May, 1935
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dition— the church was cold and empty. He had no influ ence. He was disheartened and discouraged. He said that the only way to save the church is to save the family. And he went all through that poor community and established family altars where they worshiped God in the home every day in the week. He built up the altars, and he says he spent three years doing it. And then Thomas Boston’s church started to revive, and the community was filled with spiritual power and influence. One o f the noblest of missionaries was John G. Baton. No man evidenced more heroism and sacrifice than did that kingly, wonderful soldier o f the cross. The finest, most in teresting thing in the world to read is biography or auto biography— if you can get the right kind of biography. The finest biographies read like fiction. Some o f the best biog raphies are“ of the great missionaries of the world. Read the biography o f this devoted missionary. You will find on the first page the secret o f that life of service, the one mem ory around which all the rest o f Paton’s ministry centers. That recollection is o f his father with his old family Bible twice a day at the family altar, children all around him hearing the message o f God, then down on their knees to gether. Paton says that in that old home his father’s mighty religious influence made him all he was and started his mis sionary life and work. As you read the rest o f the biogra phy, you will find this spiritual influence in operation all through his life. Henry M. Grady visited Washington, D.C., and when he went back to Atlanta, Ga., he wrote an editorial about the Capitol at Washington, described it beautifully, and called it the home o f this great .nation, the center around which this nation moves. Some months passed by, and he went back to his old home in Georgia. And then when he returned to Atlanta, he wrote another editorial, and in it he said that he made a tremendous blunder when he wrote that first editorial. He said that the center o f this country is not in the United States Capitol— it is in the hovels and in the cottages and in the old farmhouses and in every home in this land in which there is a family altar. The Christian home is the center o f American life from which
with money. Ilf you are going to save the family, you must build the American family al tar. Build that which has fal len down and gone to pieces. No new boards and nails are going to do this thing. You will have to rebuild the fam ily altanj J,9/ A P recious H eritage I know two men that lived in a country home in their boyhood, and they became rich men when they went away
from home. They went occasionally to visit their father and mother living in the old home. And finally the father and mother went to heaven. The sons did not know what to do with this old home. One o f them said to the other, “ If you’ll sell out your interest to me, I ’ll tear down the house and I ’ll build a summer home there, and let you come out to it when you want to.” Accordingly, they took a trip out to the old homestead to tear it down. Around that spot there swept many sacred memories. Then these two brothers, past middle life and rich, went into the house and looked around through it. One walked up and down in front o f the old fireplace, and the other sat down. Finally one said to the other, “ You know, Bsob, what I ’m thinking about? I ’ve changed my mind since I ’ve been here. W e’re not going to tear down this old house. This house is going to stand here; it’s not going to be torn down.” “ That is a strange thing,” the other- brother said, “ be cause when I was walking up and down in front o f the fire place, that is the same thing I was thinking about.” He looked over at the chair in which his father used to sit. “ Here is the old chair that Father sat in when he read the Bible, when we had family worship— the chair around which we knelt as Father lifted our hearts to God.” They stayed there two hours to talk things over. They both got down on their knees by the old chair, repented, and wept their hearts out before God. They went back saved men and gave their money to God and lived for God. And the old house stands. Not a single thing was moved out. It was too sacred to touch, because the family altar had stood there. It is a great thing to go back to the old house. I f you cannot go back any way but in memory, go back. I can make such a journey tonight. I am back there now, three thousand miles across the continent, on the banks o f the Hudson River, in that old farmhouse, in that old kitchen, around that great fireplace— father, mother, twelve children, twice a day, the old family Bible, and the wonderful prayer lifted to God! I am remembering that old house, that old center, that marvelous influence. Do not be surprised when I tell you that every one of those children was saved by the grace o f God. Four of them became ministers o f Jesus Christ, all the rest o f them Sunday-school teachers and God’s chosen men and women. And they all found that inspiration and life at the family altar when Father opened the Bible and then lifted his heart to God. That is the greatest heritage in this world. The greatest inheritance is the influence o f Christian blood and life, moral character, and spiritual uplifting power. Now if your old home gave you that, you do not need to have a dollar. My father and mother never left me a dollar, but they left me the greatest riches in the world. Some of you young people may be married soon. The first thing you want to do in your life— if there is to be
all the rest o f it moves and radiates. And Henry M. Grady was justified in apologizing for his mis take. Unless you save the family altar, you have not gone very far in sav ing the institutions of America. There is a great deal o f talk and money spent concerning these American homes. Y o u are going to repair these homes and borrow the money and never pay it back. The government does not want the homes. They are just going to get all the homes fixed up and painted up. If the rest are doing it, you might as well do it, too. They are going to repair these American homes; they are going to protect the American h o me . They are making a mis take, for you c a n n o t build American homes
TheAltar of the Home "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; . . . but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24:15). "The father to the children shall make known thy truth" (Isa. 38:19). Th e A l t a r of the Church "How amiable are thy tab ernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even faint- eth for the courts of the Lord. . . . Blessed are they that dwell in thy house" (Psa. 84:1, 2, 4). The Altar of Sacrifice "I beseech you therefore ... that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, accept able unto God, which is your reasonable s e r v i c e " (Rom. 12 : 1 ). "Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing" (2 Sam. 24:24).
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