Exeter Times, 1897-3-4, Page 2rw-f
TE
EXEVER TIMES
THE R E RELIGION
Rlw'V. DR. TALMAGE DISCOURSES ON
THE SUBJECT.
What Righteousness in the h ousebold
»Roes for the Fttnttiy—its it a Profile
able Thing Y — The Great l'reaeber
Draws a lesson hens Joshua's Sayings,
ex' is fighting, and we are digging aud
mother is praying." " Ah I" said
some one, " praying and digging and
fighting will bring_us out of our na
't
tional troubles."a may pray in the
morning, "Give us this day our daily
bread," and sit down in idleness and
starve to death; but prayer and hard
work will give a livelihood to any
family. Family religion pays for both
worlds. Let us have an altar in each
one of our households. You may not
Rev. Dr. Talmage preached the fol- be able to formulate a prayer. Then
lowing•discourse on "Religion at there are Philip Henry's prayers, and
there are htcDuff's prayers, and there
Home," the text selected being Joshua, are Philip Doddridge's prayers, and
24,15: "As for me and my house we there are the Episcopal Church pray -
will serve, the Lord." ers, and there are scores of books with
Absurd, Joshua I You will have no (supplications just suited t•o the domes-
tic. circle.
time for family religion; you are a " Oh !" says some man, " I don't feel
military character, and your time will competent to lead my household in
be taken up with affairs connected with prayer." Well, I do not know that it
is your duty to lead. I think, perhaps.
the army; you are a statesman, and it is sometimes better for the mother
your time will be taken tip with pub., of the household to lead. She knows
lie affairs; you are the Washington. better the wants of the household. She
the Wellington, the McMahon of the can read the scriptures with a more
tender enunciation. She knows more
tsraelitish host,
you will have a great of God. I will put it plainly, and
many questions to settle, you will have say she prays better. Oh ! these
no times for religion. But Joshua, with mothers decide almost everything.
the same voice with which he cora- A young man received a furlough to
minded the sun and moon to halt, and return from the army to his father's
house. Afterward lie took the furlough
stack arms of light on the parade ! back to the officer, saying, 'I
ground of the heavens, says. "As for would like to postpone my visit for two
me and my house we will serve the weeks." At the end of the two weeks
Lord." his came and got the furlough. He
was asked why he waited "Well,"
Before we adopt the. resolution of this he replied, "when I left home I told
old soldier, we want to be certain it I my mother I would be a Christian in
he to
army, and I was resolved not .
is a wise resolution. If religion is
the
co home until I could answer her first
going to put my piano out of tune and question. ' Oh, the almost omniroteirt
°ower of the mother! But if !loth the
hither and the mother be right, then
the children are almost sure to coin
back to the right road. It may be
until the death of one of the rarents.
How often it is that we hear some
one say, "Oh he was a wild young
man, but since his father's death he
has been different !" The fact is that
the father's coffin, or the mother's cof-
fin, is often the altar of repentance for
the child. Oh ! that was a stupendous
day, the day of father's burial. it
was not the officiating clergyman who
Made the chief impression, nor the
sympatw
father asleephizing in rhemourncaser,;ket.it
Theas bandthes
that had toiled for that household so
long, folded. The brain cooled off af-
ter twenty or forty years of anxiety
about how to put that family in right
position. The lips closed after so
many years of good advice. There
are more tears falling in mother's
grave than in father's grave; but over
the father's tone= I think there is a
kind of awe. It is at that marble pil-
lar many
ayoung beene-
volutionized.` c an has s r
O, young man, with cheek flushed
with dissipation ! how long is it since
you have been out to your father's
grave? Will you not go this week?
Perhaps the storms of the last few
days may have bent the headstone un-
til' it Ieans far over. You had better
go out and see whether the lettering
has been defaced. You had better go
out and see whether the gate of the
lot is closed. You had better go and
see if you cannot find a sermon in the
springing grass. 0, young man! go
out this week and see your father's
grave. Religion did so much for our
Christian ancestry, are we not ready
this morning to be willing to receive
ha into our own household I If we do
receive it let it come through the front
door, do not let us smuggle it in. There
are a great many families who want
to be religious, but they do not want
anybody outside to know it. They
would be mortified to death if you
caught them at family prayers. They
would not sing in the worship for fear
their neighbors would hear them. They
do not have prayers when they have
company !
They do not know much about the
nobility of the western trapper. A. tra-
veler going along was overtaken by
night and a storm, and he entered a
cabin. There were firearms hung up
around the cabin. Ha was alarmed. He
Thad a large amount of money with
him, but he did not dare to venture
out into the night in the storm. He
did not like the looks of the household
After a while the father, the Western
trapper came in, gun on his shoulder,
and when the traveler looked at him
he was still more affrighted. After a
while the family were whispering to-
gether in one cornier of the room, and
the traveler thought to himself "Oh !
now my time has come ; I wish I was
out in the storm and in the nightrath-
er than here." But the swarthy man
came tip to him and said: "Sir, we
are a rough people; we get our living
by hunting, and we are very tired
when the night comes; but before go-
ing to bed we always have a habit of
reading out of the Bible and having
prayers, and I think we will have our
usual custom to -night; and if you
don't believe in that kind of thing, if
you will just step outside the door for
a little while I will be much obliged
to you."
clog the feet of my children racing
through the hall. and sour the bread,
and put crape on the door bell, I do
not want' it in my house. I once gave
six dollars to hear Jenny Lind warble.
I have never given a cent to hear any-
one groan. Wilt this religion spoken
of in my text do anything for the din-
ing -hell, for the nursery, fur the parlor,
for the sleeping apartment.
It is a great deal easier to invite a
disagreeable guest than to get rid of
him. If you do not want religion you
had better not ask it to come, for af-
ter coming it may stay a great while.
Isaac Watts went to visit Sir Thomas
and Lady Abney at their place in
Theobald, and was to stay a week, and
stayed thirty-five weeks; and if relig-
ion once gets into your Household the
probability is it will stay there forever.
Now the question I want to discuss
is: What will religion do for the
household? fhaestion the first. What
did it do for your fat tier's house, if you
were brought up is a Christian home ?
The whole scene has vanished, but
it comes back to -day. The hour for
morning prayers came. You were in-
vited In. Somewhat fidgety, you sat
- end listened. Your father made no
nretentions to rhetorical reading, and
ae just went thrditgh the chapter in
a plain. straighiforwaira way. Then
you all knelt. It was about the i im
prayer morning by morning and night:
by night, for he bad the same sins to
ask pardon far, and he had the same
blessings for which to be grateful day
after day and year after year. The
prayer was longer than you would like
to have had it, for the game at ball
was waiting, or the skates were lying
under the shed, or the schoolbooks
needed one or two more looking at the
lessons. Your parents, somewhat
rheumatic and stiffened with age found
it. difficult tv rise from their kneeling
The chair at which they knelt is gone
the Bible out of which they read has
perhaps fallen to pieces, the parents
are gone, the children scattered north,
east, south and west; but =that -whole
scene flashes upon your memory to-
day. Was that morning and evening
exercise in your father's hoose debas-
ing oe elevating? Is it not among the
most sacred reminiscences? You
were not as devotional as some of the
older members of your father's house
who were kneeling with you at the
same time, and you did not bow your
head as closely as they did, and you
looked around and you saw just the
posture your father and mother as-
sumed while they were kneeling on the
floor. The whole scene is so photo-
graphed err your memory that if you
were an artist you could draw it now
as they knelt. For hoe much would
you have that scene obliterated from
your memory m ry G It all comes back to-
day, and you are in the homestead
again. Father is there, mother is
there, all of your children are there.
It is the same old prayer, opening with
the same petition, closing with the
same thanksgiving. The family pray-
ers of 1810, 1850, as fresh in your mem-
ory as though they were uttered yes-
terday. The tear that starts from
your eye melts all the scene. Grine,
is it? Why, many a time it has held
you steady in the struggle of life. You
once started for a place, and that
memory jerked you back, and you
could not enter.
The broken prayer of your father has
had more effect upon you than all you
ever read in Shakespeare, and Milton,
and Tennyson and Dante. You have
gone over mountains, and across seas.
You never for a moment got out of
sight of that domestic altar. 0, my
friends! is it your opinion this morn-
ing that the ten or fifteen minutes sub-
tracted from each day for family de-
votion was an economy or a waste of
time in your father's household? I
'hink some of us are coming to the
.onclusion that the religion which was
am our father's house would be very
appropriate religion for our homes. If
amity prayers did not damage that
tousehoid there is no probability that
they will damage our household.
' Is God dead?" said a child to her
father. " No," he replied, " why do
you ask that ?" " eil," she said,
when mother was living we used to
have prayers, but since her death we
haven't had family prayers, and I
didn't know but what God was dead,
too." A family that is launched in the
morning with family prayers is well
Launched, Breakfast over, the fam-
ily scattter, some to school, some to
household duties, some to business.
During the day there wilI be a thou-
sand perils abroad—perils of the street
car, of the scaffolding, of the ungov-
erned horse, of the misstep of the
aroused temper, of multitudinous
temptations to do wrong, Somewhere
etween seven o'clock in
the morning
and ten o'clock ' at night there may
be a moment when you will be in ur-
gent need of God. "Beside that, family
prayers will be a secular advantage. A
?father went into thewar to serve his
country. Ills children stayed and ,cul-
tivated the, farm. His wife prayed,
ed,
One of the sons said afterward, ".Fath -
Oh ! there are many Christian par-
ents who have not half the courage
of the Western trapper. They do not
want their religion projecting too con-
spicuously. They would like to have
it near by so as to having it dominant
in the household from the first
of January, seven o'clock a.m., to the
thirty-first of December, ten o'clock
p.m., they do not want it. They would
rather die and have their families per-
ish with them than to cry out in the
bold words of the soldier in my text:
"As for me and my household we will
serve the Lord."
There wall , in my ancestral line, an
incident so strangely impressive that
it seems more like romance than re-
ality. It has sometimes been so in-
accurately put forth that I now give
you the true incident. My grandfather
and grandmother, living at Somerville,
New Jersey, went to Baskingridge to
witness a revival under the ministry
of the Rev., Dr. Finlay. They came
home so impressed with what they had
seen that they resolved on the salva-
tion of their children.
TheSun people of
y g pe p e the house were
to go off for an evening party, but Puy
grandmother said:
"Now, when you are ready for the
party, come to my room, for I have
something very important to tell you."
All ready for departure they came to
her room, and she said to them: "Now,
I want you to remember while you are
away this evening I am all the time in
this room praying for your salvation,
and I shall not cease praying until you
get back." The young people went
to the party, but amid the loudest
hila.rities of the night they could not
forget that their mother was praying
for them. The evening passed and the
night passed. ,
The next day my grandparents heard
an outcry in an adjoining room, and
they went in and found their daughter
imploring the salvation of the Gospel.
The daughter told them that her bro-
thers were ate—tie barnand at the
wagon house under powerful convic-
tion of • sin. They went to the barn.
They found my uncle Jehiah, who af-
terwards became a minister of the
Gospel, crying to God for mercy. They
went to the wagon house. They found
their son David, who afterwards be-
came my father, imploring God's par-
don and mercy. Before a great while
the whole family were saved, and
David went and told the story to a
yoed,i w.ho, as womanng result to ooftithe stony.lobcee
came a Christian, and from her own
lip -my mother's—I have received the
incident.
The story of that converted house-
hold ran through all tho neighborhood,
from family to family, until the whole
region was whelmed with religio -s
awakening, and at the nett commun-
ion in the village church at Somerville,
over two hundred souls stood up to
profess the faith of the Gospel. My
mother, carrying the memory, of this
scene from early womanhood into far-
ther life, in after years was resolved
upon the salvation of her children, and
for many years every week, she met
families were saved— myself, the
think that all the members of those
three other Christian mothers to pray
for the salvation of their families. I
youngest and the last.
There were twelve of us children. I
trace the whole line of mercy bank to
that hour when my Christian grand-
mother sat in her room imploring the
blessing of God upon her children.
wine of her descendants became
preaeberheo Gospel. Many of her
descendali in heaven, many of
them still in t gChristian conflict. Did
it pay for her to spend the whole even-
ing in prayer for her household? Ask
her before the throne of God, surround-
ed by her children. In the presence
of the Christian Church to -day, Imalte
this record of ancestral piety. Oh !
there is a beauty, and a t enderness,
and a sublimity in family religion.
There are two arms to this subject.
The one arm puts its hand on all
parents. It says to them: "Don't
interfere with your children's welfare,
don't interfere with their eternal hap-
piness, don't you, by anything you do,
put out your foot and put them into
rum. Start them under the shelter,
the insurance, the everlasting help of
Christian parentage. Catechisms will
not save them, though catechisms are
good. The rod will not save theta,
though the rod may be necessary. Les-
sons of virtue will not save them,
though they are very important. Be-
coming a through and through, up and
down, out and out Christian yourself
will make them Christians. •
The other arm of this subject puts its '
hand upon those who had a pant; i
bringing up, but who have as yet die-
appointed the expectations excited in i
regard to them. I said that children
brought up in Christian households,
though they might make awide curve,
were very apt to come back to the
straight path. Have you not been
curving out long enough? and is it•nat
most time for you to be curving in?
"Oh," you say, "they were too rigid."
Well naw, my brother, I think you
have a pretty good character consider-
ing what you say your parents were.
Do not boast too mural about the style
in which your parents brought you up.
Might it not be possible that you would
be an exception to the general rule
laid down, and that your might spend
your eternity in a different world from
that in which your parents are spend-,
ing theirs?
I feel anxious about you, you feel
anxious about yourself. Oh I cross
over into the right path. If your par-
ents prayed for you twice a day, each
of them twice a day for twenty years„
that would make 29,000 prayers for you.
Think of them!
By the memory of the cradle int
which your childhood was rocked, with.
the foot that long ago ceased to move,
by the crib in which your own children
slumber night by night. under God's
protecting care, by the two, graves in
which sleep those two old hearts that
beat with love so long for your welfare,
and by the two graves in which you,
now the living father and mother, will
find your last repose, I urge you to
the discharge of your duty.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON, MARCH 7.
'The Ethiopian Convert;' Golden Text
Acts S. 26.40.
GENERAL STATEMENT.
The story of to -day has a perennial
charm. Each Tiny detail has an at-
tractiveness of its owr The desert
road between two crouded capitals; the
evangelist led step by step by the
Spirit: of God; the roll of Hebrew pro-
phecy which proclaimed the truths of
the Gospel centuries after its author
had been laid in his grave; the royal
treasurer of Ethiopia driving with
gorgeous escort through the wilderness;
the ceremony of baptism performed
with such Readiness and simplicity—
these are parts of the picture of which
the world can never tire. But the
chief chasm of the story comes from
its spiritual truth. Here we see that,
in one way or another, intimations
come from God which, if followed, will
lead aright; that a loftier intellect
than yours or mine directs the wills of
men about us; "a good man's steps are
ordered of the Lord, and. he delighteth
in his way." Here we are taught that
there is no such thing as chance. ' That
this lowly African was on this road at
this hour was as really God's doing as
that Phillip was there. It was no ac-
cident which had brought him up to
the feast at Jerusalem; it did not
"chance" that when he turned to the
study of the Greek Scriptures it was
that passage in Isaiah which so singu-
larly foretells the meek sufferings of
the Saviour that opened before him.
God's fingers play on all the keys of
human life. The supreme attractive -1
ness of the character of the Messiah is
another truth brought to our notice
by this lesson. y Whether we read the
words of our Lord, or the record of his
passion, or the philosophic expounding
of his doctrines by Paul, or the prophecy
Which the Ethiopian studied, we find
ourselves in the presence of the Son of
man, tire Embodiment of Israel's spiri-
tual ideals, the Incarnation of the bean-
titudes ; and to this Hoty One are
drawn all souls who feel the weight
of sin. We have in this lesson also an
account oL-a representative conviction
and conversion, a photograph of the
steps by which a sinner is led to God.
Conscience had led the eunuch, while
still in, distant Meroe, to pray to the
unknown God; conscience, enlightened
by thought and reading, guided by the
.a•t • a .! " 4h ,, 0-4' sv' r e
; r'
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Hely Spirit, had led him to leave the
gloomy, splendor of Candace's palace to
pray in Jerusalem, thus conforming to
the requirements of the "Church" of
that day; conscience led him to pore
over the prophetic literature ; and now,
conscience and intellect together ask,
"Who is the Holy Character thus por-
trayed?" He has gone as far in his
spiritual adventure as he can go with,
out assistance; he has seized every op-
portunity and lived up to every privi-
lege; so God, by causing Philip to join
the chariot, sends richer privileges and
Iarger opportunities. "To him that
bath shall be given." Finally, we ob-
serve that as fuller light comes the
Ethiopian eunuch uses it and presses
forward. "What shall Ido l" is his goes-.
tion. "Decide for Christ," is the answer.
This is just what he did. He has long
known of a Christ, perhaps -as devout
Jews knew of him—vaguely and dimly,
by the help of the temple ritual.
Through his study of the prophets he
has learned to know him better. Under
the preaching of the evangelist his
ideas become still more definite. He•
will henceforth be a follower of the,
Christ. "What cloth hinder me?" So
he is formally inducted by baptism into
the Church. Here is an important.
lesson on the value of opportunity'
PRACTICAL NOTES.
Verse 26. And the angel. Better,
"But the angel." Philip. One of the
"seven men of honest report, full of
time Holy Ghost and wisdom," chosen'
by the Church et Jerusalem to super-
vise the help given t. poor disciples:
Toward the south. "South" should
have a capital S ; the lower part of
Southwas generally kno h D eht
h , it was also called T es
and The Wilderness; and the last three
words of this verse do not describe
Gaza, as the grammatical construction
might imply, but the southern wilder-
ness
ilderness of Judea, The sentence has been
Iturned into modern English, thus: )'lirase is interchangeable with "the!
"Take the journey by the south as far angel of the Lord" (above) we do not
I
jas the road that goes from Jerusalem know ; what we may be certain of is
to Gaza, where the country is desert." that, 2, God's Spirit as really .directs
Philip was to go southward from Sa- his children now as ever. This the Bi- l
maria till he came to the junction of ble everywhere plainly declares, and !
Lthe Gaza road with the Jerusalem road. the experience of Christians in all
There is some authority, however. for ages proves. Go near, and join thy- I
eading "at noon' instead of toward self. Approach and slip into compare- i
j the south." 1. God takes as minute per- ionable relations with this foreigner.
sonal care of you and me as he does 30. Philip ran. He hastened to over -
of Philip. The solitude of the way may take the Ethiopian party. Heard him.
have induced the eunuch to turn to the For the eunuch was reading aloud, a
book. custom almost universal in the Orient.
The prophet Esaias. "The same Pro-
vidence which sent Philip to meet him
in the desert directed his reading to
the fifty-third chapter of the great
evangelical prophet."—Bishop Hervey.
Sl. Hew can I, except some man
should guide me? In antiquity all
sacred writings were supposed to have
an inner meaning not intelligible to
the lay reader ; religions were believed
to be both "exoteric" and "esoteric"—
that is, to have a superficial meeting
for common folk and a deeper meaning
for the favored few. He desired Philip
that he would come up and sit with
him. The eunuch regarded Philip as a
religious sage.. "Desired" should be
"besought." Hare we have the writ-
ten word, a living teacher, and a most
eager pupil. 3. Earnest inquirers wel-
come helpfrom any quarter.
32. The place of the Eco ipture which
he read was this. The quotation from
Isaiah 53' which follows is not. can that
theeunuch had read, but what was
holding his attention at this moment,
and it is the keynote of an extended
passage. Led as a sheep to the slaugh-
ter. That is, without resistance.
83. The variations in this verse from
our Hebrew, text arises from the fact
that they are taken front the Septua-
gint, Greek Version, which varies in
many . regards from the Hebrew. In
his humiliation his judgment was taken
away. Our translation from the He-
brew Version is i'by oppression . and
judgment he was taken away," which
means 'substantially the same thing.
Who shall declare his generation? This
is 'a different passage in the original.
The meaning is probably, "Who will
give serious thought to his life or his
age, seeing thatit is so prematurely
cutoff?" The Samhebrian hated him,.
and sought 'to wipe his record from
history, but God frustiated their plans.
34. Of whom speaketh the prophet
•
} 27. He arose and went. With
prompt obedienoe. A man of Ethiopia.
What we would now call an Abyssin-
ian. Ethiopia is known in classical liter-
ature as Meroe. It was a center of com-
Imerce; and its inhabitants were then,
I as now, lar a in stature, dark in color,
and beautifully developed. A eunuch.
Eunuchs were frequently employed in
i ancient statecraft. Of great author-
ity. Which. he had acquired doubtless
• by personal ability. Candace. Hints
! in ancient history make it probable
that "Candace" was a titular name ad-
! opted by the Queen of Ethiopia, as
!Pbataoh was adopted by the kings
of Egypt, and Caesar by the Roman
emperors; and we have the authority
of Eusebius for saying that the Ethic-
' pianswere always governed by a
• queen. End the charge of all her
treasure. Was probably not only her
' private treasure, but the treasurer of
the kingdom as well. Had come to
' Jerusalem for to worship. He is sup-
posed by some to have been already
a proselyte to the Jewish faith.
28. Was returning., Still before
him was a long, wearisome, and some-
what dangerous journey. Sitting in
his chariot. Traveling in such state
as no great • men now affect. Read
Esaias the prophet. Isaiah. Among
providential arrangements for the
spread of the Gospel when it came were
tlee universal use of the Greek language.
brought about by the conquests of
Alexander ; the translation of the He-
brew Scriptures into Greek, the wide
diffusion of Hebrew law and doctrine
by means of the Jewish dispersion. Is-
aiah was regarded as the greatest of
prophets, andit was :a natural . thing
for this studious and reverent eunuch
to select the roll of Isaiah as the book
to read on his homeward way.
29. The Spirit said. Row far this
this? Here is the record of a question
as intelligent and discerning as any
man could ask about this passage. Ev-
ery fact we learn concerning this eu-
nich places him high in our estimate.
-35. Began at the same Set V'ture.
Should be "Beginning from." He start-
ed with Isaiah, but passed . down
through consecutive prophets, show-
ing that Jesus was the fulfillment of
all prophecy. Preached unto him Je-
sus. Doubtless he told him all that
could be told concerning "the Church."
See the next verse.
36. A certain water. The water in
the wady Tel-el-Hasy .was "identified"
by Dr. Robinson as that in which Philip
baptized the eienuoh, It is on the
southermost road from Jerusalem to
Gaza, and,, it.runs through a country
which has in all ages been desert. But
the identification is not certain. What
cloth hinder me to be baptized A•ques-
tion which shows that Philip's ex-
planation must have been extensive, for
it included the simple rites of the
Christian Church.
37. The teacher will notice that this
verse is not in the Revised Version. It
has been omitted because it is not in.
the oldest existiug manuscripts. On the
other hand, it is quoted by Irenaeus
and Cyprian, and they wrote long be-
fore any manuscripts now existing
were mitten. Faith • in Christ is an •
essential prerequisite to baptism in the
case of an adult, for he has personally
sinned, and faith only can bring him
into a state of salvation; Butinfants
are already 'in a state .of salvation
through the atonement of Christ. Be-
lievest with all thine heart. "Believ-
ing with the heart" is a most suggeem-
tive phrase. Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. A whole body of divinity in a
sentence.
88. Be, The eunuoli. They went
down both into the water. Down the
steep banks of the mountain torrent'
39. The Spirit' of the Lord caught
away Philip. A miracle' seems to he
plainly indicated here. He went on his
way rejoicing. ' The eunuch doubtless
recognized that Philip was a messen-
ger
follow by God. He makes no attempt
e
him, but passes on to his own
country rejoicing that his soul is
Saved.
Dominion notes in circulation at the
end of January were h21,929,209 an in-
crease of 4106,995 for the month,