Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1898-10-09
Preacher Among the People, :
Mother and Child,

azily on the pommel of the saddle,
listening to the hum of the bees and
noting the wild flowers that grew
along the road Suddenly l was ar
oused from the listless state into
which / had fallen by the sound of an
old and familiar song being sung by
somebody near. The voice was wom-
ans and / wondered at it a little be-
cause there was no house to be seen.
But only few steps further on
turned slight curve in the road and
there, still almost hidden in beauti-
full grove, was a vine covered cottage
at the window of which sat a young
mother sweetly singing to her sleeping
babe. The branches of the trees and
the vine hanging above the window
constituted a fitting frame for the
characters they SO gracefully enclosed.
1t was scene not likely to be forgotten
by any one who was permitted to be-
hold it. The mothers head was thrown
back slightly her eyes, lighted up with
divine light, were turned upward,
and she seemed to be gazing into the
very depths of heaven itself She
was pouring out her mother soul to
her babe in song. The child, innocent
and beautiful the personifcation of
helplessness and trust. was sleeping
sweetly in it's mothers arms. 1t is
said Before the Dresden Madonna all
heads are instantly uncovered" but
magnificent as the creation of Raph-
ael is, is only copy of Gods own
handiwork, such as saw in that hum
BILE cottage home,
Almost unconsciously / reined up
my horse and for a moment sat gaz-
ing upon the divine realty before me.
But 1t was only for a moment. The
mother seemed to become conscious of
an intruder. She stopped singing and
turning her face quickly, caught sight
OF me just as my horse, touched with
the whip, started on. 1 would gladly
have gone back and asked her to re-
sumo the attitude in which / first saw
her, but was stranger there, and
fearing my motive would be ques-
toned, continued on my way, musing
upon what had seen.
"The fullness of life," so it hath
been said, lis in the pouring out of
love in all manner of service, and the
JOY of life is in the returning tide of
love. rising silently about the solitary
spirit, and as silently stealing into the
innermost channels of it's being"
There is profound truth in the say
ing,and it is nowhere better illustrated
than in the divine relationship of
mother and child. "A childless home
is an afflicted home" said a friend to
me one day when we were discussing
domestic affairs. And he stated a
most important fact which the modern
world, blinded by its own selfshness,
does not clearly see. Hannah, alone
at Inc temple bewailing her barren
ness, aptly illustrates the lonli-
ness of a childless old age In covet-
ing motherhood as the chief of all
honors and blessing, the women of
ancient Israel were wise, and in it's
reverence for Mary, the mother of
Jesus, the Catholic church indicates a
fact of infinitely greater import than
many people think. The weakness
and mistake of the church are to be
found in the limit she sets. Wherever
a devoted mother clasps her new born
babe to her bosom, there is the true
wise men will feel them
selves honored if permitted to bestow
gifts upon her and her child. In
mother love they W.. behold the no.
blest illustration of Gods infinite ten
derness and care, and in the young
life they will contemplate again the
mystery of the Incarnation. 1 know
the creed teaches that man is very
far gone from original righteousness,
and is of his own nature inclined to
evil, SO that the flesh lusteth always
contrary to the spirit and therefore,
in every person born into this world,
it deserveth Gods wrath and damna-
ton" Theoretical assent may have
been given to the declaration of the
creed; but no mother looking into the
eyes of her own child ever really be-
lieved it. When Justin Martyr was
obliged to meet the objection that
since Christ had been born only one
and fifty years before, all who
lived previous to his advent were
without the true light for the reason
and conscience, he rose at once to the
idea OF the spiritual essential Christ
who is limited by no conditions of
time or space. Christ is the Word of
whom every race of men are par
takers" Justin simply voiced the
doctrine of the universal fatherhood
Of God, so clearly indicated by the first
TWO words OF the Lords Prayer, and