ELDER A.'S SERMON TO MOTHERS.
ELDER A. had given out in the morning that the sermon in the evening would be to the mothers especially; and "if any of the fathers were present, and could feel their need of any of the crumbs that fell from the table, they would be welcome to fill as many baskets as they had a mind to carry home with them." So it came about that the place of meeting for the Jasper church was well filled the evening after Sabbath, January 19, 1889. A good many came out of curiosity; some came because they always came, rain or shine, unless sickness prevented, because they really loved the house of God and its services, and always had a hunger within, and received some good meat to feed upon, and who, if there was prayer and social meeting, were always ready with their prayers and with cheery, encouraging testimony. Of the latter class were Brother James Jewett and wife and their two daughters, Ruth and Rachel; Ruth played the organ, and Rachel had charge of the kindergarten division of the Sabbath-school, "real pillars" of the Jasper church they were considered to be, each one filling an important position, and felt by all (themselves included, though they did not know it, to do them justice) to be necessary to its life, growth, and prosperity. Elder A. began his sermon by reading two texts, "one," he said, "for warning notes, and one for comfort and encouragement—so that the sound of the trumpet calling to war would not send any in fear away to tend flocks in the shelter of past good works, who should be ready at a moment's notice to volunteer to fight the enemy to the death. "My first," said he, "you will find in Jer. 17:9, 10: 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.'" He read these verses slowly, three times, and a hush fell on the congregation that was not all born of desire to hear every word the minister said. Some felt that it was the Spirit of God, and prayed in their hearts for its continuance throughout the entire meeting. The minister then turned to Micah 7:18, 19: "'Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities'"—a pause; then again, "'He will subdue our iniquities'"—another pause, and in louder voice, and with smiling face upturned, with glistening eye fixed as if upon the Father's own face, once more, "'HE WILL SUBDUE OUR INIQUITIES; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.'" Who wants to run away from the rising up of the foes within when such help as this is promised? Who of this congregation will fearlessly unite to conquer the foes that their own deceitful hearts hide and harbor; who will be of the number to whom it is said, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne"? "Many a good mother, who by her husband and children is thought to be perfect, who is faithful as a wife, who is a loving, wise, and tender mother, kind and considerate in her own home, patient to a wonderful degree, a good manager of her household, punctual and fervent in her daily family devotion, and who is the envy of many a neighbor, is yet encased in such a heavy coat of mail, composed of self-love and self-approval, of pride and conceit, that the angel of God who hovers around her to record her doings reports with sorrow the record he makes of her daily life. And why?—Because her own heart has deceived her, and unconsciously she makes of her husband, her children, her home, even her household duties, idols before whom she worships much more constantly and sincerely than she worships Him who says, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself;' and she forgets for days together that it is as much her duty to love her neighbor as herself, as to yield homage to God in other things. "Mothers, will you throw down your household gods? will you extend your usefulness? will you help your neighbors instead of hindering them by making yourselves stumbling-blocks in their way by your daily sins of omission rather than of commission? though both sins are chronicled against you in the books of Heaven, will you ask God for wisdom to direct you, and love to impel you, to the right deed of kindness, to the helpful hint that will assist your neighbors to bring about the same order and thrift they so often admire in your homes? Will you not remember that He 'from whom cometh every good and perfect gift' has said to you, 'Freely ye have received, freely give'? Oh, do not give that Pharisaical spirit room in your hearts any longer, that will lead you to survey your tidy house, your obedient sons or daughters, your well-cooked food and tastefully-arranged table, your well-ordered home, with feelings of pride and secret exultation that yours is more perfect than your neighbor's. God loves order, and well-ordered households are well pleasing in his sight; he loves obedient children, but he would have you reverence the Source of all ability to bring about such a state of things; he would have you remember, if it be so, truly, that yours is a better ordered household than your neighbors, that it was he that vouchsafed to you good early training, that gave you calculative powers, love of order and neatness, tact to make the best use of all you have to do with, and he would have you be thankful for the gift, realizing it is a gift from God, given you to use for others than yourselves and your own families. "I see those in this congregation whom I esteem highly for their Christian zeal and practice, whom I have heard extolled as model mothers, model housekeepers, model Christians, but of whom I am persuaded to believe if such were to-day 'weighed in the balance they would have been found wanting.' Why wanting?—Because opportunities to make 'covenant with God by sacrifice,' through tiny deeds of kindness for or toward their neighbor, have been let pass unnoticed or unheeded, thus bearing witness against themselves that of one part of the two commandments of love, upon which the whole law hangs, they were disobedient, and consequently not yet sealed as one of the company who in the day soon to come shall be found of Christ 'keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.' "Will you awaken, mothers, and cultivate more patiently in your own hearts, and in the hearts of your children, the plant of love to man, which must bud and blossom, and produce perfect and ripened fruitage before the seal of God's acceptance can be set upon your foreheads? Do you believe the time is short, and that in a few short years at most (God alone knows how few) the Judge of all the earth will show his face upon the earth again? If you believe it, go home to-night and set yourselves resolutely to the task of watching every secret motive of every act; do this for one solitary day, and see if you will not yourselves discern myriads of self-admiring, self-satisfying emotions, that, like the locusts of Pharaoh's day, 'are ready to eat up every herb of the land, and fruit of the trees,' and are quite as fateful and disastrous to the fruits of the Spirit, and as unlike humility as night is to day. "Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.' Don't think any of you that I mean Sister A, or B, or C, or any other sister, think only, What is for me? Do not try to fit any of these garments of filthy rags that I have been holding up to-night for the rightful owners to see and take from my hands, to anyone but your own self; try every one on your own shoulders; if you find any one or more that fits, wear it home, and until God in his mercy shows you how to grow so much in the grace and knowledge of Jesus that it falls off, never to fit again; and till in its place you shall have a robe of Christ's own righteousness. And, my sisters in Christ Jesus, don't forget who is to aid you in it all; who it is that 'will subdue our iniquities,'221and by and by, when the great work of atonement is finished, 'will cast all our sins into the depth of the sea.' "We are told by one among us, to whom God deigns to sometimes speak for our benefit, 'that discouragement is of the devil,' so tomorrow if any, by turning the eye within, should find they had been snared by their evil, deceitful heart, don't let discouragement find room to set a foot for a moment. Think of what God has done for you; what his promises are to all who ask with faith believing; remember that 'this is his will concerning you, even your sanctification;' and know always, and at all times, and in all cases, that because of your misdoings he will not change his essence, which is love always, and continually, toward all alike who turn unto him. No motion of repentance in your heart but what is faithfully noted and approved by him; no attempt at reform of any kind, however feeble, made in humility and love, is left unaided by him; and you should rejoice rather than faint at every new consciousness of a fault; it is not the consciousness thereof that makes you more wicked, but it offers an opportunity for repentance and reform that never could become yours without it; consciousness of sin is but the glorious light of the Spirit of God shining into the darkened corners of your souls, and showing you the cobwebs of sin, that you may hasten to cleanse them away and leave purity and cleanliness in their stead. "I see tear-stained cheeks in this congregation before me now, and I am sure angels will witness vigorous effort at self-examination in many a heart among this people; and may the Holy Spirit assist in the cleansing of the soul temples of all filthiness of both flesh and spirit. "My sisters, arise! the time is short; set yourselves to the work of purifying yourselves 'even as He is pure' as you have never done. 'Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.' 'The night cometh when no man can work,' and that night is just upon us! May God's blessing be upon you all. Amen!" As one in a dream did Sister James Jewett go out of the house; for once she forgot to shake hands with old Auntie Stimson, the dear old lame soul, whose lamp was so well trimmed and burning that of all the garments the elder held out for owners, she never found one to fit her bent and tottering form; and so, joyful as ever, she waited for Sister Jewett's welcome, and could scarcely believe her ears when someone told her she had gone home. "Suthin's wrong at home or Anna Jewett never'd ha' gone home without saying howdy to me; it does me good a whole week to get her warm hand-shake and greeting. Why, bless your heart, I never hear them two, James nor her, speak or sing but it makes me think I'm back to the good old times of '44, when we looked for the blessed Lord to come sure, and he didn't; but he's coming quickly now. Them notes of Elder A.'s sermon rung out sharp and clear, just as they made 'em ring who preached the Lord's coming them days, praise the Lord!" And more than one heart caught the strain, and praised the Lord too as they went home, more thoughtful than they came. Sister Jewett forgot the extra shawl she always carried cold evenings to wrap baby James Jr. in, and was obliged to send back to her seat for it after they were otherwise all ready for the four and a half miles' ride home, but she had not forgotten the many garments that fitted her exactly, so she said in low tones to James as they rode along, "I am guilty, guilty, guilty; of what am I not guilty?" "So am I! How many baskets full of crumbs I am carrying home! I wonder you know me, Anna, in these 'filthy rags' the elder threw over my shoulders; or have you seen them all the time?" "Why, James, the sermon was to me, not you; I cannot wait, it seems to me, for to-morrow to come and bring me possible opportunity for removing one block of stumbling I threw in Mrs. Adkin's path yesterday afternoon just before the Sabbath began; one unheeded opportunity for covenanting with God by sacrifice, I may perhaps catch again; but for that one family I have let hundreds pass, I am certain. James, you do not know your wife at all; she is just beginning to know herself. God grant my case was not pending to-day, for I am 'wanting' everywhere." "No, Anna, not in everything. Give God praise for all the help he has rendered you; and as the elder told you, 'take courage for the rest.' It was only yesterday I as good as lied to John Adkins. He wanted to know how I came always to have good potatoes and he never, only in an occasional hill. I told him, 'Oh, I guess you imagine I am more successful than you, that is all;' when, Anna, I am sure, and was then, that it lies in his manner of seeding and cultivating, and I wouldn't tell him lest he should catch up to me and come out as well as I. And this is but one instance of many similar cases with other neighbors than John. Then, I am proud as Lucifer of my wife, my daughters, of your management inside, of my own outside; and I am crowing inside half the time over the whole business, and taking all the credit to myself. If you are guilty, what am I?" "James, we are both shamefully at fault; but thank God that time remains to turn new leaves, and, with his help, we will begin to-morrow by humble confessions at home first, for the girls' sake and each other, and then 'extend our usefulness' to our neighbors as much as possible." On the back seat Ruth and Rachel sat silent; but when they had reached home and the lamp was lighted, both faces showed traces of tears, and when, on kissing them good-night, with one arm round each, Mrs. Jewett said, 'My girlies, sleep to-night, and come down early to help your father and mother begin the work of living new lives tomorrow,' Rachel said:— "O mother, how do I dare to sleep when I have been so deceived and am so sinful! Won't you please ask God first to forgive me so I can sleep?" "Ask him for me, too, do, mother; I am the worst of all," Ruth sobbed out. And when Mr. Jewett came in from putting out the horses, he found his wife pleading with God, as he had never heard her before, for them all; and beside them he knelt too.