The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-12-13
A Sermon
For Today
tsy Rev. G. w. Cassidy


Blessed is everyone that feareth Je-
hovah. that waiketh in His ways. For
thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands:
happy shalt thou be and it shall be well
with thee. They wife shall be as fruit
full vine by the sides of thine house, thy
children as olive plants round about thy
table, Ps. 1871. 2. 8.
America is a land of homes. Its ma
tional strength is the product of its fami-
ly life. Pure, vigorous manhood has gone
out from it's sheltered and sacred homes
A proof of the value Of its home life is
seen today In the fact that the majority
Of the prominent men Of noble, stainless
life are those who have breathed the
vital air of genuine American home life.
We do well while the Thanksgiving
spirit is yet in the air to consider this
subject especially when we see at least
-, per cent of our population crowding
into our large cities. pammed and hud-
died into narrow space, when the free
dom anu yet privacy of genuine home life
is in danger of being lost. Where so
much intermingling yitiates the social
air until feverish restlessness takes the
place of the quiet, calm content of home
and it is only by determined will and
consecrated energy that the Christian
home is perpetuated. So much diversion
has almost leo TO an inversion OF social
order. With the prayer that these words.
fitting to the time, may be inspiring to
our deed, let us think little while this
morning on the Christian home.
1t Is SAID that three sweetest words
~ n md hao
Center and best of these three is home.
for there mother sreigns the uncrowned
queen. only as she is crowned in hearts
OF love and heaven. Were ii not home
would seem a boundless void, but with
the idea of home, eternal home, free from
sadness. sorrow and pain, where We shall
gather forever with one another and with
God. it is dear to US. But home is some
thing more than an abiding place or
house in which one lives We may say.
with Byron, He entered his house. his
house no more. for without hearts there
is no home" Home is that place sancti-
fled and sweetened by blissfui memories;
that circle surrounded with holy ties,
that company when kindred spirits blend
and hearts are welded as one. This rest
less American life Outlines dissipates
such home life. Change is so in the air.
But though our abodes may often change
the true home still remains the same.
'the sacred refuge of Our lives. Dryden
1t need not be mansion or palace
grand. The palace may be but shelter
while the miners cottage or farmers
humble roof may hide the true home.
You lind it in THE place built upon sacri-
fee, the surrender Of each to the good of
all.''-Gordon.
This spirit makes home the best spot on
earth and here is infused the Christ
spirit which, with Christ's presence.
makes it doubly attractive.
1t is to Christian home that our text.
with it's beautiful metaphor. points. 1t
gives US some peeps into such home.
Here dwells reverence for God and
walking in His ways. The father. dill
gent in business, earnest in the line of
his work, enjoying the fruit of his in
dustry in his home life. heart light
and free from care, believing all that
comes is for the best. his Whole life is
full of sunshine. The wife and mother
is as fruitful vine by the side of the
house. AS the vines of Palestine were
trained to climb up the sides of the house.
putting out tbeir clipging tendrils TO hold
them as they thrive. flourish and bear
fruit, so the wife is Il keeper at nome,
throwing out tendrils of love to Irvine
about the home circle as with joy and
gladness she guides her home from day
to day bring forth the fruit OF the '"Spir-
it-love. joy. peace, long suffering, gen
tleness, goodness. faith. nneelsness. tenn
perance." And as the vine dresser prizes
his olive orchard. training and pruning
his plants. setting great store by his
yield of olives, so the father finds his
children precious in his sight and promis-
ing as to the future because OF filial love
and obedience. AS olive plants around
the table they are lovers of home and fix
lures there. This is the ideal and the in
SEPARATION for the real But in many So
called Christian homes there are putrid
spots cankered lives. festered sores in
TANNED wounds 1t is not however the
Christ spirit that encourages these COM
ditions. but the lack Of Him and His
spirit
With these peeps into Christian home.
three reflections are suggested. The
Christian home magnifies God. Whatever
adds glory and honor TO Him shows the
ptency and practicabiIity OF His provis
ions for men magnifles Him. so the
Christian home nagnifies Him by adding
sweetness and adaptability TO its mem
hers. II magnifes Him by recognition OF
His presence daily. But further the
Christian home impresses the true rela-
ton Of members Of the home. one 10 the
other. Christianity teaches the true re-
lation: the home illustrates the relation.
Ii impresses the fact Ghat Christianity
alone furnishes true home for what is
the matched roof OF the savage. or the
harem o. the moslem. or the abiding
place OF sin and drunkenness and squaior
to compare with such a home Here.
alone. is found a realm OF happiness and
peace where each strives to iii the
sphere in which he belongs. Again. the
Christian home exerts a leaverirg infu-
enee on the community. At the church
IS profession declared, at the home Is
possession shown The grain u car-nine
dropped in the glass of water becomes
so infiinitesrniaIly divided tina; 90 the eve
It Is lost. bat the water receives it, ti1ts
the little leaven in the three measures 81
meal leavens the while lump. The pres
euce Of these forces tx :rse1cfblc. that is.
TO sudden Transformation IS necessary IN
make them Known but coon their force
,sssr - the