The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-06-23

| April shower in the pew wh4re father
! and nother sit and a RAINBOW of Joy
| which arches both their souls. that
makes all differences OF creed infinite-
! sinai. And the daughter who had been
! very worldly and gay and thoughtless,
! puts Ter life on the altar &C Consecra-
| ton and as the sunlight of tina: Sab
! bath streams through the church Win
l cow ard falls upon her brow and
cheek, She looks like their other daIgE-
| ter, whose face was ilumtncd with the
| brightness of another world on the day
| when the Lord took her into his heav-
enly keeping years g
JOY IN THE HOUSE OF GOD.
1 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 a But I can give you a
! recipe for running your children. An
! grily contend in the household that
| your church is right and the church of
your companion is wrong. Bring sueer
n caricature to emphasize your OpiE-
ions, and your children will make up
| their minds hat religion is a 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 b~ishopric, fight about gown and
| surplice, and the religious prospects Of
| your children will be left dead on the
field. You Will be as as
| Charles, Duke of Burgundy, who in
! battle lost a 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 religious theories.
| Use all forcible argument, bring all
telling illustration, array all Demon
| Strative facts, III let there be no aEer-
bity, no singing ~retort, no mean in
situation, no superciliOusness, as
though all others were wrong and you
| infallibly right.
| Take a hint from astronomy. The
l PtOlemaic system made the earth the
| center of the solar system, and every
thing was thought to turn round the
\ earth. But he COpernican system anne
| n made the sun the center around
which the planets revOlved. The bigot
makes his little belief the center of ev-
| erything, blu the large SOuled Christian
makes the Sun Of Righteousness the
center, and all denominations, without
| any claShing and each in it's own sphere,
! revolving around it. Over the tomb of
Dean Stanley in Westminster abbey is
the passage OF Scripture, Thy COM
mandments are exceeding broad" Let
no man crowd US On to a path like the
bridge al STRAIT, which the Mohamme-
dan thinks leads from this world over
the abyss OF hell into paradise, the
breadth of the bridge less than the web
OF a starved spider or the edge of q
SWORD or razor, off the edges of which
many fall. No. While the way is not
wide enough to take with US any of
our sins, it is wide enough for all Chris
tlan believers to pass without peril in
to everlasting safety. But do not any of
you depend upon what you call "a
SOUND creed for salvation. A man may
own all the statutes of the state Of
New York and yet not be a lawyer, and
a man may own all the best medical
treatlSes and not be a physician, and
a man may own all the best works on
painting and architecture and not be
either painter or architect, and a man
may own all the sound creedS in the
world and yet not be a Christian. Not
what you have in you head and On
your tongue, but in your heart and in
your life, will decide everything.
HANG OUT YOUR LIGHTS"
In olden times in England before the
modern street lamps were invented ev-
cry householder was expected to have a
lantern suspended in front Of his house,
and the cry OF the Waterman in London
as they went along at eventide was,
Hang out your lights!" Instead of
disputing in our home about the diff
ferent kinds of lanterns as a watchman
on the walls Of Zion I cry, Let your
light so shine before men that they,
seeing your good works, may glor:fy
your father which is heaven" Hang
out your lights! You may have a thou
sand ideas about religion n We, not
the great idea Of p~ardoning mercy. It
is not the number Of your ideas, but
the greatness of them. A mouse hath
ten offsprings in her nest, while the
lioness hath one in her lair. All ideas
about forms and ceremonies and church
government put together are not worth
the one idea of getting to heaven your
self and taking your family with YOU.
But do not reject Christianity. as
many do, because there are so MANY
sects. Standing in Westminster hotel
London, I hooked GU. Of the window
and saw three clocks, as nea- as / can
remember, n on the parliament house
another on St. Margaret's chapel. an.
tother on Westminster abbey, and they
were all different. One said II O'Clock
at noon, another said five minutes be-
fore II, another said five minutes after
T. I might as well have concluded