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February 5, 1913] T H E P
Undermining
BV 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
Hock and thanked (Jod for a home and fireside.
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 deelaie: "This is your richest
heritage."
It has been so with every great religious nation.
Far buck and above all achievements of man
stands the 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 ami 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 Hag trailed in
the dost 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 led them, lives and glows
on a thousand new altars in America; and we may
confidently hope that Ireland herself in the near
future will enjoy her long cherished freedom?
Home Rule. The stern old Scot returned at evenllltr
f mill liia tnil nn#l nrifli i li? foiOvfnl ??/l
0 .. ...W ?W?? U4*u niui HiV xui iwi Ui Hlic UUU
mother gathered "The buims about the ingle's
ruddy glow to tell of Bruce and Wallace" and
with Burns we know that "From scenes like these
old Scotia's grandeur springs." Mor 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
Hod 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
she 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 their keeping to a greater
extent than any other single agency. It is here
in the home and from the mother the child iirst
receives those great religious impressions that become
a part of his after life. It is here the nobler
impulses ui inannoou spring?moreover it is a proverb
of old that "Every great 1111111 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 111c, it is not the meaning of home to many
thousands of earth's population. All over this
land of ours we see forces at work which are simply
undermining the home-life and destroying its
vitality and. influence. Why. tonisrht one-third
of the population of 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 gambling
dens. No wonder that girls finding no shel
EEBBYTEEIAN OF THE 8 <
ej the Home
M. WALKER.
tering veil lor their modesty in such wretched
homes fail to become the polished corner stones oi
society, and neither liud nor follow the ways oi
true womanhood. And 110 permanent reform can
be brought about until the habitations ui' these
people are radically changed and the hoiuc lite
restored.
Jstill more appalling to our home ate is the
wailing cry tiiut comes from a million children
under the uge oi fourteen in our lactones, mills
and sweatshops. Children who are simply wearing
away their young lives in ceaseless toil irom
early dawn till late at nignt, who aie la us debarred
forever, by their siandaid of living, from
rising higher 111 the scale of civilization. Deprived
of all home lhlluenccs and training they glow up
an uneducated class, with no home ties, and with
but a faint ida of what the word'* home " really
means. Vv neu these boys and girls become lathers
and mothers, and they many quite early,
they, in turn, are in no positiou 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 111 these repulsive quarters, nor in the
busy hum of a thousand factories. Out in the
lashionable streets and avenues among tiie rich
restless roving ones there is more than a careless
disregard oi this divine ordinance. The never
ending hurry oi a strenuous social und business
lil'e lias produced an ultra-civilization that is
last destroying the relinement of privacy. The
club lias robbed the home ol' its sacred hours oi
meditation, and the heart has been so tilled witli
a restless gaiety that it has well nigh forgotten
the priceless heir-looms of the old home.
Here in our fair South Laud the old quiet ru
ral agricultuial life hus given place to a wild fevei
of uioderu ludustrialisui?a whirlpool of nionej
inakiug. And our old polished homes where tin
sei*vauts were almost as loyal and pennanent a
part of the household as the children are bein$
replaced L>y the hotel, the apartment house, uni
the swarming tenement village.
With the changes in the home life there ha
come a change in the spiritual, ethical and religious
life and thought of the people. The old
fashioned reverence for sacred things, for manlj
honor and maidenly purity, for the home and tlu
marriage bond, lor the high code of personal houoi
wrwl Ilim-Illilv uro tiilillv liu>L-inr? in monu
? ? ? vj V 1U 111UUJ ^/lUCLO bU
day. And without these the home cannot exist.
No wonder the church and tiie state are ularmec
today as never before at the rapid growth of tin
divorce evil?that great monster that stalks abou
our land in all his hideousness. What does i
mean? It means that thousands of homes liavi
been forever wrecked. It means that thousands o
inock-olferings have been laid upou the uiarriagi
14 * I.-I 41 1- ~t I
uitui. Jib iiicuua mat liiuuiiilius Ui _)UUIlg SUU1
have been cut looso from tl.c shores that shouh
anchor all allcction, and cast upon an aimles
voyage for life.
Something must be done, these crimes which ar
eating like a cankerworm at our domestic vital
if not stopped will soon waste away a civilization
that was centuries in the making. "Where ther
are no oxen the crib is clean." Destroy the bom
life of a people and you have an empty civilizatioi
as restless as the raging sea.
What are you going to do about it, young me:
and women, with honest generous hearts? Wha
are you going to do about it, Christian peoph
wnose religion is love, whose primal precept i
regard for the poor? Wrongs are to be righted
injustice is to be corrected, wretchedness is to b
righted, by no temporizing but by striking at th
very root of those evils, their deep-lying calls*
3 U T H (99) 8
Let us then set about serving our country by saving
our homes; let us avert the tearful fate that
threatens our nation by keeping pure the fouu
tain head that sends forth streams of young ineu
and women "To make glad the city of our God."
? Spray, N. C.
SNAP-SHOTS FROM OTHER CAMERAS.
"A hypocrite is to the chuich, what a mortgage
is to a house?an incumbrance which must be
paid oil beloie a clear title can be procured."
This may all be true but fellow -Christian, don't
ijuu tail 111 your Church duties; don t stay away
from church on account of the scribes, piiarisees
ami hypocrites. You are doing yourself harm,
and not helping the church. Other mens' l'ailuies
are nut going to sa\e you, nor do they excuse you.
To whatever worlds lie carries our sou la when
they shall pass out of these imprisoning bodies, in
tiiose worlds these souls ol outs shall lind themselves
part of the same great Temple; for it belongs
not to tin* i'ii i tii iiiiiii" 'i '
~ ?- v.. M.VUV* xuv.it can uc iiu
end of the universe where liod is, to which thut
growing Temple does not reach,?the Temple of
u creation to be wrought at last into a perfect utterance
of fjod by a perfect obedience to Clod.?
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 Bod's heart. Pernaps the circuit
1 is broken.?Andrew Allen.
1 You will never be charged with excess tolls and
1 messages on Hod's telephone hue. The oflice (Ilia
heurt) is never closed.
11 we stand in the openings of the present mo
inent, with all the length and breadth of our facJ
ulties unselfishly adjusted to what it reveals, we
are in the best condition to receive what God is
> always ready to communicate.?Upham.
I
Look up and not down; iook forward and not
s back; look out and not in; and lend a hand.?
Hale.
I Be with Bod in thy outward works; refer them
to Him; seek to do them in Him, and for llim,
r 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
1 tilings He will come nigh to thee.?I'usey.
a '
1 oe reaay to every good work.?Titus 3:1.
t
2 "Do you walk with God, or just near enough
? to see llim, and hear llis voice hut faintly?" It
s is the personal touch that counts.
s
1 "My soul, ask what thou wilt,
s Thou cans't not be too bold;
Since llis own blood for thee lie snilt
"1 1
e What else can He withhold?"
s
a My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
e they follow me,?.John 10:37.
e
a "Hereby we do know that we know him."
Assurance of faith is based upon testimony,
n The sincere inquirer after the truth and the
t honest seeker after Christ who is "the way, the
>. truth, and the life." io not dint ui:_j
^ , ? - ??j -?J ? vw u*>uv u|' Li/ miiia
s faith. God invites him to come and "reason"
I, about the matter. Paul said, "I know whom
e 1 have believed, and am persuaded that he is
e able to keep that which I have committed unto
?. him."