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EDDA'S BIRTHRIGHT.

AMUSEMENT ON THE RAILWAY.

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CHRIST CliUKCH SUNDAY SCHOOL;…

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CHRIST CliUKCH SUNDAY SCHOOL; ik I V I,, It S A It Y THE PASTOR ON PARENTAL RESPONSI-¡' BILITY. Anniversary services in connection with the Christ Church Congregational Sunday School, (Water Street, Rliyl) were held on Sunday week, the preacher on both occasions being the Rev. T. IIOSS (the The (low er service in the. morning was well attended, and the numerous floral tributes were forwarded after service to the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital. Appropriate hymns were sung on the occasion, and a suitable address to the children given by the pastor. There was a large congregation in the evening, when the pulpit was again occupied by the Rev. T. S. Ross, who delivered a powerful discourse from Malachi iv. 5, 6 Behold, I send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the child- ren to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse," There was before them, he took it, that first truth,—that the family was needed for the regeneration of the world, it was j through the family, as the appointed channel, that the world was blest and saved. Had it ever occurred to them how at least three times in the human history the fate of the human race was trembling in the balance of one family. There was, for instance, the case of Noah—one family saved out of a guilty race to start the world afresh. Then, in the midst of widespread idolatry and brutish worship, the world was started once again by another family—the family of Abraham. He, at the call of God, gave up his house, gave up his country, and gave up his relatives and friends and went forth knowing not whither he went, that he might start a godly seed in the earth, and the promise given him was "that in their seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." The one family known through all Christian ages was the holy family of Joseph and Mary—the appointed watchers and preservers of at first that little flickering infant, who, under their fostering care, grew both physically and spiritually, into the Man of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. It was through the families of nations that the nations were blest. If they wanted to reform and raise the world, they must go to the root, and if they would save a man they must save him right at his heart. If they wanted to change and help to raise the nations, they must begin with the families under which that great family— the nation—was built up. The lessons and illustra- tions of the truth of God, all laid within the scope and range of family life. They were frequently told that they owed it to Christianity and to Christ alone, that God was regarded by them as their father in heaven. It was by the observance of the fifth commandment that they were enabled to understand the text. The injunction that children should be taught to reverence and honor their parents was one of the first essential steps and links in leading them up from honoring the parent whom they had seen, and honoring, serving, and obeying God whom they had not seen. He urged those fathers who were there that night to remember that amongst the innumerable and, in a sense, awful responsibilities, that devolved upon them, they as parents, by their bearing, their con- duct and life, would be helping to shape and form and give illustrations before the minds of their children and their Father who was in heaven. Disobedience to and wanton disrespect of parents was the foundation sin of all sins. He was noticing only the other day, out of the long list of horrible sins, sins the very mention of which brought a blush to the cheek, the sin of disobedience to parents. They must depend upon it, that a vast deal more turned upon the simple act of obedience to parents than they often allowed themselves to think. There were two parties to the transaction in the fifth commandment. "Honour thy father and thy mother." But the parents had to show that they were such parents as their children could obey. God had given parents a position of great honor, and had placed them as sharers of His throne. He had placed filial affection next to love of Himself, and it was for all parents to see to it that they make this command- ment, Honor thy father and thy mother," possi- ble It might be difficult, and they might be making it difficult on the one hand by too great harshness and severity, though he did not say that the fault of the majority ran that way nowadays. It was very much more likely to run on the lines of weak and foolish indulgence. Be that as it may, he repeated what he said just now that there were two parties in that contract which was contained in the fifth commandment. There was the narent on the one side, and the child on the other. And as true religion depended for its observance an the strength and force of the family tie, so let him im- press them again that the observance of the family tie depended upon the observance of true religion. These were cogwheels that mutually moved each other, and could play into each other. They wan- ted religion to save their homes and to give depth and sweetness and strength to families. They wanted religion to give endurance to the family tie, so that neither on earth or hereafter shall that tie be possibly snapped and broken asunder. Nothing but true religion would bind the heart of the parent to the child, and the heart of the child to the parent. Keeping his eyes open when he went about, he saw an amount of lawlessness in the world at the present day that filled him with dis- may and trembling. Look at many of the streets of their great towns at night. Some of those present were visitors from great towns, and surely they saw, as he did sometimes, the string of young depraved children along their streets. His heart had bled over and over again as he had passed along their great thoroughfares in their country towns and in their great metropolis and the other large cities of the world, to see boys aping what they considered the manly actions and vices of men, drinking, smoking, and blaspheming And the girls, the girls who ought to be as sweet and simple as those flowers on the table before him that night, too often showed the manners of the wanton and lawlessness, dislike and hatred of control, un- willingness to respect or revere, or adhere to what was honest and honorable, were some of the start- ling features of the day in which they lived. He challenged contradiction and when he had seen these things and saw this black tide that seemed to be mounting higher and higher, and which they strove, from time to time, to oppose, he asked, wno was answerable for this ? The reply he had to give was,—the parents. They wanted a John the Baptist to come and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. They wanted a John the Baptist to come and preach parental responsibility. They wanted a John the Baptist to unflinchingly proclaim and press home this story of neglected duty. It was their only hope. They must begin at the root, and make the tree good if they wanted good fruit. Cleanse the fountain if they would purify the stream. He urged upon the Sunday School teachers the important duty-without the fulfilment of which their work would be greatly hampered—of following the children to their homes and seeing them in their surroundings. They should go to the hearts of the parents and invite their co-operation in the religious training of the young, if they expected their work to prosper. If their children were to be saved and made godly men and women, it must be by their direct instru- mentality and agency. There was no agency that could he substituted for the family. The family was a permanent and radical institution, and be- longed to all time. The Sunday School, founded by Robert Raikes, was a very wise and a very good institution in its conception, and exerted most benigu influences in its carrying out. The fathers and mothers there that night were responsible in the sight of God for the religious training of their children, and he wondered whether some parents- even in the simple matter of sending their children to Sunday School—ever realised that it was their duty to see that they went. The service concluded with the singing of the hymn, I will go in the strength of the Lord," and the Benediction.

DAIRY WORK

1QUININE BITTERS.

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ST. ASAPH.

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