The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-07-06
STOvALL DECLARES
DIVORCE GREATEST
ENEMY OF COUNTRY
Baptist Pastor in Last of
Marriage Series DenOunces
Easy and Goddess Disre-
gard Of Sacred Vows.


enemies OF the home.
These three forces were denounce,
by Rev. w. o. Stovall at the First Bap
list church last night in the last Of hi.
series Of four sermons on marriag,
and the home.
Rev. Mr.. Stovall's address follows
We live in a country of homes. Ev
cry living thing must have place FOL
rest and for caring for its young, g
aalr, den or a nest, and in a sense
that place is a home. But the home
that makes civilization and promotes
human happiness is more than a shell
ter or place to eat and sleep.
The home must provide shelter
from the storms of life, food for the
hungry heart and rest for the weary
soul. In the home, the real home, there
1sEsweet companionship and fellow.
NHp or interest. 1t is a place of deep
sympathies and mutual burden bear
Ing, where joys and sorrows are
shared in common, where each one de-
MES himself for the sake of the 9th.
ers. The brute instinct is submerged
In the common interest.
The father knows no higher purpose
than to make wife and babes comfor-
table and happy, and to surround
SACtA Will lHOoc JldI MAKE
for their welfare In this his JOY is
made full
The mothers joy is in ministering.
Wearied with much serving, she is
happy in the happiness of her loved
ones. But in the best home, the home
where there is wisdom mingled with
love, the children have some part in
the tasks. In our American homes we
seldom any more find that stern prac-
ticality that brushes the joys out Of
childhood.
Children Are Trusts.
The child is sent into the home
neither as pet nor servant but as
trust from God. Another human life
has come into being to add to the good
OF society and the glory of God, to en-
rich earth and heaven. We are untrue
to our trust if either through love or
neglect we fail to develop in it that
sense of responsibility and zest for
the task that life is going to demand
g. it,
Did you ever notice that the least
appreciative among children are usual
ly those who have been most indulg-
ed! Parents often ask why it is that
their children are so dissatisfied with
their homes. They have been loved,
shielded. petted and INDUCED, why are
they not interested in such a home?
l will tell you one reason why They
never were taught anything that
would make them enthusiastic about
their home.
1t is this kind of home, where love
is mixed with sense and practically is
mellowed by sentiment, where the
family is really family, it is this kind
Of home that gives to life it's noblest
ideals
The home is the nursery of ideals.
Nothing has so much to do with de-
termining the kind of man or woman
the child is to become as the home
The school. the Sunday school and the
church are only helps of the home |
Out in the world the child will meet
with selfishness, greed, impurity, hard !
ness. falsehood and evil of every kind |
He must be buttressed against the on
slaught of these things: ne must have
that within him which. is repealed by |
the allurements of sin, and defies it's
threats. And he must get that thing
from his home. If he learns selfish
ness and falsehood there. it means
that his light has been turned into
darkness. Right here l wish to pay my
respects to Il parent who will lie to
his child What parody on discip-
line, what farce, what hypocricy
for parent with tongue still Shiny
from lie to child to punish the
child for lie to the parent!
Christian Home Best
But the home that would throw the
surest protection about the child must
be Christian home. The highest
ideals grow only in Christian soil. We
send our children out into life warned
a against doing a lot of things because
those things will injure them, and ad-
vised to do lot of other things be-
cause those things will help them We
too often put life on the low plane of
eXpediency. The child who has gone
out from the home where a godly
father and mother have served, where .
the name of God has been honored
and the voice of prayer has been fire. j
quently heard, where the open Bible ,
is often seen and Christian conversa- {
ton is the custom, that child has re-
ceived priceless heritage, and he !
shall never spend so many years on I
earth, and never become so engrossed :
with the affairs of the world, but that
the influence will stay with him like ,
the fragrance Of sweet incense. :
There is just one more thing l wish =
% say about the home 1t is the
source and surety Of our democratic ..
u q
came from life in real homes our faith !!
BIS would never have been able to set !
Up and start on its successful way the J.
orm OF government under which we
i've. How many countries have tried d,
o initiate us and have made a sorry l.
ness Of it or complete failure! Why?
because the home, the fundamental y
Institution of national life, is so Woe =
ully defective. Why must Mexico in
is effort to be a republic, be either
n the hands of a dictator or in a state
II internal war? Because such small
percentage of her homes is capable of Il
reducing the type Of life indispensa- Il
lie to self-government. e
Divorce an Enemy. 81
1t Is clearly evident that ANYTHING b
hat strikes at the home strikes at the O
ital part of our civilization. The te
uestions that are agitating society in ly
egard to the marriage relation are fl
lore than matters of abstract moral
y. They have an intensely practical OF
caring on individual and national Sc
'elfare. Today many enemies are in W
aiding and violating the homes. D:
lake for instance the unholy disre- sa