CHAPTER 24 THE CONVERSION OF A FAMILY

CHAPTER 24 THE CONVERSION OF A FAMILY When we were traveling Knox circuit, at an appointment called Bowling-Green, we were holding a quarterly meeting. After the love-feast exercises in the morning were ended, and many a soul had drank deeply from the fountain of redeeming love, the doors were opened for the admission of the congregation to preaching. As usual, on such occasions, the chapel was crowded to its utmost capacity. Many who never think of attending the ordinary appointments of circuit preaching will come out on such occasions, and it frequently happens that the truth takes effect in hearts that were before wholly careless and unconcerned in regard to their spiritual and eternal interests. It having fallen to our lot to preach the eleven o’clock sermon, we took occasion, in the course of our remarks, to address particularly parents, and, after pressing upon them with as much earnestness as we were able, the duties husbands owed to their wives, we presented, in as forcible a light as possible, the duties of parents to their children, but especially the duties of the husband as head of the family. We alluded to the fearful responsibility resting upon the husband and father, and the guilt involved in the neglect of such to look after the salvation of their families. In the presentation of motives to continued and unwearied exertion in behalf of the salvation of those God had committed to their care, we referred to the loss of such beloved ones to the society of heaven and the despair and ruin that awaited them should they die in their sins. We endeavored to carry our audience to the scenes of the judgment day, when wives will rise up against their husbands and children against their parents, and charge them with having been instrumental in banishing them from heaven, and shutting them up in the gloom of hell.

While we preached, the Spirit applied the truth to many consciences. We noticed in the congregation one man in particular, a rich and influential citizen of the neighborhood, who grew pale and trembled as we endeavored to pour the thunders of Sinai upon the neglecters of salvation, and also labored to show the utter impossibility of an escape from the fearful doom of a violated law. This man had a large and respectable family, and he manifested no more concern for their salvation than to secure for them an inheritance and make them appear respectable in the world. No sum was considered too great to be expended in fitting out his sons and daughters for "genteel society," and his greatest happiness seemed to consist in seeing them figure highest on the list of the roll of fashion and folly. He seemed to have entertained the idea held by a certain gentleman in one of our western towns, who took his daughter to a fashionable boarding-school in the east, and who, on being asked by the principal what he wished his daughter taught, replied, ’’Teach her to shine." Alas! that so many, and even, we fear, professors of religion, appear to be governed by no higher views in the education of their daughters. This worldliness might do among the members of a certain Church we wot of where, at a Bible class, when the question for the evening’s investigation was introduced, "How shall we best teach our children reverence for God?" one of the gravest pillars thereof rose and said, "Reverence is politeness; and, therefore, if I wished to teach my children reverence for God I would send them to a dancing-school." But Methodists have not learned in such a school nor in that other "school of morals" denominated the theater, the principles of morality and the fear of God. We must be pardoned for dwelling a little here. As there are many professors who speak indulgently, if not encouragingly, of the opera, the theater, and the dancing saloon, it is time that a note of warning was sounded that would break like heaven’s loudest thunder on the ears of such.

"O, father," said a blooming girl of some eighteen summers, gentle and lovely as a rose of spring, "what harm can there be in going to the theater just once, to hear some of Shakespeare’s best pieces rehearsed by star performers? Besides, haven’t you got the works of that great author in your library?"

"I will answer your question, my dear," said the father, who was a minister, "by asking another. What harm would there be in letting this beautiful glass vase fall on the stone hearth just once?"

"Ah, but the case is not a parallel one," said the daughter.

"Why not? If it be true that, instead of being a ’school of morals,’ it is a school of vice, and vice is contaminating to the soul, should it not be avoided? Can one take coals in his bosom and not be burned? Can one walk amidst a shower of soot, such as often falls in our city, and not have her garments soiled? Besides, who knows so well the nature and tendencies of such places as those who have been behind the scenes? And I tell you the most eminent tragedian of the country would never let his daughters enter the doors of a theater. You know Emma, who joined the Church a few Sabbaths since?’’

"Yes, I recollect that young lady."

Well, she is one of the daughters of that tragedian, and she never was inside of a theater. The very form in which you have put this question shows that you are convinced of the impropriety of visiting such places, because you speak of a single visit, and seem to think that no harm can come of a single visit. You well know by your education, and I pray God it may never become part of your experience, that

"Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, That to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, She’s first endured, then pitied, then embraced.’"

Since the above conversation the father has heard no more from his daughter on the subject of going to the theater. but where have we wandered? The gentleman above alluded to was seized with strong convictions. He felt that his whole life had been wrong, and all his sins and delinquencies rose up before him. What to do he knew not. On returning home he was met by his kind and affectionate family, and some of them, with a laughing sneer, asked about the shouting Methodists, whose preaching and religious exercises frequently constituted the theme of discourse. The father had but little to say. At length the dinner hour arrived, and the Sabbath with that family was a day of feasting; but the father, notwithstanding the many anxious entreaties, was too much oppressed and sick at heart to eat. While the family sat down he went into his parlor. We have already said it was an affectionate family, and the absence of the parent from the table seemed to have deprived the whole of an appetite.

Dinner was, therefore, soon dispatched, and the wife and mother was not long in seeking the husband and father; for she was anxious to know what trouble filled his mind. That which he might keep from the children she knew he would communicate to her. Scarcely had she entered the parlor where he was sitting till his feelings, no longer to be repressed, overcame him, and he burst into tears, exclaiming, in sobs and broken accents, "O, Mary, I have sinned against God and myself and you and our children, and I feel that I must change my course of life, or else we will all be lost together. You have been my faithful and devoted wife for twenty-five years, and I have never said one word to you in all that time about your soul, nor have I had any concern for the salvation of our children. Can you forgive me? I have determined this day to seek religion and lead a new life. Will you go with me in that path of life in which there is no death or sorrow?" The wife was deeply affected, and, taking her husband by the hand, she said, "My dear William, I have been praying in my heart for years that you would take this course of life. You thought, perhaps, I was altogether careless and indifferent on the subject of religion. How often have I desired to talk with you on the subject, but my heart failed me! Yes, William, I give you my heart and my hand to journey with you to heaven. O, bless the Lord that I have lived to see this day!"

But, Mary, we must take our children with us. The dear children that God has given to us must not be left behind."

"Yes, William, it would be a sad and melancholy thought to leave them in the broad road to destruction.’’ So saying she called them into the parlor. Soon they were all in and seated — two sons, men grown, and three daughters, the youngest of which being about eight years of age. The weeping, penitent father rose and addressed them. My dear children, I have sinned against God in that, as a father, I have never said any thing to you about your salvation. You have never seen or heard me read a chapter in the Bible, nor have you ever heard a word or prayer from my lips. I have constantly set before you a bad example, and all my influence has been to lead you astray from the paths of religion. Now, God has smitten me with conviction for my sins, and I stand before him this day, and before your mother, and before you, a guilty, condemned sinner, and if God does not forgive me I must be eternally lost. O, my dear children, will you forgive your guilty father? Your mother and I have entered into a solemn covenant with each other, before God, that we will repent of our sins and seek the Lord, that we may be saved, and we can not enter into the path of life without taking all our children with us that we may make an unbroken family in heaven." By this time all the children, from the oldest to the youngest, were mingling their tears with those of their parents. While they were weeping the father said, "Now, if you will go along with us, come and give us your hands." At this the elder son arose and said, " My dear father and mother, if you go to heaven we will not stay behind." Walking forward he gave his hand to both, and was followed by the rest, who came weeping as if their hearts would break. The youngest, not being noticed in the midst of the excitement, which increased every moment, came up and said, "Father, may not I go too?" At this the parents burst out into a loud expression of joy and grief and the father, taking his lovely child into his arms, thanked God that he had lived to see that day.

Such a Sabbath evening was never spent in that family before. The father and mother bowed with their children before God in supplications for mercy, was a sight which caused joy in heaven among the angels. Monday morning came, and when the hour arrived they all started for meeting. Many were the expressions of surprise to see Mr. and his family all enter the little chapel, and take their seats in the congregation which, on Monday morning, is mostly composed of members of the Church, and the immediate neighborhood. But how was their surprise heightened when, on invitation being given for persons to join the Church, the father, mother, and all the children went forward and gave their hands to the preacher! In the midst of the wave of feeling, which at this time had risen high, the father asked liberty to say a few words, which being granted he remarked, with streaming eyes, as follows:

"My neighbors and friends, I have a word to say. I have not only sinned against God, my wife and children, but I have sinned against you. What influence I have had in this place has not been exerted for good, but for evil. I have been a man of the world, and sought only is pleasures, instead of being religious and setting a good example. For this I sincerely ask pardon of God and of you; and now, by the assistance of Divine grace, me and my house will serve the Lord. I ask you all to go with us, that we may save ourselves and our families." At the conclusion of this short, speech the mourners were invited to the altar, and soon almost every sinner in the house was on his knees, pleading for pardon at the mercy-seat. From this moment a great and glorious revival ensued, and more than eighty persons were happily converted to God.

Reader, if thou art a husband or a father, and living without God and without hope in the world, go and do likewise, and thou shalt save thyself and family from sin and hell. Part of the converted family has already passed over the "Kings highway," and entered the celestial city, and the remainder, like Christiana and her children, are following hard after. O, the blessed ones that have entered heaven. No wonder good John Bunyan said, when in his dream, heaven opened its gates to let in Christian and Faithful, and the heavenly multitude greeted their arrival, "which when I saw, I wished myself among them."

"A few more days of sorrow, And the Lord will call us home, To walk the golden streets Of the New Jerusalem."