Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-06-12

| me and thee and between nv herdmen
and thy herdmen. Is not the whole
land before thee?' AS you can be edi-
fed and happy anywhere. GO WITH your
companion to the church to which he
or she must go or be miserable
Agree to Differ
Remark the third: If both the mar
ried couple are very strong in their sec
| tarianism, let them attend the different
churches preferred. It is not necessary
that you attend the same church Re
ligion is between your conscience and
your God. Like Abram and Lot, agree
to differ. When on Sabbath morning
| you come out of your home together
and one goes one way and the ether the
| other, heartily wish each other a good
sermon and time Of profitable devo-
ton, and when you meet again at the
MONDAY repast let it be evident, each
to each, and to your children, and to
the hired help, that you have both been
OF the Mount Of TRANSPORTATION, al
though you went up by different paths
and that you have both been fed by the
bread of life, though kneaded By differ
ent hands in different trays and baked
in different ovens. "But how about the
children" I am often asked by scores
of parents Let them also make their
own choice. They will grow up with
reverence for both the denominations
represented by father and mother if
you, by holy lives, commend those de-
nominations If the father lives the
better life, they will have the more IA
vorable opinion Of his denomination.
If the mother lives the better life they
will have the more favorable opinion of
her denomination. And some day both
the parents will, for at least one serv-
ice, go to the same church. The neigh
bors will say, 81 wonder what is going
on today, fax I saw our neighbor and
his wife, who always go to different
churches going arm in arm to the same
sanctuary"
Well. will tell you what has brought
them together, arm in arm, to the
same altar. Something very important
has happened. Their son is today unit
ing with the church. He is standing in
the aisle, taking the VOWS of Chris
tian. He had been somewhat hayward,
and gave father and mother good deal
of anxiety, but their prayers have been
answered in his conversion, and as he
stands in the aisle and the minister of
religion says, "Do you consecrate your
self to the God who made and redeemed
you and do you promise to serve him
all your days?" and with manly voice
he answers, ST do" there is an April
shower in the pew where father and
mother sit and rainbow of JOY which
arches both their souls, that makes all
differences of creed infnitesimal. And
the daughter who had been very world
ly and gay and thoughtless, puts her
life on the altar of conservation and as
the sunlight of that Sabbath streams
through the church window and falls
upon her brow and cheek she looks like
their other daughter, whose face was
ilIumined with the brightness of an
other world on the day when the Lord
took her into his heavenly keeping
years ago.
JOY In the House OF God.
I should not wonder, if. after all,
these parents pass the evening of their
life in the same church, all differences
of church preference overcome by the
joy of being in the house of God where
their children were prepared for useful
ness and heaven. But I can give you a
recipe for running your children.
Angrily contend in the household that
your church is right and the church of
your companion is wrong. Bring sheer
and caricature to emphasize your opin
ions, and your children will make up
their minds that religion is sham, and
they will have none Of it. In the north
east storm of domestic controversy the
rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley
will not grow. Fight about apostolic
succession, fight about election and free
agency, fight about baptism, fight about
the bishopric, fight about gown and
surplice, and the religious prospects Of
your children will be left dead on the
field. You will be as unfortunate as
Charles, Duke of Burgundy, who in
battle lost diamond the value of a
kingdom, for in your fight you will lose
the jewel of salvation for your entire
household. This is nothing against the
advocacy of your own religious theories.
Use all forcible argument, bring all
telling illustration, array all demon
strative facts, but let there be no acer-
bity, no stinging retort, no mean in
situation, no superciliousness, as though
all others were wrong and you infallibly
right.
Take a hint from astronomy. The
Ptolemaic system made the earth the
center of the solar system, and every
thing was thought to turn round the
earth. But the Copernican system came
and made the sun the center around
which the planets revolved. The bigot
makes his little belief the center of ev-
erything, but the large souled Christian
makes the Sun of Righteousness the
center, and all denominations, without
any clashing and each in its own sphere,