ing together in eternity, meeting there
never more to part. That home can
not be happiest which looks for no re-
union IN heaven. With husband and
wife one at the family altar, one at the
blessed sacrament, and one in all the
ties Of joy and SORROWS in life. is the