Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1896 — TALMAGE’S SERMON. [ARTICLE]

TALMAGE’S SERMON.

HANNAH WAS AN OLD FASH. lONED CHRISTIAN MOTHER. TetDr. Talmago Saga Hen! Indnatrx, Her Intellisencd and Her Christian Devotion Beflned Her for Heaven— A 'Plea for Our Mothers. An Ordinary Woman. Thia radical diaeourae will no doubt have its practical result hi many homesteads throughout •Xlhristendom. The text was I. Samuel 11., II), "Moreover his mother made h’ittW httie cdat and brought It to hint from year to year when she came up with het husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.” The stories of Deborah and Abigail are very apt to discourage a woman*# soul. She says within herself, "It is impossible that I ever achieve any such grandeur of character, and ! don't mean to try," as though a child ohouid refuse to play the eight notes because he cannot execute a "William Tell." This Hannah of the text differs from thj persons I just named. She was gn ordinniy woman, with ordinary Intellectual capacity, placed in ordinary circumstances, and yet by extraordinary piety standing out before all the nges to come the mods. Christian mother. Hannah was the wi’e of Elkanah, who was a person very much like herself—unromantic and plain, never having fought a battle or been the subject ot a marvelous escape. Neither of then, would have been called a genius. » Just a hat you and 1 might be, that was Elk,.nah and Hannah. The brightest time in ah the history of that family was th ■> birth of Samuel. Although no star ran niuqg the heavens pointing down to his birthplace, I think the angels of God stooped at the coming of so wonderful a prophet. As Samuel had been given in answer to prayer. Elkapah and all his family, save Hannah, started up to; Shiloh to offe- sacrifices of thanksgiving. The cradle when- the child sigpt was altar enough for Hinnnh’s grateful heart..but •when the boy was old enough she. took him to Shiloh ana took three bullocks and an ephah of flour and a bottle of wine nnd made offering of sacrifice unto the Lord, nnd there, according to a previous vow. she left him. foi flicre he was to stay all the days of hii life and minister in the sanctuary.

1 Years rolled on, and every year Hannah made with hcr'qwji hand a gnrniewti'for Samuel nnd toos it over to him. The lad would have go’ along well without that garment, for 1 suppose lie,was well clad by the ministry of the temple, but Hannah could not be contented unless she was all the time do'.ng something for her darling boy. "Moreover his mother nthde' him a little coat nnd brought it Vo him from year to year when she cams up with her husband to otter the yearly sacrifice." Hannah'* Industry. Hannah stands lx,'fore you, then, to-day,' in the first place, as an industrious moth er. There was no need that she work. Elkanah, her husband, was far from poof. He belonged to a distinguished family, for the Bible tells us that he was the son of .Teroham, the son of EUhu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zupjt. /‘Who were they?" you say. 1 do not know, but they wore distinguished people, no doubt, or their-nnmes would not have boon mentioned. Hannah might have seated herself in her fnm.ly, nnd, with folded arms and disheveled hair, read novels, from ycfir'tb year, there had been any to read. But when I sec her making that garment and taking it over to Samuel, I know she is industrious from principle ns well ns front pleasure. God would not hnvo a mother become n drudge or a slave; he would have’ her employ all the helps possible in this Jay in the retiring Of her children. But Hannah ought never to be nshamed io be found making a Coat for Samuel. Most mothers need no counsel in thi., direction. The wrinkles on their brow, the pallor on their cheek, the thimble ntnrk on their finger, attest that they are faithful in their maternal duties. The bloom and the brightness nnd the vivac’ty of girlhood have given place to the gr .ncler dignity pnd'upcftilindustry of motherhood. But there is a. heathenish idea getting .abroad in some of the families of Americans. There nre mTilers who banish themselves from th' home circle. For threefourths of tm ir maternal duties they prove themselves incompetent. They are ignorant of what their children wear, and whnt their children eat, nnd what their children read. They intrust to irresponsible persons these young immortals and nllow them to lie under Jpflueppes which mny cr pplc their bodies, or taint" their purity, or spoil their manners, or destroy their souls. From the awkward cut of Samuel’s cont you know his mother .Hannah did not make it.

Out from under flaming chandeliers', and off from imported carpets, and down the granite stairs there is coming a great crowd of children in this day untrained, saucy, incompetent for all the practical duties of life, nndyito be caught in the first whirl of erme and sensuality. Indolent and unfaithful mothers will make indolent and unfaithful children. You cannot expect neatness and order in any house where the daughters see nothing but slatternlim es and upside downntiveness in their parents. Let Hannah be idle, and most certainly Samuel will grow up idle.- - Who arc the industrious mon in all our occupat'.ms and professions? Who are they building the walls, tinning the roofs, weaving the carpets, making the laws, governing the nations, making the earth to qttnko and heave and roar and rattle with thr tread of gigantic enterprises? Who are they? For the, most part - they descended from ..industrious mothers, who in the old homestead, used to spin their own yarn nnd weave their own carpets and plait their own doormats and sing their, own chairs nnd do their owtj work. The stalwart men and.the influential women of this day, 99'out ; of 100 of them, came from such an illustrious ancestry of hard knuckles and.jiomesnun. And who are these people in sbciefy-rrlight as froth, blown every whither Of, tflinptfttlon and fashion—the peddleM of filthy stories, the dancing jacks of political'parties, the scum of society, the tavern lounging, store infesting, the men of low wink and tilth/ chuckle and brass breastpin and rotten associations? - For the mprit part they came from ipptherk' idle' 'nnd disgusting,, the scandal tpongefs.of*tocirty, going from house to htrafe attefichtijf' to everybody’s business but thbfr oWn, believing in witches and ghosts, atfd 'hpMeshoes to keep the devil oiit of the and by a godless life setting their'Children on the very ■ verge of hell. The iiothers of Samuel Johnson, and of Alfred the Great, and of Isaac Newton 1 ; and of St. Augustine, and of Richard CeCil, and of Presid.‘njt.Edvyn- r d g , Rmst part were industrious, hardworking mothers. Now, whi'c 1 tia.h mothers upon the w&jlth atid'- ihe niodefn science which may afford them rfll kfhds of help, let me say that eyerhn mother ought to be observant of her Andren’s walk, her children's behavior, ]itfrchildren’s food, her children’s books, lujt’children’s companionships. How/vir much help Hannah may have, I think she ought every 1 year at least make one gar"ment for Samiicl. The Lord have mercyon the man -who is so Unfortunate a's to have had a lazy mother!

Hannah’s Intelligence. A&TTR, imjint ttands before you to-day as an intejitgent mother. From the way in which she talked-ln this chapter and from th* w ihg managed this boy you know she was intelligent- There are no persona in a community who need to tie so wise. and v ell informed as mothers. Oh, this work ot culturing children /or this- world ana the nextl Thia child is timid, a ad it muat be roused up and pushed out into activities. Thia child is forward, and be uniat be held back and tamed down into modesty and politeness. Rewards for-One, punishments for anotherThat which will maka George will ruin John. The rod is necessary in one case, while a frown of displeasure is more than enough in another. Whipping and a dark closet do not exhaust all the rounds of domestic discipline. There have been children 'Who have grown up and gone to glory without ever having had their ears boxed. Oh, how much can? and intelligence nre necessary in the rearing of children! But in this day, when there are so many books on this subject, no parent is excusable in being Ignorant of the best mode of bribing up n child. If parents know more of dietetics, there would not bi' so many dyspeptic stomachs and weak nerves and inactive livers among children. If parents knew more of physiology. there would not be so many curved spines and cramped chests and inflamed throats and diseased lungs as there nre among children. If parents knew more of art, and Were in sympathy with all that is beautiful, there would not 1* so many children coming out in the world with boorish proclivities. If pareuts knew more of Christ and practiced more of his religion, there would not be so many little feet already starting on the wrong road, and all around us voices of riot and blasphemy would not come up with such ecstasy of infernal triumph. The eaglets in the eyrie have no advantage over the eaglels of 1,000 years ngo; the kids have no superior way,of climbing up the rocks than the old goats taught them hundreds of years ago; the whelps know.,no more now than did the whelps of agqs ago—they are taught no more by the lions of the desert, but it is a shame that in this dayy.whon mere are so many opportunities of improving ourselves In the best manner of culturing children, that so often there is no more advancement in this respect than there has been among the kids and the eaglets and the wlielps.

Hannah’s Piety. Again, Hannah stands before you todny ns a Chr.'stian mother. From her prayers, nnd fibm the way she consecrated her boy to God, 1 know she was good. A mother may hnvo the finest culture, the most brilliant surrounding*, but she is hot fit for her duties unless she lie a Christian mother. There may be well read libraries m the house, and exquisite music in the parlor, and the ennvua of the Vest artists adorning the walls, nnd the wardrobe lie crowded with tasteful nppnrel, nnd, the children lie wonderful for their attainments and make the house ring with laughter and innocent mirth, but ,|her‘e is something woefully lacking in that house if it be not also the residence of a Christian mpther. I olcas G<xl thnt there are not'many prayerless mothers. The weight of responsibility is so great that they feel the need of a divine hand to help, nnd n divine voice to comfort, and n divine heart to sympathize.. Thousands of mot,hers have been led into the kingdom of God by the hands of their little children. There are hundreds of mothersotonlay who would not have been Chris>tiuns liiul It not been for the prattle of their little one*. Standing some day in thiy nursery, they bethought themselves: t'Tli/is elulilGod has given me to raise for eternity. Whnt is my influence upon it? Not being a. Christian myself, how can I ever expect him to become n Christian? laird; help me!" Oh, are there anxious mothers who know nothing of the infinite help of religion? Then 1 commend to you Ihi niMih, the ni< us mot her of Haninel. Do not think it is absolutely Impossildc thnt your children come up iniquitous. Out of just such fair brows nnd bright eyes nnd soft hands and 'unooant hearts crime gets its victims—-extirpating purity from the heart,’and ruobing out the smoothness • from the brow upd quenching the luster of the eye, ami shriveling up ami poisoning and putrefying and scathing nnd scalding nnd nlastlng nnd burning with alia mid and woe.

Every child is a bundle of tremendous possibilities,‘nml whether that child shall come forth in li f e, its heart attuned to the eternal harmonies, and after n life of usefulness on earth go to a life of joy in heaven, or whether across it shall jar eternal discords, nnd after a life of wrongdoing on earth it shall go to a home of impenetrable darkness and an abyss of immeasurable plunge, is being decided by nursery song and Sab'iath lesson nnd evening prayer nnd iVftlk nad ride nnd look and frown and smile. Oh, how many children in glory, crowding nil the battlements nnd lifting n million voiced hosanna—brought to God through Christian parentage! One hundred and twenty clergymen were together, nnd they were telling their experience and their anctstry, and of the 120 clergymen, how many of them do you suppose assigned ns tie means of their conversion the Influence of a Christian mother? One hundred out of the hundred and twenty! Philip 'Doddridge was brought to God by the Scripture lesson on the Dutch tile of the chimney fireplace. The mother thinks she is only rocking a child, blit nt the same time she may be rocking the destiny of empires, rocking the fate of nations, rocking the glories of heaven. The same maternal power that may lift rt chlld up rtisy' press a child down. A daughter camo to a worldly mother and said she was anxious about her sins and she bad been pr-iying all night. The mother said: “Oh, stop praying! I don’t believe in praying. Get over all those religious notions and 1 give you a dress that will cost |tsoo, nnd you may wear It next week to that party.” The daughter took the dress, and sue. moved in the gay circle, the gayest of all the gay that night, and 1 , sure enough, all religious impressions were gone and she stopped praying, A few tnonths-after she crime to die, and in» her closing moments said, “Mother, 1 wish you would bring me that dress that ebst ?500.” The mother thought it wq» a very strange requ’est.'btit she bronghf it to please the dying child. “Now,” said the -daughter, ' mother, hang that dress on the foot of my bed.” And the dress was hung the>e on the foot of the bed. Then the dying girl got up.pn one-elbow and looked at her mother and pointed to the -dress and sriid, "Mother, that dress is the price of my soul!-' Ob, what a momentous thing it-is to be a mother! ■> Again and liibtlyl'HatihahstlStids before ■'ybn td-day the rewarded mother. For. oil tilo coats she m;;de 'for Samuel, for all theprriyers she offered for him, fof'fhd discipline she exerted over him, she got abundant compensation in the piety and the usefulness and the popularity of her son Samuel, and that is true in all nges. Every mother gets full pay for all the prayers and tears in behalf of her children. That man useful in commercial iifie, that man prominent in the profession, that master mechanic—why, every step he flakes in life line an echo of gladness in >ribv« old heart that long ago taught him to !hr Christian and heroic and earnest. The story of what yoiybave done or what you hasho written, of the influence you have 'riketted; has gone back to the old homcstend, for there Is some one always ready to carry good tidings, nnd that story makes ths needle Ju the old mother’s trem-

along hand fly quicker and the flail !■ tW father’s hand tome down upon the barm floor with a mire vigorous thump. Parents love to hear good news from their children. Do yen send them good news always? lx>ok out for the young maa who speaks of his 'artier as the “governor,** the “squire” or the "old- chap.” Look out for the young woman who call* ha* inoihec her ."maternal ancestor* or the "old woman." “The eye .that mocketh At hi* father and rrfnseth to obey Ma toother the rovens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." God grant that all these parents may hnvc the great satisfaction of seeing their children, grow up Christians. But. oh. the pang of that mother who, after a life of street gadding and gossip retailing, hanging cn her children the fripperies and follies of this world, sees thoas children tossed out on the sea of life like foam on the wave of nonentities in a world where only brawny and stalwart character can stand the shock! But bleaaed lie the mother who looks upon her children as sons and daughters of the Ixird Almighty. Oh, the satisfaction of Hannah in sce.ng Samuel serving at th* altar, of Molner Eunice in sceiag her Timothy learned in the Scriptures! That is the mother's recompense—to see children coming up useful in the world, reclaiming the lost, healing the sick, pitying the ignorant, earnest and useful in every sphere. That throws a new light back on the old family Bible whenever ah* reads it, and that will be ointment to soothe the aching limbs of decrepitude and light up the closing hours of life’s day with the glories of an autumnal sunset! There she sits, the old Christian mother, ripe for heaven Her eyesight is almost gone, but the splendors of the celestial city kindle up her vision. The gray light of heaven’s morn has struck through the gray lock* wli'ch are folded back over the wrinkled temple*. She stoops very much now under the burden of care she used to carry tor her children. She sits at home to-day too old to find her way to the houae of God, but while she ait* there all the past comes back, and the children that forty years ago trooped around her armchair with their little grief* and joys and sorrows, those children are all gone now—some caught up into a better realm, where they shall never die, and others out in the broad world attesting the excellency of a Christian mother's discipline. Her laat days are full of peace, and calmer and sweeter will her spirit become until the gates ot life slrall lift nnd let the worn out pilgrim into eternal springtide and youth, where the limbs never ache, and the eyes never grow dim, and the staff ot the exhaiwtsd and decrepit pilgrim shall because the palm of the immortal athlete.