4644<\/b> Japanese Boy Misses Breakfast<\/b><\/p>\n
At a school in Japan a teacher asked the children if there were any who had not had breakfast that morning, thinking thereby to discover some needy family. A boy of nine years put up his hand. Knowing that he came from a comparatively well-to-do family, the teacher asked why he had not had his breakfast. The boy replied: \u201cIn our home we do not eat till we have partaken of spiritual food. As I was late in getting up this morning I had to leave immediately after the spiritual food, so I have not had any breakfast. <\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Victory<\/i><\/p>\n
4645<\/b> Spurgeon On Mother\u2019s Prayers<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot tell you how much I owe to the custom on Sunday evenings while we were yet children for Mother to stay at home with us, and then we sat around the table and read verse after verse and she explained the Scriptures to us. After that was done there came a time of pleading, and the question was asked how long it would be before we would think about our state; how long before we would seek the Lord. <\/p>\n
\u201cThen came a mother\u2019s prayer; and some of the words of our mother\u2019s prayer we shall never forget even when our hair is gray.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Charles Haddon Spurgeon<\/p>\n
4646<\/b> John Ruskin\u2019s Testimony<\/b><\/p>\n
John Ruskin said: \u201cAll that I have ever taught of art, everything that I have written, whatever greatness there has been in any thought of mine, whatever I have done in my life, has simply been due to the fact that, when I was a child, my mother daily read with me a part of the Bible, and daily made me learn a part of it by heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
4647<\/b> He Saw Nation\u2019s Home<\/b><\/p>\n
When Henry Grady, the great southern Christian statesman, made his first trip to Washington, D.C., he had a strange experience. He had looked forward to seeing the Nation\u2019s Capitol Building. <\/p>\n
Standing in a position where the imposing structure stood out in bold relief before his view, he experienced a great stirring of his emotions. Tears rolling down his face, he said: \u201cSo this is the home of the nation!\u201d<\/p>\n
Some time later, after returning to his home in Georgia, he had occasion to spend a night in a humble planter\u2019s cottage on a plantation. Before retiring, the father called his family together and in the flickering light of a tallow candle, read the Scripture and knelt in prayer. It was a typical, old family altar. <\/p>\n
Stirred again, Henry Grady said: \u201cI was mistaken about the home of the nation being in Washington. That pile of marble, magnificent as it is, is not the home of the Nation. Yea, the home of the Nation is found in the dugout, the planter\u2019s home, the cabin, the cottage and everywhere where they teach the children to honor the Word of God and serve the Christ it reveals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Victory<\/i><\/p>\n
4648<\/b> Look Up For Preservation<\/b><\/p>\n
Bishop Coxe tells of visiting an old feudal castle in England, so old that one of its towers dated back to the days of King John. When the Bishop went down to breakfast, he found the young owner of the castle, his family and servants, assembled for morning prayer conducted by the head of the family. <\/p>\n
As the Bishop lifted his eyes, he noticed high overhead a massive beam that spanned the grand, old hall and bore in old English the following inscription:<\/p>\n
That house shall be preserved and never shall decay, <\/p>\n
Where the Almighty God is worshipped day by day. <\/p>\n
A.D. 1558<\/p>\n
Thus for hundreds of years the people of that old castle had turned their faces toward God at the beginning of each day. <\/p>\n
\u2014Walter B. Knight<\/p>\n
4649<\/b> Paton\u2019s Father\u2019s Prayers<\/b><\/p>\n
John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, used to crouch outside his father\u2019s bedroom door to hear him pray. He wrote: \u201cIf everything else in religion were by some accident blotted out, my soul would go back to those days of reality. For sixty years my father kept up the practice of family prayer. No day passed without it, no hurry for business, no arrival of friends, no trouble or sorrow, no joy or excitement ever prevented us from kneeling round the family altar while our high priest offered himself and his children to God.\u201d Paton\u2019s father was a farm laborer. We fathers and mothers are very busy these days. <\/p>\n
\u2014J. A. Clark<\/p>\n
4650<\/b> \u201cThe Angelus\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
You have all seen the famous painting called \u201cThe Angelus\u201d by Millet. It shows a farmer and his wife pausing to pray with heads bowed out in the field. In the distance one sees the spire of a church. So true to life is every detail that one can almost hear the Angelus ringing. And that is exactly what the artist wanted. Here is the story behind that picture. <\/p>\n
Millet was born of poor parents in Normandy, France. Something urged him to draw sketches of scenes he saw in the family Bible. An artist, seeing them, insisted that young Jean be trained. The community raised funds to send him to Paris, but there the pious Jean was disgusted with what he called their wicked art. <\/p>\n
Home he went, to work in the fields by day, and paint by night. In twenty-seven years he painted eighty to ninety beautiful subjects. One day he expressed the wish:<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to paint a picture in which one can hear the sound.\u201d<\/p>\n
He set to work. When the picture was done he showed it to a friend with this request: \u201cName it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the Angelus,\u201d answered the friend, \u201cI can hear the bells.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millet was happy. He had added new dignity to labor. He had given new charm and attractiveness to the beautiful devotion of simple people. <\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
4651<\/b> Father In Prayer Picture<\/b><\/p>\n
A great artist was once employed to paint the picture of a very beautiful child. It was a family of wealth. The father of the child was an infidel, the mother a Christian. After much study and research, it was decided that the picture should show the child asleep in prayer. The artist, of course, must catch the scene from an actual service in which the child should fall asleep during an earnest, faithful prayer. <\/p>\n
Evening after evening he visited the mother and child in their family worship, the father also being present. At length the opportunity came, and when the mother\u2019s sweet petition to God was closed the child was fast asleep, kneeling by her mother\u2019s side. In this position they remained for some time, until released by the artist. <\/p>\n
The next evening the artist visited the family again, but this time his countenance wore a troubled look. Said he: \u201cI cannot make the picture complete unless the immediate surroundings are shown, and especially the mother must be painted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe picture shall be complete,\u201d said the father, \u201cand you would as well also put the mother in the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
Time wore on, and the painting was being developed. But meantime a strange feeling of loneliness crept into the heart of the father. Something, too, of the attitude of worship, and the listening to those sweet petitions from his wife\u2019s lips, had been used of the Holy Spirit to illuminate his conscience, and it seemed to him that it would break his heart to be shut out from that little group. Feeling thus, he visited the studio of the artist, and expressed the desire that he might also be painted in the picture in the attitude of prayer, kneeling with his wife and child. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d said the artist, \u201cit is too late. You would either add to or take from, and that must not be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAdd to or take from,\u201d the man repeated to himself that evening as he heard his wife\u2019s prayer. <\/p>\n
\u201cAsleep in Prayer\u201d hung long on the walls of the rich man\u2019s palace, and again the artist was called, but this time to a Christian home. That evening the father prayed, and even to this day hang upon the walls of the ancient palace two paintings\u2014\u201dAsleep in Prayer,\u201d the mother and the child, and \u201cAwake in Christ,\u201d a group of father and mother and a young lady, while under the picture is this inscription: \u201cYou would either add to or take from.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Current Anecdotes<\/p>\n
4652<\/b> Matthew Henry\u2019s Leadership<\/b><\/p>\n
Philip Henry was most exemplary in his practice of family devotions. Besides the regular plan of reading and expounding the Scriptures morning and evening, he used strongly to recommend singing; saying that it was a way of exhibiting godliness, like Rahab\u2019s scarlet thread, to such as pass by our windows. His children and servants used to take notes of his expositions; and the foundation of Matthew Henry\u2019s Commentary was laid from these notes. <\/p>\n
Besides this, on Thursday evening, instead of reading, he used to catechise his children and servants upon the Assembly\u2019s Catechism, with the proofs, or sometimes in a smaller catechism; or else they read, and he examined them in some other useful book, as Mr. Poole\u2019s Dialogues against the Papists<\/i>; and on Saturday evening they gave him an account of what they could remember of the many chapters they had read through during the week, each a several part in order. Besides this, he had also days of humiliation with his family. <\/p>\n
\u2014Bowes<\/p>\n
4653<\/b> Happy The Home<\/b><\/p>\n
Happy the home when God is there, <\/p>\n
And love fills every breast:<\/p>\n
When one their wish, one their prayer, <\/p>\n
And one their heavenly rest. <\/p>\n
Happy the home where Jesus\u2019 name<\/p>\n
Is sweet to every ear;<\/p>\n
Where children early lisp His fame<\/p>\n
And parents hold Him dear. <\/p>\n
Happy the home where prayer is heard, <\/p>\n
And praise is wont to rise;<\/p>\n
Where parents love the sacred Word, <\/p>\n
And live but for the skies. <\/p>\n
Lord, let us in our homes agree, <\/p>\n
This blessed home to gain;<\/p>\n
Unite our hearts in love to thee, <\/p>\n
And love to all will reign. <\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
4654<\/b> Thieves Creeping Upstairs \u2026 <\/b><\/p>\n
The Rev. Thomas Bardbury was remarkable for punctuality in the time he devoted to family worship. One evening when the bell had rung the servants went up to prayer, and forgot to shut the area door near the street. Some men observed the door open, and one of them entered the house to rob it. <\/p>\n
Creeping upstairs, he heard the old gentleman praying that God would preserve his house from thieves. The man was thunderstruck, and unable to persist in his design. He returned and told the circumstance to his companions, who abused him on account of his timidity; but he was so affected that, some time after, he related the circumstance to Mr. Bradbury, and became an attendant on his ministry. <\/p>\n
\u2014Walter Baxendale<\/p>\n
4655<\/b> Mark Twain\u2019s Home<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cMark Twain\u201d was the pen name of Samuel Clemens. As a young man he fell in love with a beautiful Christian girl named Livy and married her. Being devoted to her Lord, she wanted a family altar and prayer at meals after she and Sam were married. This was done for a time and then one day Sam said, \u201cLivy, you can go on with this by yourself if you want to but leave me out. I don\u2019t believe in your God and you\u2019re only making a hypocrite out of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fame and afluence came. There were court appearances in Europe. Sam and Livy were riding high and Livy got farther and farther away from her early devotion to her Lord. The eventual fall came. In an hour of bitter need Sam Clemens said, \u201cLivy, if your Christian faith can help you now, turn to it.\u201d Livy replied, \u201cI can\u2019t, Sam; I haven\u2019t any; it was destroyed a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Christian Digest<\/i><\/p>\n
4656<\/b> Mother Prayed For Boy\u2019s Education<\/b><\/p>\n
Early in the last century the Presbyterian minister at Darlington, Pennsylvania, out on his pastoral round, was riding his horse down a country lane. As he drew up before a humble cottage he heard the sound of a woman\u2019s voice lifted in earnest prayer. As he listened he heard this widowed mother, with her boys kneeling at her side, earnestly entreating God that he would open a door for the education of these boys, so that they might become good and useful men. <\/p>\n
The pastor dismounted and went in to speak with the widow who had prayed so earnestly, and yet with a note of sorrow in her voice. Struck with the alertness of one of these boys and touched by the woman\u2019s petitions, he took the boy with him to the old Stone Academy at Darlington, and there gave him the instruction for which his mother had prayed. <\/p>\n
That boy, so handicapped in his birth, and for whom there seemed to be no opportunity, influenced more young minds in America in the last century than any other man. He was William McGuffey, the author of the famous Eclectic Readers<\/i>, which had the extraordinary circulation of a hundred million copies. <\/p>\n
\u2014C. E. Macartney<\/p>\n
4657<\/b> No Devotions, No Sleep<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cNone of God\u2019s children are born dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rowland Hill, the famous preacher, was once driven by a storm of rain into a village inn, and compelled to spend the night there. When it grew late, the landlord said: \u201cSir, I wish you would go to bed. I must see all the lights out: I am so afraid of fire.\u201d \u201cSo am I,\u201d was the reply, \u201cbut I have been expecting to be called for family prayer.\u201d \u201cAll very good, sir; but it cannot be done at an inn.\u201d \u201cIndeed! then, pray, get me my horse. I cannot go to sleep in a house where there is no family prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The host preferred to dismiss his prejudice rather than his guest, and said, \u201cI have no objection to have prayer, but I don\u2019t know how.\u201d \u201cWell, then call in the family servants, and let us see what can be done.\u201d The landlord obeyed and in a few minutes the astonished domestics were on their knees, and the landlord called upon to pray. \u201cSir, I never prayed in my life. I don\u2019t know how.\u201d \u201cAsk God to teach you,\u201d was the gentle reply. The landlord, folding his hands, said, \u201cGod teach us how to pray.\u201d \u201cThat is prayer, my friend,\u201d cried Mr. Hill, joyfully, \u201cgo on.\u201d \u201cI am sure I don\u2019t know what to say now, sir.\u201d \u201cYes, you do; God has taught you how to pray; now thank Him for it.\u201d \u201cThank you, God Almighty, for letting us pray to you.\u201d \u201cAmen! Amen!\u201d exclaimed Rowland Hill, and then offered prayer himself. <\/p>\n
Two years afterward, Mr. Hill found in that same village a chapel and a school, as a result of the first effort of family prayer at the \u201cBlack Lion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
4658<\/b> Baby\u2019s Earliest Memories<\/b><\/p>\n
A caller found a young mother with her babe in her lap and her Bible in her hand. \u201cAre you reading to your baby?\u201d was the humorous query. \u201cYes,\u201d the young mother replied. \u201cBut, do you think he understands?\u201d \u201cI am sure he does not understand now, but I want his earliest memories to be that of hearing God\u2019s Word.\u201d \u201cGod\u2019s word is the \u201csword of the Spirit\u201d. Only by His Word are we purified and strengthened to do His will. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of reading the Word all through life. <\/p>\n
\u2014King\u2019s Business<\/i><\/p>\n
4659<\/b> Not A Single Useful Institution<\/b><\/p>\n
Roger Babson, world-known statistician, recently declared, \u201cI have not been able to find a single useful institution which has not been founded by either an intensely religious man or by the son of a praying father or a praying mother. I have made this statement before the chamber of commerce of all larger cities of the country and ask\u2014for a single exception. Thus far I haven\u2019t heard of a single one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014The Evangel<\/i><\/p>\n
MEALTIME PRAYERS<\/p>\n
4660<\/b> Lesson From A Beggar<\/b><\/p>\n
There was once a good king in Spain called Alfonso XII. Now it came to the ears of this king that the pages at his court forgot to ask God\u2019s blessing on their daily meals, and he determined to rebuke them. He invited them to a banquet which they all attended. The table was spread with every kind of good thing, and the boys ate with evident relish; but none of them remembered to ask God\u2019s blessing on the food. <\/p>\n
During the feast a beggar entered, dirty and ill-clad. He seated himself at the royal table and ate and drank to his heart\u2019s content. At first the pages were amazed, and they expected that the king would order him away. But Alfonso said never a word. When the beggar had finished he rose and left without a word of thanks. Then the boys could keep silence no longer. \u201cWhat a despicably mean fellow!\u201d they cried. <\/p>\n
But the king silenced them, and in clear, calm tones he said, \u201cBoys, bolder and more audacious than this beggar have you all been. Every day you sit down to a table supplied by the bounty of your Heavenly Father, yet you ask not His blessing nor express to Him your gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014James Hastings<\/p>\n
4661<\/b> \u201cJust Like My Dog\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
A little lad of six was invited out to lunch in a neighbor\u2019s home. When all were seated at the table the food was served. The little boy was puzzled, and with the forthright frankness of a child, asked the host: \u201cDon\u2019t you say any prayer before you eat?\u201d<\/p>\n
The host was highly embarrassed over the boy\u2019s blunt inquiry, and mumbled, \u201cNo, we don\u2019t take time for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lad was silent for a time, then said, \u201cYou\u2019re just like my dog. You start right in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Al Bryant<\/p>\n
4662<\/b> To Pay Like A Sinner<\/b><\/p>\n
A minister was riding through a section of the state of South Carolina, where custom forbade innkeepers to take pay from the clergy who stayed with them. The minister in question took supper without prayer, and ate breakfast without prayer or grace, and was about to take his departure when the host presented his bill. \u201cAh, sir,\u201d responded the landlord, \u201cbut you came here, smoked like a sinner, ate and drank like a sinner, and slept like a sinner, and now, sir, you shall pay like a sinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Current Anecdotes<\/p>\n
4663<\/b> Abraham\u2019s Lack of Patience<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an ancient legend that Abraham invited into his tent a man, who at mealtime gave no thanks to God for His mercy. Whereupon the patriarch drove him forth into the desert unfed and unsheltered. But in the night God touched Abraham and awoke him, saying to him, \u201cWhere is the stranger?\u201d Abraham said, \u201cWhen he did not fear you, nor thank you, I drove him forth.\u201d God rebuked him, saying, \u201cWho made you his judge: I have borne with him all these years. Could you not bear with him one night? Have you learned nothing from my mercy to you?\u201d It would be a miracle indeed if the love of God for a lost world begat no love in the hearts of those whom His love bound with Himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Minister\u2019s Research Service<\/i><\/p>\n
4664<\/b> For Food And Raymond<\/b><\/p>\n
Little Raymond returned home from Sunday school in a joyous mood. \u201cOh, Mother,\u201d he exclaimed as he entered the house, \u201cThe superintendent said something awfully nice about me in his prayer today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t that wonderful!\u201d said the mother. \u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u201cOh Lord, we thank Thee for food and Raymond,\u201d\u201d replied the lad. <\/p>\n
\u2014Speaker\u2019s Sourcebook<\/i><\/p>\n
4665<\/b> The Boy Was Frank<\/b><\/p>\n
During a blistering hot day, a family was entertaining guests for dinner. When all were seated, the man of the house turned to his six-year-old son and asked him to say the blessing. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut daddy, I don\u2019t know what to say,\u201d he protested. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh, just say what you\u2019ve heard me say,\u201d the mother chimed in. <\/p>\n
Obediently, he bowed his little head and said, \u201cOh, Lord, why did I invite these people here on a hot day like this!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
4644 Japanese Boy Misses Breakfast At a school in Japan a teacher asked the children if there were any who had not had breakfast that morning, thinking thereby to discover some needy family. A boy of nine years put up his hand. Knowing that he came from a comparatively well-to-do family, the teacher asked why … Continue reading “PRAYER, FAMILY”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}