Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-16

DSGEcI l14c, lucN Will nave tue
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, for l saw our neighbor and
his wife, who always go TO different
churches, going arm in arm to the same
sanctuary.
Well, l 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 a Chris
tian. He had been somewhat wayward,
and gave father and mother a 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, Il 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 wcrld-
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
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.
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 heaven. But l can give you
recipe for running your children.
Angrily contend in the household that
your church is right and the church of
your companion is wrong. Bring sneer
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 osuperciliousness, 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,
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 path like the
bridge Al Sirat, 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 starved spider or the edge of a
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 Christian
believers to pass without peril into
everlasting safety But do not any cf
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 lawyer. and a
man may own all the best medical
treatises and not be physician, and a
man may own all the best works on
painting and architecture and not be
either painter or architect. and man
may own all the sound creeds in the
world and yet not be Christian. Not
what you have in your head and on
our tongue, but in your heart and in
our life, will decide everything.
"Hang Out Your Lights"
In olden times in England before the
MODERN street laWps were invented ev-
ry householder ,Sas expected to have a
anto-n suspended in front of his house,
nd the cry of the watchmen in London
s they went along at eventide was,
Hang out your lightsl' Instead Of
isputing in your home about the diff
erent kinds of lantern, as watchman
n the walls of Zion l cry, ''Let your
ight so shine before men that they,
eeing your good works, may glorify
our Father which is in heavenl"- Hang
ut your lights You may have thou
nd ideas about religion ami yet not
he great idea of pardoning mercy. 1t
) not the number of your ideas, but
be greatness of them. A mouse hath
en- offsprings in her nest. while the
oness hath one in her lair All ideas