without trampling that blood under his feet? When will the day come when a man of God shall make known by his conversation, by his actions, by his general appearance, that he has been freed from the curse of the world?

Then another thing. It seems to me that every man should have a family altar in his house. And if we cannot deliver prayers, let us take up each of our children by name; let us ask that Johnny, while playing with his school-mates, may be kept from temptation. Why, we forget that a little child's temptations are just as much to him as ours are to us. The boy at school has just as heavy trials as we have. And then pray for Mary. If she is in trouble bring it out and pray that God may give her power to overcome any besetting sin that she may have in her heart. I believe the day has come when we should have more religion in our families, more family altars. I believe that the want of this is doing more injury to the growth of our children than anything else. Why, long before the church was in a building, it was in the homes of the people. We can make the family altar a source of happiness. By it we can make the home the pleasantest place in the world. Let us, when we get up in the morning, bright and fresh, have some family devotions. If a man runs down town immediately on getting up, and don't get home until five o'clock, and then has family devotions, the children will be tired and so go sound asleep. And it seems to me that we should give a little more time to our children and call them around the altar in the morning. Or suppose we ask them to recite a verse, to recite a portion of a hymn-it must not necessarily be a long one-and, after that, have some singing, if the children can sing. Do not be in a hurry to get it out of the way, as if the service was a nuisance; take a little time. Let them sing some religious hymns. The singing need not be all psalms, but there should be a few simple religious hymns. Let the little children be free from all restraint. Then pray for each of them.

Another thing. It seems to me that we devote too little time to studying the Sunday-school lesson. You know now we have a uniform lesson all over the country. That lesson should be taken up by parents and they should try to explain it to their children. But how many ever think of this-how many parents ever take the trouble to inquire even as to the kind of Sundayschool teachers who instruct their children. And then we should take our children into the churches with us. It seems to me we are retrogarding at the present day. A great many of our children are never seen in the churches at all. Even if the sermon don't touch them they are getting into good habits. And then if the minister says a weak thing don't take it up, don't pick

66

66

it out or speak of it before the children, because you are bringing your minister into disrespect with your children. If you have got a minister whom you cannot respect, you ought to get out of that church as soon as you can. Encourage them to bring the text home; let the word be spoken to them at all times, in season and out of season. If the great Bible truths sink down into their hearts, and the fruit will be precious; wisdom will blossom upon them, and they will become useful in the church and in the world. Now, how many parents will not take the trouble to explain to the children what the minister preaches. Take your children into the pews and let them hear the word of God, and if they do not understand it show it to them. You know the meat they require is the same as we feed on; but if the pieces are too large for them we must cut it up for themcut it finer. If the sermon is a hard one, cut it into thin slices so that they can take it. There was a time when our little boy did not like to go to church, and would get up in the morning and say to his mother, "What day is to-morrow?" "Next day? Wednesday." "Next day ?" Thursday;" and so on till he came to the answer, Sunday." "Dear me," he would moan. I said to his mother, “We cannot have our boy grow up to hate Sunday in that way; that will never do." That is the way I used to feel when I was a boy. I used to look upon Sunday with a certain amount of dread. Very few kind words were associated with that day. I don't know that the minister ever said a kind thing or ever even put his hand on my head. I don't know that the minister even noticed me, unless it was when I was asleep in the gallery, and he awoke me up. This kind of thing won't do; we must make the Sunday the most attractive day of the week; not a day to be dreaded; but a day of pleasure. Well, the mother took the work up with this boy. Bless those mothers in their work with children. Sometimes I feel as if I would rather be the mother of John Wesley or Martin Luther or John Knox than have all the glories in the world. Those mothers who are faithful with the children God has given them, will not go unrewarded. My wife went to work and took those bible stories and put those blessed truths into a light that the child could comprehend, and soon the feeling of dread for the Sabbath with the boy was the other way. "What day's tomorrow?" he would ask. Sunday." "I am glad." And if we make these Bible truths interesting-break them up in some shape so that these children can get at them, then they will begin to enjoy them. Now, there's no influence like a mother's, and if the mothers will give a little time to the children in this way, and read to them some Bible story, or tell them it in a simple way, it will not be long before the child knows the Bible from

66

beginning to end. I know a little boy, II years of age, who got up last Monday in the meeting, and told how he found Christ. His father began by telling him Bible stories, and now he knows them as well as I do. The little fellow of 11 years is quite a preacher. Let us pick out the stories that will interest them from Genesis to Revelation, and that is the way to bring our children to Christ. It will fill them with the gospel-fill them with Christ. They will soon be so full of Jesus that when an infidel comes to unseat their faith, he will find no room for infidelity.

Now, the New Year's day is coming on. I haven't much time to speak about that now : but let me ask what are you going to do when the young men come to your homes on that day? Are you going to set wine before them! Are you going to tempt the sons of others to go astray? Don't offer them, I implore you, that hellish cup; don't be the instruments to lead the children of others away from the God of their fathers. I hope that in this city this infernal custom will soon be swept away. The idea of having some of our best young men reeling on the streets beastly drunk on the first day of the year is revolting, and yet there are Christians who, when young men visit them on New Year's day, just urge the cup on them-press them to take it. They have got some new kind of wine, and they want them to taste it, and urge the young man just to take a little and the young man hasn't got will-hasn't got back-bone enough to resist the temptation; hasn't the power to say no. He goes to another house, and the same thing is repeated, and so on, until at night the poor fellow goes home intoxicated and breaks the heart of some mother. member when you offer the cup if it is not your own boy it is to somebody else's boy. I have a great respect for that old woman who with ribbons flying ran into a crowded thoroughfare and rescued a child from under a wagon. Some one asked her, "Is it your child ?" “No,” she replied, "but it is some one's child." She had a mother's heart, and bear in mind when a young man comes to you, as you put the cup before him-remember he is some other one's child. God has given us a charge, not only in looking to the salvation of our own children, but we have to see to the salvation of the children of others.

Re

Now, let me say a word to the unfaithful fathers. At the close of this meeting, if you have been unfaithful to the children God has given you, why not stay and then go home and make an honest confession to your children. If you have a boy who is a reckless young man-if he is a drunkard, ask yourselves, "Have I done all that I could; have I ever set before him the truth of Christ ?" Not long ago a young man went home late. He had

been in the habit of going home late, and the father began to mistrust that he had gone astray. He told his wife to go to bed, and dismissed the servants, and said he would sit up till his son came home. The boy came home drunk, and the father in his anger gave him a push into the street and told him never to enter his house again, and shut the door. He went into the parlor and sat down, and began to think: "Well, I may be to blame for that boy's conduct after all. I have never prayed with him; I have never warned him of the dangers of this world.” And the result of his reflections was that he put on his overcoat and hat, and started out to find his boy. The first policeman he met he asked eagerly, "Have you seen my boy ?" "No." On he went till he met another. "Have you seen anything of my son?" He ran from one to another all that night, but not until the morning did he find him. He took him by the arm and led him home, and kept him till he was sober. Then he said: "My dear boy, I want you to forgive me; I've never prayed for you; I've never lifted my heart to God for you; I've been the means of leading you astray, and I want your forgiveness." The boy was touched, and what was the result? Within twenty-four hours that son became a convert, and gave up that cup. It may be that some father has had a wayward son. Go to God, and on your knees confess it. Let the voice of Jesus sink down in your heart to-night. "Bring him unto me." A father whom I have known for many years said to me this afternoon, with tears trickling down his cheeks: "I want to tell you something that I have never told in public. Forty-three years ago, when I was five years old, I was sick with scarlet fever, and my mother knelt down and prayed to God if it was His will, that her boy might be spared. My father was a drinking man, and she also prayed that I might be kept safe from the cup. My mother died early, but my mother's prayer has followed me all those years, and I have never touched one drop of liquor." Last night a young man, the son of that man, got up and told his experiences. Yes, the mother's prayer for her little boy, five years old, was answered. That prayer was answered. Why shall we not lift up our hearts in prayer for our children? Let us plead day and night till God saves them-till he brings them into the ark of safety. May the God of Israel save our children.

I remember being in the camp and a man came to me and said, "Mr. Moody, when the Mexican war began I wanted to enlist. My mother, seeing I was resolved, said if I became a Christian I might go. She pleaded and prayed that I might become a Christian, but I wouldn't. I said when the war was over I would become a Christian, but not till then. All her pleading

was in vain, and at last when I was going away, she took out a watch and said: 'My son, your father left this to me when he died. Take it, and I want you to remember that every day at twelve o'clock your mother will be praying for you.' Then she gave me her Bible, and marked out passages, and put a few different references in the fly-leaf. I took the watch, and it was twelve o'clock. I had been gone four months, but I remembered that my mother at that hour was praying for me. Something prompted me to ask the officer to relieve me for a little, and I stepped behind a tree away out on those plains of Mexico, and cried to the God of my mother to save me." My friends, God saved him, and he went through the Mexican war, “and now,” he said, “I have enlisted again to see if I can do any good for my Master's cause," and the old man was down among the soldiers there preaching Christ. My friends let us believe that God answers prayer, and let us not cease our supplication till salvation comes to our children, and all our little ones are brought into the ark of safety. Let us all unite in prayer.

"Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."-Luke xxiii. 42.

OH, wondrous story of the Lord!

It thrills our hearts with love,
That Jesus came to rescue man,
And left his throne above.

In human form he deigned to dwell,
To raise our fallen race;
And shed about a manger rude,
The brightness of his grace.

The angels sang, and men rejoiced,
In hope of endless bliss,
And hailed the star of Bethlehem,
The pledge of love and peace.

It shines to-day to guide us on,
Thro' earthly storms to Him;
The pole-star for the sinner's bark,
Whose light is never dim.

Then help me, Saviour, thee to own,
And ever faithful be,

And when thou sittest on thy throne,

Dear Lord, remember me.