Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-11-21

only the resell Of her pagan teaching |
But tell me. father and mother hnve
you no fenr that such horror may |
one day be yours If you fail TO lead |
your children to Christi They seem
to you pure and good now. but IL they
go out into the world without the pro-
lection that Christ alone can give you
may he startled and agonized at see
! ing the serpents Of sin and vice rear
their heads out OF the breasts OF those
| loved ones. You can now mold them
as you WILL but the time is short. and
unless you make the most of 1t they
will pass from under your Influence
unprotected by Christ's love. Now,
/ while the opportunity Is yours by your
example and your teachings, do your
utmost to place them under Christ's
protecting care.
But there is another matter of which
have never heard you complain. 1t
is your religious privileges. | have
never heard you complain because you
bad no Sunday school 70 which you
could send your little children no
prayer meeting in which you could as
semblc with Gods disciples to pray. no
church altar at which on the Sabbath
day you could kneel and worship.
Thousands upon thousands today are
! living so far away from church that it
Is an impossibility for them to so there
on the Sabbath day. But this Is not
the case with you. Here you are liv-
inE practically under the shadow OF
the walls of our church. Here Is a
place in the family pew always wait
ing you Here are good men and wo-
men ready and willing to pray with
you. Whenever you come within these
walls spirit OF love and conservation
other place on earth.
A Church Homo.
Oh. how sorry feel for the man or
the woman who has no church home!
| feel almost as sorry as for the man
who has no domestic freside and who,
instead Of eating at his own family ia
BILE, is compelled to eat at boarding
houses and in restaurants Home,
home. home, It is the sweetest word
in all the English language Home,
home, home. 1t means the laughter
Of children and the froic in the nurs-
cry Home. home. home. 1t some
times means very humble roof and
very plain fare upon the table. Home,
home, home. 1t may mean struggle
J aud poverty and sickness and death.
But home means love. home means a
tender place, home means human
, hearts clinring TO us as we cling to
l them SO in the household of faith,
3 callc1 the church. We may not seem
to the outside world to amount Il
+ much, but we are one family gathered
= in Gods temple. which Is our spiritual
home Here we are living for each
other. Here we are praying for eacl
other. And here, as in no other place
! we feel the spiritual magnetic touch
p Of our fellow men. My friends, as a
, church we ought to try TO live more fol
, God For the sake Of the love we bear
each other we should try TO 10 1t. Are
we not as the wild ass knee deep in the
y Geld of sweet scented clover: Are We
= not as the OK before the manger filled
:. to overlooking with richest grain?
:. But there is another fact that l hav,
never heard you complain about, am
- that is your opportunity for doing GOO
!, In the great outside world In which
j, you live. | have never heard you sa.
, that there were 10 people in troubl
= near your home. AS | was writing thi
. sermon looked down from my stud
into the street and saw couple q
young ladies walking past. They wer
dressed from head to foot in black
They had sweet faces But ! was no
p, looking at them SO much as lookin
- beyond. | said to myself: II wonde
who has lately gone out of that famil
circle Was it a father or mother
- Was It brother whom those sister
were helping to educate at college
W God pity them" And as spoke thu
| thought of how many aching heart
there were about me. bleeding froi
w the cash of the gravediggers spade.
"a The Bees In the Barbados.
e Then the poor and the sick--oh, no.
b. many there are. And the young poop
or being ed forth into life of sin-yo
OF gee them all around you. Then the OF
At folks-how they would love to have I
a come and visit them and read to then
IL Yes. the opportunities are all about I
Ut for doing good. You have only
10 stretch forth your hands to touo
IN them Are we SO happy 50 contente
ID SO selfish, that we help not one abol
$. us? Charles Darwin, the great phys
hi ciSt, tells us that there is q degeneraC
|? which often follows great prosperit
,d Many years ago quite a number
OF bee swarms were carried to the islaI
n Of Barbados, in the West Indies.
III first they went diligently to work
4 gather honey to prepare for the comtr
winters. But when those bees four
NJ that they were IN land of perpetu
~ hummer they ceased to gather hone
n Instead they spent most Of their tin
nj flying around, singing the natives. 5
an | sometimes think il Is with some
lis us We have what can he called spifi
M ual degeneracy. God has surroundC
ar US with so many blessings that nstes
70 of working for his glory and for II
.s good of our fellow men we spend mo
rs of our time in living for self We thru
* The sting when we should be gatherr
" the sweetness of the gospel life to 81,
.rt ont again to starving men. Are we II
mr. standing knee deep amid the clov,
10 tops Of multitudinous opportuntiI
h. which we can use for the good