The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-11-17
ON LOVE OF HOME
REV. CHARLES II. STRONG
PREACHED AT ST. JOHNS.
DEEPEST AND BEST INSTINCT
IN THE HEART OF MAN IS HIS LOVE
FOR HIS HOME.

Triumphs of the Greatest Writers
Have Been Gained Through the
Employment of the Home ns Their
Subject-In Every Walk of Life the
Love of Home Obtains, and This
Love Is the Inspiration of Every
Noble Work and the Secret of the
Worlds Progress and Mans Adj
Man True to Himself, His Morals
and His IdeaIs-LOve of Home the
BuIwarck of the Charch and of the
state.
Foxes have holes, the birds of the
air have nests, but the Son of Man
hath not where to lay his head" was
the text from which Rev. Charles II.
Strong preached at the service at St.
Johns Church last night. The pass
age is from ST. Matthew, 1920. The
sermon was one of a series that Mr..
Strong will deliver upon the subject
of 1.-The Home" He calls them "old-
fashioned talks" and to many minds
they presented thoughts of home con-
duct that are sometimes considered to
have been in greater esteem in days
gone by than now.
Il claim that the love of home is
the deepest and the best instinct in
the heart of man." said Mr.. Strong.
Whether it be a matched hut or a
manor house, yet it is a home, and
about it centers the love of the dweller
therein. BE it ever so humble, there's
no place like home.'"
The rector related the story of the
song that is associated the world over
with the idea of home, telling how
John Howard Payne. its composer
gained his inspiration, and, how, with
spirit softened by the tender memo
ries of his own childhood and the low
ing solicitude of father and mother, he
wrote the words that express the
sweetest thoughts of one who yearns
for that refuge to which it is such a
joy to fly
AS in man, so among animals, is this
attachment to home displayed. Each
animal has its own lair or den, and
each bird loves it's own nest But
what with animals, is an instinct, be-
comes, with man, an intelligent emo
ton.
The triumphs of the greatest writers
the world has known, Mr.. Strong said,
are those in which the home has been
their theme, or in which some phase
some association of home life, has been
given such a touch of their genius as
to render transcendental it's beauty.
Other splendid passages have lacked
the tenderness. the pathos, that have
marked these that have home as their
thefle. Instances of the love of home,
as illustrated in the glowing pages of
masters of literature, were recited by
the rector.
1t was shown that the love of home
permeates every walk of life, actu-
ates all intercourse and inspires all
effort that tends to the progress of
the world and the elevation of man.
THE man who loves his home," Mr..
Strong declared, land who is loved in
his home, can always say, I care not
what the world may do; l have hap
Ply home
Love of home keeps a man true to
his morals and true to his ideals" He
then drew a picture of a loving youth
and maid, to whom no thought of the
future could be dearer than that of a
happy home, declaring that as long as
the vision of such a home remains in
the mind of man 1T keeps him true to
the nobler purposes of life-keeps him
from falling a prey to evils that be-
set the PAIN, SuCn evils DIS MUSIC nails,
saloons and gambling dens.
The rector said that if the love of
home is cultivated, it remains the bull
wark of the church and of the state
Government derived it's origin from
the family, which was the first organ
ization in which authority was recog-
nized. 1t offered the root of govern
mental life. In the family now are nur-
tured those virtues that constitute the
safeguards of the country and of So
ciety, and no school, no institution
demands so urgently proper conduct
as does the home. Love was commend
ed as the great ruling force in the
home, and parents were advised to
foster such love as would promote the
happiness of the home and the obed-
fence of children. Parents, too, were
urged to make their lives such eX-
amples as they could wish their child
rem to emulate, rather than, in paren-
tai foibles, offer patterns upon which
the character of the children might
be fashioned.
In the church, too, the home is the
bulwark, the safeguard against world
illness and wickedness invading the in
situations dedicated to the service of
God. In barbarous times men worship
ped a pantheon, havinb an assortment
of diyinities, but, with the develop
ment of the home and the love for the
home, came the idea of a God of love,
changing the conception of theology.
Theology the rector said, has done
much for the home, but the home has
done more for theology. A mans home
life grows easily into his church life,
and, without a break, a man, devoted
to his home, may allay himself with
the church, suffering no loss in the
90 ,NFI 1t J1.,A
ing them, aid the church, and through
his alliance with il. imnroNe his home.