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February 5, 19131 T H B I
Undermining
BY REV. JOHN
Four hundred years ago two human freighted
vessels landed upon the shores of the new world.
The dark treacherous Spaniard of the one made
the jungles of South America ring with his insatiable
cries for gold; while the devout but determined
Puritan of the other knelt on Plymouth
I^aaIt on/1 iknnhnrl /*"! J ? 1- ? ?? J 1
uuvs auu uibukcu vj uu iui it uume una nresiue.
The gold of the Spaniard has long since wasted
away, stained by the blood of its masters, but the
home has come down to us "A rich legacy, a glorious
inn, sacred in a tradition that makes every
true American's heart beat with gratitude and
joy." The elements of our freedom and democracy
are so blended here that all history might
roll back its pages and declare: "This is your richest
heritage."
It has been so with every great religious nation.
Far back and above all achievements of man
stands tne home as the true source of our freedom
and independence. When the rights and liberty
of the American Colony were trampled upon
by the king's unjust taxation then there went up
from the homes among the hills and lowlands, a
mighty wail against oppression, a force that could
not be stayed until England's might and millions
had been triumphed over and her flag trailed in
the dust at Yorktown. The Irish mothers taught
the lads at their knee to love liberty, and though
"Their ghosts were doomed to weep over Ireland's
tomb," the spirit that l?d them, lives and glows
on a thousand new altars in America; and we may
confidently hope that Ireland herself in the near
iuture will enjoy her long cherished freedom?
llome Rule. The stern old Scot returned at evening
from his toil and with the faithful wife and
mother gathered "The baims about the ingle's
ruddy glow to tell of Bruce and Wallace" and
with Bums '.re know that "From scenes like these
old Scotia's grandeur springs." Nor shall we
look elsewhere for the source of our own greatness
when we realize that within the home is
laid the kingdom of woman. It is here in the
home that she lives, as one has said, "Between
God and man consecrating with her love and
life those ties which were created in heaven." It
is here from that mother throne she wields a living,
breathing, speaking power. And so long as
-L _ ? - - - - -
sue remains true to this ideal her sway is serene,
absolute, and unquestionable; and around that
one word "Mother" will ever center all that is
true and good.
The American wives and mothers, as surely as
"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that
rules the world" have, through their nurture of
children and their influence over men, the destinies
of our nation in tlicir keeping to a greater
extent than any other single agency. It is here
in the home and from the mother the child first
receives those great religious impressions that become
a Dart of hia nffpp life Tt <> li? ?
A . *?? AM IO 1IWC U1U liUUlCl
impulses of manhood spring?moreover it is a proverb
of old that "Every great man had a great
mother."
Such is the home as you and I know it Such
is its true relation to mankind, state, and society.
But though such is the meaning of home to you
and me, it is not the meaning of home to many
thousands of earth's population. Ah over this
land of ours we see forces at work which are simply
undermining the home-life and destroying its
vitality and. influence. Why. tonight one-third
nf " ....
? tut? population 01 our great cities will be crowded
in filthy hovels and tenements reeking with all
that goes to corrupt the manners and morals of
men. No wonder that boys from such huts fail
to become grown up young men, but seek the shelter
and alluring lights of bar rooms and gajnbling
dens. No wonder that girls finding no shel
'B18BTT111AH OF THE BO
% the Home
M. WALKER.
tering veil for their modeaty in audi wretched
hornea fail to become the polished corner stonea oi
cnnmf V.' ond nnif Knr uni* fnllAur ????%?? nt
wwv?vvj y uuu UVikUVi UliU UVi AWiiWIT l<UC IT OJ O Ul
true womanhood.. And no permanent reform can
be brought about until the habitations of these
people are radically changed and tne home life
restored.
Still more appalling to our home ufe is the
wailing cry that cornea from a million childreu
under the age of fourteen in our factories, mills
and awentahops. Children who are simply wearing
away their young livea in ceaseless toil from
early dawn till late at night, who are itius debarred
fore\er, by their ataiuluid of living, from
rising higher in the acale of civilization, deprived
ui an uuiue innuences ana training they giow up
an uneducated class, with no home ties, and with
but a faint ida of what the word "home" really
means. Wnen these boys and girls become lathers
and mothers, and they marry quite early,
they, in turn, are in no position whatever for
training up their children?having no knowledge
or love of home-life themselves.
The greater bane, however, to our home-life is
not found in these repulsive quarters, nor in the
busy hum of a thousand factories. Out in the
fashionable streets and avenues among the rich
restless rovincr ones there ia more than a onralanQ
disregard of this divine ordinance. The never
ending hurry of a strenuous social and business
life has produced an ultra-civilization that is
fast destroying the refinement of privacy. The
club has robbed the home of its sacred hours of
meditation, and the heart has been so filled witli
a restless gaiety that it has well nigh forgotten
the priceless heir-looms of the old home.
Here in our fair South Land the old quiet ru-ol
U 1 I:r_ I i 1 ' .?.
mi n6utuuuiui me nub given piace io a wiia lever
of modern industrialism?a whirlpool of money
making. And our old poiisned homes viiere the
servants were almost as loyal and permanent a
part of the household as the children are being
replaced by the hotel, the apartment house, and
the swarming tenement village.
With the changes in the home life there has
come a change in the spiritual, ethical and religious
life and thought of the people. The oldfashioned
reverence for sacred things, for manly
honor and maidenly purity, for the home and the
I J r i-i.- i-5?i- * '
uiuiiitigc uuuu, iui" me uigu coue oi personal Honor
and morality are sadly lacking in many places today.
And without these the home cannot exist
No wonder the church and the state are alarmed
today as never before at the rapid growth of the
divorce evil?that great monster that stalks about
our land in all his liideousness. What does it
mean? It means that thousands of homes have
been forever wrecked. It means that thousands of
mock-olferings have been laid upon the marriage
altar. It means that thousands of young souls
have been cut loose from the shores that should
anchor all affection, and cast upon an aimless
voyage for life.
Something must be done, these crimes which are
eating like a cankerworm at our domestic vitals
if not stopped will soon waste away a civilization
that was centuries in the making. "Where there .
are no oxen the crib is clean." Destroy the home
life of a people and you have an empty civilization
as restless as the raging sea.
What are you going to do about it, young men
and women, with honest generous hearts? What
are you going to do about it, Christian people,
whose religion is love, whose primal precept is
regard for the poor? Wrongs are to be righted,
injustice is to be corrected, wretchedness is to be
righted, by no temporizing but by striking at the
very root of those evils, their deep-lying cause.
I
U * H .?> <39) . a
Let us then set about serving our country by saving
our homes: let us avert the fearful fate that
threatens our nation by keeping pure the fountain
head that sends forth streams of young men
and women "To make glad the city of our God."
?Spray, N. C.
SNAP-SHOTS FROM OTHER CAMERAS.
"A hypocrite is to the church, what a mortgage
is to a house?an incumbrance which must be
:,1 ^i? L . ?. - *
puiu uu ueiore a clear title cun be procured."
This may all be true but fellow-Christian, don't
you fail in your Church duties; dunt stay away
from church on account of the scribes, pharisees
and hypocrites. You are doing yourself harm,
and not helping the church. Other mens' failuiea
are not going to save you, nor do they excuse you.
To whatever worlds lie carries our souls when
tliey shall puss out of these imprisoning bodies, in
those worlds these souls of ours shall find themselves
part of the same great Temple; for it belongs
not to this car tli alone, 'Inere cun lie n?
end of the universe where Uod is, to which that
growing Temple does not reach,?the Temple of
a creation to he wrought at last into a perfect utterance
of God by a perfect obedience to God.?
Brooks.
Ye also as lively stones, are built up a spiritual
house. 1 Peter 2:5.
The reason prayer is not answered is, that the
telephone wire is out of repair,?the telephone
wire of faith to God's heart. Pernaps the circuit
is broken.?Andrew Allen.
You will never be charged with excess tolls and
messages on God's telephone line. The office (Ilia
heart) is never closed.
If we stand in the openings of the present mo
ment, with all the length and breadth of our faculties
unselfishly adjusted to what it reveals, we
are in the best condition to receive what God is
always ready to communicate.?L'pham.
. Look up and not down; look forward and not
back; look out and not in; and lend a hand.?
Hale.
Be with God in thy outward works; refer them
to Him; seek to do them in Him, and for Him,
and He will be with thee in them, and they shall
not hinder, but rather invite His presence in thy
soul. Seek to see Him in all things, and in all
things He will come nigh to thee.?Pusey.
Be ready to every good work.?Titus 3 :1.
"Do you walk with God, or just near enough
to see Him, and hear llis voice but faintly ?" It
is the personal touch that counts.
"My soul, ask what thou wilt,
Thou cans't not be too bold;
Since llis own olood for thee He spilt,
What else can He withhold?"
My sheep hear my voice, and I know tlicra, and
they follow me,?John 10:27.
"Hereby we do know that we know him."
Assurance of faith is based upon testimony.
The sincere inquirer after the truth and the
honest seeker after Christ who is "the way, the
truth, and the life," is not shut up to blind
faith. God invites him to com* #nH
A VUOUU
about the matter. Pahl said, "I know whom
I have believed, and am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto
him."