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Everyday Religion
75
which ye sow ye shall also reap.” Should time continue, you would
receive from your children the same treatment which your parents
have received from you. You have not studied how you could best
make your parents happy, and then sacrificed your wishes and your
pleasure to this end. Their days upon earth are few at most, and will
be full of care and trouble even if you do all you can to smooth their
passage to the grave. “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days
may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” This
is the first commandment with promise. It is binding upon childhood
and youth, upon the middle-aged and the aged. There is no period
in life when children are excused from honoring their parents. This
solemn obligation is binding upon every son and daughter, and is
one of the conditions to their prolonging their lives upon the land
which the Lord will give the faithful. This is not a subject unworthy
of notice, but a matter of vital importance. The promise is upon
condition of obedience. If you obey you shall live long in the land
which the Lord your God gives you. If you disobey you shall not
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prolong your life in that land.
Here, my sister, is a subject for your prayerful consideration
and earnest meditation. Closely examine your own heart as in the
light of eternity. Hide nothing from your examination. Search, oh!
search, as for your life, and condemn yourself, pass judgment upon
yourself, and then by faith claim the cleansing blood of Christ to
remove the stains from your Christian character. Do not flatter or
excuse yourself. Deal truly with your own soul. And then as you
view yourself a sinner, fall, all broken, at the foot of the cross. Jesus
will receive you, all polluted as you are, and will wash you in His
blood, and cleanse you from all pollution, and make you fit for the
society of heavenly angels, in a pure, harmonious heaven. There is
no jar, no discord, there. All is health, happiness, and joy.
Sister L, you have not been indifferent to your salvation. You
have, at times, made earnest efforts, and have humbled yourself
before the church and before God; but you have not received that
encouragement which you needed, and which Jesus would have
freely given you had He been upon earth. Love is wanting in the
church. Love for the erring is covered up with selfishness. There is
a great lack of this precious grace among God’s people. You have
thought that the people of God were indifferent to you, and your