The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-05-18

r fathers consecration until he finds his | fathers God. The questioning child at the altar through all ethe years of his | childhood produced the obedient son in
 the supreme moment. There comes a time in every life, in every home, in every family when the testing comes. There comes time when father and
 mother find out how much grip they
 have on the boy, on the girl-a time when they must say, ''Son, you can l not do that; daughter, you must not | go there" This is the hour when there must be parental grip-yes, parent
 al cable built of weeks and months and
 years of building altars and making sacrifices and answering questions and opening the way of life and light. Only a short time ago a father con- | suited me in reference to his son. read upon his sad face as he entered my office despair and heartache. He
 said, "A few days ago I walked up to I the fact that my boy had joined an in | stitution, that he was indulging in
 pleasures contrary to my ideas of life,
 safety and happiness. l said Son, all
 this is against my wishes, You must l withdraw from this institution and
 cease to indulge in these things" fI saw in my boys face an expression of | rebellion which wounded me as he could
 not have done with a dagger. With a
 tone and an expression that had never l witnessed before, he said, Father, have already joined this thing; my plans are made, my friends expect cer- tain things of me, and l shall carry them out was utterly astounded." l" Said the father, T didn't know what to do. I did nothing. I come to you for advice" I said to the father,
 Would you allow me to ask you few questions that I may know exactly how to adviser" He replied, Certain ly." How old is your son 2 He an- church with you?" "He does not9' Do you have family prayers?'' I've do not" Have you in the past ten years regularly and systematically kneeled with him in any place in secret pray err? T have not. We have sent him to Sunday school and he has attended church more or less regularly. We re- garded him as a good boy.n Do you know what he has read?" T do not.p Iou ask me in the face of these facts what to d6a My answer is "You are done. Twenty years oId-no cords of secret prayer or family prayer; no trips to. the mountain of sacrifice: no hours alone with God. Twenty years old and tied up wrong and determined to continue. What can you do? I an- swer, you have asked me too lota."
 Abraham reached this crisis. They travelled into the lonely mountain. The God was on the boys shoulder. The father had the fire in one hand and the knife in the other. They were as- lending the mount of sacrifice. The son said to the father, 'sHere is the wood and the fire but where is the lamb?" T:,e father eyadel the answer. The time had not come. When the altar was built and the wood was placed upon it and father and son were alone wish Gcd facing the altar. at that supreme moment the father made his demand of the boy. The father said. "Son, you are to be the lamb today
 You must get upon the altar and must execute you with this knife and burn you with this fire" This was the supreme test of parental authority. This youth as tall as his father, strong, ruddy and active, turned his eye into fathers face and said, Father, have my friends, my future happiness, my life. This. is too much to ask of me. My plans are made. I am not ready
 to die. I shall return to the tent" No No! do not know what the con-. versation was; we have no record of ,the conversation except the fathers command and the sons silent obedience. It is easy to imagine the quivering voice of the father, the blanched face of the son, the tears streaming down
 the fathers face and raining from the boys cheek. It was supreme moment
 but the father had grip on God, grip on the boy and all hell could not break it. It is a great hour in the home and in the family when the crucial test comes and father realizes he has his boy with him, His discipline holds, his wish prevails. There has come to ev- cry home a crisis like this-it comes ever and anon, and must continue to come. #
 The history of Abraham is the, story of all the fathers of Ill the ages. Home authority is the power accumu- lated by many years of consistent Iiy- ing, patient training and a supreme devotion to His Word, His church and
 the sacred hours of worship. All these