ctions of that ruined one would
there be poured out with increased fury upon you. Parents of my home on
earth! I am lost--lost forever! Soon I shall go where "the worm dieth not,
and the fire is not quenched." Had you, in the home of my childhood, but
instructed me, and been as faithful to my soul as you were to my body, I
might stand here with a palm of victory in my hand, a crown of glory on my
head, the joy of the redeemed in my heart, and with hosannas of praise
upon my lips, rise upward to the untold felicities of God's eternal throne!
But you did not! You fed my body, but you starved my soul, and left it to
perish forever! Cursed, be the day in which you begat me, and the paps that
gave me suck! Cursed be the years that I lived under your roof,--cursed be
you! Oh, parents, such rebuke would leave an undying worm in your souls;
and would cry unto you from the very depths of hell.

This is no over-wrought picture. It is but the scripture prospectus of that
terrible scene which shall be enacted "in the terrible and notable day of
the Lord," when every Christian home shall be called to give an "account of
her stewardship," and be dealt with "according to the deeds done in the
body."

And let me say too, that a similar and corresponding responsibility rests
upon those children who enjoy the benefits of a faithful Christian home.
They must answer to God for every blessing there enjoyed. If they turn a
deaf ear and a cold heart to all the entreaties of their parents, and
resist those saving influences which are brought to bear upon them, and as
a consequence, become outcasts from society and from heaven, then let me
warn them that, every prayer they heard at the family altar, every lesson
given, every admonition delivered, and every holy example set them, by
their pious parents, will be ingredients in that bitter cup which it will
take eternity for them to exhaust! Oh, children of the Christian home!
think of this, and remember the responsibility of enjoying the precious
benefits of a pious, faithful parent. They will be your weal or your
woe,--your lasting glory or your lasting shame!

And, ye parents, be faithful to those little ones that are growing up "like
olive plants around your table," so that in the day of judgment, you may
say with joy, in the full assurance of reward, "Here are we, Lord, and the
children whom thou hast given us!" And your reward shall be, "Well done,
thou good and faithful servant! Enter thou