Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-10-20

pious parentage. But as soon as he
comes into the possession Of the king
his name is changed. all his surround
ings are changed. and now, you say,
will begin the disqualification Of his
character. Before bis name was Dan
lei. which means God my judge" now
his name is to be nelteshazzar, which
means "the treasurer of the god Bel"
Now you expect to See him overthrown
amid all these changed circumstances.
Oh, mol Daniel started right. and he
keeps on right. When find what Dan
lei is In Jerusalem,I 4 am not surprised
to fnd what he Is in Babylon. I wish
I could write upon all parents hearts
the fact that early Impressions are
well nigh lneffaceable. When | see Jo-
seph. a pious lad, In the house Of his
father. Jacob. | EN- not surprised to
see him acting 80 nobly down In Egypt
When I find Samuel. plous lad. In the
house Of his mother. Hannah. am not
surprised that he gives terrible smlt
ing to idolatry as soon as he comes to
manhood. David planned the temple
at Jerusalem and gathered the mate
rials for Its building, but Solomon. the
son, came and put up the structure.
and that goes on In all ages. The IA
ther plans the character Of the child
and Its destiny for time and eternity.
then the son completes the structure.
You might as well put down founda-
ton ten feet by five and expect to rear
on it a great cathedral as to put down
a contracted character In child's soul
and yet rear upon 1t something exten-
sively grand and extensively useful.
Let me say to those Christian parents
who are doing their best in the educa-
tion Of their children: Take good heart.
Your sons this morning may be far
away from you and In II distant city,
but God, to whom you dedicated them,
will look after them. The God Of Dan
isl will take care OF them far away In
Babylon. Train up child in the way
he should go, and when he Is old he
will not depart from It." He may wan
der away for awhile and fall into sin
and break your heart. but before he Is
done with his life, you. having COM
mended him to God, he will come back
again, for put the emphasis In the
right place and on the word 'old"
when | repeat that passage and say,
Train up a child In the way he should
10, and when he Is old he will not de-
part from It." May yos all have the
glorious satisfaction Of seeing your
children walk In paths Of righteous
ness and peacel One with them on
earth. may you be one with them in
heaven!
Restrain Appetite.
But learn also from this subject the
beauty Of Christian sobriety. The meat
and the wine that were to come to
Daniels table were to come from the
kings table. Well. Daniel had no right
to take that food. The king was a
heather and. Ike all the heather, was
accustomed to ask Q blessing before he
partook OF food. and In that blessing
they always dedicated the food 10 the
gods. So thrtif Daniel had taken this
food he would have broken the law
which forbade the taking of food dedi-
Gated to idols. He chose pulse. 1t was
a miracle that he did not dwindle
away. There is nothing In pulse such
a poor herb, to make man ruddy and
healthful. Some people talk as though
that were a kind of diet which would
make a man swarthy and competent to
do the duties of this life. That is not
the lesson at all. But for positive
miracle Daniel would have dwindled
away, and when God, for his self de-
nial, puts upon him this benediction he
puts a benediction upon all Christian
sobriety. would not have you class
your preacher among those who would
put unnecessary restraints upon lawful
appetites. There are those In this day |
who dispute the grant which God gave
to man for animal food, and they make |
a religion of their hunger as the Phari- |
gees expected heaven for their fasting. |
Daniel did not always live on pulse. |
He was not a Grahamite he was not a |
vegetarian. He went through that self |
denial because the food offered him
was idolatrous food. When | see God |
filling the earth with all varieties Of |
food, | have not much confidence In |
the teaching of those who would put |
US on severe regimen. There are par
ents who, with a wrong theory In this |
respect, deny their children all harm
less luxurles and without sufficient in
quiry send them out to boarding |
schools where their intellects are cul-
tured to the disadvantage Of their |
starved bodies. so that from many a
boarding school class Of 20 will grad
uate, 10 Of them ghosts. Now, when |
see the three angels eating the calf
which Abraham slew and when find
Christ eating brolled fish even after
bis resurrection | come to the conclu- /
sion that the theories Of the vegetarian
are not. from a religious standpoint,
well founded.
Woes OF Drunkenness.
But, oh. how many temptations to
dissipation! With so many things to
tempt the appetite how many tempta-
tions to gluttony! With so many spar
king beverages how much temptation
to drunkenness! Could bring before
you this morning the mothers and the
wives and the sisters who have wept
Mt the graves OF the lnebrlate your soul
would be overpowered with the specta-
Gle. Could show you the manly forms
robbed Of their beauty. the eye fash
Ings quenched In the wine cup, the rud-
DIV cheek from which rum has wormed
the rose. your souls would recoil with
horror. and you would rise up and cry.
"Begone, thou dream Of hellT'
Charles Lamb, who made all the
world laugh at his humor and then aft
erward made all the world weep at his
fate, who outwitted everybody and
IL