{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14237/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14237","id":"gutenberg_14237","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14237","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Parenthood & Family Relations","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Family","Home","Marriage","Parent and child"],"text":"THE CHRISTIAN HOME\n\nAS IT IS IN THE\n\nSphere of Nature and the Church.\n\nSHOWING\n\nThe Mission, Duties, Influences, Habits, and Responsibilities of Home its\nEducation, Government, and Discipline; with Hints on \"Match Making,\" and\nthe Relation of Parents to the Marriage Choice of their Children; together\nwith a consideration of the Tests in the Selection of a Companion, Etc.\n\nby\n\nREV. S. PHILIPS, A.M.\n\nPublished By Gurdon Bill,\nSpringfield, Mass.\nH. C. Johnson, Detroit, Mich.\n\n1865\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  \"Sweet is the smile of Home! the mutual look,\n    When hearts are of each other sure;\n  Sweet all the joys that crowd the household nook,\n    The haunt of all affections pure.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIt is a fact conceded by all, that the constitution of the Christian\nfamily, and its social and spiritual relations, are not as fully developed\nas they should be. In this age of extreme individualism, we have almost\nleft out of view the mission of home as the first form of society, and the\nimportant bearing it has upon the formation of character. Its interests are\nnot appreciated; its duties and privileges are neglected; husbands and\nwives do not fully realize their moral relation to each other; parents are\ninclined to renounce their authority; and children, brought up in a state\nof domestic libertinism, neither respect nor obey their parents as they\nshould. The idea of human character as a development from the nursery to\nthe grave, is not realized. Home as a preparation for both the state and\nthe church, and its bearing, as such, upon the prosperity of both, are\nrenounced as traditionary, and too old and stale to suit this age of\nmechanical progression and \"young Americanism.\"\n\nAs a consequence, the influence of home is lost; the lambs of the flock are\nneglected, grow up in spiritual ignorance, and become a curse both to\nthemselves and to their parents. The vice and infidelity which prevail to\nsuch an alarming extent in the present day, may be ascribed to parental\nneglect of the young. The desolating curse of heaven invariably accompanies\nneglect of domestic obligations and duties; it was this that constituted\nthat dreadful degeneracy which preceded the coming of the Messiah. The\nparents were alienated from the children, and the children from their\nparents. And the only way in which the Jews could avert deserved and\nimpending ruin, was by \"turning the heart of the fathers to the children,\nand the heart of the children to their fathers.\"\n\nWe must adopt the same method. We need in the present day a deeper and more\nscriptural sense, both in the state and church, of the importance of the\nfamily, and of its position in the sphere of natural and religious life.\nThe attention of the people should be directed to the nature, the\ninfluences, the responsibilities, the prerogatives, duties and blessings of\nthe Christian home.\n\nAny work which contributes to this end is worthy of our high regard and\nsubserves a noble purpose; for it is only when the details of home-life are\ngiven to the public, that proper interest in them will be developed, and we\ncan hope for a better state of things in this first form of associated\nlife.\n\nThe following work is an humble contribution to this important cause. It is\nintended to excite interest in the religious elements of family life, and\nto show that the development of individual character and happiness in the\nchurch and state, in time and in eternity, starts with, and depends upon,\nhome-training and nurture. The author, in presenting it to the public, is\nfully conscious of its many palpable imperfections; yet, as it is his first\neffort, and as it was prepared amid the multiplied perplexities and\ninterruptions of his professional life, he confidently expects that it will\nbe received with charitable consideration. It is now published as an\nintroduction to a work on the historical development of home, to which his\nattention has for years been directed. If this unassuming volume should be\ninstrumental in the saving of one family from ruin, we shall feel ourself\nfully compensated.\n\nTHE AUTHOR.\n\nCHAMBERSBURG, PA., 1859.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nWHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN HOME.--_Section I.: Home in the Sphere of\nNature._--The Power of Home-Association. Inadequate Ideas of Home. Home is\na Divine Institute. Its Highest Conception. Definition of Home. Its\nTwo-fold Aspect. As simply Physical. As purely Moral. Home in the Sphere of\nNatural Affection. Home-Love. Home-Ties. The Angel-Spirit of Home. Our\nNature Demands Home. Home-Sickness. Conclusion.\n\n_Section II.: Some in the Sphere of the Church_.--The Heathen Home.\nConstituent Elements of the Christian Home. Marriage. Husband and Wife.\nParents and Children. Union of the Members of a Family. The Christian Home\nmust be Churchly. How we Abuse it. Examples of True Homes. Parental\nNeglect. Address to Parents and Children. Home-Meetings and Greetings.\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE MISSION OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.--The Nature of this Mission. David.\nJoshua. It is Two-fold. The Temporal Well-Being of the Members. How Parents\nAbuse this part of the Home-Mission. The Eternal Well-Being of the Members.\nExtent of the Home-Mission. Its Importance and Responsibility. Seen in the\nVicarious Character of Home. The Principle of Moral Reproduction. The\nVisitation of Parental Iniquity upon the Children. The Guilt of\nUnfaithfulness to this Mission. Qualifications for it. The Law of Equality\nin Marriage. How Parents may Disqualify themselves for it. Incentives to\nFaithfulness. Address to Parents.\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nFAMILY RELIGION.--The Christian Home Demands Family Religion. What is it?\nDifferent from Personal Religion. Co-existent with. Home. Essential to its\nConstitution. Its Historical Development from Eden to the Present Age. Its\nPresent Neglect. What it Includes. The Example of our Primitive Fathers.\nThe Forms in which it is Developed. The Home-Mission Demands it. Its\nNecessity seen in the Value of the Soul. Home without it. Home with it.\nRelations of Home Demand it. Reply to Excuses from it. Defect of it now.\nReasons for this. It is Implied in the Marriage Relation and Obligation.\nMotives to Establish it.\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE RELATION OF HOME TO THE CHURCH.--It must be Churchly. This Relation is\nVital and Necessary, involving Mutual Dependence. Relation of Preparation.\nHome Completes Itself in the Church. It has Power only in the Sphere of\nthe Church. This Relation involves Duties and Responsibilities.\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nHOME-INFLUENCE.--Home has Power. This is either a Curse or a Blessing. What\nis Home-Influence? Its Character. Its Degree Estimated from the Force of\nFirst Impressions. Scripture Testimony to it. Its Legitimate Objects. How\nit Acts in the Formation of Character. Augustine. Washington. John Q.\nAdams. Bishop Hall. Dr. Doddridge. Dr. Cumming. A Mother Won to Christ by a\nDaughter. Its Influence upon the State. Napoleon. Homes of the Revolution.\nThe Spartan Mother and Home. Its Influence upon the Church. Its\nResponsibility Inferred.\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nHOME AS A STEWARDSHIP.--What is a Steward? Home is a Stewardship. Parents.\nHome-Interests. Identity of Interest between the Master and Steward. Mother\nof Moses. Character and Responsibilities of this Stewardship. The Social\nProstitution of Home. The Principle of Accountability this Stewardship\nInvolves. The Final Settlement.\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nRESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.--These Inferred from Home-Influence\nand Stewardship. Their Measure. By the Magnitude of Home-Interest. By the\nKind of Influence upon the Members. By the Guilt and Punishment of Parental\nUnfaithfulness. They are Incentives to Parental Integrity. A Family Drama\nin Two Acts. Filial Responsibility. Address to Parents and Children.\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE FAMILY BIBLE.--The Memories which cluster around it. The Household\nInterests it Contains. The Bible as a Family Record. As a Home-Inheritance.\nAs the Gift of a Mother's Love. An Indispensable Appendage to Home. Its\nAdaptation to Home. It should be Used as the Text-Book of Home-Education.\nIts Abuse and Neglect.\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nINFANCY.--New Eras in Family History. The First-Born. Charm and Interest of\nInfancy. The Infant as a Member of Home. Its Emblematic Character. Its\nHelplessness. Its Prophetical Character. The Trust and Responsibility\nInvolved. The Mother's Relation to Infancy. Address to Parents.\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nHOME-DEDICATION.--The Hebrew Mother and her Child. Reasons for Dedication.\nDedication of Children. Abraham. Offering of Isaac. Little Samuel. David.\nTypical Character of Old Testament Family Offerings. Benefits of\nHome-Dedication. Duty of Parents to Devote their Sons to the Ministry. The\nUnfaithfulness of Parents to this duty.\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nCHRISTIAN BAPTISM.--The Baptismal Altar. It is the Sacrament of\nHome-Dedication. Infants are its True Subjects. Home Demands it. Infant\nBaptism Proven, by the Child's Need of Salvation, by the Idea and Mission\nof Christ, by the Idea of the Church, by the Hereditary Character of Sin,\nby the Relation of Christian Parents to their Children, by the Constitution\nof Family Life. Enemies of Infant Baptism. Why Opposed to it. Their\nSophistry. Dr. A. Carson. Appeal to Parents. Duty and Privilege of Parents\nto have their Children Baptized. Its Neglect and Abuse. How Abused. The Old\nLandmarks. Striking Statistics. Abuse by Parents and Children.\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nCHRISTIAN NAMES.--Proper Kind of Names. Law of Correspondence and\nAssociation. Christian Names. Much in a Name. Naming a Child should not be\nArbitrary. Nebuchadnezzar. Adam. The Hebrews. Woman. Eve. Cain. Seth.\nSamuel. Dr. Krummacher. Names now Given. The Folly and Evil of it. Why we\nshould give Suitable Names. Why Scriptural Names. Mary. Instances of Proper\nChristian Names.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nHOME AS A NURSERY.--Idea of Nursing. What a Nursery Is. The sense in which\nHome is a Nursery. Character of the Home-Nursery. The Mother's Special\nSphere. Relation of the Nursery to the Formation of Character. The Nursery\nis Physical. Sickly and Immoral Nurses. Consequences. It is Intellectual.\nIts Abuse. It is Moral and Spiritual. The Ways in which the Nursery is\nAbused. Boarding Schools.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nHOME-SYMPATHY.--An Argument against the Neglect and Abuse of the Nursery.\nIts Natural Elements. Its Definition and Nature. The Ancients. Baptista\nPorta. Plato. Middle Ages. It is Passive and Active. Its Disease. Good\nSamaritan. Rousseau. Robespierre. Its Relation to Natural Affection. Its\nRelation to Woman. Its Religious Elements. Christ. Ruth. Joseph. Mother of\nSamuel. Peter. Esther. Paul. Family of Lazarus. Its True Pattern. Its\nAttractive Power. Unfaithfulness to its Law. Its Highest Element.\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nFAMILY PRAYER.--Its Relation to Home-Sympathy. Its Necessity. Its Idea. Dr.\nDwight's View. The Duty to establish it Proven. Its Neglect. Excuses from\nFamily Prayer. Address to Parents.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nHOME-EDUCATION.--_Section I.: The Character of Home-Education._ What is\nHome-Education. Different Kinds. It must be Physical. Intellectual. Moral.\nThe Means. Circumstances. Temptation. Example. Training. Habit. The\nFeelings. Conscience. Motives. Cardinal Virtues. When it should Begin. It\nmust be Religious. Necessity of this. St. Pierre. The Mother as Teacher.\nObjections Considered. Encouragement to Home-Training. Dr. Doddridge. A\nPious Minister. Dr. Dwight. Young Edwards. Polycarp. Timothy. John\nRandolph. J.Q. Adams. Daniel. The Power of Home-Training in Religion.\n\n_Section II.: The Neglect and Abuse of Home-Education._--Popular Prejudices\nExposed. Dr. Johnson. Edmund Burke. Miss Sedgwick. Everett. Robert Hall.\nFruits of a Neglected Education. Law of the Icelanders. Parents are\nResponsible. Crates. Pleasure of Teaching the Young. Thompson. Abuse of it.\nFashionable Boarding-Schools. A Hopeful Young Lady. How to Ruin a Son.\nDuty of Parents inferred. Books. Bartholin. Home-Training not isolated from\nChurch-Training. Must be Churchly.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nFAMILY HABITS.--Their Importance. Their Idea. Different Kinds. Their\nFormation. Tobacco and Liquor. Evil and Good Habits. Family Prayer.\nOmission of Duty. Their Influence. Rev. C.C. Colton. A Criminal in India.\nHabit as the Interpreter of Character. Its Reproductive Power. We are\nResponsible for our Habits. Christian Habits. Habit of Industry.\nRutherford. Habits of Perseverance and Contentment.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nHOME-GOVERNMENT.--Home is a Little Commonwealth. Includes the Legal\nPrinciple. Relation of Parents to Children. Principle of Home-Government.\nParental Authority Threefold. Schlegel. Old Roman Law. A Divine,\nInalienable Right. Extent of Parental Authority. False View of it.\nCorrelative Relation between Filial Obedience and Parental Authority.\nCharacter and Extent of Filial Obedience. Neglect and Abuse of\nHome-Government. Parental Indulgence and Despotism. The True Medium.\nAddress to Parents.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nHOME-DISCIPLINE.--Its Idea. Its Necessity. False Systems. Discipline from\nthe standpoint of Law without Love. Its Fruits. A Quaint Anecdote. The\nEuropeans. The Arabs. Discipline from the standpoint of Love without Law.\nExamples. Eli. David. Its Fruits. True Christian Discipline. Chastisement.\nA Model System. Abraham. His Children. When Discipline should be\nIntroduced. When it should be Administered. Importance of Parental\nCo-operation. Favoritism. Relation of Command to Chastisement. The Kind of\nRein and Whip. When Corporeal Punishment should be Used. Dr. South. Dr.\nBell. Its Adaptation to the Real Wants of the Child. Fidelity to Threats\nand Promises. Examination of Offenses. Never Chastise in Anger. Let your\nChild know the Object of Discipline.\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nHOME-EXAMPLE.--Its Idea and Influence. The Child is the Moral Reproduction\nof the Parent. Solomon. Paul. Shakspeare. Dr. Young. Its Necessity proven\nfrom its Relation to Precept--William Jay; from its Adaptation to the\nCapacity and Imitative Disposition of the Child. Duty of Parents to show a\nModel Example to the Child. Archbishop Tillotson. Motives to this Duty.\nObstacles to the Efficacy of good Home-Example. Unequal Marriages. Jacob's\nMarriage. Zacharias and Elizabeth.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nTHE CHOICE OF PURSUITS.--Duty of Preparation for some Useful Occupation.\nThis should be made in Childhood. The part Parents should take in this.\nDuty of all Persons to engage in some Useful Pursuit shown from the\nRelation of the Individual to the State, from the Possibility of Future\nMisfortune, from the Excessive Prodigality of those who have been brought\nup in Idleness. Law of the Athenians. What Parents should consider in their\nselection of an Occupation for their Children. Injudicious Course of some\nParents. Fruits of Disobedience to the Law of Adaptation. Social Position.\nExigencies. But one Pursuit. Jack of All Trades. Loaferism. Fruits of\nIndolence.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nTHE HOME-PARLOR.--Its Idea and Relations to Society. Why we should hold it\nSacred. The most Dangerous Departments of Home. Duty of Parents to instruct\ntheir Children in reference to it. How far the Christian Parlor may Conform\nto the Laws and Customs of Fashion. Adulteration of the Christian Home\nthrough Indiscriminate Association. The Sad and Demoralizing Effects.\nAddress to Parents.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nMATCH-MAKING.--_Section I.: The Relation of Parents to the Marriage Choice\nof their Children_.--The Bridal Hour. A Home-Crisis. The Bride's Farewell.\nHave Parents a right to take any part in the Marriage Choice of their\nChildren? This Right Proven from their Relation to their Children, from the\nInexperience of Children, from Sacred History. The Patriarchal Age.\nJudaism. The Christian Church. The Extent of this Right. The Duties it\nInvolves. Moral Control. Coercive Measures. Improper Parental\nInterposition. Its Sad Effects. Persuasive Measures. Should Parents Banish\nand Disinherit Children for their Marrying against their will? Paley.\n\n_Section II.: False Tests in the Selection of a Companion_.--The Mere\nOutward. How we determine Unhappy Matches. The Manner of Paying Addresses.\nThe Habit of Match-Making. Tricks of Match-Makers. The Sad Fruits. Book\nMatch-Makers. Their Auxiliaries. The Evil. How Parents may Preserve their\nChildren. False Influences. Smitten. Outward Beauty. Impulsive Passion.\nFalling in Love at First Sight. Wealth. Rank. English Aristocracy.\nNepotism. Snobbishness.\n\n_Section III.: True Tests in the Selection of a Companion_.--Judicious\nViews of the Nature and Responsibilities of the Marriage Institution. Our\nForefathers. Reciprocal Affection. Paley. True Love. Adaptation of\nCharacter and Position. Fitness of Circumstances, Means, and Age. Religious\nEquality and Adaptation. Only in the Lord. The Sad Effect of Inequality.\nShould Persons Marry Outside of their Own Branch of the Church? Sin and\nCurse of Disobedience to the Law of Religious Equality. Duty of Parents in\nreference to Religious Equality. All Matches not made in Heaven. Law of\nMoses. Abraham. Historical Instances of the Fruits of Disobeying this Law.\nReasonableness of the Law. The Primitive Christians. Sense of the Christian\nChurch. Address to Christians.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nTHE CHILDREN'S PATRIMONY.--The Question this Involves. Not Confined to\nWealth. A Good Character and Occupation. True Religion. How Parents should\nproceed in the Distribution of their Property. Why they should give only a\nCompetency. The Rules to Determine a Competence. Paley. What the Law of\nCompetence Forbids. Penalties of its Violation. History. Impartiality.\nPaley. The Infatuation of many Parents.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\nTHE PROMISES OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.--Two Kinds. Divine Promises to Parents\nand Children. Those of Punishment. Law of Reproduction. Iniquity of the\nParents upon the Children. Promises of Reward. In this Life. John Q. Adams.\nIn the Life to Come. God's Fidelity to His Promises. They are Conditional.\nWhen they become Absolute. Popular Objections. Compatibility between\nPromises and Agencies. Paul. Moses. Promises made by Parents.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\nTHE BEREAVEMENTS OF HOME.--Separation. Bereavements Diversified. Reverses\nof Fortune. Death. First Death. Of Husband and Father. Of a Wife and\nMother. Of Children. Of the Infant. Of the First-Born. Wisdom and Goodness\nof God in Bereavements. Discipline. Moral Instruction. The Dead and Living\nstill Together. Benefit. Death of Little Children is a Kindness to them.\nWhy. Why Christ became a Little Child. We should not wish them Back. Their\nDeath is a Benefit to the Living. Communion of Saints. Ministering Spirits.\nThe Spirit-World. A Ministering Child. A Ministering Mother. Infant\nSalvation. Zuinlius. Calvin. Dr. Junkin. Newton. The Hope of Re-union in\nHeaven. We should not murmur against God. This does not forbid Godly Sorrow\nand Tears. Meekly Submit.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\nTHE MEMORIES OF HOME.--Chief Justice Gibson. Relation of Memory to\nBereavement. Memories are Pleasing and Painful. Pleasing and Pious\nMemories. A Mother's Recollection. The Pleasures of Remembering the Pious\nDead. Irving. The Saving Influence of Memory. Painful Memories. Critical\nPower of Memory. Mementoes of Home. Pictures. Memorials. Letters from Home.\nSeek Pleasing Memories.\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nTHE ANTITYPE OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.--Typical Relation between Home and\nHeaven. The Christian's Tent-Home in its Relation to Heaven. The\nAntitypical Character of Heaven. A Comparative View of our Earthly and our\nHeavenly Home. Christ the Center of Heaven's Joy and Attraction. Union\nbetween Home and Heaven. A Conscious Union of the Members in Heaven. Family\nRecognition and Love in Heaven. Family Greeting and Joy in Heaven. Longings\nafter Heaven. Conclusion.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nWHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN HOME?\n\nSECTION I.\n\nHOME IN THE SPHERE OF NATURE.\n\n  \"My home! the spirit of its love is breathing\n    In every wind that plays across my track,\n  From its white walls the very tendrils wreathing\n    Seem with soft links to draw the wanderer back.\n  There am I loved--there prayed for!--there my mother\n    Sits by the hearth with meekly thoughtful eye,\n  There my young sisters watch to greet their brother;\n    Soon their glad footsteps down the path will fly!\n  And what is home? and where, but with the loving?\"\n\n\nHome! That name touches every fibre of the soul, and strikes every chord of\nthe human heart as with angelic fingers. Nothing but death can break its\nspell. What tender associations are linked with home! What pleasing images\nand deep emotions it awakens! It calls up the fondest memories of life, and\nopens in our nature the purest, deepest, richest gush of consecrated\nthought and feeling.\n\n  \"Home! 'tis a blessed name! And they who rove,\n  Careless or scornful of its pleasant bonds,\n  Nor gather round them those linked soul to soul\n  By nature's fondest ties,...\n    But dream they're happy!\"\n\nBut what _is_ home,--home in the sphere of nature? It is not simply an\nideal which feeds the fancy, nor the flimsy emotion of a sentimental heart.\nWe should seek for its meaning, not in the flowery vales of imagination,\nbut amid the sober realities of thought and of faith.\n\nHome is not the mere dwelling place of our parents, and the theater upon\nwhich we played the part of merry childhood. It is not simply a habitation.\nThis would identify it with the lion's lair and the eagle's nest. It is not\nthe mere mechanical juxtaposition of so many human beings, herding together\nlike animals in the den or stall. It is not mere conventionalism,--a human\nassociation made up of the nursery, the parlor, the outward of domestic\nlife, resting upon some evanescent passion, some sensual impression and\npolicy. These do not make up the idea of home.\n\nHome is a divine institution, coeval and congenital with man. The first\nhome was in Eden; the last home will be in Heaven. It is the first form of\nsociety, a little commonwealth in which we first lose our individualism and\ncome to the consciousness of our relation to others. Thus it is the\nfoundation of all our relationships in life,--the preparation-state for\nour position in the State and in the Church. It is the first form and\ndevelopment of the associating principle, the normal relation in which\nhuman character first unfolds itself. It is the first partnership of nature\nand of life; and when it involves \"the communion of saints,\" it reaches its\nhighest form of development. It is an organic unity of nature and of\ninterest,--the moral center of all those educational influences which are\nexerted upon our inward being. The idea of the home-institution rests upon\nthe true love of our moral nature, involving the marriage union of\ncongenial souls, binding up into itself the whole of life, forming and\nmoulding all its relations, and causing body, mind and spirit to partake of\na common evolution. The loving soul is the central fact of home. In it the\ninner life of the members find their true complement, and enjoy a kind of\ncommunity of consciousness.\n\n  \"Home's not merely four square walls,\n  Though with pictures hung and gilded;\n  Home is where affection calls--\n  Filled with shrines the heart hath builded.\"\n\nHome may be viewed in a two-fold aspect, as simply physical, and as purely\nmoral. The former comes finally to its full meaning and force only in the\nlatter. They are interwoven; we cannot understand the one without the\nother; they are complements; and the complete idea of home as we find it\nin the sphere of nature, lies in the living union of both.\n\nBy the physical idea of home, we mean, not only its outward, mechanical\nstructure, made up of different parts and members, but that living whole or\noneness into which these parts are bound up. Hence it is not merely\nadventitious,--a corporation of individual interests, but that organic\nunity of natural life and interest in which the members are bound up. By\nthe moral idea of home, we mean the union of the moral life and interests\nof its members. This explodes the infidel systems of Fourierism, Socialism,\nMormonism, and \"Woman's Rights.\" These forms of Agrarianism destroy the\nethical idea and mission of home; for they are not only opposed to\nrevelation and history, but violate the plainest maxims of natural\naffection.\n\nLove is an essential element of home. Without this we may have the form of\na home, but not its spirit, its beating heart, its true motive power, and\nits sunshine. The inward stream would he gone, and home would not be the\noneness of kindred souls. Home-love is instinctive, and begets all those\nsilken chords, those sweet harmonies, those tender sympathies and\nendearments which give to the family its magic power. This home-love is the\nmother of all home delights, yea, of all the love of life. We first draw\nlove from our mother's breast, and it is love which ministers to our first\nwants. It flashes from parent to parent, and from parent to child,\nmaking-up the sunshine and the loveliness of domestic life. Without it\nhome would have no meaning. It engenders the \"home-feeling\" and the\n\"home-sickness,\" and is the moral net-work of the home-existence and\neconomy. It is stronger than death; it rises superior to adversity, and\ntowers in sublime beauty above the niggardly selfishness of the world.\nMisfortune cannot suppress it; enmity cannot alienate it; temptation cannot\nenslave it. It is the guardian angel of the nursery and the sick-bed; it\ngives an affectionate concord to the partnership of home-life and interest.\nCircumstances cannot modify it; it ever remains the same, to sweeten\nexistence, to purify the cup of life, to smooth our rugged pathway to the\ngrave, and to melt into moral pliability the brittle nature of man. It is\nthe ministering spirit of home, hovering in soothing caresses over the\ncradle and the death-beds of the household, and filling up the urn of all\nits sacred memories.\n\nBut home demands not only such love, but ties, tender, strong, and sacred.\nThese bind up the many in the one. They are the fibres of the home-life,\nand cannot be wrenched without causing the heart to bleed at every pore.\nDeath may dissect them and tear away the objects around which they entwine;\nand they will still live in the imperishable love which survives. From them\nproceed mutual devotions and confiding faith. They bind together in one\nall-expanding unity, the perogatives of the husband, and the subordination\nof the wife, the authority of the parent and the obedience of the child.\n\n  \"O, not the smile of other lands,\n    Though far and wide our feet may roam,\n  Can e'er untie the genial bands\n    That knit our hearts to home!\"\n\nThe mother is the angel-spirit of home. Her tender yearnings over the\ncradle of her infant babe, her guardian care of the child and youth, and\nher bosom companionship with the man of her love and choice, make her the\npersonal center of the interests, the hopes and the happiness of the\nfamily. Her love glows in her sympathies and reigns in all her thoughts and\ndeeds. It never cools, never tires, never dreads, never sleeps, but ever\nglows and burns with increasing ardor, and with sweet and holy incense upon\nthe altar of home-devotion. And even when she is gone to her last rest, the\nsainted mother in heaven sways a mightier influence over her wayward\nhusband or child, than when she was present. Her departed spirit still\nhovers over his affections, overshadows his path, and draws him by unseen\ncords to herself in heaven.\n\nOur nature demands home. It is the first essential element of our social\nbeing. The whole social system rests upon it: body, mind and spirit are\nconcerned in it. These cannot be complete out of the home-relations; there\nwould be no proper equilibrium of life and character without the home\nfeeling and influence. The heart, when bereaved and disappointed, naturally\nturns for refuge to home-life and sympathy. No spot is so attractive to the\nweary one; it is the heart's moral oasis; there is a mother's watchful\nlove, and a father's sustaining influence; there is a husband's protection,\nand a wife's tender sympathy; there is the circle of loving brothers and\nsisters,--happy in each other's love. Oh, what is life without these? A\ndesolation!--a painful, glooming pilgrimage through \"desert heaths and\nbarren sands.\" But home gives to life its fertilizing dews, its budding\nhopes, and its blossoming joys. When far away in distant lands or upon the\nocean's heaving breast, we pine away and become \"home-sick;\" no voice there\nlike a mother's; no sympathy there like a wife's; no loved one there like a\nchild; no resting place there like home; and we cry out, \"Home! sweet,\nsweet home!\"\n\nThus our nature instinctively longs for the deep love and the true hearts\nof home. It has for our life more satisfaction than all the honors, and the\nriches and the luxuries of the world. We soon grow sick of these, and\nbecome sick for home, however humble it may be. Its endearments are ever\nfresh, as if in the bursting joys of their first experience. They remain\nunforgotten in our memories and imperishable in our hearts. When friends\nbecome cold, society heartless, and adversity frowns darkly and heavily\nupon us, oh, it is then that we turn with fond assurance to home, where\nloved ones will weep as well as rejoice with us.\n\n  \"Oh, the blessing of a home, where old and young mix kindly,\n  The young unawed, the old unchilled, in unreserved communion!\n  Oh that refuge from the world, when a stricken son or daughter\n  May seek with confidence of love, a father's hearth and heart;\n  Come unto me, my son, if men rebuke and mock thee,\n  There always shall be one to bless,--for I am on thy side!\"\n\n\nSECTION II.\n\nHOME IN THE SPHERE OF THE CHURCH.\n\n      \"A holy home,\n  Where those who sought the footprints of the Lord,\n  Along the paths of pain, and care, and gloom,\n  Shall find the rest of heaven a rich reward.\"\n\n\nWhat is the _Christian_ home? Only in the sphere of christianity does the\ntrue idea of home become fully developed. Home with the savage is but a\nherding, a servitude. Even among many of the Jews it was little better\nthan a Mahommedan seraglio. The most eminent of the heathen world degrade\nthe family by making it the scene of lust, and introducing concubinage and\npolygamy. Plato, one of the most enlightened of the heathen, had base\nconceptions of home, and abused its highest and holiest prerogatives by his\nideas of polygamy. We find too that in the ethics of Aristotle, the most\nlovely and sacred attributes of the family are totally discarded. The home\nwhich he holds up to view is unadorned with chastity and virtue. And\nSophocles follows in the same path, stripping home of all that is sacred\nand essential to its true constitution. And when we come down to the\npresent age, and view this divine institute in the light of Mormonism and\nSocialism, who will say that here we have unfolded its true idea and sacred\ncharacter?\n\nHow different is the true Christian home! Here the marriage union is\npreserved \"honorable,\" held sacred, and woman is raised to her true\nposition. In the sphere of the Christian church, home is brought fairly and\ncompletely into view. Here it rises above the measure of natural affection,\nand temporal interest. It enters the sphere of supernatural faith, and\nbecomes the adumbration of our home in heaven.\n\nThe Christian home is a true type of the church. \"The husband is the head\nof the wife, as Christ is of the church.\" The love of the family is\nself-denying and holy, like that between Christ and His church. The\nchildren are \"the heritage of the Lord;\" the parents are His stewards.\nLike the church, the Christian home has its ministry. Yea, the church is in\nthe home, as the mother is in her child. We cannot separate them; they are\ncorrelatives. The one demands the other. The Christian home can have\nexistence only in the sphere of the church. It is the vestibule of the\nchurch, bound to her by the bonds of Christian marriage, of holy baptism,\nand of the communion of saints, leading to her in the course of moral\ndevelopment, and completing her life only in the church-consciousness.\n\nHome is, therefore, a partnership of spiritual as well as of natural life.\nThe members thereof dwell \"as being heirs together of the grace of life.\"\n\"Heavenly mindedness,\" \"the hidden man of the heart,\" and a \"hope full of\nimmortality,\" are the ornaments of the Christian home. Hers is \"the\nincorruptibility of a meek and quiet spirit;\" her members are \"joint heirs\nof salvation;\" they are \"one,\" not only in nature, but \"in Christ.\" They\nenjoy a \"communion in spirit,\" that their \"joy might be full.\" \"What God,\ntherefore, hath joined together, let not man put asunder.\"\n\nSuch a home, being \"right with God,\" must be \"full of good fruits, without\npartiality and without hypocrisy.\" Here the Christian shows his real\ncharacter. In the sphere of the church, the family reaches its highest\nexcellence and its purest enjoyment. Says the learned D'Aubigne, \"Without\nthe knowledge and the love of God, a family is but a collection of\nindividuals who may have more or less of natural affection for one another;\nbut the real bond,--the love of God our Father, in Jesus Christ, our\nLord,--is wanting.\"\n\nWe, therefore, abuse the idea of home when we divest it of the religious\nelement. As the family is a divine institute and a type of the church and\nof heaven, it cannot be understood in its isolation from christianity; it\nmust involve Christian principles, duties, and interests; and embrace in\nits educational functions, a preparation, not only for the State, but also\nfor the church. The church gives to home a sacred religious ministry, a\nspiritual calling, a divine mission; investing it with prophetic, priestly\nand kingly prerogatives, and laying it under religious responsibilities.\n\nThis gives to the Christian home its true meaning, and secures for its\nmembers--\n\n  \"A sacred and home-felt delight,\n  A sober certainty of waking bliss.\"\n\nSuch was the home of Abraham, who \"commanded his children and his household\nto keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment,\"--of Joshua, who\nwith \"his house served the Lord,\"--of David, who \"returned to bless his\nhousehold,\"--of Job, who \"offered burnt-offering according to the number of\nhis sons,\"--of Cornelius, who \"feared God with all his house,\"--of Lydia,\nand Crispus, and the jailor of Philippi, who \"believed in the Lord with all\ntheir house.\"\n\nHow many Christian parents practically discard this attribute of home!\nWhile all their temporal interests cluster around their home, and their\nhearts are fondly wedded to it as their retreat from a cold and repulsive\nworld, they never think perhaps that God is in their family, that He has\ninstituted it, and given those cherished ones who \"set like olive plants\naround their table.\" They are faithful to all natural duties, and make\nample provision for the temporal wants of their offspring; the mother bends\nwith untiring assiduity over the cradle of her babe, and ministers to all\nits wants, watching with delight every opening beauty of that bud of\npromise, and willingly sacrificing all for its good. With what rapture she\ncatches its first lispings of mother! The father toils from year to year to\nsecure it a fair patrimony, a finished education, and an honorable position\nin life. How unremittingly these parents watch over the sick-bed of their\nchildren and of each other; and oh, what burning tears gush forth as the\nutterance of their agonizing hearts, when death threatens to blight a\nsingle bud, or lay his cold hand upon a single member!\n\nThis is all right, noble, and faithful to the natural elements of home.\nNatural affection prompts it, and it is well. But if this is all; if\nChristian parents and their children are governed only by the promptings\nof nature; if they are bound together by no spiritual ties and interests\nand hopes; if they are not prompted by faith to make provision for the\nsoul, and for eternity; then we think they have not as yet realized the\ndeepest and holiest significance of their home.\n\nThe Christian home demands the Christian consciousness,--the sense of a\nspirit-world with all its obligations and interests and responsibilities.\nOh, is it not too often the case that even the Christian mother, while she\nteaches her babe the accents of her own name, never thinks of teaching it\nto lisp the name of Jesus,--never seeks to unfold its infant spirit,--never\nsupplies it with spiritual food, nor directs its soul to the eternal world!\nIn the same way the pious wife neglects her impenitent husband; and the\npious husband, his reckless wife. There is too much such dereliction of\nduty in the homes of church members.\n\nOur homes give us an interest in, and bind us by peculiar bonds to, the\neternal world; those loved ones who have gone before us, look down from\nheaven upon those they have left behind; though absent from us in body,\ntheir spirits are still with us; and they come thronging upon glowing\npinions, as ministering spirits, to our hearts. Mother! that little babe\nthat perished in your arms, hovers over thee now, and is the guardian angel\nof your heart and home. It meets thee still! And oh, how joyful will your\nhome-meeting be in heaven! Children! the spirit of your sainted mother\nlingers around your home to minister in holy things to thee. She has left\nyou in body; she lies mouldering now in the humid earth; but she is with\nthee in spirit. Your home, dwelling in the sphere of the church on earth,\nhas a spiritual communion with the sainted ones of the church in heaven.\nThus, as the home-feeling can never he eradicated, so the home-meetings can\nnever be broken up. Even the dead are with us there; their seats may be\nempty, and their forms may no longer move before us; but their spirits meet\nwith us, and imprint their ministrations upon our hearts. The dead and the\nliving meet in home!\n\n    \"We are all here!\n    Father, mother,\n    Sister, brother,\n  All who hold each other dear,\n  Each chair is filled, we're all at home!\n  Let gentle peace assert her power,\n  And kind affection rule the hour--\n    We're all--all here!\n  Even they--the dead--though dead so dear,\n  Fond memory to her duty true,\n  Brings back their faded forms to view.\n  How life-like through the mist of years,\n  Each well-remembered face appears;\n  We hear their words, their smiles behold,\n  They're round us as they were of old--\n    We are all here!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE MISSION OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.\n\n  \"If in the family thou art the best,\n  Pray oft, and be mouth unto the rest;\n  Whom God hath made the heads of families,\n  He hath made priests to offer sacrifice.\"\n\n\nThe home is a divine institution, and includes the religious element,\nmoving in the sphere of nature and of the church, then its calling must be\nof God; its mission is divine; it is designed to subserve a spiritual\npurpose; it has a soul-mission. This was the view of David when he\n\"returned to _bless_ his household.\" To him his family was a church in\nminiature, and he its priest. Thus too Joshua felt that his service of God\nmust include family worship.\n\nWhat then is the mission, of the Christian home? It is two-fold,--the\ntemporal and eternal well-being of its members. It is the mission of home\nto provide for the temporal well-being of its members. They are parts of\none great whole. Each must seek the welfare of all the rest. This involves\nobedience to the law of co-operation; and has special reference to that\nprovision which the heads of families should make for the wants of those\nwho are placed under their protection. As the parent sustains a physical,\nintellectual and moral relation to the child, it is his mission to provide\nfor its physical, mental and moral wants. \"He that provideth not for his\nown house hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.\" Natural\naffection will prompt to this. Children are in a state of utter\nhelplessness. The infant is at the mercy of the parent. Instinct impels the\nparent to provide for its wants. Even the brute does this.\n\nThat it is a part, therefore, of the home mission to provide for the\nphysical wants of the dependents there, is very evident. To refuse to\nfulfill it is a crime against nature. This part of the home-mission\nincludes the education of the body, by properly unfolding and directing its\npowers, and providing it with appropriate nutriment, raiment and shelter.\nIn a word, we should make proper provision for the development and maturity\nof the physical life of our children. This is the mission of the parent\nuntil the child is able to provide for itself. This, says Blackstone, \"is a\nprinciple of natural law;\" and, in the language of Puffendorf, is \"an\nobligation laid on parents, not only by nature herself, but by their own\nproper act in bringing them into the world.\" The laws of the land also\ncommand it. The child has a legal claim upon the parent for physical\nsustenance and education.\n\nIt is another part of the home-mission to provide for the intellectual\nwants and welfare of the child. Children have mind as well as body. The\nformer needs nourishment and training as well as the latter. Hence it is as\nmuch the mission of the family to minister to the well-being of the mind of\nthe child, as to that of its body. Civil law enforces this. Children have a\nlegal as well as a natural claim to mental culture. In a word, it is the\nhome-mission to provide for the child all things necessary to prepare it\nfor a citizenship in the state.\n\nParents abuse this mission in two ways, either when they by their own\nindolence and dissipation compel their children to support them; or, on the\nother hand, when they become the willing slaves of their children, labor to\namass a fortune for them, and, in the anticipation of that, permit them to\ngrow up in ignorance, idleness, and prodigality, fit only to abuse and\nspend the fruit of parental servitude. In this way the misapplied provision\nmade by parents often becomes a curse, not only to the members of the\nfamily, but to the state and church.\n\nAnother part of the home-mission is, the spiritual and eternal well-being\nof its members. This is seen in the typical character of the Christian\nfamily. It is an emblem of the church and of heaven. According to this,\nparents are called to administer the means of grace to their household, to\nprovide for soul as well as for body, to prepare the child for a true\nmembership in the church, as well as for a citizenship in the state, to\ntrain for heaven as well as for earth.\n\nParents are \"priests unto their families,\" and have the commission to act\nfor them as faithful stewards of God in all things pertaining to their\neverlasting welfare. Their souls, as well as their bodies, are committed to\ntheir trust, and God says to them,--\n\n  \"Go nurse them for the King of Heaven,\n  And He will pay thee hire.\"\n\nThis is their great mission, and corresponds with the conception of the\nChristian home as a spiritual nursery. The family is \"God's husbandry;\" and\nthis implies a spiritual culture. As its members dwell as \"being heirs\ntogether of the grace of life,\" it is the function of each to labor to make\nall the rest \"fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of\nGod.\" Parents should provide for the religious wants of their children.\nMere physical maintenance and mental culture cannot supersede the necessity\nof spiritual training. Children have a right to such training.\n\nThis religious provision is twofold; their moral and spiritual faculties\nshould be developed; and their moral nature supplied with appropriate\nnutriment. All the wants of their moral nature are to be faithfully\nprovided for. The home-mission involves the business of education of body,\nof mind, and of spirit;--of preparation for the state, for the church, for\neternity. It is this which makes it so sacred and responsible. Strip the\nChristian family of its mission as a nursery for the soul; wrest from the\nparents their high prerogative as stewards of God; and you heathenize home,\nyea, you brutalize it! Tell me, what Christian home can accomplish its holy\nmission, when the soul is neglected, when religion is left out of view,\nwhen training up for God is abandoned, when the church is repudiated, and\neternity cast off? You may provide for the body and mind of your children;\nyou may amass for them a fortune; you may give them an accomplished\neducation; you may introduce them into the best society; you may establish\nthem in the best business; you may fit them for an honorable and\nresponsible position in life; you may be careful of their health and\nreputation; and you may caress them with all the tender ardor of the\nparental heart and hand; yet if you provide not for their souls; if you\nseek not their salvation; if you minister only to their temporal, and not\nto their eternal welfare, all will be vain, yea, a curse both to you and to\nthem. Husband and wife may love each other, and live together in all the\npeace and harmony of reciprocated affection; yet if the religious part of\ntheir home-mission remain unfulfilled, their family is divested of its\nnoblest attraction; its greatest interests will fall into ruin; its highest\ndestiny will not be attained; and soon its fruits will be entombed in\noblivion; while their children, neglected and perishing, will look back\nupon that home with a bitterness of spirit which the world can neither\nsoothe nor extract!\n\nHow many such homes there are! Even the homes of church members are too\noften reckless of their high vocation. Their moral stewardship is\nneglected; their dedications, formal and heartless. No prayers are heard;\nno bible read; no instructions given; no pious examples set; no holy\ndiscipline exercised. Their interests, their hopes and their enjoyments;\ntheir education, their labor and their rest, are all of the\nworld,--worldly. The curse of God is upon such a home!\n\nThe importance and responsibility of the home-mission may be seen in its\nvicarious character, and in its influence upon the members. The principle\nof moral reproduction is manifest in all the home-relations. What the\nparent does is reproduced, as it were, in the child, and will tell upon the\ngenerations that follow them. Those close affinities by which all the\nmembers are allied, give to each a moulding influence over all the rest.\nThe parents live, not for themselves alone, but for their children, and the\nconsequence of such a life is also entailed upon their offspring. \"The\niniquity of the fathers shall be visited upon the children unto the third\nand fourth generation.\" If the parent \"sow to the flesh,\" the child, with\nhim, \"shall of the flesh reap corruption;\" but if he \"sow to the spirit,\"\nhis offspring, with him, shall \"of the spirit reap life everlasting.\"\n\nSacred and profane history proves and illustrates this great truth. Did\nnot God punish the first born of Israel, because their fathers had sinned?\nAnd is it not a matter of daily observation that the wickedness of the\nparent is entailed upon the child? Such is indeed the affinity between them\nthat the child cannot, unless by some special interposition of Providence,\nescape the curse of a parent's sin. \"If one member suffer, all the members\nsuffer with it.\"\n\nThe guilt and condemnation of unfaithfulness to the home-mission may be\ninferred from its importance and responsibility. Those who are unfaithful\nare guilty of \"blood.\" We see the curse of such neglect in that\ndeterioration of character which so rapidly succeeds parental delinquency.\nThey must answer before God for the loss which the soul, the state, and the\nchurch sustain thereby. \"It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah\nin the day of judgment than for them.\"\n\nThe Christian home should be qualified for this mission. There can be no\nsuch qualification, however, where the marriage alliance involves\ninequality--one of the parents a Christian, the other not; for they cannot\n\"dwell together as heirs of the grace of life,\" neither can they\neffectually dispense that grace to their offspring. When thus \"the house is\ndivided against itself, it must fall.\" \"Be ye not, therefore, unequally\nyoked together.\" If one draws heavenward and the other hellward, there will\nbe a halting between Baal and God, and the influence of the one will be\ncounteracted by that of the other. What communion hath light with darkness?\n\"What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What part hath he\nthat believeth with an infidel?\" Thus divided, their home will be unfit for\nits high vocation. Hence parents, in their marriage alliance as well as in\ntheir individual character, should qualify themselves for the responsible\nmission of home. Can the ungodly wife or husband fulfill this mission? Can\nthe irreligious parent bring up his offspring \"in the nurture and\nadmonition of the Lord?\"\n\nMany parents disqualify themselves for their home-mission by devoting too\nmuch attention to society,--by spending more time abroad, at parties,\ntheaters and masquerade balls, in gossiping and recreation, than at home\nwith each other and with their children. They commit their children, with\nall the family interests, to nurses and servants. They regard their\noffspring as mere playthings to be dandled upon the knee, brought up like\ncalves in the stall, and then turned out to shape their own destiny.\n\nThis is a sad mistake! There is no substitute for home,--no transfer of a\nparent's commission, no adequate compensation for a parent's loss. None can\neffectually take the parent's place. Their influence is overwhelming and\nabsolute.\n\n    \"With what a kingly power their love\n  Might rule the fountains of the new-born mind!\"\n\nNot even the dark villainies which have disgraced humanity can neutralize\nit. Gray-haired and demon guilt will weep in his dismal cell over the\nmelting, soothing memories of home. Their impressions are indelible, \"like\nthe deep borings into the flinty rock.\" To erase them we must remove every\nstrata of their being. They give texture and coloring to the whole woof and\nweb of the child's character. The mother especially preoeccupies the\nunwritten page of its being, and mingles with it in its cradle dreams,\nmaking thus a deathless impress upon its soul.\n\n  \"The mother in her office, holds the key\n  Of the soul; and she it is who stamps the coin\n  Of character, and makes the being who would be a savage\n  But for her cares, a Christian man!\"\n\nWhat a folly and a sin, therefore, for Christian parents to give over their\nholy mission to another, while they immerse themselves in the forbidden\npleasures and recreations of the world! Oh, if you are loving, faithful\nparents, you will love the society of your household more than the fashions\nand the fashionable resorts of the world; you will not substitute the\n\"nurse\" and the \"boarding school\" for the more efficient ministrations of\nthe Christian home.\n\n  \"If ye count society for past time,--what happier recreation\n    than a nursling,\n  Its winning ways, its prattling tongue, its innocence and mirth?\n  If ye count society for good,--how fair a field is here,\n  To guide these souls to God, and multiply thyself in heaven!\"\n\n\"Walk, therefore, worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all\nlowliness and meekness.\" \"Magnify your office.\" Be faithful to your\nhome-mission. Draw your pleasure from it. Souls are committed to your trust\nand hang upon your hire. Your regard for the temporal and eternal welfare\nof your children should prompt you to faithfulness to the holy mission of\nyour family. You love your children, and desire their welfare and\nhappiness. But do what you will for them, if you are unfaithful to their\nsouls, you wrest from them the means of safety and of happiness; you aid in\ntheir misery in this and in the world to come. You are more cruel to them\nthan was Herod who slew the bodies of children. You murder their souls. He\nmurdered the children of others; you murder your own; he employed others to\ndo it for him; you do the work of slaughter yourself! If, then, you love\nyour children; if their souls are committed to you; if your unfaithfulness\nto them may result in their ruin; if God blesses the holy mission of your\nhome to their temporal and eternal welfare; if its fulfillment by you be\n\"like words spoken in a whispering-gallery, which, will be heard at the\ndistance of years, and echoed along the corridors of ages yet to come;\" and\nif it will prove to them in life like the lone star to the mariner upon the\ndark and stormy sea,--should you not be faithful to your home-vocation!\n\nNot only so, but your regard for your own comfort and happiness here and\nhereafter should impel you to this faithfulness. Do you love yourself? Do\nyou regard your own comfort and welfare? Would you avoid painful\nsolicitude, bitter reflection, heart-burning remorse, dreadful foreboding?\nThen be faithful to the home-mission. If you are, God will bless you for it\nthrough your children. What a comfort it will be to you to see them become\nChristians, enter the church, and, at their side around the Lord's Table,\nhold communion with them in the joys of faith and in the anticipations of\nheaven! And should God remove them from you by death, you will be cheered\namidst the agonies of separation by their dying consolation. The hope of a\nspeedy reunion with them in heaven would afford a sweet solace to your\nbereaved heart.\n\nOr should you be taken before them, what a comfort would they afford you in\nyour last moments! With the glow of Christian faith and hope, they would\nwhisper to you the consolations of the gospel, and bless you for your\nfaithfulness to them. And when you and they shall meet at the bar of God,\nthey will rise up and call you blessed.\n\nBut, on the other hand, should you neglect them; and, as a consequence,\nthey grow up in wickedness and crime; oh, what a source of withering\nremorse they would cause you! No sin more heavily punishes the guilty, and\nmingles for him a more bitter cup, than the sin of parental neglect. What\nif after the lapse of a few years, your neglected child be taken from you,\nand consigned to the cold grave, think you not that when you meet it before\nthe bar of God, it will rise up as a witness against you, and pour down its\ncurses upon your head!\n\nBut suppose that child grows up, unprovided for by you in its early life;\nand profligacy mark his pathway, and demon guilt throw its chains around\nhim in the prison cell; and he trace back the beginning of his ruin to your\nunfaithfulness, oh, with what pungency would the reflection send the pang\nof remorse to your soul!\n\n     \"Go ask that musing father, why yon grave So narrow, and so noteless,\n     might not close Without a tear?\"\n\nBecause of the bitter and heart-stricken memories of a neglected, ruined\nchild that slumbers there!\n\nOr suppose that you die before your neglected children, think you not that\nthe recollection of your past parental unfaithfulness will plant thorns in\nyour pillow, and invest with deeper shades of horror your descent to the\ndark valley of death? And oh, when you meet them before the bar of the\navenging judge, most fearful will be your interview with them. Tell me, how\nwill you dare to meet them there, when the voice of their blood will cry\nout from the hallowed ground of home against you! And then, eternity, oh,\neternity! who shall bring out from the secrets of the eternal world, those\nawful maledictions which God has attached to parental unfaithfulness?\n\nProvide, therefore, for your family as the Lord commands. Remember that if\nyou do not, you \"deny the faith and are worse than an infidel;\" and in the\nday of Judgment \"it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for\nyou.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nFAMILY RELIGION.\n\n  \"Lo! where yon cottage whitens through the green,\n  The loveliest feature of a matchless scene;\n  Beneath its shading elm, with pious fear,\n  An aged mother draws her children near,\n  While from the Holy Word, with earnest air,\n  She teaches them the privilege of prayer.\n  Look! how their infant eyes with rapture speak;\n  Mark the flushed lily on the dimpled cheek;\n  Their hearts are filled with gratitude and love,\n  Their hopes are centered in a world above!\"\n\n\nThe Christian home demands a family religion. This makes it a \"household of\nGod.\" Without this it is but a \"den of thieves.\" It is \"the one thing\nneedful.\"\n\nWhat is \"family religion?\" It is not an exotic, but is indigenous to the\nChristian home. It is not a \"new measure,\" but an essential ingredient of\nthe home-constitution,--coexistent with home itself. The first family\n\"began to call upon the name of the Lord;\" the first parent acted as\nhigh-priest of God in his family.\n\nIt is not individual piety as such, not simply closet devotion, but family\nservice of God,--religion taken up in the home-consciousness and life.\nHence a family, and not simply a personal religion.\n\nSuch religion, we say, is as old as the church. We find it in Eden, in the\ntents of the patriarchs and in the wilderness of the prophets. We find it\nin the tent of Abraham in the plains of Mamre, in the \"house\" of Moses, in\nthe \"service\" of Joshua, in the \"offerings\" of Job, and in the palace of\nDavid and Solomon. It is also a prominent feature of the gospel economy.\nThe commendation bestowed by Paul upon Timothy, was that \"from a child\" he\nenjoyed the \"unfeigned faith\" of his mother Eunice and his grandmother\nLois. Paul exhorts Christians thus: \"Rule well your own houses; speaking to\nyourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.\" The same family\nreligion was a prominent feature of the homes of the primitive Christians.\nWith them, every house was a sanctuary, and every parent a minister in holy\nthings to its members. The bible was not only a parlor ornament, but a lamp\nto their feet and a guide to their path, used, meditated upon, prayed over.\nSays Turtullian of its members, \"They are united in spirit and in flesh;\nthey kneel down together; they pray and fast together; they teach, exhort\nand support each other with gentleness.\"\n\nHow, alas! have Christian homes degenerated since then in family piety!\nThey received a reviving impulse in the Reformation; yet even this was\nmeteor-like, and seemed but the transient glow of some mere natural\nemotion. The fire which then flashed so brilliantly upon the altar of home,\nhas now become taper-like and sepulchral; and the altar of family religion,\nlike the altar of Jehovah upon Mt. Carmel, has been demolished, and\nforsaken. Only here and there do we find a Christian home erect and\nsurround a Christian altar. Parents seem now ashamed to serve the Lord at\nhome. They have neither time nor inclination. Upon the subject of religion\nthey maintain a bashful, sullen, wonderful silence before their families.\nThey seem to be impressed with the strange idea that their wives and\nchildren put no confidence in their piety, (and may they not have reason\nfor it?) and that it would, therefore, be vain for them to pray, or exhort\ntheir households. \"Many walk thus,\" says Paul, \"of whom I have told you\noften, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the\ncross of Christ!\" Upon them shall be answered the prayer of Jeremiah, \"Oh\nLord, pour out thy fury upon the families that call not upon thy name!\"\n\nThus, therefore, we see that the Christian home demands a family religion.\nThe private devotion of the individual can be no effectual substitute for\nit.\n\n  \"The parents pair their secret homage,\n  And offer up to heaven the warm request,\n  That He who stills the raven's clamorous nest,\n    And decks the lily fair in flowery pride,\n  Would, in the way His wisdom sees the best,\n    For them and for their little ones provide.\"\n\nFamily religion includes parental bible instruction, family prayer, and\nreligious education, government, discipline and example. These involve the\nparent's position in his household as a prophet, priest, and king. \"Thou\nshalt teach my words diligently unto thy children, and talk of them when\nthou sittest in thy house.\"\n\n  \"Daily let part of Holy Writ be read,\n  Let as the body, so the soul have bread.\n  For look! how many souls in thy house be,\n  With just as many souls God trusteth thee!\"\n\nThus felt and acted our primitive fathers. By every winning art, they\nsought to fill their children with the knowledge of God's Word. The entire\nrange of nursery instruction and amusement was comprised in scripture\npictures and hieroglyphics. They intermingled religion with all their home\npursuits, and entwined it with their earliest and purest associations of\nchildhood. If Christian parents would follow their example now, in these\ndays of parental delinquency, we would not behold so many of their children\ngrow up in religious ignorance and indifference.\n\nThe same may be said of the family altar and prayer. A prayerless family\nis an irreligious, godless family. Says Henry, \"They who daily pray in\ntheir houses do well; they that not only pray, but read the scriptures, do\nbetter; but they do best of all, who not only pray and read the scriptures,\nbut sing the praises of God.\"\n\nBesides, the religion of home implies that we \"command our children and\nhousehold to keep the way of the Lord,\"--that we \"bring them up in His\nnurture and admonition,\" and \"train them up as He would have them go;\" and\nthat in things pertaining to their spiritual welfare we \"go in and out\"\nbefore them as their pattern and example, bidding them to \"follow us even\nas we follow Christ,\" and living in their midst as \"the living epistles of\nChrist, known and read\" of them all.\n\nFamily religion must \"show itself by its works\" of Christian charity and\nbenevolence to the poor, the sick and the distressed. We should \"lay by\" a\ncertain amount each year of what God bestows, for the support of the church\nand the propagation of the gospel. Oh, how little do Christians now give to\nthese benevolent objects! A penurious, close-fisted, selfish home cannot be\na religious household. Family religion must be reproductive, must return to\nGod as well as receive from Him. But as these characteristic features of\nthe Christian home will be considered hereafter, we shall not enlarge upon\nthem here. Suffice it to say that the mission of home demands family\nreligion. Its interests cannot be secured without it. Let our homes be\ndivorced from piety, and they will become selfish, sensual, unsatisfactory,\nand unhappy. Piety should always reign in our homes,--not only on the\nSabbath, but during the week; not only in sickness and adversity, but in\nhealth and prosperity. It must, if genuine, inspire and consecrate the\nminutest interests and employments of the household. It must appear in\nevery scene and feeling and look, and in each heart, as the life, the\nlight, the hope, and the joy of all the members.\n\nThe necessity of family religion is seen in the value of the soul. The soul\nis the dearest treasure and the most responsible trust of home. What shall\nit profit the family if its members gain the whole world and lose their own\nsouls? What would Christian parents give in exchange for the souls of their\nlittle ones? Is it not more important that they teach them to pray than to\ndance, to \"seek the kingdom of heaven\" than the enjoyment of \"the pleasures\nof sin for a season?\" Oh, what is home without a title to, and personal\nmeetness for, that kingdom? It is a moral waste; its members move in the\nputrid atmosphere of vitiated feeling and misdirected power. Brutal\npassions become dominant; we hear the stern voice of parental despotism; we\nbehold a scene of filial strife and insubordination; there is throughout a\nheart-blank. Domestic life becomes clouded by a thousand crosses and\ndisappointments; the solemn realities of the eternal world are cast into\nthe shade; the home-conscience and feeling become stultified; the sense of\nmoral duty distorted, and all the true interests of home appear in a haze.\nNatural affection is debased, and love is prostituted to the base designs\nof self, and the entire family, with all its tender cords, ardent hopes,\nand promised interests, becomes engulfed in the vortex of criminal\nworldliness!\n\nBut reverse the picture! See what home becomes with religion as its life\nand rule. Human nature is there checked and moulded by the amiable spirit\nand lovely character of Jesus. The mind is expanded, the heart softened,\nsentiments refined, passions subdued, hopes elevated, pursuits ennobled,\nthe world cast into the shade, and heaven realized as the first prize. The\ngreat want of our intellectual and moral nature is here met, and home\neducation becomes impregnated with the spirit and elements of our\npreparation for eternity.\n\nThe relations of home demand family religion. These are relations of mutual\ndependence, involving such close affinity that the good or evil which\nbefalls one member must in some degree extend to all the other members.\nThey involve \"helps.\" Each member becomes an instrument in the salvation or\ndamnation of the others. \"For what knowest, O wife, whether thou shalt save\nthy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy\nwife?\"--1 Cor. vii., 16. \"If one member Suffer, all the members suffer with\nit.\" They stimulate each other either to salvation or to ruin; and hence\nthose children that go to ruin in consequence of parental unfaithfulness,\nwill \"curse the father that begat them, the womb that bare them,\" and the\nday they entered their home.\n\nMany parents seek to excuse themselves from the practice of family\nreligion, upon the ground that they have not the capacity nor the time. If\nso, you should not have married. But if you are Christians, you have the\ncapacity, and you will take the time.\n\nBut some are ashamed to begin family religion. Ashamed of what? of your\npiety? of your children? of the true glory and greatness of your home? Then\nyou are ashamed of Jesus! You should rather blush that you have not begun\nthis good work.\n\nThe great defect of family religion in the present day is, that it is not\neducational. Parents wait until their children have grown up, and\nestablished habits of sin, when they suppose that the efforts of some\n\"protracted meeting\" will compensate for their neglect in childhood. They\noverlook the command of God to teach them His words. The influence of this\ndefect and delusion has been most destructive. Many Christian homes are now\naltogether destitute of religious appliances. If the angel that visited the\nhomes of Israel were to visit the Christian homes of this age, would he not\nbe tempted to say, as Abraham said to Abimelech, \"Surely the fear of God is\nnot in this place!\"\n\nOne great reason, perhaps, why there are so many such homes is, that there\nare now so many irreligious marriages, where husband and wife are\n\"unequally yoked together,\" one a believer and the other not. \"How can two\nwalk together except they be agreed?\" Can there be family religion when\nhusband and wife are traveling to eternity in opposite roads? No! There\nwill be hindrances instead of \"helps.\" If they marry not \"in the Lord,\"\nreligion will not be in their home. Says the pious Jay, \"I am persuaded\nthat it is very much owing to the prevalence of these indiscriminate and\nunhallowed connections, that we have fallen so far short of those men of\nGod, who are gone before us, in the discharge of family worship, and in the\ntraining up of our households in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.\"\n\nFamily religion is implied in the marriage relation and obligation. It is\nincluded in the necessities of our children, and in the covenant promises\nof God. The penalties of its neglect, and the rewards of our faithfulness\nto it, should prompt us to its establishment in our homes. Its absence is a\ncurse; its presence a blessing. It is a foretaste of heaven. Like manna, it\nwill feed our souls, quench our thirst, sweeten the cup of life, and shed a\nhalo of glory and of gladness around our firesides. Let yours, therefore,\nbe the religious home; and then be sure that God will delight to dwell\ntherein, and His blessing will descend, like the dews of heaven, upon it.\nYour children shall \"not be found begging bread,\" but shall be like \"olive\nplants around your table,\"--the \"heritage of the Lord.\" Yours will be the\nhome of love and harmony; it shall have the charter of family rights and\nprivileges, the ward of family interests, the palladium of family hopes and\nhappiness. Your household piety will be the crowning attribute of your\npeaceful home,--the \"crown of living stars\" that shall adorn the night of\nits tribulation, and the pillar of cloud and of fire in its pilgrimage to a\n\"better country.\" It shall strew the family threshold with the flowers of\npromise, and enshrine the memory of loved ones gone before, in all the\nfragrance of that \"blessed hope\" of reunion in heaven which looms up from a\ndying hour. It shall give to the infant soul its \"perfect flowering,\" and\nexpand it in all the fullness of a generous love and conscious blessedness,\nmaking it \"lustrous in the livery of divine knowledge.\" And then in the\ndark hour of home separation and bereavement, when the question is put to\nthee, mourning parents, \"Is it well with the child? is it well with thee?\"\nyou can answer with joy, \"It is well!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE RELATION OF HOME TO THE CHURCH.\n\n\nThe Christian home sustains a direct relation to the church. This relation\nis similar to that which it sustains to the state. The nature and mission\nof home demand the church. The former is the adumbration of the latter. The\none is in the other. \"Greet the church that is in thine house.\" The church\nwas in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, in the tent of Abraham, and in\nthe palace of David. It must be in every Christian home, and every\nChristian home must be in the church. In a word, our families must be\nchurchly.\n\nThis relation is vital and necessary,--a relation of mutual dependence. The\nfamily is a preparation for the church, subordinate to it, and must,\ntherefore, throw its influence in its favor, be moulded by it, and labor\nWith direct reference to the church in the way of training up for\nmembership in it. As the civil and political relations of home involve the\nduty of parents to train up their children for efficient citizenship in the\nstate, so its moral and religious relations involve the duty of education\nfor the church. Hence the Christian home is churchly in its spirit,\nreligion, education, influence, and mission.\n\nFamily religion is an element of home, not only as a mere fact or principle\nin its subjective form, but in the form and force of the church. In its\nunchurchly form it is powerless. It must be experienced and administered in\na churchly spirit and way, not as something detached from the organic\nembodiment of Christianity. The relation of the church to the family\nforbids this. The church pervades all the forms of society. It includes the\nhome and the state. It gives to each proper vitality, legitimate\nprinciples, proper direction, and a true destiny.\n\nBut home is not only a preparation for the church, but completes itself in\nthe church,--never out of the church. By the \"mystery\" of marriage and the\nsacrament of holy baptism, home and the church are bound up into each other\nby indissoluble bonds. The one receives the mark and superscription of the\nother; the one is the type or emblem of the other.\n\nThe church, through her ordinances, ministry and means of grace, is brought\ndirectly \"into the house,\" and operates there constantly as a spiritual\nleaven. It is the purpose of God that our homes be entrenched within the\nsacred enclosures of His church. The former, in its relation to the latter,\nis like \"a wheel within a wheel,\"--one of the parts which make up the great\nmachinery of the kingdom of grace, operating harmoniously and in its place\nwith all the rest, and for the same end. The former is built upon the\nlatter,--receives her dedication and sanctity from it. They are\ncorrelatives. The one demands the other. Hence they cannot be divorced. The\nindividual passes over to the church through the Christian home. The one is\nthe step to the other. They have the same foundation. Home is not erected\nupon a quicksand, but reared upon the same rock upon which the church is\nbuilt. Like the church, it rises superior to all the fluctuations of civil\nsociety, and will live and flourish in all its tender charities, in all its\nsweet enjoyments, and in all its moral force, in the humble cottage as well\nas in the costly palace, under the shadow of liberty as well as under the\nfrowns of despotism, in every nation, age, and clime. Like the church of\nwhich it is the type, it can never be made desolate; break it up on earth,\nand you find it in heaven. Its nuptial union with the church is like that\nbetween the latter and Christ. Nothing can throw over our homes a higher\nsanctity, or invest them with greater beauty, or be to them a greater\nbulwark of strength, than the church. Home is the nursery of the church.\n\"Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the\ncourts of our God, and shall bring forth fruit in old age.\"\n\nThus, therefore, we see that the relation between the Christian home and\nthe church is one of mutual dependence. The latter, as the highest form of\nreligious association, demands the former, and the former looks to the\nlatter as its completion. Where the religion of the family does not move in\nthe element of the church, it is at best but sentimentalism on the one\nhand, and rationalism on the other. It is a spurious pietism. To be genuine\nit must be moulded by the church. Without this it is destitute of sterling\nprinciple, of a living-faith, of well-directed effort and lofty aims. The\nfamily which does not move in the element of the church is a perversion of\nthe true purpose of God in its institution. It will afford no legitimate\ndevelopment of Christian doctrine, and the whole scheme of its religion\nwill rest for its execution upon unreliable agencies extraneous to home\nitself. Hence we find that the piety of those families or individuals that\nisolate themselves from the church, is at best but ephemeral in its\nexistence, contracted in spirit, moving and operating by mere impulse and\nirregular starts, and withal destitute of vitality and saving influence. A\ndeath-bed scene may awaken a transient and visionary sense of duty;\nadversity may startle the drowsy ear, and cause the parents to turn for the\ntime to the souls of their children; but these continue only while the tear\nand the wound are fresh, and the apprehensions of the eternal world are\nmoving in their terrible visions before them!\n\nThe efficacy of the Christian home, therefore, depends upon its true\nrelation to the church. The members should be conscious of this. Then both\nparents and children Will appreciate the religious ministrations of home.\nThen the former will not grow weary in well doing, but will have something\nto rest upon, something to look to; and the latter will love the church of\ntheir fathers, and venerate the family as its nursery.\n\nBut the relation between the Christian home and the church implies\nreciprocal obligations and duties. The former should not only exist under\nthe patronage of the latter, but in the spirit of a true subordination.\nParents should teach and rule and appropriate the means of grace under the\nsupervision of the church. They should take their household, with them to\nher public service, send their children to her schools, and in all respects\nbring them up in her nurture and admonition.\n\nThus the family should exist as the faithful daughter of the church; and as\nthe latter in the wilderness \"leaned upon her beloved,\" so the former\nshould repose itself upon her who is \"the mother of us all,\" and in whom,\nas the \"body of Christ,\" shall \"all the families of the earth be blessed.\"\nAs her loving and confiding daughter, the family should live under her\ngovernment and discipline, listen to her maternal voice, and be led by her\nmaternal hand. The minister in his pastoral functions, is the\nrepresentative of the church in each of the families of his flock; and\nshould, therefore, be received, loved, confided in and obeyed, as such. The\nhome that repels his proffered ministrations in the name and according to\nthe will of the church, throws off its allegiance to the latter, and\nthrough it, to Christ,--her glorious head, and is hence unworthy of the\nname of Christian home. The true Christian home yearns after the church,\nloves to lean upon it, to look up to it, to consecrate all to it, to move\nand develop its interests in the sphere of the church, and to labor to\ncomplete itself in it.\n\n  \"For her my tears shall fall;\n    For her my prayers ascend;\n  To her my cares and toils be giv'n,\n    Till toils and cares shall end.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nHOME INFLUENCE.\n\n  \"By the soft green light in the woody glade,\n  On the banks of moss, where thy childhood play'd;\n  By the gathering round the winter hearth,\n  When the twilight call'd unto household mirth,\n  By the quiet hour when hearts unite\n  In the parting prayer and the kind 'Good night;'\n  By the smiling eye and the loving tone,\n  Over thy life has the spell been thrown,\n  And bless that gift, it hath gentle might,\n  A guarding power and a guiding light!\"\n\n\nThe Christian home has an influence which is stronger than death. It is a\nlaw to our hearts, and binds us with, a spell which neither time nor change\ncan break. The darkest villainies which have disgraced humanity cannot\nneutralize it. Gray-haired and demon guilt will make his dismal cell the\nsacred urn of tears wept over the memories of home; and these will soften\nand melt into penitence even the heart of adamant.\n\n[Illustration: Maternal Influence]\n\n\nThe home-influence is either a blessing or a curse, either for good or for\nevil. It cannot be neutral. In either case it is mighty, commencing with\nour birth, going with us through life, clinging to us in death, and\nreaching into the eternal world. It is that unitive power which arises out\nof the manifold relations and associations of domestic life. The specific\ninfluences of husband and wife, of parent and child, of brother and sister,\nof teacher and pupil, united and harmoniously blended, constitute the\nhome-influence.\n\nFrom this we may infer the character of home-influence. It is great,\nsilent, irresistible, and permanent. Like the calm, deep stream, it moves\non in silent, but overwhelming power. It strikes its roots deep into the\nhuman heart, and spreads its branches wide over our whole being. Like the\nlily that braves the tempest, and \"the Alpine flower that leans its cheek\non the bosom of eternal snows,\" it is exerted amid the wildest storms of\nlife, and breathes a softening spell in our bosom even when a heartless\nworld is freezing up the fountains of sympathy and love. It is governing,\nrestraining, attracting and traditional. It holds the empire of the heart,\nand rules the life. It restrains the wayward passions of the child, and\nchecks him in his mad career of ruin.\n\n  \"Hold the little hands in prayer, teach the weak knees their kneeling,\n  Let him see thee speaking to thy God; he will not forget it afterward;\n  When old and gray, will he feelingly remember a mother's tender piety,\n  And the touching recollection of her prayers shall arrest the strong\n    man in his sin!\"\n\nHome-influence is traditional. It passes down the current of life from one\ngeneration to another. Its continuity is preserved from first to last. The\nhomes of our forefathers rule us even now, and will pass from us to our\nchildren's children. Hence it has been called the \"fixed capital\" of home.\nIt keeps up a continuous stream of home-life and feeling and interest.\nHence the family likeness, moral as well as physical,--the family virtues\nand vices,--coming from the family root and rising into all the branches,\nand developing in all the elements of the family history.\n\nHome-influence is attractive. It draws us to home, and throws a spell\naround our existence, which we have not the power to break.\n\n  \"The holy prayer from my thoughts hath pass'd,\n  The prayer at my mother's knee--\n  Darken'd and troubled I come at last,\n  Thou home of my boyish glee!\"\n\nHome-influence may he estimated from the immense force of first\nimpressions. It is the prerogative of home to make the first impression\nupon our nature, and to give that nature its first direction onward and\nupward. It uncovers the moral fountain, chooses its channel, and gives the\nstream its first impulse. It makes the \"first stamp and sets the first\nseal\" upon the plastic nature of the child. It gives the first tone to our\ndesires, and furnishes ingredients that will either sweeten or embitter the\nwhole cup of life. These impressions are indelible, and durable as life.\nCompared with them, other impressions are like those made upon sand or wax.\nThese are like \"the deep borings into the flinty rock.\" To erase them we\nmust remove every strata of our being. Even the infidel lives under the\nholy influence of a pious mother's impressions. John Randolph could never\nshake off the restraining influence of a little prayer his mother taught\nhim when a child. It preserved him from the clutches of avowed infidelity.\n\nThe promises of God bear testimony to the influence of the Christian home.\n\"When he grows old he will not depart from it!\" History confirms and\nillustrates this. Look at those scenes of intemperance and riot, of crime\nand of blood, which throw the mantle of infamy over human life! Look at\nyour prisons, your hospitals, and your gibbets; go to the gaming-table and\nthe rum-shop. Tell me, who are those that are there? What is their history?\nWhere did they come from? From the faithful Christian home? Had they pious\nfathers and mothers? Did they go to these places under the holy influence\nof devout and faithful parents? No! And who are they that are dying without\nhope and without God? Who are they that now throng the regions of the\ndamned? Those who were \"trained up in the way they should go?\" No! if they\nare, then the promises of God must fail. You may perhaps find a few such.\nBut these are exceptions to a general law. The damning influence of their\nunfaithful home brought them there. Could they but speak to us from their\nchambers of wo, we should hear them pouring out curses upon their parents,\nand ascribing the cause of their ruin to their neglect. On the other hand,\ncould we but listen to the anthems of the redeemed in heaven, we should\ndoubtless hear sentiments of gratitude for a mother's prayer and a father's\ncounsel.\n\nLet us now briefly advert to the objects of home-influence. It is exerted\nupon the members of home, especially upon the formation of their character\nand destiny. It moulds their character. The parents assimilate their\nchildren to themselves to such an extent that we can judge the former by\nthe latter. Lamartine says that, when he wants to know a woman's character,\nhe ascertains it by an inspection of her home,--that he judges the daughter\nby the mother. His judgment rests upon the known influence the latter has\nover the former. It gives texture and coloring to the whole woof and web of\ncharacter. It forms the head and the heart, moulds the affections, the will\nand the conscience, and throws around our entire nature the means and\nappliances of its development for good or for evil. Every word, every\nincident, every look, every lesson of home, has its bearing upon our life.\nHad one of these been omitted, our lives would perhaps be different. One\nprayer in our childhood, was perhaps the lever that raised us from ruin.\nOne omission of parental duty may result in the destruction of the child.\nWhat an influence home exerts upon our faith! Most of our convictions and\nopinions rest upon home-teaching and faith. A minister was once asked, \"Do\nyou not believe christianity upon its evidences?\" He replied, \"No; I\nbelieve it because my mother taught me!\"\n\nThe same may be said of its influence upon our sympathies, and in the\nformation of habits. It draws us by magnetic power to home, and develops in\nus all that which is included in home-feeling and home-sickness.\n\n  \"I need but pluck yon garden flower,\n    From where the wild weeds rise,\n  To wake with strange and sudden power,\n    A thousand sympathies!\"\n\nIn this respect how irresistible is the influence of a mother's love and\nkindness! Her very name awakens the torpid streams of life, gives a fresh\nglow to the tablets of memory, and fills our hearts with a deep gush of\nconsecrated feeling.\n\nOur habits, too, are formed under the moulding power of home. The \"tender\ntwig\" is there bent, the spirit shaped, principles implanted, and the whole\ncharacter is formed until it becomes a habit. Goodness or evil are there\n\"resolved into necessity.\" Who does not feel this influence of home upon\nall his habits of life? The gray-haired father who wails in his second\ninfancy, feels the traces of his childhood-home in his spirit, desires and\nhabits. Ask the strong man in the prime of life, whether the most firm and\nreliable principles of his character were not the inheritance of the\nparental home. What an influence the teaching's and prayers of his mother\nMonica had upon the whole character of the pious Augustine! The sterling\nworth of Washington is a testimony to the formative power of parental\ninstruction. John Quincy Adams, even when his eloquence thundered through\nour legislative halls, and caused a nation to startle from her slumber,\nbent his aged form before God, and repeated the prayer of his childhood.\n\"How often in old age,\" says Bishop Hall, \"have I valued those divine\npassages of experimental divinity that I heard from the lips of a mother!\"\nDr. Doddridge ever lived under the influence of those scripture\ninstructions his mother gave him from the Dutch tiles of her fireside. He\nsays, \"these lessons were the instruments of my conversion.\" \"Generally,\"\nsays Dr. Cumming, \"when, there is a Sarah in the house, there will be an\nIsaac in the cradle; wherever there is a Eunice teaching a Timothy the\nscriptures from a child, there will be a Timothy teaching the gospel to the\nrest of mankind.\" By the force of this same influence, the pious wife may\nwin over to Christ her ungodly husband, and the godly child may save the\nunbelieving parent. \"Well,\" said a mother one day weeping, \"I will resist\nno longer! How can I bear to see my dear child love and read the\nscriptures, while I never look into the bible,--to see her retire and seek\nGod, while I never pray,--to see her going to the Lord's table, while His\ndeath is nothing to me! I know she is right, and I am wrong. I ought to\nhave taught her; but I am sure she has taught me. How can I bear to see her\njoining the church of God, and leaving me behind--perhaps forever!\"\n\nThe Christian home has its influence also upon the state. It forms the\ncitizen, lays the foundation for civil and political character, prepares\nthe social element and taste, and determines our national prosperity or\nadversity. We owe to the family, therefore, what we are as a nation as well\nas individuals. We trace this influence in the pulpit, on the rostrum, in\nthe press, in our civil and political institutions. It is written upon the\nscroll of our national glory.\n\nThe most illustrious statesmen, the most distinguished warriors, the most\neloquent ministers, and the greatest benefactors of human kind, owe their\ngreatness to the fostering influence of home. Napoleon knew and felt this\nwhen he said, \"What France wants is good mothers, and you may be sure then\nthat France will have good sons.\" The homes of the American revolution made\nthe men of the revolution. Their influence reaches yet far into the inmost\nframe and constitution of our glorious republic. It controls the fountains\nof her power, forms the character of her citizens and statesmen, and shapes\nour destiny as a people. Did not the Spartan mother and her home give\ncharacter to the Spartan nation? Her lessons to her child infused the iron\nnerve into the heart of that nation, and caused her sons, in the wild\ntumult of battle, \"either to live behind their shields, or to die upon\nthem!\" Her influence fired them with a patriotism which was stronger than\ndeath. Had it been hallowed by the pure spirit and principles of\nChristianity, what a power for good it would have been!\n\nBut alas! the home of an Aspasia had not the heart and ornaments of the\nChristian family. Though \"the monuments of Cornelia's virtues were the\ncharacter of her children,\" yet these were not \"the ornaments of a quiet\nspirit.\" Had the central heart of the Spartan home been that of the\nChristian mother, the Spartan nation would now perhaps adorn the brightest\npage of history.\n\nBut the family, whether Christian or heathen, exerts an overwhelming\ninfluence over the state. It is on the family altar that the fire of\npatriotism is first kindled, and often, too, by a mother's hand.\n\n  \"It hath led the freeman forth to stand\n  In the mountain battles of his land;\n  It hath brought the wanderer o'er the seas,\n  To die on the hills of his own fresh breeze.\"\n\nThe same, too, may be said of the influence of home on the church. It is\nthe nursery of the church, lays the foundation of her membership, and\nconditions the character of her members. The most faithful of her ministers\nand members are those generally who have been trained up in the most\nfaithful families. Wherever there is the greatest number of such homes,\nthere the church enjoys the greatest prosperity.\n\nWhat a fearful responsibility must rest, therefore upon the Christian\nhome! If its influence is for good or for evil, for weal or for woe, for\nheaven or for hell; if it is either a powerful emissary of Satan for the\nsoul's destruction, or an efficient agent of God for the soul's salvation,\nthen how responsible are those who wield this influence!\n\n  \"Upon thy heart is laid a spell,\n  Holy and precious--oh! guard it well!\"\n\nAre you not, Christian parents, responsible to God for the exercise of such\nsovereign power over the character and well-being of your dear children?\nAnd will not the day soon come when you must \"give an account of your\nstewardship?\" Oh! what if it be exerted for the ruin of your loved ones,\nand they \"curse the day you begat them?\" What if, in the day of final\nreckoning, you find your hands drenched in the blood of your offspring, and\nhear the voice of that blood cry out from the hallowed ground of home\nagainst you, saying, \"How long, oh Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge\nand avenge our blood on them that dwell on earth?\" Oh see, then, that your\ninfluence be wielded for good.\n\n  \"For round the heart thy power hast spun\n    A thousand dear mysterious ties;\n  Then take the heart thy charms have won,\n    And nurse it for the skies!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nHOME AS A STEWARDSHIP.\n\n     \"Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy\n     wages.\"--EXODUS II., 9.\n\n  \"For look, how many souls in thy house be,\n  With just as many souls God trusteth thee!\"\n\n\nThe Christian home is a stewardship. The parents are stewards of God. A\nsteward is a servant of a particular kind, to whom the master commits a\ncertain portion of his interest to be prosecuted in his name and by his\nauthority, and according to his laws and regulations. The steward must act\naccording to the will of his master, in his dealing with what is committed\nto his care. Such was Eliezer in the house of Abraham; and such was Joseph\nin the house of Potiphar. One of the specific duties of a steward was to\ndispense portions of food to the different members of the household, to\ngive servants their portion in due season, and to superintend the general\ninterests of the master's household.\n\nIn a religious sense, a steward is a minister of Christ, whose duty is to\ndispense the provisions of the gospel, to preach its doctrines and to\nadminister its ordinances. It is required of such that they be found\nfaithful.--1 Cor., chap. iv.\n\nIn its application to the Christian home, it expresses its relation of\nsubordination to God, and the kind of services which the former must render\nto the latter. The stewardship of home is that official character with\nwhich God has invested the family. In this sense the proprietorship of\nparents is from God. They are invested only with delegated authority. Their\nhome is held by them only in trust. It belongs to them in the same sense in\nwhich a household belongs to a steward. It is not at their absolute\ndisposal. It is the \"household of the Lord,\" and they are to live and rule\ntherein as the Lord directs. They are to appropriate it and dispose of its\ninterests according to the known law and will of their divine Master, and\nin this sense, yield, with their whole household, a voluntary subordination\nto His authority.\n\nAs a stewardship, God has entrusted the Christian home with important\ninterests. He has committed to her trust, body and soul, talents and means\nof grace. He has entrusted to the parents the training of their children\nboth for time and for eternity. These children are the heritage of the\nLord; they are not at the absolute disposal of their parents; but merely\nentrusted to their care to be educated and dealt with according to the will\nof God.\n\nThere is one great peculiarity in this stewardship of the Christian\nfamily,--the absolute identity of interest between the Master and the\nsteward. The interest of the former is that also of the latter; and the\nlatter, in promoting the interest of his Lord, is but advancing his own\nwelfare. Such is the economy of the gospel, and it is this which makes the\nservitude of the Christian so delightful. Faithfulness to God is\nfaithfulness to our own souls. Parents who are thus faithful to God must be\nfaithful to themselves and to their children. Thus, then, the interest of\nGod in our families is the welfare of all the members. When we act towards\nour children as God directs, we are but promoting their greatest welfare.\nThis is one prominent feature of God's mercy towards us in all His dealings\nwith us. He identifies His interest with the interest of His people. This\nis a powerful incentive to parental integrity, and is beautifully\nexemplified in the mother of Moses. When the daughter of Pharaoh said to\nher, \"Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay thee thy wages,\"\nwas not the interest of the queen and the nurse the same? In nursing him\nfor the queen, that devoted mother nursed him also for herself; and in\ndoing this, she was also promoting the welfare of her son, and executing\nthe will of God concerning him. This illustrates the principle of\nstewardship in the Christian home. Of every child, God says to its\nparent,--\n\n  \"Go nurse it for the King of heaven,\n  And He will pay thee hire.\"\n\nHere is the important trust; here, too, is the duty of the steward. It is\na trust from God, and the nursing is for God. The child is a tender plant,\nan invaluable treasure, more priceless than gold, or pearls, or diamonds.\nYour duty as a steward, is to nurse it, to cultivate it, to polish the\nlovely gem, to take care of it. And in doing this for God, are you not also\ndoing it for the child,--yea, if you are Christian parents,--for\nyourselves? Will not even natural affection, as well as the discerning eye\nof faith, like that of the mother of Moses, detect in this stewardship an\nidentity between the interest of the Master and that of the steward? It was\nnot the simple compensation which stimulated the mother of Moses to accede\nto the proposition of Pharaoh's daughter. What cared she for the \"hire,\" if\nshe could but save her son! This was her great reward.\n\nThus the interest of the child should be the reward of the parent. God\nwill, it is true, reward the faithful steward of the family; but He\nspecially rewards and blesses parental faithfulness in making His purposes\nconcerning home, identical with the parent's and the children's welfare. In\nthis domestic stewardship,\n\n  \"Like warp and woof, all interests\n  Are woven fast;\n  Locked in sympathy like the keys\n  Of an organ vast.\"\n\n\"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you\nthe kingdom. Who, then, is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord\nshall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in\ndue season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall\nfind so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that He will make him ruler over\nall he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth His\ncoming, and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens, and to eat\nand drink, and to be drunken; the Lord of that servant will come in a day\nwhen he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will\ncut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.\nAnd that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself,\nneither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes.\"\n\nHere, then, we have the character and duties of the steward in the\nChristian home, the rewards of their faithfulness, and the penalties of\ntheir unfaithfulness. As the stewards of God, we must be faithful, giving\nthe souls as well as the bodies of our children \"their meat in due season;\"\nwe must not \"waste the goods\" of our Lord, but be \"blameless, not\nself-willed, not soon angry, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of\nhospitality, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word\nas we have been taught.\" As the faithful stewards of God, we should\ndedicate our household in all respects to Him, and make it tributary to His\nglory. \"Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be\nadded unto you.\" The unjust steward will first seek the world and the\nthings of the world, its gold, its pleasures and its honors; and after that\nseek the kingdom of heaven. But this is reversing the order of procedure as\nprescribed by the Master; it is running counter to His will, and,\nconsequently, wasting His goods.\n\nBut the greatest trust committed to parents is, the souls of their\nchildren; and hence their most responsible duty, as the stewards of God, is\nto attend to their salvation. You should \"give them the bread of life in\ndue season.\" It will be of no avail for you to inquire, \"What shall they\neat, and what shall they drink, and wherewithal shall they be clothed;\" if\nyou neglect this their highest interest and your greatest trust? \"What\nshall a man give in exchange for his soul?\" It is not the wealth, nor the\nmagnificence of life which will make your home happy; these are but the\noutward and fleeting ornaments of the world, and are too often the gaudy\ndrapery in which demon guilt and misery are clothed.\n\n  \"The cobwebbed cottage, with its ragged wall\n  Of mouldering mud, is royalty to me,\"\n\nif souls are there \"fed upon the sincere milk of the word,\" and \"trained up\nin the ways of the Lord.\" The training of the soul for heaven is both the\nduty and the glory of our homes. What if parents lay up affluence here for\ntheir children, and secure for them all that the world calls interest,\nwhile they permit their souls to famish, and do nothing for their\nredemption! Will not such parents be denounced in the day of judgment as\nunjust and unfaithful stewards? And yet alas! how many such Christian\nparents there are who prostitute this highest interest of home either at\nthe altar of mammon or of fashion! The precious time and talents with which\nGod has entrusted them, they squander away in things of folly and of sin,\nleaving their children to grow up in spiritual ignorance and wickedness,\nwhile they resort to balls and theaters and masquerades, in pursuit of\nunhallowed amusement and pleasure.\n\nSuch are unnatural parents as well as unjust stewards, and their homes will\nere long be made desolate. Other parents prostitute the holy trust of home\nto money. They are \"self-willed\" stewards, \"given to filthy lucre,\" who,\nfor the sake of a few dollars, will \"waste the goods\" of their Lord, make\ntheir homes a drudgery, and work their children like their horses, bring\nthem up in ignorance, like \"calves in the stall,\" and contract their whole\nexistence, and all their capacities, desires and hopes, in the narrow\ncompass of work and money.\n\nWe would direct the attention of such parents to our last thought upon the\nstewardship of the Christian home, (the practical view of which we shall\nconsider in the next chapter,) viz., that it involves the principle of\naccountability. It implies a settlement, a time when the Master and his\nsteward shall meet together to close accounts. \"Give an account of thy\nstewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.\" That time will be when\n\"the dead, both small and great, shall stand before God.\" Then He will\nexamine into your stewardship. He will ask you how you employed your\ntalents, and to what purpose you appropriated those interests He committed\nto your trust; and whether you were faithful to those souls which \"hung\nupon your hire;\" whether you \"nursed them for him,\" and whether you\nprovided them with \"their meat in due season.\" And if you can answer, \"Yea,\nLord, here are those talents which thou hast given me; behold I have gained\nfor thee five other talents. Here, Lord, are those children whom thou hast\ngiven me; I have brought them up in thy nurture, and trained them in thy\nways.\" Your Lord will then answer, \"Well done, thou good and faithful\nservant, thou hast been faithful over a few things; behold I will make thee\nruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!\"\n\nBut if you have been unfaithful as stewards, and have made your household\nunproductive for God, then you shall hear from his lips the dreadful\ndenunciation, \"Thou wicked and slothful servant!\" \"Take the talent from\nhim, and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall\nbe weeping and gnashing of teeth; for unto every one that hath shall be\ngiven, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be\ntaken away even that which he hath!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nRESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.\n\n      \"What a holy charge\n  Is theirs!--with what a kingly power their love\n  Might rule the fountains of the new-born mind!\n  Warn them to wake at early dawn, and sow\n  Good seed before the world has sown its tares.\"\n\n\nFrom the potent influence and moral stewardship of the Christian home, we\nmay infer its responsibility. The former is the argument for the latter.\nThe extent of the one is the measure of the other. \"To whom much is given,\nof them much will be required.\" Our responsibilities are thus commensurate\nwith our abilities. If the latter are properly devoted, we have our reward;\nif not, our curse. God will hold us accountable for the achievements we\nmake by the abilities he has given us. If he gives us a field to cultivate,\nseed to sow, plants to train up, then we are responsible for the harvest,\njust in proportion to our agency in its production. If there is not a\nharvest of the right kind, because we neglected to cultivate the soil, to\nsow the proper seed, and to train up the plants, then He will hold, us\naccountable, and \"we shall not come out thence till we have paid the\nuttermost farthing.\"\n\nThis is an evident gospel principle. Who will doubt its application to the\nChristian home? The family is such a field; the seed of good or evil the\nparents can sow therein; their children are young and tender plants,\nentrusted to their care; their mission from God is to \"bring them up in his\nnurture\" and to \"train them in his ways.\" And where God gives the command,\nhe also gives the power to obey.\n\nIf, then, by their neglect, these tender plants are blighted, grow up in\nthe crooked ways of folly and iniquity, and the leprosy of sin spread its\ndreadful infection over all the posterity of home; if, as a consequence of\ntheir unfaithfulness, the family becomes a moral desolation, and the\nanathemas of unnumbered souls in perdition, rise up in the day of judgment\nagainst them; or if, on the other hand, as the fruit of their faithful\nstewardship, blessings and testimonials of gratitude are now pouring forth\nfrom the sainted loved ones in glory, is it not plain that a responsibility\nrests upon the Christian home, commensurate with, those abilities which God\nhas given her, and with those interests he has entrusted to her care?\n\nLet us look at the objective force of this. The family is responsible for\nthe kind of influence she exerts upon her members Look at this in its\npractical light. There is a family. God has given children to the parents.\nHow fondly they cling to them, and look up to them for support and\ndirection. They inherit from their parents a predisposition to evil or to\ngood; they imitate them as their example, in all things, take their word as\nthe law of life, and follow in their footsteps as the sure path to\nhappiness. These parents are members of the church, and, as such, have\ndedicated their children to the Lord at the altar of baptism, and there in\nthe presence of God and a witnessing assembly, they vowed to bring them up\nin the nurture of their divine Master, and to minister in spiritual things\nto their souls.\n\nYet in this home, no prayer is offered up, no bible instructions given, no\nholy example set, no Christian government and discipline instituted, no\nreligious interests promoted. But on the other hand, sin is overlooked,\nwinked at, and the world alone sought. These children behold their parents\ntoil day after day to provide for their natural life; they notice the\ninterest they take in their health and education, and the self-denial with\nwhich they seek to secure for them a temporal competency. And from all this\nthey quickly and very justly infer that their parents love their bodies and\nvalue this world, and by the force of filial imitation they soon learn to\ndo the same, and with their parents, neglect their souls and kneel at the\naltars of Mammon rather than bow in prayer before God. And thus they go on\nfrom one step in departure from God to another, until they die without hope\nand without salvation.\n\nTell me now, will not God hold these parents responsible for the ruin of\ntheir children? Will not the \"blood of their destruction rest upon them?\"\nWill not the \"voice of that blood\" cry out from their family against them?\nIf, as a consequence of their negligence and of the unholy influence they\nexerted upon them, they become desperadoes in crime and villainy, and at\nlast drench their hands in a brother's blood; and expiate their guilt upon\nthe gibbet, and from there go down to the grave of infamy and to the hell\nof the murderer, will not their blood, \"cry unto them,\" and will not the\nwoes and anathemas of Almighty God come in upon them like a flood?\n\nHome-responsibility may be inferred from the relation of the family to God\nas a stewardship. We have seen that parents are stewards of God in their\nhousehold, and that as such they are placed over their children, invested\nwith delegated authority. God entrusts them to the care of their parents.\nTheir nature is pliable, fit for any impression, exposed to sin and ruin,\nentering upon a course of life which must terminate in eternal happiness or\nmisery, with bodies to develop, minds to educate, hearts to mould,\nvolitions to direct, habits to form, energies to rule, pursuits to follow,\ninterests to secure, temptations to resist, trials to endure, souls to\nsave! Oh, how the parental heart must swell with emotions too big for\nutterance, when they contemplate these features of their important trust.\nWhat a mission this, to superintend the character and shape the destiny of\nsuch a being! Such is the plastic power you exert upon it, that upon your\nguidance will hinge its weal or its woe; and yours, therefore, will be the\nlasting benefit or the lasting shame. What you are now doing for your\nchildren is incorporated with their very being, and will be as imperishable\nas their undying souls. As the stewards of God, your provision for them\nwill be \"either a savor of life unto life or a savor of death unto death.\"\n\nWe have seen that God has given to you the ability and means of making them\nsubservient to his glory; and hence from you he will require them as\nentrusted talents. If you have been unfaithful to them, your punishment\nwill be in proportion to the wretchedness entailed upon your children. If,\ninstead of the bread from heaven, you feed their souls with the husks of\nlife, and lead them on by the opiates of bastard joys; if, \"when they ask\nof you bread, you give them a stone, or for a fish, you give them a\nserpent,\" will it not be \"more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day\nof judgment than for you?\"\n\nThus, therefore, you see, christian parents, how your responsibility is\nmeasured, by the magnitude of those interests committed to your care, by\nthe kind of influence you exert over them, and by the enormity of that\nguilt and wo which are consequent upon your unfaithfulness. Let this be an\nincentive to parental integrity. The day is rapidly approaching when you\nmust give an account of your stewardship. Oh, what, if in that day you\nbehold your children \"fit for the eternal burning,\" and remember that that\nfitness is but the impress of a parent's hand!\n\nThough it is painful to lose a child here; bitter tears are shed; pungent\nagonies are felt; there are heart-burnings kindled over the grave of buried\nlove. But oh, how much more agonizing it is to bend over the dying bed of\nan impenitent, ruined child! And especially if, in that terrible moment, he\nturns his eyes, wild with despair and ominous of curses, upon the parents,\nand ascribes his ruin to their neglect! Let me ask you, would not this part\nof that sad drama add to your cup of bitterness, give a fearful emphasis to\nall your sighs, and burnings to your flooding tears? God would also speak\nto you, and say as he did to Cain, \"the voice of thy\" children's \"blood\ncrieth unto me!\" \"And now thou art cursed from the earth which hath opened\nher mouth to receive thy\" children's \"blood from thy hand.\"\n\nBut the scene would not close at the death-bed of your child; the second\nact would open at the bar of God. The maledictions of that ruined one would\nthere be poured out with increased fury upon you. Parents of my home on\nearth! I am lost--lost forever! Soon I shall go where \"the worm dieth not,\nand the fire is not quenched.\" Had you, in the home of my childhood, but\ninstructed me, and been as faithful to my soul as you were to my body, I\nmight stand here with a palm of victory in my hand, a crown of glory on my\nhead, the joy of the redeemed in my heart, and with hosannas of praise\nupon my lips, rise upward to the untold felicities of God's eternal throne!\nBut you did not! You fed my body, but you starved my soul, and left it to\nperish forever! Cursed, be the day in which you begat me, and the paps that\ngave me suck! Cursed be the years that I lived under your roof,--cursed be\nyou! Oh, parents, such rebuke would leave an undying worm in your souls;\nand would cry unto you from the very depths of hell.\n\nThis is no over-wrought picture. It is but the scripture prospectus of that\nterrible scene which shall be enacted \"in the terrible and notable day of\nthe Lord,\" when every Christian home shall be called to give an \"account of\nher stewardship,\" and be dealt with \"according to the deeds done in the\nbody.\"\n\nAnd let me say too, that a similar and corresponding responsibility rests\nupon those children who enjoy the benefits of a faithful Christian home.\nThey must answer to God for every blessing there enjoyed. If they turn a\ndeaf ear and a cold heart to all the entreaties of their parents, and\nresist those saving influences which are brought to bear upon them, and as\na consequence, become outcasts from society and from heaven, then let me\nwarn them that, every prayer they heard at the family altar, every lesson\ngiven, every admonition delivered, and every holy example set them, by\ntheir pious parents, will be ingredients in that bitter cup which it will\ntake eternity for them to exhaust! Oh, children of the Christian home!\nthink of this, and remember the responsibility of enjoying the precious\nbenefits of a pious, faithful parent. They will be your weal or your\nwoe,--your lasting glory or your lasting shame!\n\nAnd, ye parents, be faithful to those little ones that are growing up \"like\nolive plants around your table,\" so that in the day of judgment, you may\nsay with joy, in the full assurance of reward, \"Here are we, Lord, and the\nchildren whom thou hast given us!\" And your reward shall be, \"Well done,\nthou good and faithful servant! Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE FAMILY BIBLE.\n\n  \"What household thoughts around thee, as their shrine,\n    Cling reverently!--Of anxious looks beguiled,\n  My mother's eyes upon thy page divine,\n    Each day were bent; her accents, gravely mild,\n    Breathed out thy love; whilst I, a dreamy child,\n  Wandered on breeze-like fancies oft away,\n                    ... Yet would the solemn Word,\n    At times, with kindlings of young wonder heard\n  Fall on my wakened spirit, there to be\n    A seed not lost; for which in darker years,\n    O, book of heaven! I pour with grateful tears,\n  Heart-blessings on the holy dead, and thee!\"\n\n\nThe family bible! What sweet and hallowed memories cling like tendrils\naround that book of books! How familiar its sacred pages! How often in the\nsunny days of childhood, we were fed from its manna by the maternal hand!\nIt was our guide to the opening path of life, and a lamp to the feeble,\nfaltering steps of youth. Who can forget the family bible? It was the\nhousehold oracle of our grandfathers and grandmothers,--of our dear\nparents. It bears the record of their venerated names; their birth, their\nbaptism, their confirmation, their marriage, are here; and\n\n  \"Though they are with the silent dead,\n  Here are they living still!\"\n\nHow joyfully they gathered around the cheerful hearth to read this book\ndivine. How often their hearts drew consolation from its living springs!\nWhat a balm it has poured into bleeding and disconsolate hearts. It has\nirradiated with the glories of eternal day, the darkest chamber of their\nhome. What brilliant hopes and promises it has hung around the parental\nheart! And here too are the names of our parents,--long since gathered with\ntheir fathers. Here too are our names, and birth, and baptism, written by\nthat parental hand, long since cold in death!\n\n  \"My father read this holy book\n    To brothers, sisters dear;\n  How calm was my poor mother's look,\n    Who loved God's word to hear.\n  Her angel-face--I see it yet!\n    What thronging memories come?\n  Again that little group is met\n    Within the halls of home!\"\n\nThat old family bible! Do we not love it? Our names and our children's\nnames are drawn from it. It is the message of our Father in heaven. It is\nthe link which connects our earthly with our heavenly home; and when we\nopen its sacred page, we gaze upon words which our loved ones in heaven\nhave whispered, and which dwell even now upon their sainted lips; and which\nwhen we utter them, there is joy in heaven! We would, therefore, say to the\ninfidel, of this \"family tree,\" as the returning child said to the\nwoodsman, of the old tree which sheltered the slumbers and frolics of his\nchildhood, \"I'll protect it now.\"\n\nThe old family bible! What an inheritance from a Christian home! Clasp it,\nchild, to thy heart; it was the gift of a mother's love! It bears the\nimpress of her hand; it is the memento of her devotedness to thee; and when\njust before her spirit took its flight to a better land, she gave it as a\nguide for her child to the same happy home:\n\n  \"My mother's hand this bible clasped;\n  She, dying, gave it me!\"\n\nAnd the spirit of that sainted mother shall still whisper to me through\nthese sacred pages. In the light of this lamp I follow her to a better\nhome. With this blessed chart I shall meet her in heaven.\n\n  \"With faltering lip and throbbing brow,\n  I press it to my heart.\"\n\nEvery Christian home has a family bible. It is found in the hut as well as\nin the palace. It is an indispensable appendage to home. Without it the\nChristian home would be in darkness; with it, she is a \"light which shineth\nin darkness.\" It is the chart and compass of the parent and the child in\ntheir pilgrimage to a better home.\n\n                          \"Therein thy dim eyes\n  Will meet a cheering light; and silent words\n  Of mercy breathed from heaven, will be exhaled\n  From the blest page into thy withered heart.\"\n\nLike an ethereal principle of light and life, its blessed truths extend\nwith electric force through all the avenues and elements of the\nhome-existence, \"giving music to language, elevation to thought, vitality\nto feeling, intensity to power, beauty and happiness.\"\n\nThe bible is adapted to the Christian home. It is the book for the family.\nIt is the guardian of her interests, the exposition of her duties, her\nprivileges, her hopes and her enjoyments. It exposes her errors, reveals\nher authority and government, sanctions her obedience, proclaims her\npromises, and points out her path to heaven. It makes sacred her marriages,\nfurnishes names for her children, gives the sacrament of her dedication to\nGod, and consecrates her bereavements. It is the fountain of her richest\nblessings, the source of her true consolation, and the ground of her\nbrightest hope. It is, therefore, the book of home. She may have large and\nsplendid libraries; history, poetry, philosophy, fiction, yea, all the\nworks of classic Greece and Rome, may crowd upon her shelves; but of these\nshe will soon grow wearied, and the dust of neglect will gather thick upon\ntheir gilded leaves; but of the bible the Christian home can never become\nweary. Its sufficiency for all her purposes will throw a garland of\nfreshness around every page; its variety and manifoldness; its simplicity\nand beauty; its depth of thought and intensity of feeling, adapt it to\nevery capacity and to every want, to every emergency and to every member,\nof the household. The little child and the old man, hoary with the frost of\nmany winters, find an equal interest there. The rich and the poor, the\nlearned and the ignorant, the high and the low, are alike enriched from its\ninexhaustible treasury.\n\nIt is a book for the mind, the heart, the conscience, the will and the\nlife. It suits the palace and the cottage, the afflicted and the\nprosperous, the living and the dying. It is a comfort to \"the house of\nmourning,\" and a check to \"the house of feasting.\" It \"giveth seed to the\nsower, and bread to the eater.\" It is simple, yet grand; mysterious, yet\nplain; and though from God, it is nevertheless, within the comprehension of\na little child. You may send your children to school to study other books,\nfrom which they may be educated for this world; but in this divine book\nthey study the science of the eternal world.\n\nThe family bible has given to the Christian home that unmeasured\nsuperiority in all the dignities and decencies and enjoyments of life, over\nthe home of the heathen. It has elevated woman, revealed her true mission,\ndeveloped the true idea and sacredness of marriage and of the\nhome-relationship; it has unfolded the holy mission of the mother, the\nresponsibilities of the parent, and the blessings of the child. Take this\nbook from the family, and she will degenerate into a mere conventionalism,\nmarriage into a \"social contract;\" the spirit of mother will depart;\nnatural affection will sink to mere brute fondness, and what we now call\nhome would become a den of sullen selfishness and barbaric lust!\n\nThe bible should, therefore, be the text-book of home-education. Where it\nis not, parents are recreant to their duty. It is the basis of all\nteaching, because it reveals \"the truth, the way and the life,\" because it\nis God's testimony and message, and is \"profitable for doctrine, for\nreproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,\" and was written\n\"for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures,\nmight have hope,\" and be made \"wise unto salvation.\"\n\n  \"While thou wert teaching my lips to move\n    And my heart to rise in prayer,\n  I learned the way to a home above;\n    And thou shalt meet me there!\"\n\nIts invaluable treasures, its manifoldness, its beautiful simplicity, its\nstriking narrative, its startling history, its touches of home-life, its\nexpansive views of human nature, of this life and of that which is to come,\nits poetry, eloquence, and soul-stirring sympathies and aspirations, make\nit the book for home-training. These features of its character will develop\nin beautiful harmony the whole nature of your child. Do you wish to inspire\nthem with song? What songs are like those of Zion? Do you wish them to come\nunder the influence of eloquent oration? What orations so eloquent as those\nof the prophets, of Christ, and of his apostles? Do you desire to refine\nand elevate their souls with beauty and sublimity? Here in these sacred\npages is a beauty ever fresh, and a sublimity which towers in dazzling\nradiance far beyond the reach of human genius. This is evident from the\nfact that tributes of admiration have been paid to the bible by the most\neminent poets, jurists, statesmen, and philosophers, such as Milton, Hale,\nBoyle, Newton and Locke. Erasmus and John Locke betook themselves solely to\nthe bible, after they had wandered through the gloomy maze of human\nerudition. Neither Grecian song nor Roman eloquence; neither the waters of\nCastalia, nor the fine-spun theorisms of scholastic philosophy, could\nsatisfy their yearnings. But when they wandered amid the consecrated bowers\nof Zion, and drank from Siloah's brook, the thirst of their genius was\nquenched, and they took their seats with Mary at the feet of Jesus, and\nlike little children, learned of him!\n\nEven deists and infidels have yielded their tribute of praise. What says\nthe infidel Rosseau? Hear him: \"The majesty of the scriptures strikes me\nwith astonishment. Look at the volumes of the philosophers, with all their\npomp, how contemptible do they appear in comparison with this! Is it\npossible that a book at once so simple and sublime, can be the work, of\nmen?\" Thus\n\n  \"Learning and zeal, from age to age,\n  Have worshiped, loved, explored the page.\"\n\nHow often is this precious book abused! In many would-be Christian homes,\nit is used more for an ornament of fashion than for a lamp to the\nChristian's path. We find the bible upon their parlor table, but how seldom\nin the family room! They make it a part of their fashionable furniture, to\nbe looked at as a pretty, gilded thing. Its golden clasps and beautiful\nbinding make it an attractive appendage to the parlor. Hence they buy the\nbible, but not the truth it contains. They place it upon the table as such;\nand indeed many do not even give it that prominence, but, yielding to the\ntaste of fashion, place it under the parlor table, and there it rests,\nunmolested, untouched and unread even for years. In many professedly\nreligious families this is their family bible! Ah! it is not so heartsome\nas that well-marked and long-used old bible which lies upon the table of\nthe nursery room, speaking of many year's service in family devotion! The\nother unused bible seems like a stranger to the home-heart, and lies in the\nparlor just to show their visiting friends that they have a bible! Go into\nthe nursery and other private apartments of that home, and you see no\nbible, while you behold piles of romance and filthy novels,--those\nexponents of a vitiated taste and a corrupt society, suited to destroy the\nyoung forever;--whose outward appearance indicates a studied perusal by\nboth parents and children, and shows perhaps that they have been wept over;\nand whose inward substance must ever nauseate healthy reason, as well as\npoison the heart of youth, leading them from the sober realities of life\ninto a world of nonentities.\n\nBut upon the family bible you cannot trace the hand of diligent piety. It\nis shoved back into some part of the room, as a worthless thing, obsolete\nand superfluous. And see! it is not even kept in decent order. The dust of\nmany day's neglect has gathered thick upon its lids. Oh, Christian parents,\nwhen you thus close up the wells of salvation by the trash of degenerate\ntaste and vitiated morals, you are despising the testimonies of the Lord,\nand leading your children step by step to the verge of destruction. You may\nbuy them splendid, bibles, gilt and clasped with gold, and have their names\nlabeled in golden letters upon its lid; but if the good old family bible is\nneglected, and the yellow covered literature of the day substituted in its\nstead; if you permit them to buy and read love-sick tales in preference to\ntheir bible, and they see you do the same, you are but making a mock of\nGod's Word, and must answer before Him for your children's neglect of its\nsacred pages.\n\nLet me, therefore, affectionately admonish you to be faithful to that\nprecious book you call the family bible. Read it to your children every\nday. From its sacred pages teach them the way to live and the way to die.\nLet it be an opened, studied family chart to guide you and them in visions\nof untold glory to the many mansions of your Father's offered home in\nheaven. It will soothe your sorrows, calm your fears, strengthen your\nfaith, brighten your hopes, and throw around the graves of the loved and\nthe cherished dead, the light and promise of reunion in heaven!\n\n  \"A drop of balm from this rich store,\n  Hath healed the broken heart once more.\n  Like angels round a dying bed,\n  Its truths a heavenly radiance shed;\n  And hovering on celestial wings,\n  Breathe music from unnumbered strings.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nINFANCY.\n\n  \"A babe in a house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of\n    peace and love;\n  A resting place for innocence on earth; a link between angels and men;\n  Yet it is a talent of trust to be rendered back with interest;\n  A delight, but redolent of care, honey sweet, but lacking not the bitter,\n  For character groweth day by day, and all things aid it in unfolding,\n  And the bent unto good or evil may be given, in the hours of infancy.\"\n\n\nThe birth of each child constitutes a new era in the Christian home, and\nmultiplies its cares, its pleasures and its responsibilities. The\nfirst-born babe, like\n\n                        \"The first gilt thing\n  That wears the trembling pearls of spring,\"\n\nthrows the rainbow colors of hope and joy over the bowers of home, and\nawakens in the bosom of parents, emotions and sympathies, new-born and\nnever before experienced; cords in the heart, before untouched, now begin\nto thrill with new joy; sympathies, before unfelt, now swell the bosom.\nSleep on, thou little one, in thy \"rosy mesh of infancy,\" in the first\nbuddings of thy being! These hours of thy innocence are the happiest of thy\nlife. Thou art \"the parent's transport and the parent's care.\" Blessings\nare fondly poured upon thy head. Rest thee there in thy little bed, thou\nhappy emblem of the loved and pure in heaven!\n\n                     \"Visions sure of joy\n  Are gladdening his rest; and ah, who knows\n  But waiting angels do converse in sleep\n  With babes like this!\"\n\nimparting to his infant soul unutterable things, whispering soft of bliss\nimmortal given, and pouring into his new-born senses the dreams of opening\nheaven.\n\nWhat charms and momentous interests surround the cradle of infancy! When\nthe first wailing of dependence reaches the listening ear, what new-born\nsympathies spring up in the parent's bosom! What a thrill of rapture the\nfirst soft smile of her babe sends to the mother's heart! It is this, the\nparents' likeness unsullied by their faults and cares; it is this, their\nliving love in personal being,--their love breathing and smiling before\nthem, lisping their names; it is this,--their new-born hope and care,--that\ngives to infancy such a charm, such a never-dying interest, and causes the\nparent to cling to it with such fond tenacity. \"Can a mother forget her\nsucking child?\" Never, while she claims a mother's heart! The couch of her\nbabe is the depository of all those fond hopes and joys and cares and\nmemories to which a mother's heart is sacred.\n\nThe infant is the most interesting member of the Christian home. It is the\nfirst budding of home-life, disclosing every day some new beauty, \"the\nfather's lustre and the mother's bloom,\" to gladden the hearts of the\nfamily. \"As the dewy morning is more beautiful than the perfect day; as the\nopening bud is more lovely than the full blown flower, so is the joyous\ndawn of infant life more interesting than the calm monotony of riper\nyears.\" It is the most interesting, because the purest, member of the\nhousehold. It is the connecting link which binds home to its great antitype\nabove. \"Ye stand nearest to God, ye little ones,\" nearer than those who\nhave tasted the bitter cup of actual sin. They are the budding promises,\nthe young loves, the precious plants of home; they are its sunshine, its\nprogressive interest, its prophetic happiness, the first link in the chain\nof its perpetuity. Like the purple hue of the wild heath, throwing its gay\ncolor over the rugged hill-side, they cast a magic polish over the spirit\nof the parent, causing the home-fireside to glow with new life and\ncheerfulness.\n\nInfants are emblems of the loved and sainted ones in heaven. \"Of such is\nthe kingdom of heaven.\" \"Except ye become as this little child, ye cannot\nenter into the kingdom of heaven.\" This is based upon proper principles.\nThe heart of the child is purely devotional and confidential. It is a\nhelpless dependent upon the parent. It abdicates its self-will with joy;\nsilently do the laws of home control it; its reverence and love are the\nmelody of its being; its life is an exchange of obedience for protection.\nIts path is chosen for it by the lamp of parental experience, and the calm\npure light of a mother's love. How close it keeps to the heart that loves\nit, and to the hand that leads it! It looks without doubt or suspicion in\nthe parent's eye, and makes the parent's home and interest its own.\n\nHere is a picture of the true child of God in his tent-home on earth, and\nin his eternal home in heaven. For this they are given to us. As they are\nto us, their parents, so should we be to our Father in heaven, and so are\nall those loved and sainted ones who have gone before us.\n\n  \"Little children, flowers from heaven,\n    Strewn on earth by God's own hand,\n  Earnest emblems to us given,\n    From, the fields of angel-land!\"\n\nHence it was that Jesus loved little children, took them in His arms,\nblessed them, and regarded them as \"the lambs of His flock.\" \"He shall\ngather the lambs with His arm.\" He gazed with pleasure into their sweet\nfaces, invited their parents to bring them unto Him, and held them up as\nthe type of the spirit and character of the admitted, into heaven. And the\naged John, having in view this typical character of children, addressed his\nfollowers as his little children!\n\nInfants are helpless dependents upon others for subsistence and protection.\nIf abandoned at their birth, their first breath would soon be succeeded by\ntheir last. Hence they demand all the attention which maternal love and\ntenderness can bestow. They live like the tender bud or the opening\nblossom, exposed to the blight of a thousand fortuitous events. Hence their\nexistence is very precarious; in a moment they may sink like the frosted\nflower in its lovely blush. This may be said of the soul as well as of the\nbody and mind. What an argument, therefore, we have here for parental\ndiligence and promptness in duty to the eternal as well as to the temporal\nwell-being of the child.\n\nThe infant is the first prophecy of the man. It is the germ of manhood. It\nis the man in a state of involution. It is the undeveloped man. Infancy is\nthe twilight of life,--the first morning of an endless being, the age of\ngerm and of mere sense. As the first dawn of spring is the season of the\nundeveloped harvest, so childhood is manhood in possibility. The infant is\nthe vernal bud of life; it is a being of promise and of hope,--the prophecy\nof the future man. Hence the age of education. The mother, in the nursery,\nis ever evolving into the strength of maturity those powers of her child\nwhich will be wielded for happiness or for misery. Her babe is an \"embryo\nangel, or an infant fiend.\" We behold in that fragile form, the bud of the\nstrong man,--the possibility of one who may in a few years arouse with his\nthrilling eloquence a slumbering nation, or with the torch and sword of\nrevolution, overturn empires and dethrone kings, or with his feet upon the\nwalls of Zion, and the words of life upon his lips, overthrow the\nstrongholds of Satan, and bring the rebel sinner in penitence to the feet\nof Jesus. Yea, we see in that wailing infant of a week, the outspringing of\nan immortal spirit which may soon hover on cherub-pinion around the throne\nof God, or perhaps, in a few years, sink to the regions of untold anguish.\nOh, it is this which gives to the cradle of infancy such a thrilling\ninterest. The star of those new-born hopes, which hangs over it, will set\nin eternal night, or rise with increasing splendor, till it is lost in the\nfull blaze of eternal day!\n\nInfants are a great, a dangerous and responsible trust. They are the\nproperty of God,--\"an heritage from the Lord,\" given to their parents as a\nloan, a \"talent of trust to be rendered back with interest.\" The infant is\nespecially the mother's trust.\n\n  \"Though first by thee it lived, on thee it smiled,\n  Yet not for thee existence must it hold,\n  For God's it is, not thine!\"\n\nGiven by its Creator in trust to her, it is her task to bring it up for\nGod. Here especially do we see the holy mission of the mother. None but the\nmother's heart and love can give security for this trust. The father is\nunfit by nature for the delicate training of infancy. The mother's hand\nalone can smooth the infant's couch, and her voice alone can sing him to\nhis rosy rest. Her never-wearied love alone can watch beside him \"till the\nlast pale star had set,\"\n\n  \"While to the fullness of her heart's glad heavings\n  His fair cheek rose and fell; and his bright hair\n  Waved softly to her breast.\"\n\nShe is the ministering angel of infancy, and the priestess of the nursery\nof home. She sets the first seal, makes the first stamp, gives the first\ndirection, supplies the first want, and soothes the first sorrow. To her is\ncommitted human life in its most helpless and dangerous state. Touch it\nthen with the rude hand of parental selfishness; let it grow up in a barren\nsoil, amid noxious weeds, under the influence of unholy example; and the\ndelicate tints of this blossom will soon fade; the blush of loveliness will\nsoon give way to the blight of moral deformity.\n\n[Illustration: TEACHING THE SCRIPTURES. J. Porter]\n\nHence every babe will be the parent's glory or the parent's shame, their\nweal or their woe. If entrusted to them, God will hold them responsible for\nits moral training. He will require it from them with interest. Their trust\ninvolves the eternal happiness or misery of their child. The productions of\nart will perish; the sun will be blotted out, and all the glory and\nmagnificence of the world will vanish away, but your babe will live\nforever. It will survive the wreck of nature, and either shine as a diadem\nin the Redeemer's crown of glory, or dwell in the blackness and darkness of\nperdition forever.\n\nTo you, Christian parents, as the stewards of God, this precious being is\nentrusted. The care of its body, mind and spirit is committed to you; and\nits character and destiny in after life will be the fruit of your dealings\nwith it. It looks to you for all things. It confides in you, draws its\nconfidence from your protection, relies on your known love, takes you as\nthe pattern of its life, imitates you as its example, learns from you as\nits teacher, is ruled by you as its governor, is measured by you as its\nmodel, feels satisfied with you as its sufficiency, and rests its all upon\nyou as its all and in all.\n\nThus you are the very life and soul of its being, and hence in its\nmaturity, it will be a fair exponent of your character. You are the center\naround which its life revolves, the circumference beyond which it never\nseeks to go. What, therefore, if you are unfit to move and act in its\npresence! What, if in its imitation of you, its life be a progressive\ndeparture from God! Oh, what, if in the day of judgment, it be an outcast\nfrom heaven, and, as such, bear the impress of a parent's hand! God will\nthen hold you accountable for every injury you may have done your child.\n\nBegin, therefore, the work of training that infant, now, while its nature\nis pliable, susceptible, yet tenacious of first impressions. \"With his\nmother's milk the young child drinketh education.\" What you now do for your\nchild will be seen in all future ages. \"Scratch the green rind of a\nsapling, or wantonly twist it in the soil, the scarred and crooked oak will\ntell of thee for centuries to come.\" \"It will not depart from the ways in\nwhich you train it.\" If, therefore, you would be a blessing to your child,\nand avert those terrible judgments of God which rest upon parental\ndelinquency, begin now, while your infant is in the cradle, to sow the\nseeds of life. Prune well the tender olive plants, and direct its evolving\nlife in the way God would have it go.\n\n  \"Soon as the playful innocent can prove\n  A tear of pity or a smile of love,\"\n\nteach it to lisp the name of Jesus and to walk in His commandments. But\nalas! how many Christian parents are recreant to this duty! How many\ndestroy their children by the over-indulgence of a misdirected love and\nsympathy, and by procrastinating the period of home-education. Forgetful of\nthe power of first impressions, they wait until their children are\nestablished in sin, and the seeds of evil are sown in their hearts.\n\nThis is the reason why so many reckless and wicked children come out of\nChristian homes. Their parents permit their misdirected fondness to absorb\nall their thoughts and apprehensions of danger and responsibility. Their\nlove for the body and mind of their children seems to repel all love for,\nor interest in, their soul. The former they tenderly nurse, fondly caress,\nand zealously direct. But the soul of the infant is unhonored, unloved and\nuncared for. It is blighted in its first bursting of beauty. Oh, cruel and\nunthinking parents! why will you thus abuse the loveliest and noblest part\nof your child? Why make that babe of yours a mere plaything? If \"out of the\nmouths of babes and sucklings God has perfected praise,\" then why not train\nthem up to praise Him? \"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little\nones, for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the\nface of my Father which is in heaven.\" Oh, you who are the nurse of infant\ninnocence, have you ever thought of the deep curse that will attend your\nneglect of the babe which God has given you! Have you, pious mother, as you\npressed your child to your bosom, ever thought that it would one day be a\nwitness for or against you? Far better for thee and it that it were not\nborn and you never revered as mother, than that you should nourish it for\nspiritual beggary here, and for the eternal burnings hereafter! Oh, look\nupon that babe! It is the gift of God--given to thee, mother, to nurse for\nHim. Look upon that cherished one! See its smile of confidence turned to\nyou! It is a frail and helpless bark on the tumultuous sea of life; it\nlooks to you for direction,--for compass and for chart; your prayers for\nit will be heard; your hand can save it; the touch of your impressions will\nbe a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death.\n\n  \"Then take the heart thy charms have won,\n  And nurse it for the skies!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nHOME DEDICATION.\n\n  \"The rose was rich in bloom on Sharon's plain,\n  When a young mother with her first born thence\n  Went up to Zion, for the boy was vowed\n  Unto the Temple-service; by the hand\n  She led him, and her silent soul, the while,\n  Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye\n  Met her sweet serious glance, rejoiced to think\n  That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers,\n  To bring before her God!\"\n\n\nBeautiful thought, and thrice beautiful deed,--fresh from the pure fount of\nmaternal piety! The Hebrew mother consecrating her first-born child to the\nTemple-service,--dedicating him to the God who gave him! What visions of\nunearthly glory must have been before her, as she led her little boy before\nthe altar of the \"King of kings!\" Happy mother! thou hast long since gone\nto thy great reward. And happy child! to be led by such a mother. Ye are\nnow together in that temple \"not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,\"\nand with united voice swelling those anthems of glory which are poured\nfrom angelic lips and harps to Him who sitteth upon the throne.\n\nWhat an example is this for the Christian parent! God is the Father of\nevery home. From Him cometh down every good and perfect gift; and hence to\nHim should all the interests and the loved ones of the household, be\ndedicated. This is essential to the very conception of a Christian home.\n\nBut especially should the children be dedicated to the Lord. That infant\nover which the mother bends and watches with such passionate fondness, is\n\"an heritage of the Lord,\" given to her only in trust, and will again be\nrequired from her. As soon as children are given they should be devoted to\nHim; for \"the flower, when offered in the bud, is no mean sacrifice.\" Then\nand then only will parents properly respect and value their offspring, and\ndeal with them as becometh the property of God. By withholding them, the\nparents become guilty of the deed of Ananias and Sapphira. Like the Hebrew\nmother, every Christian parent will gratefully devote them to Him, and\nrejoice that they have such a pure oblation to \"bring before their God.\"\n\n  \"My child, my treasure, I have given thee up\n  To Him who gave thee me! Ere yet thine eye\n  Rested with conscious love upon thy mother,\n  Long ere thy lips could gently sound her name,\n  She gave thee up to God; she sought for thee\n  One boon alone, that thou mightest he His child;\n  His child sojourning on this distant land,\n  His child above the blue and radiant sky,\n  'Tis all I ask of thee, beloved one, still!\"\n\nHere is a dedication worthy of a Christian mother. Natural affection and\nhuman pride might lead the fond mother to dedicate her child at the altar\nof Mammon, to gold, to fame, to magnificence, to the world. But no, every\nwish of the pious mother's heart is merged in one great wish and prayer,\n\"that thou may'st be His child.\"\n\nThe dedication of our children to the Lord is one of the first acts of the\nreligious ministry of home. All the means of grace will be of no avail\nwithout it. What will the acts of the gospel minister avail if they are not\npreceded by an offering of himself to the Lord who has called him? His holy\nvocation demands such an offering. It is his voluntary response to and\nacceptance of his calling of God. Thus with Christian parents. What will\nbaptism avail, so far as the parents are concerned, without this dedication\nof their children to Him in whose name they are baptised? No more than the\nform apart from the spirit. It would be but a mockery of God.\n\nWe have a beautiful example and illustration of this dedication, in the\nfamily of the faithful Abraham. \"By faith Abraham, when he was tried,\noffered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only\nbegotten son.\" We might at first view regard this act of his as an\nevidence of his want of parental sympathy and tenderness. But not so; it is\nrather an evidence of these. What he did was the prompting of a true faith,\nyielding implicit obedience to the Lord, and offering as an obligation to\nHim, what he loved most upon earth. Had he not loved him so dearly, God\nwould not have chosen him as a means of testing his father's religious\nfidelity. Hence this oblation of his son was the best evidence of his\nsupreme love to God, and that all he had was consecrated to his service.\nThis act called for the subordination of natural affection to Christian\nfaith and love. \"Take now thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get\nthee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering!\"\n\nWhat a startling command was this! How it must have stirred up the soul of\nthat parent, and for the time caused a bitter conflict between natural\naffection and Christian faith! \"Take thy son,\"--had it been a slave, the\ncommand would not have been so stirring; but a son, an only son, the joy of\nhis heart, and the pride and hope of his age,--the son he so much\nloved,--oh it was this that harrowed up such a revulsion in his soul, and,\nfor the moment doubtless, caused him to shrink from the very thought of\nobedience. But the command was imperious,--it was from God; and though the\nparent shrunk from the deed, yet the faith of the faithful servant gained a\nsignal triumph over all the protestations of natural affection, and\nsilenced all its rising murmurs; for \"Abraham rose up early in the morning,\nand saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with, him, and Isaac his\nson, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto\nthe place of which God had told him.\" There he built an altar, laid the\nwood in order, bound Isaac, and laid him upon the wood on the altar. But\nwhen with uplifted sacrificial knife, he was about to slay his son, just at\nthe point where God had the true test of his faith, a ministering angel\nstayed his hand, and prevented the bloody form in which he was about to\noffer his only son to God; \"for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing\nthou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me!\" He needed now but\ndedicate him in the moral sense to God.\n\nThe case of Samuel is another instance of the offering of children unto the\nLord. His mother had asked him of the Lord, and vowed, as she prayed, to\n\"give him unto the Lord all the days of his life.\"--1 Sam. I., 11. Her\nprayer was answered, and in obedience to her holy vow, she took him, when\nvery young, with her to the Temple, where she offered him up as an oblation\nto the Lord. \"For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my\npetition which I asked of him; therefore also have I lent him to the Lord;\nas long as he liveth shall he be lent unto the Lord!\" David also\nconsecrated all that he had to the Lord,--his possessions as well as his\nchildren. When he built a house, he dedicated it to the Lord, and prepared\n\"a psalm and song at the dedication of the house.\"\n\nHere in these examples of Old Testament family offerings to God, we have a\ntype and illustration of the oblations of the Christian home. The Lord does\nnot ask the Christian parent, as he did Abraham, to build an altar upon the\nsummit of some lofty cliff, and there to thrust a sacrificial knife to the\nheart of his child, and offer his quivering flesh and bleeding body a burnt\noffering to him; but he commands him to bring his child to the altar of\nbaptism in his church, and there dedicate his life, his talents, his all,\nas a living sacrifice \"holy and acceptable unto God,\" vowing before\nwitnessing angels and men that, as the steward of God and the\nrepresentative of the child, he will hold it sacred, as the property of the\nLord, given to him only in trust; that he will consult and faithfully\nexecute the will of the Lord concerning the child, and that in all his\nrelations to it, he will seek to make it subserve his purposes and reflect\nhis glory.\n\nThis is the most precious and acceptable oblation of the parent's heart and\nhome,--more precious than gold or pearls, than rivers of blood, or streams\nof oil; and where there is a corresponding dedication of all that belongs\nto home, it promotes and preserves the highest privileges and the greatest\nwell-being of the child. With the deep and sublime feelings of faith we\nshould, therefore, take our little ones, in infancy, before the Lord, as\nthe free-will offering of the Christian home; and in all subsequent\nperiods of their life under the parental roof, we should eagerly watch, in\neach expanding faculty, in each growing inclination, in the bent of each\ntender thought, in the warm glow of each feeling and desire, for some\nindications of the will of God concerning their mission in this life.\n\nThis leads us to remark finally, that, in the dedication of our children to\nthe Lord, we should have reference to the highest function within the\ncalling of man, viz: the christian ministry; or in other words, we should\noffer our sons to God with the hope and prayer that He may call them to the\nwork of the ministry, and every indication of His answer to our prayer,\ngiven in their mental and moral fitness, should encourage the parent to\ntrain them up with special reference to that sacred office.\n\nThis, the state of the church and the many destitute and waste places of\nthe earth, imperiously demand. Like the Hebrew mother, we should at least\ndevote one of our sons to the Temple-service, direct his attention to it,\nfavor it by all our intercourse with him, and use all proper means for his\npreparation for it. And you may be assured that God will answer your\nprayer. Your offering, if holy, will be acceptable.\n\n  \"Even thus, of old, a babe was offered up--\n  Young Samuel, for the service of His Temple;\n  Nor He refused the boon, but poured on him\n  The anointing of all gifts and graces meet\n  For his high office.\"\n\nBut alas! how many parents refuse thus to yield their sons unto God! They\nwill formally and outwardly dedicate their children to Him in holy baptism;\nbut afterwards obstruct their way to the ministry, yea, even discourage it\nfor reasons the most worldly and infidel. They will remind them of its\narduous duties and self-denials; they will remind them that it affords no\nmoney speculations, that the salary of ministers is so small, no wealth can\nbe amassed by preaching, and besides, they will have to remove so far from\nhome. And thus by urging such frivolous objections, they beget in their\nsons a prejudice against the ministry,--yea, a contempt for it. Ah, if\npreaching were a money-making business; if it opened the door to luxury and\naffluence and worldly ease, then I am sure every parent would show the\noutward piety of dedicating his sons (and daughters too) to the ministry.\nHere we see how natural affection, misdirected by the love of worldly gain,\nneutralizes the promptings of faith. Had Abraham lived under the same\ninfluence, he would not have obeyed the edict of God. It is because of the\ndominant spirit of worldliness in the Christian home, that the laborers\nupon the walls of Zion are inadequate to the great work to be done, that\nthey are insufficient for the great harvest of souls. And this will ever\ncontinue so long as Christian parents refuse to make an offering of their\nsons to God, and turn their homes into a den of thieves.\n\nSuch parental reservation of children for filthy lucre and the pleasures\nof sin for a season, involves a guilt which no redeeming attribute can\nmitigate. If God gave his only Son to suffer and die upon the accursed\ntree, shall we, his professed followers, not give in turn our sons to Him,\nto proclaim the glad news of a purchased and offered redemption? Think of\nthis, oh ye who profess to be the parents of a Christian home, and have\nwith the lip had your children dedicated to God in baptism! Think that the\ngift of God has bought them with a price, and that as they belong to Him,\nyou rob God when you withhold them, and deal with them as your own\nproperty, leaving out of view the great law of stewardship. Mistaken\nparents! methinks you would give your children to all save to God; you\nwould devote them to any thing but religion. You fit them for this life,\nchoose their occupation, labor to leave them a large inheritance, and\nrejoice when they rise to eminence in the world.\n\nBut in all this, God, religion and eternity are cast into the shade; you\nact towards them as if God had no claim upon them, and you were under no\nobligations to meet that claim. Think of this, ye who have been recreant to\nyour duty,--ye who have not followed Abraham to the mount of oblation, nor\nbrought up your sons as an offered Samuel. Oh think, that God will demand\nof you these children, and that if they are not now devoted to the Lord,\nyou will not have them to return to Him in the great day of final\nreckoning. May the momentous interests and responsibilities of that coming\nday bring you with your children around the altar of consecration, and\nconstrain you there to say--\n\n  \"I give thee to thy God--the God that gave thee,\n  A well-spring of deep gladness to my heart!\n          And precious as thou art,\n  And pure as dew of Hermon, He shall have thee,\n  My own, my beautiful, my undefiled!\n          And thou shalt be His child!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nCHRISTIAN BAPTISM.\n\n  \"Water--of blest purity\n  Emblem--do we pour on thee;\n  Little one! regenerate be--\n  Only by the crimson flood\n  Of the Spotless, in the blood\n  Of the very Son of God!\n  Father, Son and Holy Ghost!\n  Take the feeble, take the lost,\n  Purchased once at Calvary's cost!\"\n\n\nWhat delightful associations cluster around the baptismal altar! How\ntenderly does the pious mother fold her babe to her yearning heart, as she\ndevoutly approaches that consecrated spot, and there dedicates in and\nthrough this holy sacrament, the child of her love and hope, to Him who\ngave it! What a holy charge she there assumes; what a sacred vow she there\nmakes; what a solemn promise she there gives; what a momentous interest is\nentrusted to her there; what a weight of responsibility is there laid upon\nher!\n\nHer charge is an infant soul; her vow is to be faithful to it; her promise\nis to train it up for God; and her's will be the lasting glory or the\nlasting shame! These very engagements and trusts elevate the pious parents;\ndiffuse a tenderness and sympathy over all the domestic relations, and make\nbetter husbands, better wives, better parents, and better children, by the\ndeep insight which is given to their faith in those mysterious relations\nand mutual obligations which bind them together. As the consecrated water\nfalls upon the face of the devoted child, the parents feel the solemn vow\nsink deep into the soul, and realize the weight of that responsibility\nwhich God lays upon them.\n\nGod commands us not only to dedicate our children to Him, but to do so in\nthe way He has appointed, viz., in and through Christian baptism. In this\nway we bring our children into the church, and train them up in a churchly\nway. We bring them to God through the church. In their baptism we have, as\nit were, a confirmation of their dedication by \"the mighty Master's seal.\"\nIt is the link which binds our children to the church, the rite of their\ninitiation into the kingdom of Christ, the sign and seal of their saving\nrelation to the covenant of grace. By it they are solemnly set apart to the\nservice of God, enrolled among the members of His kingdom, entitled to its\nprivileges and guardian care, and placed in the appointed way of salvation\nand eternal life, receiving the seal and superscription of the Son of God.\nThis is indispensable to the demands of the Christian faith. To deny that\ninfants are thus included in the covenant of grace, destroys the purity and\nspiritual unity of the Christian compact, and subverts the foundations and\nharmony of the Christian home.\n\nIt is revolting to the parent's faith to forbid his little ones the\nprivilege of the church, and to treat them as aliens from the covenant of\npromise. Does the gospel place them under such a ban of proscription?\nSurely not! He who instituted the family relation had special regard to the\nfamily in all the appointments of his grace. His command is like that of\nNoah, \"Come thou and all thy house into the ark.\" \"The promise is unto you\nand your children.\" This is the comfort of the parent, that his children\nare planted by the ordinance of God into the soil of grace, where they may\ngrow up as a tender plant in the likeness of His death, and be \"like a tree\nplanted by the rivers of water, that shall bring forth his fruit in his\nseason; his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.\"\n\nBaptism in the Christian home is eminently infant baptism. Take this away,\nand you sever the strongest cord that binds church and home. As the Jew was\ncommanded to circumcise his child, and thus bring it into proper relations\nto the theocratical covenant, so the Christian has a similar command from\nChrist to bring his children, through the holy sacrament of baptism, to\nHim. It is not our purpose to discuss the baptistic question. When we\nshall have thrown sufficient light upon it to convince the Christian\nparent, that it is a duty to have little children dedicated to God in\nbaptism, our plan shall be fully executed. We must either admit infant\nbaptism, or deny that the Christian covenant includes children, and that\nthe parent is bound to dedicate them to God. Hence the objection brought\nagainst infant baptism can, with equal propriety, be urged against\ncircumcision; for the latter is the type of the former. In baptism Christ\nplaces Himself in true organic relations to the child, and thus opens up to\nit the sources from which alone the Christian life can proceed and develop\nitself.\n\nThe baptism of our children is grounded in their need of salvation at every\nage and stage of development. It is also based upon the very idea of Christ\nHimself; upon primitive christianity; upon the extent and compass of the\nChristian covenant; and upon those vital relations which believing parents\nsustain to their offspring. It might be proven from the commission given by\nChrist to His disciples to \"preach the gospel to every creature;\" from His\nlanguage and conduct in reference to children; from the usage of the\nApostles and of the apostolic church. The idea and mission of Christ\nHimself, we think, would be a sufficient argument in favor of infant\nbaptism. He included in His life the stage of childhood, and came to save\nthe child as well as the man. His own infancy and childhood are securities\nfor this. He entered into and passed through all the various states and\nstages of man's development on earth, and thus became adapted to the wants\nof every period of our life,--man's infancy as well as man's maturity.\nIreneus says, \"Christ Jesus became a child to children, a youth to youth,\nand a man to man.\" The fact, too, that the blessings of the covenant of\ngrace are extended to the children of believing parents, is sufficient to\nprove the validity of infant baptism. Peter said on the day of Pentecost,\nwhen he called upon his hearers to be baptized: \"for the promise is to you,\nand your children, and all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our\nGod shall call.\"\n\nThus His gospel excludes none, neither is it restricted to a certain age or\ncapacity. As the child, as well as the man, fell and died in the first\nAdam, so the child, as well as the man, can be made alive in the second\nAdam. As infants, therefore, are subjects of grace, why not subjects also\nof baptism? As they are included in the covenant, why not enter it by the\ndivinely constituted sacrament of initiation? As they are included in the\nplan of salvation, why not receive it in a churchly way? If Christ is the\nSaviour of infants, why not bring them to Him through baptism?\n\nBesides, the idea of following Christ reaches its full meaning only through\ninfant baptism. His own infancy, as we have already seen, is a warrant of\nthis. Without it He cannot penetrate and rule in every natural stage of\nhuman life. Hence a denial of infant baptism is a subversion of the\nfundamentals of Christian doctrine. The very constitution of the Christian\nfamily, its unity and mission must be overthrown; for infant baptism is\nincorporated with the nature of christianity itself, with the conception\nand necessities of the individual Christian life, and of the Christian\nfamily life.\n\nAnd yet with the plainest teachings of the gospel before them, is it not\nstrange that there are so many virulent enemies to infant baptism? Their\nrejection of it seems to rest mainly upon the untenable position that\nbaptism has meaning and force only when it is the fruit of an antecedent,\nself-conscious faith on the part of the subject, and that it is but the\noutward demonstration of a separate and prior participation of some inward\ngrace. As infants have not a self-conscious faith, it is believed,\ntherefore, that they are not, of course, fit subjects of baptism.\n\nThere is a cunning sophistry in all this. It goes upon the supposition that\nfaith necessarily demands the prior development of self-consciousness. It\nassumes that faith is bound to a particular age, and can be exercised only\nafter the full and complete development of the logical consciousness, and\nis dependent upon it; it also assumes that this faith must necessarily be\nexercised by the subject of Christian baptism.\n\nNow this is all mere assumption. There is no scripture for it. In all this,\nthe distinction is not made between faith in its first bud, and faith in\nits ripe fruit. The first may exist in the unconscious infant, just as\nundeveloped reason exists there; because natural powers do not generate\nsupernatural faith. Faith is the gift of God; and its existence does not\ndepend upon any particular stage of mental development. The enemies of\ninfant baptism can see nothing in baptism. They can see no objective force\nin that holy sacrament; but regard it as something merely external,\nextraneous, unproductive,--a mere unmeaning form in which a prior faith is\npleased to express itself, as the conclusion of a work already\naccomplished. The great error here lies just in this, that they mistake it\nas an act of faith, whereas it is an act of Christ. They think it is the\nformal rite through which they elect and receive Christ; whereas it is the\nsacrament in which Christ elects and receives them.\n\nIf, in church worship, man placed himself in a relation to God, without God\nplacing Himself in a relation to man, then we might reject infant baptism.\nBut this is not so. God, in baptism, places Himself in a relation to the\nsubject, receives the subject until it become a part of the organism of\ngrace in its subjective and objective force, and is recognized as a member\nof the church of Christ. Now the falsity of the position assumed by the\nenemies of infant baptism lies just here, that only the subjective side of\nbaptism is held up, while its objective, sacramental character is left\naltogether out of view. It reverses the relative positions of faith and\nbaptism, making the former to take the place of the latter, and holding\nthat any one dissociated with the church, can receive and exercise a true\nliving faith, which overthrows the very idea of the church itself. It makes\nfaith first, baptism second, entering the church third; whereas baptism\ncomes before the conscious faith of the subject. If so, then why object to\ninfant baptism?\n\nBaptism is that sacrament by means of which the order of divine grace is\ncontinued. It generates faith, and its development is from authoritative,\nto free, personal faith. \"What the personal election of Christ was to the\nfirst circle of disciples, that baptism is for the successive church, the\ndivine fact through which Christ gives to His church its true and eternal\nbeginning in the individual.\" If so, then is it not plain that baptism goes\nbefore the self-conscious faith of the subject? And if this church-founding\nsacrament brings your child into a living and saving relation to the\nchurch, then why deny it that baptism? Dare you reverse the divine\nprocedure which God has ordained for the salvation of His people? And if\nChrist is related to the individual only through the general; if He is\nrelated to the members only through the body, and having fellowship with\nthem only as the Head of that body, then is it not plain that your\nchildren, in order to come to Him as such, to be incorporated with Him and\nrelated to Him in a saving way, must come to Him through the church,--must\nbecome a member of it, and that too in the manner and through the medium\nHe has prescribed, viz., baptism?\n\nHe who, for the reason, therefore, that children can have no self-conscious\nfaith, refuses to have them baptized, but exposes his ignorance of the\ndivine procedure of grace as developed in the church, of the true moral\nrelation between parent and child, and of the scripture idea of the\nChristian home. Why not for the very same reason refuse to teach them, to\nhave them pray, to bring them up to church service? Yea, why not deny to\nthem salvation itself? For the very same reason for which you reject infant\nbaptism, you must also reject infant salvation; for faith is held up in the\nWord of God as a qualification for salvation with more emphasis than as a\nqualification for baptism. Hence if you say that infants cannot be baptized\nbecause incapable of faith, you must also say, by a parity of reasoning,\nthat infants cannot be saved, because incapable of faith.\n\nThis is a dilemma, and to avoid it, some enemies to infant baptism have\neven confessed that they see no hope for the salvation of children. Thus\nDr. Alexander Carson says, \"The gospel has nothing to do with infants. It\nis good news, but to infants it is no news at all. None can be saved by the\ngospel who do not believe it! Consequently by the gospel no infants can be\nsaved!\" But if out of Christ there is no salvation, then tell me, how will\ninfants be saved? We have no answer from these enemies, yea, there is no\nanswer!\n\nChristian parents! what think you of this? When bending over the grave of\na beloved child, with the cherished hope of meeting it in heaven, how would\nsuch intelligence as this startle you from your dream of reunion there, and\ncast a deep pall of desolation around your sorrowing hearts? Does not the\nparent's faith forbid the intrusion of a doctrine so revolting as this?\nThough you have been in your home, the divinely appointed representative of\nyour child, and in its baptism exercised faith in its behalf, on the ground\nof those natural and moral relations which the Lord has constituted between\nyou and your child, yet in this startling dogma of the enemies of its\nbaptism, you find a virtual denial of the existence of such moral relations\nand parental vicarage; yea, a denial of parental stewardship and of the\nreligious ministry of the Christian home. The revulsion with which the\nChristian heart receives such a denial of infant baptism is at least a\npresumptive evidence against it. But we think enough has been said to lay\nthe foundation of some practical comments upon the subject of Christian\nbaptism.\n\nIf it is a fact that infants are proper subjects of baptism, then it is the\nduty of Christian parents to have them baptized. It is not only a duty, but\na delightful privilege, to consecrate them to God in a perpetual covenant\nnever to be forgotten, regarding them as the members of the kingdom of\nChrist, and so called to be God's children by adoption and grace.\n\nTheir baptism involves many parental duties and responsibilities. If it is\nboth a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace, and a means of grace, so\nthat the parent's faith, in their baptism, places the child in covenant\nrelation to the Incarnate Word, through the life-giving Spirit, then it is\nplain that the parent is bound to secure for the child those blessings\nwhich that baptism contemplates, and which hang upon the exercise of a\nreceiving faith. This sacrament gives the child a churchly claim upon\nparental interposition in its behalf, in all things pertaining to its\nspiritual culture,--in a true religious training, in a proper direction in\nthe use of the means of grace, in a holy Christian example. Here it is the\nparent's duty to represent the church, to act for the church in religious\nministrations to the child, to be the steward of the church in the\nChristian home, to rear up the child for a responsible membership.\n\nNo parent, therefore, who neglects the baptism of the child, can have \"the\nanswer of a good conscience towards God.\" If we are satisfied to have our\nhomes separate from the church; if we are satisfied with individualistic,\ndisembodied, unassociated christianity,--a religion that owns no church,\nbut which has its origin, root and maturity in the self-conscious activity\nof the individual, we may then neglect this duty. But in doing so, to be\nconsistent, we must also discard the sister ordinance of the Lord's supper,\nyea, all the churchly means of grace; yea, the church itself; for why\nrepudiate one ordinance,--one idea of associated Christianity, and not all\nthe others?\n\nThat baptism is greatly abused and neglected, none will deny. It is often\nabused by neglect of the proper time of its administration. The earliest\nperiod of infancy is the proper time; for then there will be a proper\ncorrespondence in time between the dedication and the baptism. In this we\nhave an example from Jewish circumcision. The pious Jew took the infant\nwhen it was but eight days old, and had it circumcised. But many Christian\nparents defer the baptism of their children until late childhood, while\ntheir vows of dedication are left in mere naked feeling and resolution,\nhaving no sacramental force and expression; and as a consequence will grow\ncold and indifferent. When parents thus delay having their children brought\nwithin the fold of God and the bosom of the church, they presume to be\nwiser than God, and oppose their own weak reason to His word and promises.\n\nBaptism is often abused, also, by being used as a mere habit, an unmeaning\nform, without a proper sense of its significance, importance, duties and\nresponsibilities. It is administered because others do the same,--because\ncustomary among most church members, and because perhaps it looks like an\nadherence to the outward of christianity and the church at least. When they\nhave thus obeyed the law of habit, and girded themselves with the formula\nof parental duty, they feel they have done enough; and perhaps neither\ntheir children nor the vows they assumed at their baptism ever after recur\nto them as objects of specific duty.\n\nBut we would remind such parents, that habit is not always duty, and our\nadherence to habit does not prove our sincerity and the truthfulness of our\npurpose. It does not always imply \"the answer of a good conscience towards\nGod.\" If having our children baptized is simple obedience to the law of\nhabit, it is not the performance of a parental duty, but the abuse of a\nblessed privilege; there is in it all no living churchly expression of\nwilling vows. In this way we only reach its outward form, and we do that,\nnot because of its inherent worth, not because of a duty and privilege; but\nbecause we desire to cope with others, and decorate our religion in the\npopular dress of other people's habits.\n\nBaptism is also abused by mistaking the object and design of its\nadministration. Why do many parents have their children baptized? Because\nthey wish to express their vows of dedication in that sacramental form and\nway which God has appointed? Because they desire to bring them into the\nfold and bosom of the church, and place them in saving relations to the\nmeans of grace? Alas, no! but too often because they make their baptism the\nmere occasion of giving them, in a formal, public way, their Christian\nnames. They christen their children to give them a name; and often with\nthem this holy sacrament is as empty as the name. Their baptism, in their\nview, is but the sealing and confirming the name they had before chosen for\nthe child; and when this is done they have no more thought of the baptism.\nWith them the baptism of their children is the ordinance of name-giving.\nBefore it takes place they are busied about getting a name from the most\napproved, and fashionable novels of the day. This takes the place of\ndedication. Their prior thoughts are all absorbed in getting a strange,\nnew-fangled name,--such an one as will carry you away by association to\nsome love-sick tale, or remind you of the burning of Rome, or some other\ndeed which has disgraced humanity. And then as soon as this is done, they\nfix upon some auspicious occasion when either in the church or in the\npresence of a select company at home, (for children cry now-a-days too much\nto bring them to church) they have their pastor to baptize them.\n\nPerhaps a great feast is prepared; godfathers and godmothers (if they have\nthe warrant of some valuable presents) are chosen; and then in all the\nglare and parade of fashion, they have the ordinance administered. And what\nthen is the first joyful cry of the fond parents, after the solemn ceremony\nis ended? Why \"now, dear, you have your name!\" And this is the end,--yes,\nthe finale of the vows there made before God,--the end of all until God\nshall call them to account!\n\nIt requires but very little discrimination to see that in all this the\nnature, design, and obligations of Christian baptism are left totally out\nof view. They do not here appreciate this ordinance as a channel for the\ncommunication of God's grace to their children. When baptized they do not\nregard them as having been received into gracious relation to God, as\nplants in the Lord's vineyard, as having put on Christ, and as having their\ningrafting into Him not only signified but sealed. Thus being undervalued,\nit is, as a consequence, abused and neglected.\n\nThe great neglect of Christian baptism is doubtless owing to the low,\nunscriptural views of its nature and practical importance; for if they\nrealized its relations to the plan of salvation, and its office in the\nappropriation of that salvation to their children, they would not permit\nthem to grow up unbaptized, neither would they be recreant to the solemn\nduties which are binding upon the parent after its administration. But upon\nthe subject of baptism itself, we have seen that there is great laxity of\nfeeling and opinion.\n\nThe spirit of our fathers upon this point is becoming so diluted that we\ncan scarcely discern any longer a vestige of the good old landmarks of\ntheir sacramental character. Instead of walking in them, Christians are now\nfalling a prey to a latitudinarian spirit of the most destructive kind.\nThey are, in leaving these old landmarks, falling into the clutches of\nrationalism and radicalism, which will ere long leave their homes and their\nchurch\n\n  \"A wreck at random driven,\n  Without one glimpse of reason or of heaven!\"\n\nEven ministers themselves seem to grow indifferent to this wide-spread and\ngrowing evil. They hardly ever utter a word of warning from the pulpit\nagainst it. Their members may be known by them to neglect the baptism of\ntheir children; and yet by their silence they wink at this dereliction; and\nwhen they have occasion to speak of this ordinance, many advert to it as a\nmere sign, as something only outward, not communicating an invisible grace,\nnot as a seal of the new covenant, ingrafting into Christ. No wonder when\nthis holy sacrament is thus disparagingly spoken of, that Christian parents\nwill neglect it practically, as a redundancy in the church,--as a tradition\ncoming in its last wailing cry from ages and forms departed,--as a church\nrite marked obsolete, as an old ceremonial savoring of old Jewish shackles,\nembodying no substantial grace, and unfit for this age of railroad\nprogression and gospel libertinism.\n\nWill any one deny the extent of such a spirit in the church and homes of\nthe present day? Let him refer to church statistics, where he may receive\nsome idea of the magnitude of this evil. In them we can see the extent to\nwhich parents have neglected the baptism of their children. We take from a\nnote in the \"Mercersburg Review\" the following statistical items: \"The\npresbytery of Londonderry reports but one baptism to sixty-four\ncommunicants; the presbytery of Buffalo city, the same; the presbytery of\nRochester city, one to forty-six; the presbytery of Michigan, one to\nseventy-seven; the presbytery of Columbus, one to thirty. In the presbytery\nof New Brunswick, there are three churches which report thus: one reports\nthree hundred and forty-three communicants, and three baptisms; another\nreports three hundred and forty communicants, and two baptisms. In\nPhiladelphia, one church reports three hundred and three communicants, and\nseven baptisms; another, two hundred and eighty-seven communicants, and one\nbaptism.\"\n\nThese statistics speak volumes. They tell us how Christian parents neglect\nthe baptism of their children, and also how the church winks at it. And\nfrom this neglect we can easily infer their indifference to it. If we refer\nto the statistics of all other churches, we shall witness a similar\nneglect. No branch of the church now is free from the imputation of such\nneglect. It is now difficult indeed, to induce parents to have their\nchildren baptized, because they think it is no use! \"Let them wait,\" say\nthey, \"till they grow up, and then they will know more about it!\" This\nshows us where the parent stands, viz., in an unchurchly state, and radical\nto the very core. It shows us what that influence is, which is at work upon\nhis mind. \"He will know more about it!\"--just as if that in religion is\nworthless until we know all about it. Baptism then is not worth anything\nuntil the child understands all about it! In that parental utterance we\nhear the wildest shout of triumphant rationalism!\n\nBut again, baptism is often abused by parental unfaithfulness to its\nobligations. In the baptism of their children, parents solemnly vow to\nbring them up in the nurture of the Lord, to train them up in His holy\nways, to teach them by precept and example, to pray for them and teach them\nthe privilege of prayer. And yet how grossly are these solemn vows left\nunperformed, and even never thought of in all after life! Perhaps the very\nopposite course is taken even on the day of baptism. Parents! by this you\nendanger your own souls as well as the souls of your children. How will the\nmemory of such neglected duty and privilege sink with deepening anguish in\nyour souls, when you shall be called hence to answer to God for your\nparental stewardship! Be not deceived; God is not mocked; neither will he\nhold you guiltless when you thus outrage His holy sacrament.\n\nBaptism is often abused by the unfaithfulness of children to its\nprivileges, influences and blessings. Many children fight against these,\nprevent parents from performing their duties, and repel all the overtures\nof the Christian home, all the offers of the Spirit's baptism, abandoning\nthe means of grace, refusing to assume the baptismal engagement taken for\nthem by their parents; and thus, so far as they are concerned, undo and\nneutralize what their parents did for them. Oh, ye baptized children,--ye\nto whom the holy ministry of home has been faithfully applied,--know ye\nnot that the frowns of abused heaven are upon you, and that the memory of\nyour rebellion against the prerogatives of the family, will constitute an\ningredient in your cup of woe? The privilege of baptism lays you under\nsolemn requisition. If unfaithful to it, it will be your condemnation, and\nadd new fuel to the flame of a burning conscience.\n\nParents and children! be faithful to this holy ordinance of God. It is a\nsolemn service. You should approach the baptismal font with a trembling\nstep and a consecrated heart. And what a solemn moment it is, when you take\nyour child away from that altar! There you gave it up to God,--dedicated it\nto His service; and there in turn He commits it to you in trust, saying to\nyou as Pharaoh's daughter said to the mother of Moses, \"Take this child and\nnurse it for me, and I will pay thee thy wages,\" and you bore it away, as\ndid that faithful mother, to bring it up for God. There you solemnly\npromised that in training that child, the will of God should be your will,\nand the law of all your conduct towards it. You can never forget that\nsolemn transaction, and how you there vowed before witnessing men and\nangels that you would be faithful to the little one God has given you. What\nnow has been the result? Eternity will answer.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nCHRISTIAN NAMES.\n\n  \"She named the child Ichabod.\"--1 SAMUEL.\n\n                \"Thus was the building left\n  Ridiculous, and the work confusion named.\"\n\n\nChristian baptism suggests Christian names. This introduces us to an\nimportant topic, viz., the kind of names Christian parents should give to\ntheir children at their baptism. Baptismal names are indeed an important\nitem of the Christian home. Much more depends upon them than we are at\nfirst sight of the subject, disposed to grant.\n\nChristianity eminently includes the great law of correspondence between its\ninward spirit and its outward form. Its form and contents cannot be\nseparated. The principle of fitness, it everywhere exhibits; and hence its\nnomenclature is the herald of its spirit and truth. The names that religion\nhas given to her followers signify some principle of association between\nthem. They were adopted to designate some fact in the history of the\nindividual, or in his relation to the church. Hence the names adopted for\nthe children of the Christian home should be the utterance of some fact or\ncalling which belongs to that home. Their name is one of the first things\nwhich children know, and hence it makes a deep impression upon them. And as\nour Christian names are given to us at the time of our baptism, one would\nthink that there is always a correspondence between the name and some fact\nor interest connected with the occasion. We should then receive a Christian\nname, a name which does not bind us by the laws of association to what is\nevil either in the past or the present, but which indicates a relation to\nsome precious boon involved in the dedication of the child to God.\n\nIs this always so? By no means. It once was. It was so in the Hebrew home\nand in the families of the apostolic age. But in this day of parental rage\nafter new-fangled things and names, taken from works of fiction and novels\nof doubtful character, we find that parents care but very little about the\nbaptismal name being the herald of a religious fact. \"What is in a name?\"\nwas a question propounded by a poet. His answer was \"nothing!\"\n\n              \"That which we call a rose\n  By any other name would smell as sweet.\"\n\nThe principle here evolved is false. There is much in a name; and at the\ncreation names were not mechanically given to things; but there was a\nvital correspondence between the name and the thing named. Much depends\nupon the name. It exerts a potent influence for good, or for evil upon the\nbearer and upon all around him.\n\nPrimarily, a name supposed some correspondence between its meaning and the\nperson who bore it. Hence the name should not be arbitrary in its\napplication, but should \"link its fitness to idea,\" and with the person,\nrun in parallel courses.\n\n  \"For mind is apt and quick to wed ideas and names together,\n  Nor stoppeth its perceptions to be curious of priorities.\"\n\nNebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, felt that practically there was much in a\nname, when he heathenized the names of the young Hebrew captives. By this\nhe thought to detach them from their Hebrew associations. God was in each\nof their original names, and in this way they were reminded of their\nreligion. But the names this Chaldee king gave them were either social or\nalluded to the idolatry of Babylon. Their Hebrew names were to them\nwitnesses for God, mementoes of the faith of their fathers; hence the king,\nto destroy their influence, called Daniel, Belteshazzar, i.e. \"the\ntreasurer of the god Bel;\" Hannaniah he called Shadrach, i.e. \"the\nmessenger of the king;\" Mishael he called Meshach, i.e. \"the devotee of the\ngoddess Shesach.\" He showed his cunning in this, and a historical testimony\nto the potent influence of a name.\n\nBy this same rule of correspondence, Adam doubtless named, by order of his\nCreator, the things of nature as they struck his senses.\n\n  \"He specified the partridge by her cry, and the forest prowler by\n    his roving,\n  The tree by its use, and the flower by its beauty, and everything\n    according to its truth.\"\n\nThe Hebrews obeyed the same law in naming their children. With them there\nwas a sacred importance attached to the giving of a name. For every chosen\nname they had a reason which involved the person's life, character or\ndestiny. Adam named the companion of his bosom, \"woman because she was\ntaken out of man.\" He called \"his wife's name Eve, because she was the\nmother of all living.\" Eve called her first-born Cain (possession) \"because\nI have gotten a man from the Lord.\" She called another son Seth\n(appointed,) \"for God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom\nCain slew.\" Samuel was so named because he was \"asked of and sent to God.\"\nGod Himself often gave names to His people; and each name thus given,\nconveyed a promise, or taught some rule of life, or bore some divine\nmemorial, or indicated some calling of the person named. Says Dr.\nKrummacher on this point: \"Names were to the people like memoranda, and\nlike the bells on the garments of the priests, reminding them of the Lord\nand His government, and furnishing matter for a variety of salutary\nreflections. To the receivers of them they ministered consolation and\nstrength, warning and encouragement; and to others they served to attract\nthe attention and heart of God.\" This was right, and fully accorded with\nthe economy of the Hebrew home, and with the conception of language itself.\n\nWould that the Christian home followed her pious example! But Christians\nnow are too much under the influence of irreligious fashion. Instead of\ngiving their children those good old religious names which their fathers\nbore, and which are endeared to us by many hallowed associations, they now\nrepudiate them with a sneer as too vulgar and tasteless. They are out of\nfashion, too common, don't lead us into a labyrinth of love-scrapes and\nscenes of refined iniquity, and are now only fit for a servant.\n\nHence instead of resorting to the bible for a name, these sentimental\nparents will pore over filthy novels, or catch at some foreign accent, to\nget a name which may have a fashionable sound, and a claim upon the\nprevailing taste of the times, and which may remind one of the battles of\nsome ambitious general, or of the adventures of some love-sick swain, or of\nthe tragic deeds of some fashionable libertine!\n\nAnd when such a name is found to suit the ear of fashion and of folly, it\nis applied to the child, and reiterated by the minister before the\nbaptismal font; and as often as it is afterwards repeated it reminds one\nperhaps of deeds which put modesty to blush, and startle the ear of justice\nand humanity. What a burning shame is this to the Christian home! The\nchild who is cursed with such a name has ever before him the memorandum of\nhis parent's folly, and as a recognized example, the character of him after\nwhom he has been named. As often as he is hailed by it, he blushes to think\nthat he has been called by pious parents after one who, perhaps, has turned\nmany a home into desolation, and disgraced and blighted forever the fond\nhopes and joys of the young and old.\n\nHave thoughts and associations like these no demoralizing influence? How\ncan parents admonish their children against novel reading after they have\ntaken their names from novels? The giving of Christian names at the present\ntime is indeed a ridiculous farce, an insult to christianity, and a\nrepresentation of stoical infidelity before the baptismal altar. It is\nthere an act of the Babylonish king to heathenize the child. We might\nalmost say that the folly has become a rage. The rage for new names\nespecially,--names which do not adorn the sacred page, nor carry us back to\nthe times and faith of our fathers, but which have gained notoriety in the\nworld of fiction, and associate us with the lover's affrays and with the\ndesperado's feats,--these are the names which Christian parents too often\nseek with avidity for their children. If you were to judge their homes by\nthese names, you would think yourself in a Turkish seraglio, or amid the\nvoluptuous scenes of a Parisian court, or in the bosom of a heathen\nfamily. What, for instance, is there about such names as Nero, Caesar,\nPompey, Punch, that would remind you that you were in a Christian home?\n\nIt is often disgusting, too, to see how some Christian parents, who live in\nhumble life, seek to ape, in their children, the empty sounding titles of\nthe world. They only show their vanity and weakness, and often bring\nridicule upon their children; for--\n\n  \"To lend the low-born noble names, is to shed upon them ridicule\n    and evil;\n  Yea, many weeds run rank in pride, if men have dubbed them cedars,\n  And to herald common mediocrity with the noisy notes of fame,\n  Tendeth to its deeper scorn, as if it were to call the mole a mammoth.\"\n\nWhen we thus give our children names associated with battle-fields, empty\ntitles, brilliant honors, and lucrative offices,--positions in life which\nthey can never expect to reach, and which, if they did, would not do honor\nto the child of a Christian family, we do them great injury; we fasten in\nthem feelings the most disastrous, and draw out propensities unbecoming the\nchild devoted to the Lord, breeding in his soul a peevish repining at his\nstation. Alas! that Christian homes should ever become so servile in their\ndevotions to the rotten sentiments and flimsy interests of misguided and\nperverted fashion! Her smile in your home is that of a harlot; her touch is\nthe withering blight of corruption; her dominion is the desolation of\nfamily hopes and the extermination of those sacred prerogatives with which\nthe Lord has invested the Christian fireside. The ball will take the place\nof prayer; novels will take the place of the bible; favorites will take the\nplace of husbands and wives; and the children will regard their parents\nonly as their masters.\n\nChristian parents should, therefore, give suitable names to their children,\nthat is, such names as will correspond with their state, character and\nrelations to God,--names which do not suggest the idea of war, rapine,\nhumbug, romance, and sensuality, but which are associated with the\nChristian life and calling, and which serve as a true index to the spirit\nand character of the parental fireside. Reason, as well as faith, will\ndictate such a choice; for\n\n  \"There is wisdom in calling a thing fitly; names should note particulars\n  Through a character obvious to all men, and worthy of their instant\n    acceptation.\"\n\nOur name is the first and the last possession at our disposal. It\ndetermines from the days of childhood our inclinations. It employs our\nattention through life, and even transports us beyond the grave. Hence we\nshould give appropriate names to our children,--such as will interest them,\nand neither be a reproach, on the one hand, nor reach to unattainable and\nunworthy heights, on the other; for the mind of your child will take a\nbias, from its name, to good or to evil.\n\nWhy not adopt scriptural names for them? Are they not as beautiful as other\nnames? They are. And is not their influence as salutary? It is. And are\nthey not more suitable for the Christian home than any other? They are.\nWhere is there a more lovely name than Mary,--lovely in its utterance, and\nthrice lovely in the glowing memories which cluster around it, and in the\nhallowed home-associations it awakens in the Christian heart, drawing us at\nonce to the feet of Jesus, where a Mary sat in confiding pupilage, and\nsealed her instructions and gratitude with the tear-drop that glowed like\nearly dew upon her dimpled cheek? Would Christian parents desire to give\ntheir children more beautiful names,--beautiful in the light of history and\nof heaven,--than that of Benjamin, \"son of the right hand;\" of David,\n\"dear, beloved;\" of Dionysius, \"divinely touched;\" of Eleazar, \"help of\nGod;\" of Eli, \"my offering;\" of Enoch, \"dedicated;\" of Jacob, \"my present;\"\nof Lemuel, \"God is with them;\" of Nathan, \"given, gift;\" of Nathaniel,\n\"gift of God;\" of Samuel, \"asked of God and sent of God,\" &c.?\n\nBesides, there are names of distinguished Christians, such as Wilberforce,\nHoward, Page, Martyn, Paul, Peter, John, Fenelon, Clement, Baxter,\n&c.,--bright as dew-drops on the page of history, and as beautiful in their\nenunciation as any chosen from the world of heartless fashion,--as\nbeautiful in sound, and infinitely more so in associations which bind them\nto deeds of humanity and Christian love. The utterance of such names would\nbe more becoming the Christian home; because they aid in developing the\npurest, holiest and loftiest idea of its nature and calling. Such names\nwill bind your little ones to pure and holy persons and deeds, and will\nsuit the book of life in which you hope to have them enrolled.\n\n  \"Then, safe within a better home, where time and its titles are not\n    found,\n  God will give thee His new name, and write it on thy heart;\n  A name, better than of sons, a name dearer than of daughters,\n  A name of union, peace and praise, as numbered in thy God.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nHOME AS A NURSERY.\n\n  \"The Ostrich, silliest of the feathered kind,\n  And formed of God without a parent's mind,\n  Commits her eggs, incautious, to the dust,\n  Forgetful that the foot may crush the trust;\n  And, while on public nurseries they rely,\n  Not knowing, and too oft not caring why,\n  Irrational in what they thus prefer\n  No few, that would seem wise, resemble her.\"\n\n\nTo nurse means to educate or draw out and direct what exists in a state of\nmere involution. It means to protect, to foster, to supply with appropriate\nfood, to cause to grow or promote growth, to manage with a view to\nincrease. Thus Greece was the nurse of the liberal arts; Rome was the nurse\nof law. In horticulture, a shrub or tree is the nurse or protector of a\nyoung and tender plant. We are said to nurse our national resources.\nIsaiah, in speaking of the coming Messiah and the glory of his church,\nsays, \"Thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.\" \"Kings shall be thy\nnursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers.\"\n\nThe place or apartment appropriated to such nursing is called a nursery.\nThus a plantation of young trees is called a nursery. Shakspeare calls\nPadua the nursery of arts. We call a very bad place the nursery of thieves\nand rogues. Dram-shops are the nurseries of intemperance. Commerce is\ncalled the nursery of seamen. Universities are the nurseries of the arts\nand sciences. The church on earth is called the nursery of the church in\nheaven. Christian families are called the nurseries of the church on earth,\nbecause in the former its members are nursed and propagated for the purpose\nof being transplanted into the latter.\n\nIn the same sense and for the same reason, the Christian home is the\nnursery of the young,--of human nature in its normal state. And as home is\nthe nursery of the state as well as of the church on earth and in heaven,\nwe must see that it is a physical, intellectual and religious nursery. We\nshall briefly consider it in these aspects. Indeed the Christian home\ncannot be considered in a more interesting and responsible light. The\nlittle child, dedicated to God in holy baptism, is entirely helpless and\ndependent upon the ministrations of the nursery. There is the department of\nits first impressions, of its first directions, of its first intellectual\nand moral formation, of the first evolution of physical and moral life.\nThere the child exists as but the germ of what is to be. It grows up under\nthe fostering care and plastic power of the parents. God's commission to\nthem in the nursery is, to bring up these germs of life, in His nurture\nadmonition.\n\n  \"Take the germ, and make it\n    A bud of moral beauty. Let the dews\n  Of knowledge, and the light of virtue, wake it\n    In richest fragrance and in purest hues.\"\n\nThe nursery is the department of home in which the mother fulfils her\npeculiar mission. This is her special sphere. None can effectually take her\nplace there. She is the center of attraction, the guardian of the infant's\ndestiny; and none like she, can overrule the unfolding life and character\nof the child. God has fitted her for the work of the nursery. Here she\nreigns supreme, the arbitress of the everlasting weal or woe of untutored\ninfancy. On her the fairest hopes of educated man depend, and in the\nexercise of her power there, she sways a nation's destiny, gives to the\ninfant body and soul their beauty, their bias and their direction. She\nthere possesses the immense force of first impressions. The soul of her\nchild lies unveiled before her, and she makes the stamp of her own spirit\nand personality upon its pliable nature. She there engrafts it, as it were,\ninto her own being, and from the combined elements of her own character,\nbuilds up and establishes the character of her offspring. Hers will,\ntherefore, be the glory or the shame.\n\n  \"Then take the heart thy charms have won,\n  And nurse it for the skies.\"\n\nThe nursery is that department of home in which the formation of our\ncharacter is begun. Infancy demands the nursery. It is not full-formed and\nequipped for the battle of life. It lies in the cradle in a state of mere\ninvolution, and in the hands of its parents is altogether passive, and\nsusceptible of impressions as wax before the sun. The germ of the man is\nthere; but it has yet to be developed. Its indwelling life must be nurtured\nwith tender and assiduous care. It demands an influence suited to the\nexpansion of its nature into bloom and maturity. It demands physical\ndevelopment, mental evolution, moral training, and spiritual elevation. In\norder to these it must live amidst the sweet and plastic socialities of\nmaternal relationship. It must come under the fostering influence of a\nmother's heart, and be reared up by the tender touches of a mother's hand.\nThis idea is embodied in home as a nursery. This is fourfold in its\nconception and relation to the child.\n\nThe nursery is physical. This involves the means of keeping the child in\nhealth, and the appliances of a vigorous physical development. The\nChristian mother, to this end, should make herself acquainted with the\nphysiology of the infant body. Many well-meaning mothers, from sheer\nignorance, destroy the health of their children; and it is on this account\nperhaps that four-tenths of them die under five years of age. They should\nalso consider the bearing of the body upon the mind and morals of their\nchildren. How often do ignorant and indolent parents, by giving their\nchildren over to the care of sickly and immoral nurses, ruin forever the\nhealth and souls of their offspring. Much, then, depends upon the physical\nnurture of your child. If you would not injure its mind and soul, you must\nnurse its body with tender care and wisdom. A vital bond unites them; they\nreciprocally influence each other, and hence what affects the one must have\na corresponding influence upon the other. Neglect the body of your child;\ndestroy its health either by extreme and fastidious care, or by a brutal\nneglect, and you at the same time do lasting injury to its mind and morals;\nfor the body as the vehicle of mind and spirit, is used for spiritual ends,\nand should, therefore, be nurtured with direct reference to these.\n\nYour child, in the nursery, is like the tender plant. The storm of passion\nand the chill of indifference and the oppression of parental tyranny should\nnot be heard and felt there; for where the storm rages and coldness freezes\nand the hand of cruelty oppresses, we can have no beautiful and vigorous\ndevelopment of physical or moral powers. There will be a stinted and\none-sided growth. At best it will be dwarfish, and tend to counteract the\nspontaneous outflow of mental and moral life. The tender plant, when,\ncramped and clogged by existing impediments, cannot spring up into\nbeauteous maturity. Neither can your child, when crammed with sweetmeats,\nand oppressed and screwed into monstrous contortions by the cruel\ninquisition of fashion and fashionable garments.\n\nIn this way the misdirected love and cruel pride of mothers often destroy\nthe health and beauty of their children. They cause a sickly and dwarfish\ngrowth by too much confinement and mental taxation, by a too rigid choice\nof diet, by daily, uncalled for decoctions of medicine, and by fitting the\nbody in a dress as the Chinese do their children's feet in shoes; in a\nword, by making the entire nursery life too artificial, and substituting\nthe laws of art for those of nature. The result must be a delicate,\nartificial constitution, too fragile for the trials and duties of life. The\nbody of your child has not the blooming, blushing form of nature, but the\ncold marble cast of a statue; and it imprints itself upon the disposition,\nthe spirit, the mental faculties. It shows itself in peevishness, in\nimbecility, in such a passive, slavish subjection to the rules and\ninterests of mere artificial life, as to admit no hope almost of spiritual\nprogression.\n\nThe nursery is also intellectual. The mind of your child is unfolding as\nwell as its body; and hence the former, as well as the latter, demands the\nnursery. How much of the mental vigor and attainments of children depend\nupon the prudent management of the nursery. Hence parents should\n\n                      \"Exert a prudent care\n  To feed our infant minds with proper fare;\n  And wisely store the nursery by degrees\n  With wholesome learning, yet acquired with ease.\n  And thus well-tutored only while we share\n  A mother's lectures and a nurse's care.\"\n\nParents may abuse the minds of their children in the nursery, either by\ntotal neglect, or by immature education, by too early training and too\nclose confinement to books at a very early age, thus taxing the mind beyond\nits capacities. This is often the case when children betray great precocity\nof intellect; and the pride of the parent seeks to gratify itself through\nthe supposed gift of the child. In this way parents often reduce their\nchildren to hopeless mental imbecility.\n\nAgain, parents often injure the minds of their children by their misguided\nefforts to train the mind. Even in training them to speak, how imprudent\nthey are in calling words and giving ideas in mutilated language. It is\njust as easy to teach children to speak correctly, and to call all things\nby their proper names, as to abuse their vernacular tongue. Such\nmutilations are impediments to the growth of the intellect. The child must\nafterwards be taught to undo what it was taught to do and say in the\nnursery. But as this subject will be fully considered in the chapter on\nHome Education, we shall refrain from further comment here.\n\nThe nursery is moral and spiritual. The first moral and religious training\nof the child belongs to the nursery, and is the work of the mother. Upon\nher personal exhibition of truth, justice, virtue, &c., depends the same\nmoral elements in the character of her child. In the nursery we receive our\nfirst lessons in virtue or in vice, in honesty or dishonesty, in truth or\nin falsehood, in purity or in corruption. The full-grown man is the matured\nchild morally as well as physically and intellectually. The same may be\nsaid of the spiritual formation and growth of the child. Spiritual culture\nbelongs eminently to the nursery. There the pious parent should begin the\nwork of her child's salvation.\n\nFrom what we have now seen of the nursery, we may infer its very common\nabuse by Christian parents in various ways. They abuse it either by\nforsaking its duties, or giving it over to nurses. The whole subject warns\nparents against giving over their children to dissolute nurses. What a\nblushing shame and disgrace to the very name of Christian mother, it is for\nher to throw the whole care and responsibility of the nursery upon hired\nand irreligious servants. And why is this so often done? To relieve the\nmother from the trouble of her children, and afford her time and\nopportunity to mingle unfettered in the giddy whirl of fashionable\ndissipation. In circles of opulent society it would now be considered a\ndrudgery and a disgrace for mothers to attend upon the duties of this\nresponsible department of home. But the nurse cannot be a substitute for\nthe mother.\n\n  \"Then why resign into a stranger's hand\n  A task so much within your own command,\n  That God and Nature, and your interest too\n  Seem with one voice to delegate to you?\"\n\nThe same may be said of boarding schools, to which many parents send their\nchildren to rid themselves of the trouble of training them up. They are\nsent there at the very age in which they mostly need the fostering care of\na parent. There they soon become alienated from home, and lose the benefit\nof its influence; and there too they often contract habits and are filled\nwith sentiments the most degenerating and corrupt. They grow up and enter\nsociety without any conscious relation to home, and as a consequence,\nregard society as a mere heartless conventionalism. To this part of the\nsubject we shall, in another chapter, devote special attention. It demands\nthe prayerful consideration of Christian parents.\n\n  \"Why hire a lodging in a house unknown,\n  For one whose tenderest thoughts all hover round your own?\n  This second weaning, needless as it is,\n  How does it lacerate both your heart and his!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nHOME-SYMPATHY.\n\n  \"Sweet sensibility! thou keen delight!\n  Unprompted moral! sudden sense of right!\n  Perception exquisite! fair virtue's seed!\n  Thou quick precursor of the liberal deed!\n  Thou hasty conscience! reason's blushing morn!\n  Instinctive kindness, ere reflection's born!\n  Prompt sense of equity! to thee belongs\n  The swift redress of unexamined wrongs!\n  Eager to serve, the cause perhaps untried,\n  But always apt to choose the suffering side!\"\n\n\nWhere shall we find a more exquisite picture of home-sympathy than this,\nfrom the pen of that truly pious woman, Hannah More! We consider the\nhome-sympathy as an argument against the neglect and abuse of the nursery.\nIt is the instinctive impulse of the parent's heart to be faithful to the\ntrust of home. What mother, prompted by such sympathy, can be recreant to\nthe duties of her household? Can she, keenly sensible to the danger of her\nchildren, anxious for their welfare, prompt to do them justice, eager to\nprocure them interests and joys, yearning to alleviate their misfortunes,\npush them from her arms, and give them over to the care of unfeeling and\nimmoral nurses? If among all the members of the Christian home\n\n        \"There is a holy tenderness,\n  A nameless sympathy, a fountain love,--\n  Branched infinite from parents to children,\n  From husband to wife, from child to child,\n  That binds, supports, and sweetens human life,\"\n\nthen the law of sympathy is the standard of faithfulness to the loved ones\nof home, and its violation is an abuse of the affections and faith of the\nheart. We shall now consider the natural and spiritual sympathy of home.\n\nWhat are the natural elements of home-sympathy? The original meaning of\nsympathy is \"harmony of the affections.\" As such it is an instinctive\nelement of human nature. \"Sympathy,\" says Adams in his Elements of\nChristian Science, \"is a natural harmony by which, upon matters especially\nthat concern the affections, one human being shall, under certain\nconditions, feel, feel in despite of all concealment of language, the real\nstate of the other.\" It is, in a word, that law of our nature which makes\nthe feeling of one become affected in the same way as are the feelings of\nanother, so that, in obedience to this law, \"we rejoice with them that\nrejoice, and weep with them that weep.\" In order to this the motive need\nnot be the same in those in whom the feeling is the same; for that feeling\nengenders a feeling of its own kind in the other, independent of similar\nmotive. Home-sympathy is that primary power of the heart by which all the\naffections of one member are extended to all the other members. It awakens\nin each for all the others, those delicate sensibilities which impel to the\nmost self-denying and benevolent acts. The parent who sympathizes with the\nchild, will extend to it all the aids within a parent's ability.\n\nIts nature is to yield more of itself to weeping than to rejoicing, to\nmisery than to joy. The parent will exert more power and do more for the\nwretched child than for those of his children who are not in the same\ncondition. He will leave the latter in their security, and seek the one\nlost sheep of his little flock. Thus it exerts a sheltering influence\nagainst the dangers and miseries of human life. It is the law of\nhome-preservation, written upon the heart, obeyed by the affections, and\nimpelling each member to yield a voluntary devotion to the welfare of all\nthe others. It is this which makes it one of the most lovely attributes of\nhome. It is one of the golden chains that link its members together in\nclose unity, making one heart of the many that are thus fused together, and\nblending into beautiful unison their specific feelings, and hopes and\ninterests.\n\nIt is, therefore, the law of oneness in the family, weaving together, like\nwarp and woof, the existence of the members, and locking each heart into\none great home-heart, \"like the keys of an organ vast,\" so that if one\nheart be out of tune, the home-heart feels the painful jar, and gives forth\ndiscordant sounds. By it we are not only bound to our kindred, but to our\nfriends, our nation, our race. It impels us to all our acts of benevolence\neven to an enemy. Earth would be a dreary scene, and society would be a\ncurse, if it did not reign in human nature.\n\nSympathy was a rich and interesting theme with the ancients. It entered\ninto all their philosophy and religion, and gave rise to numerous fables.\nThey believed that sympathy was a miraculous principle, and that it reigned\nin irrational and inanimate things. Thus they thought that \"two harps being\ntuned alike, and one being played, the chords of the other would follow the\ntune with a faint, sympathetic music.\" It was also believed that precious\nstones sympathized with certain persons, that the stars sympathized with\nmen, that the efficacy of ointment depended upon sympathy, that \"wounds\ncould be healed at a distance by an ointment whose force depended upon\nsympathy, the ointment being smeared upon the weapon, not upon the wound.\"\n\nUpon this belief many erroneous, superstitious and dangerous systems of\nphilosophy and religion were established. The natural philosophy of\nBaptista Porta, or Albertus Magnus, was founded upon the principle of\nsympathy. Plato applied this principle to marriage, and maintained that\n\"marriage was the union of two souls that once, in their preexistent state,\nwere one, and that sympathy urges them to union again, and sends them\nunconsciously seeking it over the world.\" In the middle ages it was\nmaintained that two friends could be so moved with mutual sympathy as to\nhave, under certain conditions, a true and perfect knowledge of one\nanother's state, even when at a great distance apart. To the revival of\nthis erroneous view of the law of sympathy may be ascribed the theories of\nMesmerism and spiritual rappings at the present day.\n\nHome-sympathy, viewed as a feeling and a faculty, is twofold in its nature,\nviz., passive and active. As passive, it is the mere sense of harmony of\nfeeling among all the members, producing the idea and feeling of the\noneness of home. It makes a unity of affection, so that the temper, hopes\nand interests of each member have a living echo and response in all the\nothers. It gives to home its unitive heart, preserves its vital coherence,\nfuses all the hearts together, makes each a thread in the web of\nhome-being, where each finds its true measure, is inspired with the\nhome-feeling when all is right, and oppressed with home-sickness when\nseparated from it.\n\nBut home-sympathy is also active. As such it is \"the active power that one\nperson has naturally of entering into the feelings of another, and being\nhimself affected as that other is.\" Each member of home has the power in\nhis feelings of making the feelings of all the other members his own,\nthough he may not have the causes of the feelings of the one with whom he\nsympathizes. Thus one friend may feel the grief of another, actually and\nreally, though he may not suffer the loss of that friend. He can make the\nemotion which that loss caused, his own. We may weep with the mother who\npours her floods of anguish upon the grave of her child, though we may not\nhave sustained the same loss. The husband weeps with his wife, though he\nmay not be able to feel the pangs which penetrate her heart. The child can\nenter into the feelings of the parent, and be affected to tears or to joy\nby them.\n\nAnd thus the home-sympathy demands that all the emotions of home, whether\njoyful or painful, must affect all,--must vibrate from heart to heart. It\ninvolves the power of home-transference, by which, each member conveys to\nhis own affections, all within home. It is thus the law of adaptation and\nassimilation, for the home-affections. In obedience to this law the hearts\nand interests of the members are bound up in beautiful harmony. The\nnecessities of one are supplied by all. It is this which makes the members\nfaithful to each other, and prompts them to deeds of disinterested love.\n\nIt is, therefore, only when the home-sympathy, as a feeling and a faculty,\nis carried out and acted upon according to its instinctive impulses, that\nit becomes an effective agent of good. This, however, is not always\ndone. Often it is neutralized by not being permitted to express itself\naccording to the laws of its own operation. Many members have acute\nfeelings and great powers of sympathy, but it exists in them only as\nfeeling, only as a stimulus, a sentiment, and is, therefore, nothing but\nhome-sentimentalism,--a disease of home-sympathy. Thus, for instance,\nparents may weep over the wickedness of their children, and the pious wife\nmay lament the impenitence of her husband; but if they go no further,\ntheir sympathy is really false, because it does not share in and feel the\nstate of others, nor seek to alleviate their impending miseries. The\nhome-sympathy is not simply the look of the priest and Levite upon the\nhalf-dead traveler, but also the help of the good Samaritan. Its language\nis not only, \"Be ye clothed and fed,\" but also, \"I will clothe and feed\nthee.\" The mere indulgence in the feeling of sympathy is but to harden the\nheart in the end. Such were the sympathies of Rosseau,--mere heart-stimuli,\nwithout legitimate deeds and objective force, existing only as a love-sick\nsentiment. And this was both the theme of his eloquence and the cause of\nhis misery. Such, too, were the sympathies of Robespierre,--a mere\nebullition of disembodied sentiment, borne up like a floating bubble upon\nmuddy waters, and exploding upon the slightest depression.\n\nBut, on the other hand, when home-sympathy is issued in faithful action as\nits emotions prompt, it becomes an efficient agent in the happiness and\npeace of the family. It not only gives eloquence to the tongue, tears to\nthe eye, but faithfulness to the life. It serves as a key-note to the mind\nand heart, framing the home-energy, revealing to us our real state, and\nprompting, by the instinct of love, the means for our highest welfare.\n\n  \"How glows the joyous parent to descry,\n  A guileless bosom true to sympathy!\n  A long lost friend, or hapless child restored,\n  Smiles at his blazing hearth and social board;\n  Warm from his heart the tears of rapture flow,\n  And virtue triumphs o'er remembered woe!\"\n\nSympathy is excited and measured by the power of natural affection. In\nproportion to the strength of the latter will be the attractive power of\nthe former. That soothing voice which calms the wailing-infant; that fond\nbosom from which the child draws its subsistence, and on which it pillows\nits weary head; that smile which throws a sunshine around its existence,\nand all those acts of kindness administered by the hand of love, draw the\nchild instinctively to the parent's heart, and blend in sweetest union its\nvery being with theirs.\n\nThe principle of home-sympathy reigns in some degree in every household\nwhose members have not sunk below the level of the brute. Its nature\ndemands that it be mutual. It should glow with peculiar warmth in the wife,\nthe mother, and the sister; because it is a more prominent instinct of\nwoman. It is an intuition of the mother's heart.\n\n  \"When pain and anguish wring the brow,\n  A ministering angel thou!\"\n\nWho but she can smooth the pillow and soothe the anguish of the child of\naffliction? There is a tenderness in her nature, a softness in her touch, a\nlightness in her step, a soothing expression in her face, a tender beam in\nher eye, which man can never have, and which eminently fits her for the\nlead in home-sympathy. The want of it is a libel upon her sex. It is her\nprerogative,--the magic power she wields in the formation and reformation\nof character.\n\nBut her sympathy should find response in the bosom of her husband, the\nfather, the brother; for, if true, it must he mutual. Their joys and their\nsorrows must be common. Thus heart must answer to heart, and face. \"The\ncruelty of that man,\" says J.A. James, \"wants a name, and I know of none\nsufficiently emphatic, who denies his sympathy to a suffering woman, whose\nonly sin is a broken constitution, and whose calamity is the result of her\nmarriage.\" Without such mutual sympathy, the members of the family would be\ncold and repulsive, and society would be deprived of its most lovely\nattributes; its members would lose the connecting link which brings them\ntogether, and its entire fabric would fall to pieces and degenerate into\nbarbaric individualism.\n\n  \"Had earth no sympathy, no tears would flow,\n  In heart-felt sorrow, for another's woe;\n  The joyous spirit then would weary roam,\n  A stranger to the dear delights of home.\"\n\nWe shall now consider briefly the religious elements of home-sympathy.\nThese involve harmony of the spiritual affections, and a transfer to all\nthe members, of the religious experience and enjoyment of each. As natural\nsympathy arises out of and is measured by natural affection, so spiritual\nsympathy is the product of faith and love. Hence the latter is purer, more\nrefined and efficient than the former. If the members of the family are the\nchildren of God, they will live together in the unity of the Spirit as well\nas of natural affection. The sympathy of the pious portion will be\ninterposed in behalf of the salvation of the impenitent members. There will\nbe an identity of soul-interest. The pious mother will make the everlasting\ninterests of her husband and child, her own; and will labor with the same\nassiduity to promote them as she does to promote her own salvation. She\nwill thus enter into the spiritual emotions of her kindred, and bear them\nvicariously, making thus her religious sympathies the law of preservation\nto all the members of her household.\n\nThe living stream of this sympathy is given by Christ in His address to the\nweeping daughters of Jerusalem: \"Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me,\nbut weep for yourselves and for your children!\" The following is also its\nliving utterance: \"My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice,\neven mine.\" We have also a beautiful exhibition of it in the touching\nhistory of Ruth, in the life of Joseph, and in the mother of Samuel. Peter\ndescribes it when he says, \"Be all of one mind, having compassion one of\nanother; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.\" Esther expresses it\nin the exclamation, \"How can I endure to see the destruction of my\nkindred!\" Paul gives utterance to it when he says, \"I would be accursed for\nmy brethren and kindred's sake.\" Jesus exemplifies it in His intercourse\nwith the family of Lazarus; He shows its emotion and its active charities\nwhen He stands on the grave of that friend, and weeps, and calls him from\nthe dead. His sympathy for a lost world is the true pattern of\nhome-sympathy. It was disinterested, superior to all selfishness,\nself-denying, active, and prompting Him to do and suffer all that He did.\nIt was not measured by the merits of the object after which it yearned. He\nsympathized with all,\n\n  \"For each He had a brother's interest in His heart.\"\n\nAnd its softening influence fell, like morning dew, upon the heart of\nadamant, melting it into contrition and love.\n\n  \"In every pang that rends the heart,\n  The Man of sorrows had a part;\n  He sympathizes in our grief,\n  And to the sufferer sends relief.\"\n\nSee Him bend over the bed of Jairus's daughter; see Him opening the eyes of\nthe blind, healing the paralytic, comforting and feeding the poor widow,\nand cheering the bereaved and troubled heart. Wherever He went He was \"a\nbrother born for them in adversity.\" See Him on the cross, when weltering\nin blood and struggling with the pangs of a cruel death, He casts His\nlanguid eye upon His aged mother who is there weeping her pungent woes, and\nmakes provision for her comfort. His sympathy now for all is the same.\n\n  \"None ever came unblest away;\n  Then, though all earthly ties be riven,\n  Smile, for thou hast a Friend in heaven!\"\n\nIt is this sympathy which makes Him a member of every Christian home. And\nwhen the sympathy of its members is the reproduction of His, they will,\nlike Mary, sit in loving pupilage at His feet, each becoming the agent of\nblessings for all the rest. The wife will seek the salvation of her\nhusband; the mother will labor with unwearied diligence for the redemption\nof her child.\n\nThus when home-sympathy is purified and developed by Christian faith and\nlove, it opens up the most elevated of all home-feeling and solicitude, and\nbecomes the most effectual safeguard against impending ruin. No family can\nbe true to its privileges and mission without it. It allures to the cross,\nleads all the members in the path of the sympathizing one, and prompts them\nto say, \"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after\nthee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will\nlodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest\nI will die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more\nalso, if aught but death part thee and me.\"\n\nWhat would the Christian home be, therefore, without such sympathy?\nPowerless, amoral desolation! We read in God's Word, of men losing natural\naffection, and of mothers forgetting their sucking children. But these were\nworse than brutes. What shall we then say of Christian parents being devoid\nof spiritual sympathy,--shedding no tear of anguish over their moral ruin,\nnor showing the least concern about their salvation? Such parents do not\nrejoice even over the return of their children to God. They are a disgrace\nto the Christian name, and bring infamy upon the Christian home.\n\nSome parents do not proceed quite so far. They indulge in the feeling of\nsympathy for their children; but alas! that feeling is never expressed in\nefforts to save them. It is all expended in vain and fruitless\nlamentations, and is, therefore, at best but a morbid sentimentalism,--but\na cloak behind which are lurking parental hard-heartedness and religious\napathy; proving plainly the great truth advanced by Adams, in his Elements\nof Christian Science, \"that an indulgence in the feelings of sympathy\nwithout carrying them out to the relief of actual distress, produces\nhardness of heart to such a degree that the most pitiless and cruel, the\nmost licentious and unnatural, and ungrateful conduct shall be joined with\nthe most overflowing and deeply thrilling sentiment.\"\n\nLet those parents who are ever lamenting the wickedness of their children,\nbut do nothing to make them better, ponder well this sentiment, and see it\nin the grin, of their own hypocrisy, and the desolation of their injured\nhome and children. Let the other members, as well as the parents, take the\ntimely warning. Let the pious wife here see the character of her sympathy\nfor her impenitent husband. And let each see that their pious sympathy\n\"always issue forth in actions.\" Let that sympathy give not only eloquence\nto the tongue, tears to your eye, and sighs to your heart, but also\nfaithfulness to your life and holy calling. As the cry of hunger from your\nchildren, and their shivering cold in winter, prompt you to provide for\ntheir natural wants, so let their moral wants impel you to fidelity to\ntheir souls. All will be vain without this. The stern demands of a father's\nauthority, and the formal teachings of a mother's lip, will fall like the\nfrost of a winter's morning, upon their tender hearts,--only to sear and to\nharden and to freeze up the heart against God. For\n\n  \"He will not let love's work impart\n  Full solace, lest it steal the heart.\"\n\nBut when pure and holy sympathy goes out, in its softening influence after\nthe young;--\n\n  \"Then, feeling is diffused in every part,\n  Thrills in each nerve, and lives in all the heart.\"\n\nSuch sympathy has a saving influence upon both the parent and the child.\nIt softens and refines the former, while it forms and allures the latter.\nThe child fondly leans upon the parents, looks up to them for support and\nenjoyment, and is led by them in whatever path they choose. By its\ninfluence the feeling of natural and spiritual helplessness becomes\ndeveloped in the child; the sense of dependence on a superior is awakened;\nand with these, all those feelings of confidence and veneration, which lay\nthe foundation of religious affections, are unfolded. The parent's\ninfluence, both as to kind and degree, depends, therefore, upon the\ncharacter of home-sympathy. If it is but natural, the parental influence\nwill not extend beyond the worldly gain and temporal welfare of the child.\nThe parent will exert no power over the soul. But if it be spiritual, and\nextend beyond the mere instincts of natural affection, it will expand the\nmind, and develop all the melting charities of our nature. It will pass\nwith a new transferring and transforming power, from husband to wife, from\nparent to child, from kindred to kindred. Wherever it finds its way;\nwhatever fiber of the heart it may touch, it begets a new and holy\naffection, unites the energies, lightens the toils, soothes the sorrows,\nand exalts the hopes, of all the members. It reflects a softening luster\nfrom eye to eye, goes with electric flash from heart to heart, glows in its\nwarmth throughout all its moral courses, accumulates the home-endearments,\nstimulates each member to religious exertions for all the rest, and lays\nthe foundation in each heart for an unbroken home-communion of their\nsainted spirits in heaven! It cements them together in their tent-home,\ncreating a sweet concord of hearts and hopes and joys; and then elevates\nthem unitedly in fond anticipation of reunion in their eternal home. They\nblend their tears together over the grave of buried love, and enjoy the\nsaintly sympathy of loved ones gone before them.\n\nThis is its most lovely feature. Tell me, is there not a bond of sympathy\nbetween Jesus and His people here,--between loved ones in heaven and their\npious kindred on earth? Do not the tears of the Christian home reflect the\ntears of Jesus? These are to the heart like the dews of Hermon,--like the\ndews that descended upon the mountains of Zion.\n\n  \"No radiant pearl which crested fortune wears,\n  No gem that, sparkling, hangs from beauty's ears,\n  Not the bright stars which night's blue arch adorn,\n  Nor rising sun that gilds the vernal morn,\n  Shine with such luster as the tear that breaks\n  For others' woe, down virtue's lovely cheeks.\"\n\nIs such, Christian brother, the sympathy of your home? It will be a\nsafeguard against the follies and the false interests of life. It will\nrestrict the fashionable taste and sentiments of the age. It will teach\nwisdom to the pious mother, and be a sure defense against the dangers and\nindiscretions of the nursery and fashionable boarding school. Under its\ninfluence, mothers will not trust the souls of their children to the\nguardianship of irreligious nurses, nor expose them to the perils of a\ncorrupted and heartless fashion. They will deny themselves the ruinous\npleasures of a gay and reckless association with the world; and with\nmaternal solicitude, attend upon the opening of those buds of life which\nGod has committed to them. The pious mother will wield her power over her\nchildren, by the force of this sympathy; for her's is the deepest, purest,\nand most saving of all home-sympathy:\n\n                              \"Earth may chill\n  And sever other sympathies, and prove\n  How weak all human bonds are--it may kill\n  Friendship, and crush hearts with them--but the thrill\n  Of the maternal breast must ever move\n  In blest communion with her child, and fill\n  Even heaven itself with prayers and hymns of love!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nFAMILY PRAYER.\n\n  \"Hush! 'tis a holy hour,--the quiet room\n  Seems like a temple, while yon soft lamp sheds\n  A faint and starry radiance through the room\n  And the sweet stillness, down on yon bright heads\n  With all their clustering locks, untouched by care,\n  And bowed, as flowers are bowed with night,--in prayer.\n  Gaze on, 'tis lovely--childhood's lip and cheek\n  Mantling beneath its earnest brow of thought!\"\n\n\nHome-sympathy will prompt to family devotion. The latter is the fruit of\nthe former. A prayerless home is destitute of religious sympathy. The\nfamily demands prayer. Its relation to God, its dependence and specific\nduties, involve devotion. Communion with God constitutes a part of the\nintercourse and society of home. The necessity of family prayer arises out\nof the home-constitution and mission. Family mercies and blessings; family\ndangers and weaknesses; family hopes and temptations,--all bespeak the\nimportance of family worship. If you occupy the responsible station of a\nparent; if God has made you the head of a religious household, and you\nprofess to stand and live on the Lord's side, then, tell me, have you not\nby implication vowed to maintain regular family worship? Besides, the\nbenefits and privilege of prayer develop the obligation of the family to\nengage in it. Is not every privilege a duty? And if it is a duty for\nindividuals and congregations to pray, is it not, for a similar reason, the\nduty of the family to establish her altar of devotion? As a family we daily\nneed and receive mercies, daily sin, are tempted and in danger every day;\nwhy not then as a family daily pray?\n\nBut what is family prayer? It is not simply individual prayer, not the\naltar of the closet; but the home-altar, around which all the members\ngather morning and evening, as a family-unit, with one heart, one faith and\none hope, to commune with God and supplicate his mercy. \"In the devotion of\nthis little assembly,\" says Dr. Dwight, \"parents pray for their children,\nand children for their parents; the husband for the wife, and the wife for\nthe husband; while brothers and sisters send up their requests to the\nthrone of Infinite Mercy, to call down blessings on each other. Who that\nwears the name of a man can be indifferent here? Must not the venerable\ncharacter of the parent, the peculiar tenderness of the conjugal union, the\naffectionate intimacy of the filial and fraternal relations; must not the\nnearest of relations long existing, the interchange of kindness long\ncontinued, and the oneness of interests long cemented,--all warm the heart,\nheighten the importance of every petition, and increase the fervor of every\ndevotional effort?\"\n\nWhat scene can be more lovely on earth, more like the heavenly home, and\nmore pleasing to God, than that of a pious family kneeling with one accord\naround the home-altar, and uniting their supplications to their Father in\nheaven! How sublime the act of those parents who thus pray for the blessing\nof God upon their household! How lovely the scene of a pious mother\ngathering her little ones around her at the bedside, and teaching them the\nprivilege of prayer! And what a safeguard is this home-devotion, against\nall the machinations of Satan!\n\n          \"Our hearths are altars all;\n  The prayers of hungry souls and poor,\n  Like armed angels at the door,\n          Our unseen foes appal!\"\n\nIt is this which makes home a type of heaven, the dwelling place of God.\nThe family altar is heaven's threshold. And happy are those children who at\nthat altar, have been consecrated by a father's blessing, baptized by a\nmother's tears, and borne up to heaven upon their joint petitions, as a\nvoluntary thank-offering to God. The home that has honored God with an\naltar of devotion may well be called blessed.\n\n  \"Child, amidst the flowers at play,\n  While the red light fades away;\n  Mother, with thine earnest eye\n  Ever following silently;\n  Father, by the breeze of eve\n  Called thy warmest work to leave;\n  Pray!--ere yet the dark hours be,\n  Lift the heart and bend the knee.\"\n\nThe duty thus to establish family prayer is imperative. It is a duty\nbecause God commands it, and the mission of home cannot be fulfilled\nwithout it. It is a duty because a privilege and a blessing, and the\ncondition of parental efficiency in all other duties;--because the moral\nand spiritual growth of the child depends upon it. It is one of the most\neffectual means of grace. All the instructions, all the discipline and\nexample, of the parent will be in vain without it. Hence both natural\naffection and Christian faith should suggest its establishment. Parents are\nbound to do so by their covenant vows, by the obligations of baptism, by\nall the interests and hopes of their household. They have dedicated their\nchildren to God, and pledged themselves to educate them for Him, and to\ntrain them up in His ways. Tell me then, can you be faithful to these vows\nand obligations without family prayer? Can you fulfil your covenant\nengagements, hope to receive your reward, and see your children grow up in\nthe nurture of the Lord's vineyard, without rearing up a family altar?\n\nThe promised blessings of family prayer show that every faithful Christian\nhome must have its family altar. These are unspeakable. It is a sure\ndefence against sin; it sanctifies the members, and throws a hallowed\natmosphere around our household. The child will come under its restraining\nand saving influence. A mother's prayer will haunt the child, and draw it\nas if by magic power towards herself in heaven:\n\n  \"He might forget her melting prayer,\n  While pleasure's pulses madly fly,\n  But in the still, unbroken air,\n  Her gentle tones come stealing by,--\n  And years of sin and manhood flee,\n  And leave him at his mother's knee!\"\n\nIt affords home security and happiness, removes family friction, and causes\nall the complicated wheels of the home-machinery to move on noiselessly and\nsmoothly. It promotes union and harmony, expunges all selfishness, allays\npetulant feelings and turbulent passions, destroys peevishness of temper,\nand makes home-intercourse holy and delightful. It causes the members to\nreciprocate each other's affections, hushes the voice of recrimination, and\nexerts a softening and harmonizing influence over each heart. The dew of\nHermon falls upon the home where prayer is wont to be made. Its members\nenjoy the good and the pleasantness of dwelling together in unity. It gives\ntone and intensity to their affections and sympathies: it throws a sunshine\naround their hopes and interests: it increases their happiness, and takes\naway the poignancy of their grief and sorrow. It availeth much, therefore,\nboth for time and eternity. Its voice has sent many a poor prodigal home to\nhis father's house. Its answer has often been, \"This man was born there!\"\nThe child, kneeling beside the pious mother, and pouring forth its infant\nprayer to God, must attract the notice of the heavenly host, and receive\ninto its soul the power of a new life.\n\n  \"Who would not be an infant now,\n  To breathe an infant's prayer?\n  O manhood! could thy spirit kneel\n  Beside that sunny child,\n  As fondly pray, and purely feel,\n  With soul as undefiled.\n  That moment would encircle thee,\n  With light and love divine;\n  Thy gaze might dwell on Deity,\n  And heaven itself be thine.\"\n\nAnd yet the neglect of family prayer is a very general defect of the\nChristian home. No home-duty has indeed been more grossly neglected and\nabused. Some attend to it only occasionally; some only in times of\naffliction and distress, as if then only they needed to pray to God; some\nonly on the Sabbath, as if that were the only day to commune with Him. Some\nperform it only in a formal way, having the form without the spirit of\nprayer, as if God did not require the fervent, in order to the effectual,\nprayer that availeth much.\n\nAs a general thing, at the present day, not more than three or four\nfamilies out of a whole congregation, have established the family altar.\nThe parents may engage in closet prayer, but their children are strangers\nto the fact. Their devotions they seem zealous to conceal, as if they were\nashamed of their piety. Can this be right? Is this the will of God? No!\nmethinks if the parent is faithful to the duty of private prayer, he cannot\nomit the duty and privilege of family devotion. But why neglect family\nprayer? Are you ashamed of your children? Have you no time? Then you are\nunworthy of a family, and should not profess to act towards them as the\nsteward of God. Think you that God will not answer and bless your prayers?\nWhat more could you do and hope for your children than to offer up\nsupplications for them to God?\n\n           \"What could a mother's prayer,\n  In all the wildest ecstacy of hope,\n  Ask for her darling like the bliss of heaven?\"\n\nMany seek by the most frivolous excuses, to justify their neglect of family\nprayer. Some will urge the press of other duties, alleging that other\nengagements prevent it. This is false. God lays upon you no engagement that\nis designed to supersede the necessity of prayer. Besides, you will find\nthat you really waste more time than it would require for family devotion.\nAnd further, can you spend your time to better purpose than in family\nprayer? I think not. It is the best husbandry of time. Says Philip Henry to\nhis children, \"Prayer and provender hinder no man's journey.\" But another\npleads incapacity. He has not the gift of speech, and cannot make an\neloquent prayer. This is no excuse. Prayer is the gift of the Holy Spirit;\nand if you have the spirit of prayer, you will find words for its\nutterance. Besides, eloquence does not condition the efficacy of prayer.\nWhere there is a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath,\nand not according to that he hath not.\n\n  \"When we of helps or hopes are quite bereaven,\n  Our humble prayers have entrance into heaven.\"\n\nWe have the capacity to ask for what we earnestly desire and feel the need\nof. The anger of God will kindle against you for this excuse, as it kindled\nagainst Moses for a similar one. When He called him to be his messenger to\nIsrael, Moses said, as you do, \"O my Lord, I am not eloquent,--I am slow of\nspeech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, who hath made\nman's mouth? or, who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?\nHave not I the Lord? The anger of the Lord was kindled against him.\"\n\nLet me, therefore, urge upon you, Christian parents, to make prayer a\nprominent element of your home. You should be a priest unto your family,--a\nleader in home-communion with God. Your children have a right to expect\nthis from you. If you are a church member, how strange and startling must\nbe the enunciation in heaven, that you are a prayerless Christian, and your\nhome destitute of the altar! And do you think that, continuing thus, you\nwill be admitted into that heavenly home where there is one unbroken voice\nof prayer and praise to God? Do you not tremble at the prospect of those\ntremendous denunciations which the Lord has uttered against those who\nneglect and abuse the privilege of prayer? \"Pour out thy fury upon the\nfamilies that have not called upon thy name.\" Oh then, make your home a\nhouse of prayer; lead your little flock in sweet communion with God.\nEstablish in them the habit of devotion: Shape their consciences by prayer.\nIn this way you shall secure for yourself and them the blessing of God: His\nsmile shall ever rest upon your household: Salvation shall be the heritage\nof your children; they will grow up in the divine life; and will live amid\nthe blessing's of prayer, and be faithful to its requisitions:\n\n  \"Hold the little hands in prayer, teach the weak knees their kneeling;\n  Let him see thee speaking to thy God; he will not forget it afterwards;\n  When old and gray will he feelingly remember a mother's tender piety,\n  And the touching recollection of her prayers shall arrest the strong man\n    in his sin!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nHOME-EDUCATION.\n\n\nSECTION I.\n\nTHE CHARACTER OF HOME EDUCATION.\n\n  \"Scratch the green rind of a sapling, or wantonly twist it in the soil,\n  The scarred and crooked oak will tell of thee for centuries to come;\n  Wherefore, though the voice of instruction waiteth for the ear of reason,\n  Yet with his mother's milk the young child drinketh education.\"\n\n\nWe come now to consider one of the most important features of the Christian\nhome, viz., as a school for the education of character. This is important\nbecause of its vital bearing upon the interests of home. The parent is not\nonly king and priest, but prophet in the family. It is the first school. We\nthere receive a training for good or for evil. There is not a word, nor an\nemotion, nor an act, nor even a look there, which does not teach the child\nsomething. Character is ever being framed and moulded there. Every habit\nthere formed, and every action there performed, imply a principle which\nshall enter as an element into the future character of the child.\n\nWhat is home-education? It is the physical, mental, moral, and religious\ndevelopment of the child. To educate means to draw out as well as to instil\nin. It means the evolution of our nature as well as the communication of\nfacts and principles to us. The home training does not, therefore, consist\nof simple information, but is a nurture of body, mind and spirit. From this\nwe may infer the frequent mistakes of parents, in substituting mere\nbook-learning for a training up and nurture, dealing with their children as\nif they had no faculties, and making the entire education of their children\nmechanical and empirical. Home training involves the development of all\ntheir faculties as a unit and in their living relation, causing the body to\nmove right, the mind to think right, the heart to feel right, and the soul\nto love right; changing your children from creatures of mere impulse,\nprejudice and passion, to thinking, loving and reasoning beings. To educate\nthem is to bring out their hidden powers, to form their character, and\nprepare them for their station in life. Thus home-education means a drawing\nout and also a bringing up,--a training for man, and a bringing up for God;\na training and nurture for the family, the state, and the church,--for\ntime and for eternity. These must be done together; they involve but one\nprocess, and are conditioned by each other. We cannot separate a secular\nfrom a religious education, neither can we separate a training from a\nbringing up. While those faculties of the child which exist in a state of\nmere involution, are being developed, its nature must be supplied with\nappropriate food; and every element of its education must possess the\nplastic power of evolving and giving specific form to its future character\nand destiny. Thus the parent, in teaching, must have a forming influence\nover the child; and his instructions must correspond in character, kind and\nextent, with the nature, wants, and destiny of the child.\n\nWhat are now the different kinds or parts of home-education?\n\nIt must be physical. The child has a physical nature, physical wants, and\nis related to the material world; and should, therefore, receive a physical\neducation. The object of this is to ensure that sound, vigorous frame of\nbody which is not only a great blessing in itself, but an essential\nconcomitant of a sound state and vigorous development of mind. It refers to\nthe proper management of the health of the child, its diet, habits of\nexercise and recreation. Parents should teach their children the nature of\nthe body, its dangers, and bearing upon their future happiness. They should\nteach them to govern their appetite, and train them up to habits of\nexercise and early rising. This part of home-education begins in the\nnursery,--in the cradle, and is not complete till the body is brought to\nmaturity in all its functions. Neglect of it will result in physical\nimbecility, and often in mental derangement. The object secured by it is,\nthe preservation of the health and constitution of the child. In this we\nsee its importance. What is your wealth, your station, your influence, if\nthrough your neglect of your children, they are deprived of health, and\ngrow up with the seeds of immature death springing up in their system?\n\nIn the physical training of children due regard should be had to\ncleanliness, exercise, diet and dress. Without this all will be vain. Many\nparents keep them within doors, never let them enjoy the pure air, nor\nexercise the muscular system, keep their bodies cooped in clothing too\nsmall, and feasted upon a diet unwholesome; and as a consequence, they show\na sickly growth, and become unfit either for the burdens or for the\nenjoyments of life.\n\nThe importance of exercise in the open air, and abstemiousness in diet, is\nproven from the health of those nations that train their children in all\nthe exercise of riding, leaping, running and fencing, and subject them from\ninfancy to the most frugal diet. Thus the perfect forms and vigorous health\nof the Greeks, the Romans and Persians were the fruit of national attention\npaid to physical education. Every home should have its suitable gymnasium.\nHow many parents, by their violation of the laws of health, prostitute the\nstrength of their children to profligacy and indolence.\n\nHome-education must be intellectual. Much of human character and happiness\ndepends upon the education of the mind, both as respects the development of\nits faculties and the application of legitimate truth. The mind is the man.\nIt is not, as Locke declares, like a blank sheet of paper or a chest of\ndrawers; but has an intuitional as well as a logical consciousness, innate\nideas as well as capacities of receiving truth; while all its faculties\ninvolve a unity, and exist in the child in a state of involution; the abuse\nand neglect of one of which will have their bearing upon all the rest; and\nthe mind without proper culture in its undeveloped state in the child, will\nshow the symptoms of its abuse in the man. The character of the mind in the\nman will indicate the character of its education in the child. This\neducation should begin properly with the first symptoms of consciousness.\nAll the powers of the intellect should be unfolded. Parents should be the\nPrincipals in the mental training of their children. The manner and means\nof such training will be considered in another place. Our purpose here is\nsimply to state this as a part of home-training. From the important part\nwhich the mind acts in the great drama of human life and destiny, we think\nthat no intelligent parent would presume to repudiate its education.\n\nHome-education must be moral. The family should develop the moral nature\nof the child. The will should be educated; the sense of right and wrong\ntrained; the emotions cultivated; the passions and desires ruled; the\nconscience and faith developed. The necessity of this is seen in the fact\nthat our nature is fallen and perverted. The means of educating the moral\nnature of the child, are natural and revealed. Both are of divine\nappointment. The former are those which lie within the circumference of our\nabilities, and will be of no avail without the latter, which are found in\nthe scriptures and church. What are some of these means?\n\n1. Parents should place their children in circumstances calculated to form\na good moral character. They should surround them with a moral atmosphere,\nthat they may, with their first breath, inhale a pure moral being, and\nescape the contamination of evil. This has been called \"the education of\ncircumstances.\" Much of character depends upon position and the\ncircumstances in which we are placed. This is seen in the difference\nbetween those children who have enjoyed the true christian home, and those\nwho have not. Hence the first thing parents should consider in the moral\ntraining of their children is, the home in which they are to be trained.\nThis home should afford them circumstances the most favorable to their\nmoral culture.\n\n2. They should remove all temptation. Evil propensities are called forth by\ntemptation; and a child loses the power to resist in proportion to the\nfrequency of the temptation. Hence the exposure of our children to\ntemptation but educates and strengthens their propensities to evil. On the\nother hand, if we remove temptation, these propensities will not be called\ninto activity, and will lose their tenacity. Never allow your children to\ntamper with sin in any form; teach them how to resist temptation; inspire\nthem with an abhorrence and a dread of all evil. In this way you prepare\nthem for the reception and reproduction of moral truth.\n\n3. Another means of moral education is example. This has been styled the\n\"education of example.\" This has more power than precept. The efficiency of\nthis means is based upon the natural disposition of the child to imitate.\nChildren take their parents as the standard of all that is good, and will,\ntherefore, follow them in evil as well as in good. Hence the parent's\nexample should be a correct model of sound morality. The child will be the\nmoral counterpart of the parent. You can see the parent's home in the\nchild. He is the moral daguerreotype of his parent. This but shows the\nimportance of good example in his moral training.\n\n4. But one of the most effectual means is, by moral training, by which we\nmean, to draw out and properly direct the moral faculties, and to habituate\nthem to the exercise of moral principle. Without this, all mechanical\neducation will be fruitless. To call forth muscular power you must\nexercise the muscles. So you give the child moral stamina by developing its\nmoral faculties, and establishing in them the habit of moral action. This\ntraining has its foundation in the law of habit. It is given, with its\nresults, in the Word of God. \"Train up a child,\" &c. Also in the old maxim,\n\"Just as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined.\"\n\n  \"Scratch the green rind of a sapling, or wantonly twist it in the soil,\n  The scarred and crooked oak will tell of thee for centuries to come!\"\n\nThe power and pleasure of doing a thing depends much upon habit. Our nature\nmay become habituated to good or evil; we become passive in proportion to\nthe habit. How important, then, that the moral powers of our children be\ntrained up to principles and action until habits of good thought, feeling,\nand conduct, are established. Then they will not depart from them; and\ntheir moral life will be spontaneous and a source of enjoyment.\n\nThe feelings, appetites and instincts of children should be thus specially\ntrained. According to Dr. Gall, there are two classes of feelings,--the\nselfish, yet necessary for the preservation of the individual; and the\nunselfish, or those which are directed to objects apart from self, yet\nliable to abuse and misdirection. Both of these demand a home-training. The\nparent should give to each its true direction, restrain and harmonize them\nin their relations and respective spheres of activity, and bring them\nunder law, and place before each its legitimate object and end. Then, and\nthen only, do they become laws of self-preservation. The natural appetites\nare subject to abuse, and when unrestrained, defeat the very ends of their\nexistence. Thus the appetite for food may be over-indulged through mistaken\nparental kindness, until habits of sensualism are established, and the\nchild becomes a glutton, and finds the grave of infamy.\n\nHow many children have been thus destroyed in soul and body by parental\nindulgence and neglect of their natural feelings and appetites. The feeling\nof cruelty, revenge, malice, falsehood, tale-bearing, dishonesty, vanity,\n&c., have, in the same way and by the same indulgence, been engendered in\nthe children of Christian parents. The same, too, may be said of the\nunselfish feelings. These have been called the moral sentiments; and upon\ntheir proper training depends the formation of a positive moral character.\nThe conscience comes under this head. The parent should train that\nimportant faculty of the child. It should be taught to act from the\nstandpoint of conscience, and to form the habit of conscientiousness in\nword and deed. This includes the training of the motives also, and of all\nthe cardinal moral virtues, such as justice, honor, chastity, veneration,\nkindness, &c. \"Teach your children,\" says Goodrich in his Fireside\nEducation, \"never to wound a person's feelings because he is poor, because\nhe is deformed, because he is unfortunate, because he holds an humble\nstation in life, because he is poorly clad, because he is weak in body and\nmind, because he is awkward, or because the God of nature has bestowed upon\nhim a darker skin than theirs.\"\n\nThis early education should commence as soon as the necessities of the\nchild demand it. A child should be taught what is necessary for it to know\nand practice as soon as that necessity exists and the child is capable of\nlearning. Scripture sanctions this. Our fathers did so. It was the\ninjunction of Moses to the children of Israel: Deut. vi., 6-9. God commands\nyou to break up the fallow ground and sow the good seed at the first dawn\nof the spring-life of your children, and then to pray for the \"early and\nthe latter rain,\"\n\n  \"Teaching, with pious care, the dawning light\n  Of infant intellect to know the Lord.\"\n\nHome-education should be religious. As the child has a religious nature,\nreligious wants, and a religious end to accomplish, it should receive from\nits parents a religious training. Religion is educational. We are commanded\nto teach religion to our children. The admonition to \"train up a child in\nthe way he should go,\" and to \"bring him up in the nurture and admonition\nof the Lord,\" is a scripture sanction of religious education. Nature and\nthe bible are the text-books for such a training. The child should be\ntaught natural and revealed religion. Such education involves the\ndevelopment of the child's religious nature, and the diligent use of those\nmeans by which it may become an adopted child of God.\n\nEducation should be suited to the wants and the destination of the child.\nReligion is its first want,--the one thing needful, the chief concern; and\nshould, therefore, be the first object of attention in home-training. The\nfear and love of God should be the first lesson taught. This is the\nbeginning of wisdom. Teach your children to love Him above father and\nmother, sister and brother. The child is capable of such ideas of God.\nChildren can possess the sentiment of God; and when this is instilled and\ndeveloped as a rudiment of their character, they have a preparation for the\ngrace of God. What is the mere secular, without such a religious education?\nIt is education without its essence; for piety is the essence of all\neducation. Irreligious training is destructive,--a curse rather than a\nblessing,--only a training up to crime and to ruin. \"The mildew of a\ncultivated, but depraved mind, blights whatever it falls upon.\" \"Religion,\"\nsays Dr. Barrow, \"is the only science, which is equally and indispensably\nnecessary to men of every rank, every age, and every profession.\" \"The end\nof learning,\" says Milton, \"is to repair the ruins of our first parents, by\nrequiring to know God aright, and out of that knowledge, to love Him, and\nto imitate Him.\"\n\nWe see, therefore, that religious training is the only true palladium of\nyour children's happiness and destiny; and should be the great end of all\nhome-teaching. Tinge all their thoughts and feelings with a sense of\neternity. Train them up to build for another world. Stamp the impress of a\nfuture life upon their tender hearts. Beget in them longings after\nimmortality. See that their designs extend beyond this world. As the\nSpartan mother gave character to her nation by the instructions she gave\nher child, so you give character to your religion, your church, your home,\nby the spiritual culture of your offspring. Let the jewels you give them be\nthe virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost,--the ornaments of a meek and\nquiet spirit.\n\n            \"Take the germ, and make it\n    A bud of moral beauty. Let the dews\n  Of knowledge and the light of virtue, wake it\n    In richest fragrance and in purest hues.\"\n\nChildhood is the period in which the principles of Christianity can be the\nmost effectually engrafted in our nature. Its pliability at that period\ninsures its free assimilation to the spirit and truth of religion. \"Would\nto God,\" says St. Pierre, \"I had preserved the sentiment of the existence\nof the Supreme Being, and of His principal attributes, as pure as I had it\nin my earliest years!\" It is the heart more than the head that religion\ndemands; and you can fill the young heart with sentiments of God better\nthan if you wait till it grows hard as adamant in sin. You can elevate the\nsoul of your child to God, and teach it to raise its little hands and\nvoice in prayer to the Most High. You can teach it this from the book of\nnature and of revelation,--from the daisies that spring up among the grass\nupon which it frolics, by the mellow fruits after which it longs, by the\nstars that shine in unclouded luster above it, and by the breezes which\nruffle its silken curls, and bring perfume to its smiling face.\n\nTo the mother especially, is committed the religious education of the child\nat home. She is eminently adapted, if herself a Christian, for such a work.\nHer love, her piety, which breathes in every word, in every look, makes her\ninstructions effectual and pleasing.\n\n  \"'Tis pleasing to be schooled by female lips and eyes,\n  They smile so when one's right, and when one's wrong,\n  They smile still more; and then there\n  Comes encouragement in the soft hand\n  Over the brow, perhaps even a chaste kiss--\n  I learned the little that I know by this.\"\n\nThey can better reach and train the heart. Religion is heart-wisdom. \"My\nson, give me thy heart!\" We may use the head as an avenue to the heart, yet\nnothing is done in the religion of our children until the heart be carried.\nIt is only in that inner shrine that there can be deposited the wisdom that\nis from above, and only then will they be made wise unto salvation. And who\nis better able to storm and carry that inner citadel, and lead its subdued\ninmates to the Cross, than the pious, tender-hearted, soliciting mother!\n\nSome parents object to the religious training of their children,\n\"because,\" say they, \"there is danger of having their minds biased by some\nparticular creed; they should be left, therefore, to themselves till they\nare capable of making a choice, and then let them choose their creed.\" This\nis all a miserable subterfuge, and in direct opposition to the explicit\ncommand of God and the whole tenor of the gospel plan of salvation. It goes\nupon the assumption that religion is but an opinion--a subscription to a\ncertain creed, learning certain doctrines--a mere thing for the head. Tell\nme, is it worse to bias their minds to a particular creed, than to let them\ngrow up biased to the world, to the Devil and all his works? Is it all of\nhome, religious culture to bias them to a particular creed? Besides, is it\nnot the right, yea, the duty of parents to bias their children in favor of\nthe religious creed of the parental home? It shows, therefore, that those\nparents who, for this reason, object to religious training, have but little\nlove for, and confidence in, their own creed, or they would not shrink from\nbiasing their children to it.\n\nTo encourage Christian parents to give their children a good religious\neducation, God has given them numerous examples, from both sacred and\nprofane history, of conversion and eminent piety in the age of childhood,\nas the direct fruit of early parental instruction. Look, for instance, at\nthe child Samuel worshiping the Lord. Look, too, at the case of Moses and\nof David, of Joseph and of John the Baptist. Dr. Doddridge, we are told,\n\"was brought up in the early knowledge of religion by his pious parents.\"\nHis mother \"taught him the history of the Old and New Testaments before he\ncould read, by the assistance of some Dutch tiles in the chimney of the\nroom where they commonly sat; and her wise and pious reflections on the\nstories there represented were the means of making some good impressions on\nhis heart, which never wore out.\" An eminently pious minister thus writes\nto his parents, confirming by his own blessed experience the early fruits\nof religious training: \"I verily believe that had my religious training\nbeen confined to the gleanings of the Sabbath school, instead of the steady\nenforcement of the Mosaic arrangement at home by my parents, I might now be\npursuing a far different course, and living for a far different end. Many,\nvery many times, as early in childhood as I can recollect, has the Spirit\nof God convicted me of sin, as my father at home has taught me out of the\nscriptures, and I cannot easily forget that the same high-priest of the\nhome-church once tore from me the hypocrite's hope. And that dear place had\nanother to carry on the work; gentler but not weaker; and memory recalls a\nmother pressing her face close to mine as she often knelt with me before\nthe mercy-seat. I will not cast reproach on any institution which has been\nproductive of good to myself and to others, but with profound gratitude\nwill say, home was the place of my spiritual nativity, and my parents were\nGod's instruments in leading me to Christ!\"\n\nThe eminent piety of Dr. Dwight stands on record as the fruit of a mother's\nfaithful religious training; for \"she taught him from the very dawn of\nreason to fear God and keep His commandments, and the impressions then made\nupon his mind in infancy, were never effaced.\" The mother of young Edwards\nis another example of early piety as the fruit of religious home-culture.\nThe aged Polycarp, when under arrest during the persecution under Marcus\nAurelius, in reply to the injunction of the pro-consul, \"Swear, curse\nChrist, and I release thee!\" exclaimed, \"Six and eighty years have I served\nHim, and He has done me nothing but good; and how could I curse Him, my\nLord and Saviour?\" Thus showing himself to have been a Christian at the\nearly age of four years! It was through the instructions of his grandmother\nLois, and his mother Eunice, that young Timothy \"knew from a child the holy\nscriptures, which made him wise unto salvation.\"\n\nAnd what an effectual antidote are such instructions against vice and\ntemptation! How many have by them been arrested from the devouring jaws of\ninfidelity and ruin! Thus it was with John Randolph, who said that in the\ndays of the French revolution, when infidel reason took the place of God\nand the bible, and infidelity prowled unmolested throughout France, he\nwould have become an infidel himself, had it not been for the remembrance\nof his childhood days, when his pious mother taught him to kneel by her\nside, and to say, \"Our Father, who art in heaven!\" Thus, too, with the\npious and learned J.Q. Adams, who daily repeated the little prayers his\nmother taught him when a child.\n\nThus, then, we see that parents are encouraged by the most brilliant\nexamples of history, to teach their children religion at the home-fireside,\n\"when thou liest down and risest up.\" Oh, let the gentle courtesies and\nsweet endearments of home engrave the Word and Spirit of God upon their\ntender hearts. Wait not until they are matured in rebellion, and sin lay\nbeds of flinty rock over their hearts; but let them breathe from infancy\nthe atmosphere of holiness, and drink from the living fountains of divine\ntruth. See that your homes become their birth-place in the spiritual\nkingdom of Christ.\n\nSuch religious training will be the guardian of their future life, and will\nfortify them against impending evil. What made Daniel steadfast amidst all\nthe efforts to heathenize him during his captivity in Babylon? His early\nreligious culture. It was the means of his preservation. The truth had been\ndeeply engraven upon his heart when young, and nothing could ever efface\nit. His early home-impressions glowed there with pristine freshness and\npower amid all the terrors which surrounded him in the den and before the\nthrone of his implacable foe. These home instructions may be silenced for a\ntime, but never destroyed. They may be overshadowed, but not annihilated.\nSays Dr. Cumming, \"The words spoken by parents to their children in the\nprivacy of home are like words spoken in a whispering-gallery, and will be\nclearly heard at the distance of years, and along the corridors of ages\nthat are yet to come. They will prove like the lone star to the mariner\nupon a dark and stormy sea, associated with a mother's love, with a\nfather's example, with the roof-tree beneath which they lived and loved,\nand will prove in after life to mould the man and enable him to adorn and\nimprove the age in which he is placed.\"\n\nBe faithful, therefore, in the spiritual culture of your children. Give\nthem \"line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a\nlittle.\" Lead them on by degrees to Christ until each indelible impression\nbecomes an established habit. In the morning of their life sow the seed;\nand God will give the increase; and then in the day of judgment your\nchildren will rise up and call you blessed!\n\n\nSECTION II.\n\nNEGLECT AND ABUSE OF HOME-EDUCATION.\n\n  \"Accomplishments have taken virtue's place,\n  And wisdom falls before exterior grace;\n  We slight the precious kernel of the stone,\n  And toil to polish its rough coat alone.\n  A just deportment, manners graced with ease,\n  Elegant phases, and figure formed to please,\n  Are qualities that seem to comprehend\n  Whatever parents, guardians, schools intend;\n  Hence all that interferes, and dares to clash\n  With indolence and luxury, is trash!\"\n\n\nHome-education in all its parts is most sadly neglected and abused at the\npresent day. Many parents think that the office of teacher is not included\nin the parental character and mission. The neglect of home-training seems\nto arise out of an existing-prejudice against it. Some think that education\nwill unfit their children for industry,--will make them indolent and proud.\nThey regard mental culture as an enemy to both industry and virtue. Strange\ndelusion! The mind is given to use, not to abuse; and its abuse is no\nargument against its proper use. God has given the mind, and intends it to\nbe developed and cultivated. If, therefore, its training has made it\nindolent and dissipated, it only proves its education to be spurious. You\nmight, by a parity of reasoning, blindfold the eye that it might not he\ncovetous, or tie up the hand lest it pick a man's pocket, or hobble the\nfeet lest they run into evil ways, as to keep the mind in ignorance lest it\nbecome wicked.\n\nBesides, we find more real indolence and wickedness among the ignorant than\namong the educated; for man will be educated in something. If you do not\neducate your child in the truths of nature and religion, be assured he will\nbecome trained in falsehood and in the ways of Satan. \"Uneducated mind is\nuneducated vice.\" A proper education is a divine alchemy which turns all\nthe baser parts of man's nature into gold. Without it all is discord and\ndarkness within and without. Besides, ignorance leads to misery because it\nleads to wickedness. Dr. Johnson was once asked, \"Who is the most miserable\nman?\" He replied, \"That man who cannot read on a rainy day!\" It has well\nbeen said by Edmund Burke that \"Education is the cheap defense of nations.\"\nWhy? Because it prevents vice, poverty, misery, and relieves the state of\nthe support of paupers and criminals. \"A good education,\" says Miss\nSedgwick, \"is a young man's best capital.\" Says Governor Everett to\nparents, \"Sow the seed of instruction in your son's and daughter's minds.\nIt will flourish when that over-arching heaven shall pass away like a\nscroll, and the eternal sun which lightens it, shall set in blood.\" Says\nthe Rev. Robert Hall, \"I am persuaded that the extreme profligacy,\nimprovidence, and misery, which are so prevalent among the laboring classes\nin many countries, are chiefly to be ascribed to the want of education.\"\n\nWhat indeed can we look for but wretchedness and guilt from that child that\nhas been left by its cruel parents to grow up \"darkening in the deeper\nignorance of mankind, with all its jealousies, and its narrow-mindedness,\nand its superstitions, and its penury of enjoyments, poor amid the\nintellectual and moral riches of the universe; blind in this splendid\ntemple which God has lighted up, and famishing amid the profusions of\nOmnipotence?\" And, parents, let me ask you, if you thus neglect the proper\neducation of your children, and as a consequence, such pauperism of estate,\nof mind, and of morals, come upon them, will you not have to answer for all\nthis to God?\n\n  \"Oh, woe for those who trample on the mind,\n  That fearful thing! They know not what they do,\n  Nor what they deal with!\"\n\nYour children, thus neglected, will become victims to inordinate passion,\nwithout power to discern between reality and illusion, ignorant of what is\ntrue happiness, living for mere sense, with their moral nature enclosed in\nthe iron mail of superstition, while the good seeds of truth sown upon\ntheir hearts \"wither away, because they have no depth of earth.\"\n\nParents cannot, therefore, neglect the education of their children without\nincurring disgrace and guilt before God and man. They will meet a merited\nretribution both here and hereafter. The justice of this is forcibly\nillustrated in a law of the Icelanders, which makes the court inquire, when\na child is accursed, whether the parents have given the offender a good\neducation? And if not, the court inflicts the punishment on the parents.\nThis but expresses the higher law of God which holds parents responsible\nfor the training of their children. Listen to the threatening voice of God\nin history. Crates, an ancient philosopher, used to say that if he could\nreach the highest eminence in the city, he would make this proclamation:\n\"What mean ye, fellow-citizens, to be so anxious after wealth, but so\nindifferent to your children's education? It is like being solicitous about\nthe shoe, but neglecting entirely the foot that is to wear it!\"\n\nWe would reiterate that proclamation in this age of superior intelligence.\nTo the pious parent there is a pleasure in training the young and tender\nheart for God. What a beautiful tribute did Thompson yield to this pleasure\nin the following lines:\n\n  \"Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,\n  To teach the young idea how to shoot,\n  To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,\n  To breathe enlivening spirit, and to fix\n  The generous purpose in the glowing breast!\"\n\nBut home-education, at the present day, is as much abused as it is\nneglected. The criminality of the former is perhaps greater than that of\nthe latter. This may have more reference to the female than to the male\nportion of the family. The abuse here consists of the want of a training up\nto wisdom. We see this in what is called the fashionable, instead of the\nChristian, education, received at some of our fashionable boarding schools.\nHere the child is sent with no home-training whatever, to be trained up a\nfashionable doll, fit to be played with and dandled upon the arms of a\nwhining and heartless society, with no preparation for companionship in\nlife, destitute of substantial character, with undoctrinated feelings of\naversion to religion, fit only for a puppet show in some gay and\nthoughtless circle; kneeling before fashion as her God, and giving her hand\nin marriage only to a golden and a gilded calf.\n\nAccording to this abuse of home-education, \"a young maiden is kept in the\nnursery and the school room, like a ship on the stocks, while she is\nfurbished with abundance of showy accomplishments, and is launched like the\nship, looking taut and trim, but empty of everything that can make her\nuseful.\" Thus one great abuse of home-education is to substitute the\nboarding school for home-culture,--to send our children to such school at\nan age when they should he trained by and live under the direct influence\nof the parent. This generally ends in initiated profligacy, and alienation\nfrom home, while at best but a dunce after his course of training is\nended.\n\n  \"Would you your son should be a sot and a dunce,\n  Lascivious, headstrong, or all these at once?\n  Train him in public with a mob of boys,\n  Childish in mischief only and in noise.\"\n\nToo often is it the case that the artifices and refinements of our\nfashionable boarding-schools, have a most withering influence upon body,\nmind and soul, enfeebling and distorting the body, producing depraved\nstomachs, whimsical nerves, peevish tempers, indolent minds, and depraved\nmorals. They become but wrecks of what they were when they first entered\nthe school. This has been called \"the stiff and starched system of muslin\neducation,\" and is the nursery of pale, sickly, listless, peevish children.\n\nBut this is not the only abuse of home-education. Even when the training is\nbegun at home, the very idea of education is often abused, because\ninefficient, destitute of true moral elements, and partial both as to the\nmode and as to the substance of it. The true resources of life are not\ndeveloped; there is no instruction given in the principles and conditions\nof temporal and eternal well-being; there is no discipline of the mind, or\nbody or morals. But the great idea and aim of education with many parents\nnow, is to teach the child to read and write and cipher as a means of\nmaking money and getting along in this world,--not, of course, to prevent\nthem from cheating others, but others from cheating them. All is\nprostituted to money and business. Character and happiness are left out of\nview. What have our schools now to do with the propensities, appetites,\ntemperaments, habits and character of the pupils? And how are the parents\nwho send their children to school to have them trained up with reference to\nthese! All that is now looked at, is that learning which will fit the child\nfor business. As a consequence most of our schools are a disgrace to the\nvery name of education. More evil actually results from them than good. The\nmind and heart are injured,--the one but half trained; the other corrupted.\nMental and moral training are divorced; hence one-sided, and the very end\nof education defeated. The child has no incentive to a virtuous and a noble\nlife, and sinks down to the groveling drudgery of money-making. It is\neducated for nature, but not for God,--for this, but not for the next life.\n\nIf we would not abuse home-education we must not separate the moral from\nthe mental,--the secular from the religious; for in doing so, we expose the\nchild to rationalism and infidelity on the one hand, and to superstition\nand spiritualism on the other. This course is generally taken by parents\nwhen they educate their children for mere worldly utility and fashion, when\nthey have not the welfare of the soul in view, and look only to the\nadvantage of the body.\n\nThe duty then of Christian parents to give their children a true\nhome-education may be seen from the consequences of its neglect and abuse\non the one hand, and from its value and importance on the other. They\nshould furnish them with all the necessary means, opportunities, and\ndirections, of a Christian education. Give them proper books. \"Without\nbooks,\" says the quaint Bartholin, \"God is silent, justice dormant, science\nat a stand, philosophy lame, letters dumb, and all things involved in\nCimmerian darkness.\" Bring them up to the habit of properly reading and\nstudying these books. \"A reading people will soon become a thinking people,\nand a thinking people must soon become a great people.\" Every book you\nfurnish your child, and which it reads with reflection is \"like a cast of\nthe weaver's shuttle, adding another thread to the indestructible web of\nexistence.\" It will be worth more to him than all your hoarded gold and\nsilver. Make diligent use of those great auxiliaries to home-education,\nwhich the church has instituted, such as Sabbath schools, bible classes and\ncatechisation.\n\nHome-education does not imply a system of parental training isolated from\nthe educational ministrations of the church; but is churchly in its spirit\nand in all its parts, and should in all respects be connected with the\nchurch. Home training is a duty you owe to the church. By virtue of your\nrelation to her, she has the authority to demand of you such a training of\nyour child; and by virtue of your relation to the child, he has a right to\nsuch an education, and can demand it from you. It stands on the basis of\nparental duty imposed on you by God Himself. It is a prime necessity. It is\nyour children's birthright, which they themselves cannot sell with\nimpunity, for the pottage of gold or silver or pleasure: neither can you\nneglect or abuse it without guilt before God.\n\nIt is, therefore, a duty which you cannot shake off, and which involves\nboth for you and for your child, the most momentous consequences. Christian\nparents! be faithful to this duty. Magnify your office as a teacher; be\nfaithful to your household as a school. Diligently serve your children as\nthe pupils that God has put under your care. Educate them for Him. Teach\nthem to \"walk by faith, not by sight.\" Cultivate in them a sense of the\nunseen world,--the feeling of the actual influence of the Spirit of God,\nthe guardianship of his holy angels, and of the communion of saints. Teach\nthem how to live and how to die; and by the force of your own holy example\nallure them to the cross, and lead them onward and upward in the living way\nof eternal life. You are encouraged to do so by the assurance of God that\n\"when they grow old they will not depart from it.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nFAMILY HABITS.\n\n  \"Dost thou live, man, dost thou live, or only breathe and labor?\n  Art thou free, or enslaved to a routine, the daily machinery of habit?\n  For one man is quickened into life, where thousands exist as in a torpor,\n  Feeding, toiling, sleeping, an insensate weary round;\n  The plough, or the ledger, or the trade, with animal cares and indolence,\n  Make the mass of vital years a heavy lump unleavened.\"\n\n\nMuch of the character, usefulness and happiness of home depend upon home\nhabits. No one is without habits, good or bad. They have much to do with\nour welfare here and hereafter. Hence the importance of establishing proper\nhabits.\n\nHabit is a state of any thing, implying some continuance or permanence. It\nmay be formed by nature or induced by extraneous circumstances. It is a\nsettled disposition of the mind or body, involving an aptitude for the\nperformance of certain actions, acquired by custom or frequent repetition.\nThere are habits of the body, of the mind, of action; physical, mental,\nmoral and religious habits. All these are included in the term home-habits.\n\nHabit has been considered an \"ultimate fact,\" that is, one of those\nqualities of life which are found to exist, and beyond which no\ninvestigation can be made. Habit may be referred to the law of action which\npervades all vital being. Nature demands the repetition of vital action,\nand habit arises from this demand and from the manner in which it is\nsupplied. It is the fruit of the operation of the law of repetition of\naction in all life. Hence it is, that habit becomes a part of our very\nexistence, and that the well-being and happiness of our existence depend so\nmuch upon it.\n\nThe facility of action depends upon habit. In proportion as the actions of\nlife become a habit, they will be easily performed, and performed with\npleasure. The capacity to establish habits is the consequence of the power\ngiven us to promote our own welfare. This capacity is designed to bind us\nto that course of action which will accomplish the purposes of our\nexistence. If rightly used, it is the guardian of our happiness; but if\nmisused it will be our certain ruin. It will delight and fascinate until it\nsubjugate our will, and lead us on, as in the case of the drunkard and the\ngambler, to infamy and to hell.\n\nHome-habits are easily formed and established. Some kind, either good or\nbad, are being established every day. They are often secretly and\nunconsciously formed. All the principles and rules of conduct there\nintroduced become at once the nuclei of future habits. Those increase in\npower and supremacy as they are formed. We see this in the use of tobacco\nand intoxicating drink. These are, at first, disagreeable, and the victim\nhas the power of repelling and overcoming them; but soon the habit is\nformed, when their use becomes pleasant, and he is made a willing slave to\nthem.\n\nThe same may he said of the habits of industry, of study, of frugality,\nyea, of all the moral and religious acts of the Christian. It is easy to\nform such habits in children. Evil habits are more easily established,\nbecause we are naturally inclined to all evil; and when once formed, no\nparental interposition can break them up. Hence the importance of an early\ntraining up to good. If parents but leave their children to their own ways,\nthey will run into evil habits; for sin is an epidemic. Profanity and\nfalsehood and all other outrages against God will soon become the\ncontrolling habits of their lives. But when taken early, parents have\ncomplete power over their offspring. It is, therefore, a gross abuse of the\nChristian home when parents become indifferent to the formation of habits.\nIt is their duty to crush every evil habit in its incipient state.\n\nThe forming of a good habit may not at first be congenial with our\nfeelings. It may be irksome. But if we persevere in it, that which at\nfirst was painful and difficult will soon be a source of enjoyment. Thus\nthe habit of family prayer may at first be repulsive even to the Christian\nparent; a feeling of delicacy and the sense of unworthiness may, at the\nfamily altar, repress the feelings of enjoyment experienced in the closet;\nbut soon the habit of this devotion will be formed, when it will be enjoyed\nas an essential part of home. To abandon it would be like breaking up the\ntenderest ties which bind the members together. The same may be said of the\nomission of a duty. How easily can the Christian form the habit of omitting\nfamily prayer or any other duty! Every such omission but forms and\nincreases the habit, until it gains an ascendancy over our sense of duty,\nand at last exhibits its sovereign power in our total abandonment of the\nduty. Each omission has the power of reproducing itself in other and more\nfrequent omissions. In this way Christian homes insensibly become\nunfaithful to their high vocation, and degenerate finally into complete\napathy and estrangement from God. That indulgence which the misguided\nsympathy of too many parents prompts to, and which does away with all\nparental restraint, is the cause of children coming under the curse of evil\nhabits. In this way parents often contribute to the temporal and eternal\nruin of their offspring. This indulgence is no evidence of tender love, but\nof parental infatuation. It shows a blind and unholy love,--a love which\nowns no law, which is governed by no sense of duty, and which excludes all\ndiscipline; and hence unlike the love of God, who \"chastiseth every one\nwhom He loveth and receiveth.\"\n\nThe force and influence of home-habits will teach us the importance of\nestablishing such only as receive the sanction of God. Habits, as we have\nseen, are much more easily formed than broken. When once established they\nenslave us to them, and subject our character to their iron despotism. They\nbecome the channel through which our life flows. The stream of our\nexistence first forms the channel, and then the channel rules, guides and\ncontrols the current of the stream. The deeper the channel is wrought, the\ngreater is its moulding and controlling influence over the stream. Thus our\nhabits become our masters, and are the irrevocable rulers of our life. This\nis true of good, as well as of bad habits. We come into voluntary\nsubjection to them, until we shrink from the first proposal to depart from\nthem.\n\n\"Habit,\" says the Rev. C.C. Colton, \"will reconcile us to everything but\nchange, and even to change, if it recur not too quickly. Milton, therefore,\nmakes his hell an ice-house, as well as an oven, and freezes his devils at\none period, but bakes them at another. The late Sir George Staunton\ninformed, me, that he had visited a man in India, who had committed a\nmurder, and in order not only to save his life, but what was of much more\nconsequence, his caste, he submitted to the penalty imposed; this was, that\nhe should sleep for seven years on a bedstead, without any mattress, the\nwhole surface of which was studded with points of iron resembling nails,\nbut not so sharp as to penetrate the flesh. Sir George saw him in the fifth\nyear of his probation, and his skin then was like the hide of a rhinoceros,\nbut more callous. At that time, however, he could sleep comfortably on his\nbed of thorns, and remarked that at the expiration of the term of his\nsentence, he should most probably continue that system from choice, which\nhe had been obliged to adopt from necessity.\"\n\nThis illustrates the force of established habit, and the pliability of our\nnature in yielding a voluntary subjection to it. What is at first\ninvoluntary, painful, and a self-denial to us, wall when it passes into a\nhabit, become agreeable, because the habit bends our nature to it, chains\nus down to it, infatuates the will, and thus becomes, as it were, a second\nnature. If so, it is very plain that our habits are either a blessing or a\ncurse. When good they are a safeguard against evil, give stability to our\ncharacter, and are the law of perseverance in well-doing. Such habits in\nthe Christian home form, an irresistible bulwark against the intrusions of\ntemptation and iniquity. But when they are bad, they chain us to evil, and\nimpel us onward and downward to ruin. Hence from his habits we can easily\nestimate the merit or demerit of a person, know all his weak points and\nidiosyncrasies, and what will be the probable termination of his existence.\n\nThe same may be said of the habits of a family. They enter into its very\nconstitution, rule and direct all its activities and interests. They cling\nto each member with more than magic power, and become interwoven with his\nvery being; and by them we may easily ascertain the moral and spiritual\nstrength of that family; we can tell whether the parents are faithful to\ntheir mission, and whether its members will be likely to pass over from the\nhome of their childhood to the church of Christ. Who has not felt this\npower of habit? Who has not wept over some habits which haunt him like an\nevil spirit; and rejoiced over others as a safeguard from sin and a\npropellor to good? Is it not, therefore, a matter of momentous interest to\nthe Christian home, that it establish habits of the right kind and quality?\n\nIt should never be forgotten by Christian parents, and they cannot be too\ncareful to impress it upon their children, that habit engenders habit,--has\nthe power of reproducing itself, and begetting habits of its own kind,\nincreasing according to the laws of growth, as it is thus reproduced. A\nhabit in one member of a family may produce a like habit in all the other\nmembers. The habits of the husband may be engendered in the wife, and those\nof the parents, in their children. If so, then are we not responsible for\nour habits? And shall any other kind save Christian habits, be found in the\nChristian home? These we cannot give in detail. It is plain that those\nhabits only are Christian, which receive the sanction of God's Word and\nSpirit, and find a response in the Christian faith and conscience. Here,\nfor instance, is a habit being formed,--habit of thought: is it pure? Here\nis a habit of conversation: is it holy? Here is a habit of action: is it\ngodly? And if not, it does not belong to the Christian home.\n\nSee, then, ye members of the Christian home, to the habits you are forming.\nForm the habit of \"doing all thing's decently and in order.\" Let the work\nand duties of each day be done according to method. This is essential to\nsuccess in your pursuits and aims. Without this, your Christian life may be\nblustering and stormy, but you will accomplish little, and will be as\nunstable as water. One duty will interfere with another. You may have\nfamily prayer and instruction to-day, but something will prevent it\nto-morrow. Establish the habit of Christian industry. Be diligent; not\nslothful in business. Industry must be the price of all you obtain. You\nmust be instant in season. The Christian home cannot be an indolent, idle\nhome. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. Press\nforward.\n\nIt is said of Rutherford that \"such was his unwearied assiduity and\ndiligence, that he seemed to pray constantly, to preach constantly, to\ncatechise constantly, and to visit the sick, exhorting from house to house,\nto teach as much in the schools, and spend as much time with the students\nin fitting them for the ministry, as if he had been sequestered from all\nthe world, and yet withal, to write as much as if he had been constantly\nshut up in his study.\" Such should be the industry of each Christian home.\nWithout it, temptation will beset the members. \"A busy man is troubled with\nbut one devil, but the idle man with a thousand.\"\n\nEstablish the habit also of perseverance in well-doing. \"Be steadfast,\nimmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.\" \"Be not weary in\nwell-doing.\" Let the strata of your home be made up of the immovable Rock.\nHe only that continueth unto the end shall be saved. Having done all,\nstand! Let your motto be, _Perseverando vinces_. Form the habit of\ncontentment with your home and condition in life. \"Godliness with\ncontentment is great gain.\" If your home is humble, and not adorned with\nthe embellishments and luxuries of life, yet it may be holy, and hence,\nhappy. Avoid all castle-building. Do not fancy a better home, and fall out\nwith the one you enjoy. Never permit the flimsy creations of a distorted\nimagination to gain an ascendancy over your reason and faith. Live above\nall sentimentalism and day-dreaming; and in all the feelings and conduct of\nyour household, submit to the guidance of a superintending Providence,\nwalking by faith and not by sight, assured that your present home is but\nprobationary and preparatory to a better home in heaven.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nHOME-GOVERNMENT.\n\n  \"Alas! for a thousand fathers, whose indulgent sloth\n  Hath emptied the vial of confusion over a thousand homes.\n  Alas! for the palaces and hovels, that might have been nurseries for\n    heaven,\n  By hot intestine broils blighted into schools for hell;\n  None knoweth his place, yet all refuse to serve,\n  None weareth the crown, yet all usurp the scepter;\n  The mother, heart-stricken years agone, hath dropped into an early grave;\n  The silent sisters long to leave a home they cannot love;\n  The brothers, casting off restraint, follow their wayward wills.\"\n\n\nHome is a little commonwealth jointly governed by the parents. It involves\nlaw. The mutual relation of parent and child implies authority on the one\nhand, and obedience on the other. This is the principle of all government.\nHome is the first form of society. As such it must have a government. Its\ninstitution implies the prerogatives of the parent and the subordination\nof the child. Without this there would be no order, no harmony, no\ntraining for the state or the church; for--\n\n  \"Society is a chain of obligations, and its links support each other;\n  The branch cannot but wither that is cut from the parent vine.\"\n\nThe relation of the parent to the child is that of a superior to an\ninferior. The right of the parent is to command; the duty of the child is\nto obey. Hence it is the relation of authority to subordination. This\nrelation includes the principles of home-government. The parent is not the\nauthor of his authority. It is delegated to him. Neither can he make\narbitrary laws for home; these must be the laws of God. It is as much the\nduty of the parent to rule as it is for the child to be ruled.\n\nThe principle of home-government is love,--love ruling and obeying\naccording to law. These are exercised, as it were, by the instinct of\nnatural affection as taken up and refined by the Christian life and faith.\nThis government implies reciprocity of right,--the right of the parent to\ngovern and the right of the child to be governed. It is similar in its\nfundamentals to the government of the state and church. It involves the\nlegislative, judicial and executive functions; its elements are law,\nauthority, obedience, and penalties. The basis of its laws is the Word of\nGod. We may consider the whole subject under two general heads, viz.,\nparental authority, and filial obedience.\n\n1. Parental authority is threefold, legislative, judicial and executive.\nThe two latter we shall more fully consider under the head of\nhome-discipline. The legislative authority of the parent is confined to the\ndevelopment of God's laws for the Christian home. He cannot enact arbitrary\nlaws. His authority is founded on his relation to his children as the\nauthor of their being; \"yet it does not admit,\" says Schlegel, \"of being\nset forth and comprised in any exact and positive formularies.\" It does\nnot, as in the old Roman law, concede to the parent the power over the life\nof the child. This would not only violate the law of natural affection, but\nwould be an amalgamation of the family and state. Neither is the parental\nauthority merely conventional, given to the parent by the state as a\npolicy. It is no civil or political investiture, making the parent a\ndelegated civil ruler; but comes from God as an in alienable right, and\nindependent, as such, of the state. It does not, therefore, rest upon civil\nlegislation, but has its foundation in human nature and the revealed law of\nGod; neither can the state legislate upon it, except in cases where its\nexercise becomes an infringement upon the prerogatives of the state itself.\n\nParents are magistrates under God, and, as His stewards, cannot abdicate\ntheir authority, nor delegate it to another. Neither can they be tyrants in\nthe exercise of it. God has given to them the principles of\nhome-legislation, the standard of judicial authority, and the rules of\ntheir executive power. God gives the law. The parent is only deputy\ngovernor,--steward, \"bound to be faithful.\" Hence the obligation of the\nchild to obey the steward is as great as that to obey the Master. \"Where\nthe principal is silent, take heed that thou despise not the deputy.\"\n\nHere, then, we have the extent of the parent's authority, and the spirit\nand manner in which it should be exercised. His power is grafted on the\nstrength of another, and should not extend beyond it. Its exercise should\nnot run into despotism on the one hand, nor into indifferentism on the\nother. According to the vagaries of some religious sentimentalists and\nfanatics, it is supposed that religion supersedes the necessity of parental\ngovernment. They think that such authority runs counter to the spirit and\nrequisitions of the gospel. But this is asserted in the broad face of God's\nWord. The promptings of such sentimentalism are to permit children to do as\nthey please, and to bring them up under the influence of domestic\nlibertinism. Honor thy father and thy mother, is a command which explodes\nsuch a gaudy theory; and he who does not obey it, brutalizes human nature,\ndishonors God, subverts the principles of constitutional society, throws\noff allegiance to the prerogatives of a divinely constituted superior, and\noverthrows both church and state. Hence the severe penalties attached, in\nthe Mosaic law, to disobedience of parental authority. \"He that curseth his\nfather or mother, shall surely be put to death.\" \"The eye that mocketh at\nhis father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley\nshall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.\" And hence also that\naffectionate obedience which Joseph yielded to his aged father, and that\nprofound veneration with which he kneeled before him to receive his dying\nblessing.\n\n2. Filial obedience is the correlative of parental authority. If parents\nhave authority, children must yield obedience to it. This is not only\nnecessary to home-government, but also to the proper formation of the\ncharacter of the child. It must be trained up under law and authority to\nprepare it for citizenship in the state. This must be the obedience of\nconfidence and love. It does not imply the subordination of the slave.\n\nAs the father's authority is not that of the despot, so the obedience of\nthe child is not that of the servile, trembling subject. It is not\nunnatural,--no infringement upon the rights and liberties of the child. His\nsubordination to the parent is the law of his liberty. He is not free\nwithout it. The home in which filial obedience is not yielded to parental\nauthority is \"a marvel of permitted chaos,\" and will soon become desolate,\na scene of anarchy and strife. The members live in a state of lawlessness,\ndestitute of reciprocated affection,--the parent unhonored, the father and\nmother despised and cursed, and the child untrained, uncared for, lawless,\nand unfit for the state or the church.\n\nIf, therefore, God has constituted governmental relations in the Christian\nhome, and invested the parent with authority over his children, who will\ndeny the coordinate obligations of the child to yield reverence, submission\nand gratitude to the parent? \"Children, obey your parents in all thing's;\nfor this is well pleasing unto the Lord.\"\n\nThis is called the first commandment with promise. It is one of promise\nboth to the parent and the child. Children are bound to obey their parents\nin all things, that is, in all things lawful and in accordance with the\nrevealed will of God. The child is not bound to obey the parent's command\nto sin,--to lie, steal, or neglect the means of grace; because these are\nexpress violations of God's law; and in such instances the authority of God\nsupersedes that of the parent. Obey God rather than man.\n\nBut, on the other hand, the obligation of the child is, to obey the parent\nin all things lawful and Christian. Where this is not done the Christian\nhome becomes a curse. What an evil is a refractory child! How often does\nthe parental eye weep in bitterness over such a child! How often have such\nchildren brought their parents down in sorrow to the grave! Let them think\nof this. Let parents think of this before it is too late. Let them think of\nthe fearful criminality which is attached to parental indulgence and filial\ndisobedience.\n\nWe may neglect and abuse the home-government in two ways, either by\nover-indulgence, or by the iron rod of tyranny. When we make it lax in its\nrestraints and requisitions, it becomes merely nominal, and its laws are\nnever enforced and obeyed. Often parents voluntarily relinquish their right\nand duty to rule their household; and as a consequence, their children\nabandon the duty of obedience, and grow up in a lawless state; or if they\ndo command, they never execute their commands, but leave all to the\ndiscretion of their children. They violate their laws with impunity, until\nall influence over them is lost, and the child becomes master of the\nparent. The self-will of the former takes the place of the authority of the\nlatter, until at last the home-government becomes a complete farce and\nmockery. Such parents are always making laws and giving commands; but never\nenforce them; they complain that they cannot get their children to obey\nthem; and this cannot is but the utterance and exponent of their\nunfaithfulness and disgrace.\n\nThe opposite abuse of home-government is parental despotism,--ruling with a\nrod of iron, making slaves of children, acting the unfeeling and heartless\ntyrant over them, assuming towards them attitudes of hard task-masters, and\nmaking them obey from motives of trembling, fear and dread.\n\nThere is no christianity in all this. It engenders in them the spirit of a\nslave; it roots out all confidence and love; their obedience becomes\ninvoluntary and mechanical. They shrink in silent dread from the presence\nof their parents, and long for the time when they can escape their galling\nyoke. The parental rod destroys the filial love and confidence. Hence the\nobedience of the latter is servile; and home loses its tender affections\nand sympathies, and becomes to them a workhouse, a confinement; its\nrestrictions are a yoke; its interests are repulsive, and all its natural\naffinities give way to complete alienation. The children of such homes,\nwhen grown up, are the most lawless and reckless, ready at once to pass\nover from extreme servitude to libertinism.\n\nThe government of the Christian home lies in a medium between these two\nextremes. It is mild, yet decisive, firm; not lawless, yet not despotic;\nbut combines in proper order and harmony, the true elements of parental\nauthority and filial subordination. Love and fear harmonize; the child\nfears because he loves; and is prompted to obedience by both. \"But give thy\nson his way, he will hate thee and scorn thee together.\"\n\nChristian parents! be faithful to the government of your household. Like\nAbraham, command your household. Without this, your children will be your\ncurse and the curse of the state. Wherever they go they will become the\nstandard-bearer of the turbulent, and brandish the torch of discord, until\nat last, perhaps, they will die in a dungeon or upon the gibbet. And then\nthe curse will recoil upon you. It will strike deep into your hearts. It\nwill come to you in the darkness of unfulfilled promises and blighted hopes\nand injured affections and desolated homes and wounded spirits and\ndisgraced names and infamous memories! And you, in the face of these, will\ngo down with bleeding sorrow to the grave, and up to the bar of God with\nthe blood of your children's destruction upon your skirts, its voice crying\nunto you from the grave of infamy and from the world of eternal\nretribution. You will then see the folly and the fruits of your diseased\naffection and misguided indulgence,--\n\n  \"A kindness,--most unkind, that hath always spared the rod;\n  A weak and numbing indecision in the mind that should be master;\n  A foolish love, pregnant of hate, that never frowned on sin;\n  A moral cowardice, that never dared command!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nHOME-DISCIPLINE.\n\n                      \"In ancient days,\n  There dwelt a sage called Discipline,\n  His eye was meek, and a smile\n  Played on his lips, and in his speech was heard\n  Paternal sweetness, dignity, and love.\n  The occupation dearest to his heart\n  Was to encourage goodness.\n  If e'er it chanced, as sometimes chance it must,\n  That one, among so many, overleaped\n  The limits of control, his gentle eye\n  Grew stern, and darted a severe rebuke,\n  His frown was full of terror, and his voice\n  Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe\n  As left him not, till penitence had won\n  Lost favor back again, and closed the breach.\"\n\n\nDiscipline involves the judicial and executive functions of the\nhome-government. It is the method of regulating and executing the\nprinciples and practice of government. It includes the rein and the rod,\nthe treatment of offences against the laws of home, the execution of the\nparental authority by the imposition of proper restraints upon the child.\nIt involves a reciprocity of duty,--the duty of the parent to correct, and\nthe duty of the child to submit. God has given this discipline; He has\ninvested the parent with power to execute it, and imposed upon the child\nthe obligation to live submissively under it.\n\nAll must admit the necessity of home-discipline. \"It must needs be that\noffense come.\" There is a corresponding needs be in the proper treatment of\nthese offenses when they do come. Law implies penalties; and the proper\ncharacter and execution of these are as essential to the true object and\nend of government as is the law itself. The former would he powerless\nwithout the latter. Through the agency of home-discipline the proper fear\nand love of the child are developed in due proportion and brought into\nproper relations to each other, making the fear filial and the love\nreverential. There is, therefore, the same call for discipline in the\nfamily as there is in the state and the church. It is the condition of true\nharmony between, the parent and child. \"The child that is used to\nconstraint, feareth not more than he loveth; but give thy son his way, he\nwill hate thee and scorn thee together.\"\n\nIt is necessary because God commands it; and He commands it because it is\nindispensable to the security and well-being of the child, and, we might\nadd, of the state and the church. \"Withhold not correction from the child;\nfor if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat\nhim with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. He that spareth his\nrod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.\"\nChildren are by nature depraved, and if left to themselves, will choose\nevil rather than good; hence, as foolishness is bound up in the heart of a\nchild, the rod of correction must be used to drive them from it. He must be\nrestrained, corrected, educated under law. In the language of Cowper--\n\n  \"Plants raised with tenderness are seldom strong;\n  Man's coltish disposition asks the thong;\n  And without discipline, the favorite child,\n  Like a neglected forester, runs wild.\"\n\nThere are two false systems of home-discipline, viz., the despotism of\ndiscipline, or discipline from the standpoint of law without love; and the\nlibertinism of discipline, or discipline from the standpoint of love\nwithout law.\n\nHome-discipline from the standpoint of law without love, involves the\nprinciple of parental despotism. It is extreme legal severity, and consists\nin the treatment of children as if they were brutes, using no other mode of\ncorrection than that of direct corporeal punishment. This but hardens them,\nand begets a roughness of nature and spirit like the discipline under which\nthey are brought up. Many parents seek to justify such mechanical severity\nby the saying of Solomon, \"he that spareth the rod spoileth the child.\" But\ntheir interpretation of this does not show the wisdom of the wise man.\nThey suppose the term rod, must mean the iron rod of the unfeeling and\nunloving despot. Not so; God has a rod for all His children; but it is the\nrod of a compassionate Father, and does not always inflict corporeal\npunishment. It is exercised because He loves them, not because He delights\nin revenge and in their misery. He uses it, not to have them obey Him from\nfear of punishment, not to force them into a slavish service, and to cause\nthem to shrink with trembling awe from His presence; but to correct their\nfaults by drawing them to Him in fond embrace, in grateful penitence and\nhopeful reformation, under the deep conviction that every stroke of His rod\nwas the work of love, forcing from them a kiss for His rod, and a blessing\nfor His hand, the utterance of a sanction for His deed, \"It was good for me\nthat I was afflicted!\"\n\nThis rod is very different, however, from that of the despot beneath whom\nthe child crouches with trembling dread, and under the influence of whom he\nbecomes, like the down-trodden subject, servile, brutish and rebellious.\nYou will reap bitter fruits from such a discipline, which is but the\nexponent of the letter of the law without its spirit, and which has nothing\nfor the child but the scowl and the frown and the cruel lash. You might as\nwell seek to \"gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles,\" as to reap\nfrom it a true reformation and religious training. Your child will be\ntrained to hate the law, to despise authority, and to regard his obedience\nas a compromise of true liberty. He will, therefore, seek liberty only in\nthe usurpation of law and government. He will contemn love, because where\nit should have been disinterested, and shown in its greatest tenderness and\npurity,--in the parent's heart, it was abused and silenced.\n\nThat discipline, therefore, which is ever magnifying trifles, finding\nfault, scolding and storming, and threatening and whipping, and falling\nupon the child, like the continual dropping of rain in a winter day, casts\na withering gloom over home, makes it repulsive to the child, gives to the\nparent a forbidding aspect, until the children become provoked to wrath,\nand regard their home as a prison, their life as a slavery, and long for\nthe time when they may leave home and parents forever. Such discipline\nmakes the reign of the parent a reign of terror. It reminds one of the laws\nof Draco, written in blood. It produces in the child a broken spirit, a\nreckless desperation, a hardened contumacy, a deep and sullen melancholy, a\nmental and moral hardihood which prepares him for deeds of outrage upon law\nand humanity. It is unnatural, revolting to human nature, to beat and\ncrush, as if with an iron rod, the tender child of our hearts and hopes. It\nextinguishes natural affection; and no subsequent kindness can rekindle the\nflame. The child becomes forever alienated, and bears the curse of its\nmaltreatment upon its character and destiny. \"Ye parents, provoke not your\nchildren to anger, lest they should be discouraged.\"\n\nThe following quaint anecdote is a good commentary upon such discipline: A\nblacksmith brought up his son, to whom he was very severe, to his own\ntrade. The urchin was, nevertheless, an audacious dog. One day the old\nvulcan was attempting to harden a cold chisel which he had made of foreign\nsteel, but could not succeed; \"horsewhip it, father,\" exclaimed the youth,\n\"if that will not harden it, nothing will!\"\n\nNothing justifies such cruel discipline. It results in depravity of life.\nThe most notorious criminals began their career under the lash of parental\ncruelty. If rods and stripes and cries and tears and cruel beating are the\nfirst lessons of life we are to learn, then we shall be educated in as well\nas by these. The Europeans surpass all other nations in cruelty to their\noffspring. The Arab is tender to his children, and rules them by kindness\nand caresses. He restrains them by the corrections of wisely exerted love.\nCruelty does not become the Christian home. It is revolting to see a parent\nstand with a rod over his child, to make him read the bible or say his\nprayers. You cannot whip religion into a child. This is opposite to\nhumanity and religion.\n\nHome-discipline from the standpoint of love without law, is the second\nfalse system which we have mentioned, and involves the principle of\nparental libertinism. It does not consist so much in the want as in the\nneglect and abuse of discipline. The restraints may be sufficient, and the\nthreats abundant, but they are never executed. When the children disobey,\nthe parents may flounder and storm, loud and long, but all ends in words,\nin a storm of passion or whining complaint, and the child is thus\nencouraged to repeat the misconduct, feeling that his parents have no\nrespect for their word. Such a home becomes scolding, but not an orderly\nhome.\n\n                       \"Discipline at length,\n  O'erlooked and unemployed, grow sick and died,\n  Then study languished, emulation slept,\n  And virtue fled. What was learned,\n  If aught was learned in childhood, is forgot;\n  And such expense as pinches parents blue,\n  And mortifies the liberal hand of love,\n  Is squandered in pursuit of idle sports\n  And vicious pleasures.\"\n\nParents, through their misguided sympathy, often connive at filial\ndisobedience. Their kindness is most unkind. Their parental love issues\nforth as a mere burst of feeling, unguided by either reason or law. Hence,\ntheir sentimental hearts become an asylum for filial delinquency and\ncriminality. This is no proof of love, but the opposite; for \"he that\nspareth the rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him\nbetimes.\" Love will thus prompt the parent to chasten his son while there\nis hope. Eli was an example of extreme parental indulgence. \"His sons made\nthemselves vile, and he restrained them not.\" It was the defect also of\nDavid's discipline, and the fruit of this defect caused him to cry out in\nbitter anguish, \"Oh Absalom, my son, my son, would to God I had died for\nthee!\"\n\nThat parent who cannot restrain his children, does not bear rule in his\nhouse, and as a consequence, cannot bless his household. That parental\ntenderness which withholds the proper restraints of discipline from an\nerring child, is most cruel and ruinous. It is winking at his wayward\ntemper, his licentious passions and growing habits of vice. And these, in\ntheir terrible maturity, will recoil upon the deluded parent, \"biting like\na serpent and stinging like an adder.\" Nothing is more ruinous to a child\nand disastrous to the hopes and happiness of home, than such relaxation of\ndiscipline. \"A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.\" How\nmany mothers have bitterly experienced this, and wept bitter tears over the\nmemory of their degraded and wretched offspring! It is ruinous to the\nparent. He will both curse and despise thee. Your unlawful indulgence,\ntherefore, is infanticide. Your cruel embraces are hugging your child to\ndeath. The sentiment of love should never crush the reason and violate the\nlaws of love. Do you permit your sick to die rather than to inflict the\npain of giving them the medicine to cure? This would be madness. And yet\nyou do a similar deed when you indulge your child in wickedness. He will\ngrow up lawless, headstrong, rebellious; and these may lead him on to\npoverty, infamy, crime and perdition, ending thus in total shipwreck of\ncharacter and soul. You thus make for society bad members, drunkards,\nblackguards, paupers, criminals; and furnish fuel for the eternal burnings.\nAnd will not the curse rest upon you?\n\nIt is wonderful to what an extent this extreme indulgence prevails at the\npresent day. Many parents seem insensible even to the necessity of any\ndiscipline, and think it is an infringement upon the liberties of the\nchild. Mistaken parents! Such views are opposed to the laws of God and man.\nBy them you sow for yourselves and children the seeds of a future\nretribution.\n\nThus we see that there are two dangerous extremes or false systems of\nhome-discipline, viz., the exercise of parental fondness and sympathy\nwithout parental authority, on the one hand, and the exercise of parental\nauthority without proper sympathy, on the other. Misguided sympathy and\nfondness will produce filial libertinism; and despotic authority will beget\nfilial servility.\n\nTrue Christian home-discipline lies in a medium between these. It involves\nthe union of true parental sympathy and authority, of proper love and\nproper law; for affection, when not united to authority and law,\ndegenerates into sentimental fondness; and authority and law, when, not\ntempered with love, degenerate into brutal tyranny, and produce inward\nservility and outward bondage. The parents who are, in discipline, prompted\nby the first, may be loved, but will not be respected. Those who are ruled\nby the second, may be dreaded, but will not be loved. The first does\nviolence to law, and ends in the insubordination of the child and the\nimbecility of the parent. The second does violence to love, makes duty a\ntask, correction a corporeal punishment, the child a slave, the parent a\ndespot, and ends consequently in the destruction of natural affection.\nHence, in home-discipline, true severity and true sympathy should unite and\ntemper each other. Without this the very ends proposed will be frustrated.\n\nTrue home-discipline repudiates the legal idea of punishment as much as of\nimpunity. It lies in a medium between these, and involves the idea of\nChristian correction or chastisement. We should correct, but not punish our\nchildren. Correction is not the mere execution of legal penalties as such,\nbut the fruit of Christian love and concern for the child. It does not mean\nsimple corporeal chastisement, but moral restraints. The impunity is the\nfruit of love without law; the corporeal punishment is the execution of law\nwithout love; Christian correction is the interposition of love acting\naccording to law in restraining the child. Hence, true discipline is the\ncorrection of the child by the love of the parent, according to the laws of\nhome-government.\n\nAbraham instituted in his household a model system of home-discipline. \"I\nknow him,\" says God, \"that he will command his children and his household\nafter him, and they shall keep the ways of the Lord to do justice and\njudgment.\" He was not a tyrant; his comrades did not bear the rough\nsternness of a despot, neither did his power wear the scowl of vengeance.\nBut these bore the firmness and decision of love tempered and directed by\nthe law of Christian duty and responsibility. They showed his station as a\nfather; they wore the exponent of his authority as a parent, whose love was\na safeguard against tyranny on the one hand, and whose accountability to\nGod was a security against anarchy, on the other. Hence, his children\nrespected his station, venerated his name, appreciated his love, confided\nin his sympathy, and yielded a voluntary obedience to his commands; for\nthey discerned in them the blessing; and when offenses came, they bent in\nthe spirit of loving submission and pupilage, under his rod of correction,\nand kissed it as the means of their reformation and culture.\n\nThus does home-discipline involve the firmness of parental authority united\nwith the mildness of parental love. Love should hold the reins and use the\nrod. Then it will purify and elevate natural affection, and develop in the\nchild a sense of proper fear, without either disrespectful familiarity or\nmechanical servitude.\n\nThe efficiency of home-discipline depends upon its early introduction, upon\nthe decision with which it is administered, upon its adaptation to the real\nwants of the child, and upon the manner in which it is applied.\n\nIt should be commenced in due season, as soon as the child can understand\nits meaning and object. The child should be made to understand that he\nlives under authority and restraint. This will prepare him for a profitable\ncorrection when necessary. The great fault of many parents is that they\nbegin too late to correct their children, and leave them until then in\nignorance of its nature and intent. Hence, the child will not appreciate\nthe parent's motive, and will lack that pliability of spirit which is\nessential to reformation. \"The sceptre,\" says James, in his Family Monitor,\n\"should be seen by him before the rod; and an early, judicious and steady\nexhibition of the former, would render the latter almost unnecessary. He\nmust be made to submit, and that while young, and then submission will\nbecome a habit; the reins must be felt by him early, and he will thus learn\nto obey them.\"\n\nHome-discipline should be steady, uniform, consistent and reasonable. Both\nparents and children should be guided by the dictates of reason and\nreligion. It should not be administered by the caprice of passion, nor\nreceived in the spirit of insubordination. It should be prompted by a\nparent's heart, and inflicted by a parent's hand. Convince the recreant\nchild that you correct him from motives of love, and for his own good. Let\nreason and love be at the bottom of every chastisement; let them hold the\nreins and guide the rod; and when the latter is used, let it be from\nnecessity. Lay no injunction upon your child without the ensurance of a\ncompliance.\n\nYour discipline should never involve impossibilities or uncertainties;\nneither should you permit your child to sport with your injunctions. Every\ncommand should produce either obedience or correction. You should be firm\nin the infliction of a threatened chastisement, and faithful in the\nfulfilment of a promise to reward. Many parents are always scolding,\nthreatening and promising, but never execute and fulfil. As a consequence\nthey run from one extreme of discipline to another.\n\nIn home-discipline, parents should act harmoniously and cooperate with each\nother. They should be of one mind and of one heart, and equally bear the\nburden. The one should not oppose the discipline which the other is\nadministering. This destroys its effect, and leaves the child in a state of\nindecision, leading to prejudice against one or the other of the parents.\nIt too often happens that parents thus take opposite sides,--the father too\nsevere perhaps, and the mother too indulgent. Thus divided, their house\nmust fall. Nothing is more ruinous to the child than for the mother to\ncounteract by soothing opiates, the admonitions of the father. Children\nsoon see this, and will as soon hate their father. When one parent thus\nholds the reins without the rod, and the other uses the rod without the\nreins, the very ends of discipline are frustrated. Sometimes the child is\ngiven over to the mother exclusively till a certain age, when the father\nbegins to act without the mother. This is wrong. A child is never too young\nto be ruled by the father, and never too old to come under the softening\ninfluence of the mother.\n\nDiscipline should be administered with impartiality. Never make one child\na favorite. Favoritism and consequent indulgence, will produce prejudice\nagainst the other children. It will introduce dissension among them. This\nis unworthy the Christian parent and his home. The history of Jacob and\nJoseph, as regards both the subject and the victim of parental favoritism,\nis a warning against such partiality. It produces, pride, envy, jealousy,\nfamily broils and strife, in which even the parents take a part, and by\nwhich the husband is often set against his wife, parents against children,\nand children against each other.\n\nCorrection is an essential element of true discipline. \"The rod and the\nreproof give wisdom.\" There are two things in correction,--the reins and\nthe whip, or the command and the chastisement. The one should not take the\nplace of the other. The scepter must not be converted into a whip. If the\nreins are properly held and used, the whip need scarcely ever be required.\nIf the child is timely and properly trained, commanded and chided, he will\nnot require much chastisement,--perhaps no corporeal punishment. It is\nbetter to prevent crimes than to punish them; for prevention is more than\ncure.\n\nHence the first thing in discipline is timely and wholesome command. Guide\nand train your child properly, and you need seldom resort to coercion.\nTraining and leading are better than forcing. By the former you establish a\nhabit of systematic obedience which will soon become a pleasure to the\nchild. By the latter you jade and vex and burden him. But when the reins\nwill not do alone, then the whip must be resorted to. And the question at\nonce arises, what kind of a whip? We answer, not such as you use to your\nhorses and oxen in the team,--not the horse-whip. Corporeal punishment\nshould be used only as a last resort, when all other corrections have\nfailed, when the child becomes an outlaw, and his reprobate heart can be\nreached only through the infliction of bodily pain. As a general thing it\nis even then unavailing, because too mechanical to produce permanent good,\nand not adapted to mental and moral reformation.\n\nSometimes, however, there is necessity in the use of this rod. \"Every\nchild,\" says Dr. South, \"has some brute in it, and some man in it, and just\nin proportion to the brute we must whip it.\" When thus necessary we should\nnot shrink from this kind of correction. \"It is pusillanimity, as well as\nfolly, to shrink from the crushing of the egg, but to wait composedly for\nthe hatching of the viper.\" Yet, on the other hand, in the language of Dr.\nBell, \"a maximum of attainment can be made only by a minimum of\npunishment.\"\n\nIn the discipline of home, whether by guidance or by forcing, whether by\nthe rein or the rod, much depends upon the manner in which it is\nadministered. It should always be adapted to the peculiar character and\noffense of the child. You can restrain some children better by kind words\nand promises than by rough admonitions and threats. Study, therefore, the\npeculiarities of your child, and prudently apportion the correction to the\noffense. If there are sincere penitence and confession, the correction\nshould be purely moral. Let the object of every correction be to produce\npenitence and reformation of heart as well as of conduct, and a hatred of\nthe offense. Always execute your threats and fulfill your promises at the\ntime and on the occasion designated. Threaten as little as possible, and be\nnot hasty in your threats. Treat your children as rational and moral\nbeings:\n\n  \"Be obeyed when thou commandest, but command not often;\n  Spare not, if thy word hath passed for punishment;\n  Let not thy child see thee humbled, nor learn to think thee\n  false.\"\n\nAlways examine the offense before you punish. See whether it is of\nignorance or not,--whether of the head or the heart,--whether intentional\nor accidental. Examine his motives in committing the offense. If you find\nhe merits correction, before you inflict it, lay before him the nature and\nenormity of the offense, wherein he disobeyed, the guilt of that\ndisobedience, its consequences, and your duty to correct him for it.\n\nNever correct in a state of anger. Some correct only when they are in a\nviolent passion. This is ruling from passion, not from principle. It is\nlike administering medicine scalding hot, which rather burns than cures. Be\njudicious and kind in all your discipline; otherwise you may engender in\nyour child the very propensities and improprieties of action you desire to\neradicate. A mild rebuke in the season of calmness, is better than a rod\nin the heat of passion. Let your children know and see that all your\ndiscipline is for their own good,--to arrest them from danger and ruin, and\nto train them up in the way God would have them go. Let your words and\ndeeds show this in the form of parental kindness and sympathy and\nsolicitude. This will do more than the angry look, the stormy threat, and\nthe cruel lash.\n\n  \"By kindness the wolf and the zebra become docile as the spaniel and the\n    horse;\n  The kite feedeth with the starling under the law of kindness;\n  That law shall tame the fiercest, bring down the battlements of pride,\n  Cherish the weak, control the strong, and win the fearful spirit.\n  Let thy carriage be the gentleness of love, not the stern front of\n    tyranny.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nHOME-EXAMPLE.\n\n                  \"Example strikes\n  All human hearts! A bad example more;\n  More still a father's!\"\n\n\nExample has much to do with the interests of home. It plays an important\npart in the formation of character; and its influence is felt more than\nthat of precept. Our object in this chapter is to show the bearing of\nexample upon the well-being of the Christian home. Example may be good or\nbad. Its power arises out of the home-confidence and authority. Children\npossess an imitative disposition. They look up to their parents as the\npattern or model of their character, and conclude what they do is right and\nworthy of their imitation. Hence the parental example may lead the child to\nhappiness or to ruin.\n\n  \"Lo! thou art a landmark on a hill; thy little ones copy thee in all\n    things.\n  Show me a child undutiful, I shall know where to look for a foolish\n    father;\n  But how can that son reverence an example he dare not follow?\n  Should he imitate thee in thine evil? his scorn is thy rebuke.\"\n\nThe power and influence of the home-example are incalculable. Example is\nteaching by action. By it the child inherits the spirit and character of\nthe parent. Such is its influence that you can estimate the parent by the\nchild. Show me a child, polite, courteous, refined, moral and honorable in\nall his sentiments and conduct; and I will point you to a well-conducted\nnursery, to noble and high-minded parents, faithful to their offspring.\nTheirs is a holy and a happy home; and the blessing of God rests upon it.\nBut on the other hand, in the wayward, dissolute child I discern unfaithful\nparents who have no respect for religion, and who take no interest in the\nspiritual welfare of their children. Thus the child is a living commentary\nupon its home and its parents. The fruits of the latter will be seen in the\ncharacter of the former. The child is the moral reproduction of the parent.\nHence the pious parent is rewarded in his child, and the immoral parent is\ncursed in his child. Whatsoever thou sowest in thy child, that shalt thou\nalso reap.\n\n[Illustration: Sunshine of Youth.]\n\nThe precepts of home are unavailing unless enforced by a corresponding\nexample. Nothing is so forcible and encouraging as the \"Follow me.\" It\nproves sincerity and earnestness; and is adapted to the imitative capacity\nand disposition of the child. It is all-commanding and resistless. Says\nSolomon, \"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his\nfriend.\" Says Paul \"It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor\nanything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.\"\nSays Shakspeare, \"One drunkard loves another of the name.\" Says Dr. Young--\n\n  \"Ambition fires ambition; love of gain\n  Strikes like a pestilence from breast to breast;\n  Riot, pride, perfidy, blue vapor's breath;\n  And inhumanity is caught from man,\n  From smiling man.\"\n\nIf such is the influence of example, we must admit the necessity of a true\nChristian example in the family. It is necessary because it is the\ncondition of the efficacy of home-precepts. \"During the minority of reason,\nimitation is the regent of the soul, and they who are least swayed by\nargument are most governed by example.\" We learn from example before we can\nspeak. Hence if we would have our children walk in the way of God's\ncommandments, we must go before them; we must take the lead; we must\nexemplify in our action what we incorporate in our oral instructions; our\nlight must shine not only upon, but before them; they must see our good\nworks as well as hear our good precepts. Said a man once to J.A. James, \"I\nowe everything under God, to the eminent and consistent piety of my father.\nSo thoroughly consistent was he, that I could find nothing in the smallest\ndegree at variance with his character as a professor of religion. This kept\nits hold upon me.\" It was the means of his conversion to God.\n\nThus children readily discern any discrepancy between a parent's teaching\nand example. If we are professors of religion, and they see us\nworldly-minded, grasping after riches, pleasures and honors; the dupes of\nungodly fashion, manifesting a malicious spirit, indolent, prayerless, and\nindifferent to their spiritual welfare, what do they infer but that we are\nhypocrites, and will our precepts then do them any good? No. \"Line upon\nline and precept upon precept\" will be given to no purpose. Hence the\nnecessity of enforcing our precepts by Christian deportment. Speak in an\nangry tone before your child; and what will it avail for you to admonish\nhim against anger? Many parents express surprise that all they can say to\ntheir children does no good; they remain stubborn, self-willed and\nrecreant.\n\nBut if these parents will look at what they have done as well as said, they\nwill perhaps be less surprised. They may find a solution of the problem in\ntheir own capricious disposition, turbulent passions and ungodly walk. The\nchild will soon discard a parent's precepts when they are not enforced by a\nparent's example. Hence that parent who ruins his own soul can do but\nlittle for the soul of his child. The blasphemer and sabbath-breaker is\nunfit to correct his child, for swearing and sabbath-breaking. He alone who\ndoeth the truth can teach his children truth. He only who has good habits\ncan teach his children good habits. \"Who loves,\" says William Jay, \"to take\nhis meat from a leprous hand?\" A drunkard will make a poor preacher of\nsobriety. A proud, passionate father is a wretched recommender of humility\nand meekness to his children. What those who are under his care, see, will\nmore than counteract what they hear; and all his efforts will be rejected\nwith the question, \"Thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?\"\nHence parents should say to their children, \"Be ye followers of me, even as\nI also am of Christ.\" Their example should include all their precepts. In\nthis way they both hear and see religion in its living, moving and\nbreathing form before them. They should thus go in and out before them,\nleading them step by step to heaven.\n\n  \"As a bird each fond endearment tries\n  To tempt her new-fledged offspring to the skies,\n  They tried each art, reproved each dull delay,\n  Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way!\"\n\nIt is also necessary because of its adaptation to the capacities and\nimitative disposition of children. They judge by the organs of sense, and\nby their perceptions of truth through externals. Naked abstract truth does\nnot sufficiently interest them. They are pleased with history, narrative,\nillustration, more than with philosophy. They are awake to the first and\nreceive from them a lasting impression; while the impression made by the\nsecond is dreamy and ephemeral. They will never forget your example because\nit is adapted to their taste and capacity. Long after they have forgotten\nyour precepts upon the duty and privilege of prayer, will they remember\nyour prayers; and long after the influence of the former has faded, will\nthat of the latter rule and allure them to God. Hence the necessity of a\nChristian home-example. \"If any have children or nephews, let them learn\nfirst to show piety at home.\"\n\nIf such, then, are its influence and necessity, we can easily infer the\nduty of parents to show their children a Christian example. If they form\ntheir character upon the approved model of their parents, then the duty to\ngive them a Christian model is very obvious. They will rather follow your\nungodly example than obey your godly precepts. \"To give children,\" says\nArchbishop Tillotson, \"good instruction and a bad example, is but beckoning\nto them with the head to show them the way to heaven--while you take them\nby the hand to lead them in the way to hell.\"\n\nThis duty is, therefore, enforced by the most powerful motives. The\ninfluence and benefit of a pious example; the promised rewards attending\nit; the deep curse that attends its absence; the misery which a bad example\nentails upon all the members of the Christian household; and especially the\nfruits of both a good and bad example, in eternity,--all these\nconsiderations should prompt you to the faithful performance of this duty.\nIf the members of your household may he ruined here by a bad example, what\nwill be its consequences in the eternal world?\n\n                          \"If men of good lives,\n  Who, by their virtuous actions, stir up others\n  To noble and religious imitation,\n  Receive the greater glory after death\n  As sin must needs confess; what may they feel\n  In height of torment, and in weight of vengeance,\n  Not only they themselves not doing well,\n  But set a light up to show men to hell?\"\n\nWe see a similar inducement to this duty in the blessings and rewards of a\npious example. Its blessings are unspeakable both here and hereafter. The\ntemporal and eternal welfare of your home, the hope of meeting your\nchildren in heaven, and receiving there the promised reward of your\nstewardship, depend upon this duty. That family is happy as wall as holy,\nwhere the parents rear up their children under the fostering influence of a\nChristian example.\n\n  \"Behold his little ones around him! they bask in the sunshine of smile;\n  And infant innocence and joy lighten these happy faces;\n  He is holy, and they honor him; he is loving; and they love him;\n  He is consistent, and they esteem him; he is firm, and they fear him.\n  His house is the palace of peace; for the Prince of peace is there.\n  Even so, from the bustle of life, he goeth to his well-ordered home.\"\n\nA serious obstacle to the efficacy of a good example is, the too frequent\nwant of agreement in the example of the parents. That of the father often\nconflicts with and neutralizes that of the mother. They are not one in\ntheir example. This the children soon see, and disregard the good rather\nthan the bad example. \"How can two walk together except they he agreed?\"\nThe child cannot follow the pious father in the way of life, when the\nungodly mother secretly and openly draws him back. Operated upon by two\nopposite influences, he will move between them.\n\nWe are here taught the imprudence, and we might add, sin, of pious persons\nforming a matrimonial alliance with wicked and ungodly persons. In the\nchoice of a companion for life, we should consider an agreement in\nreligious as well as in social character. How many unhappy matches and\nhomes and children and parents have been made by disobedience to the divine\nprecept, \"Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers?\" Isaac and Rebecca\nshowed their appreciation of this precept in the care they took to procure\na pious wife for Jacob. \"I am weary of my life,\" says Rebecca, \"because of\nthe daughters of Heth; if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such\nas these, what good shall my life do me?\" This should be the solicitude of\nevery Christian parent. Parents should possess unanimity of spirit and\npractice in making up and giving the home-example. They should walk\nunitedly, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, in all the ordinances and statutes\nof the Lord blameless.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nTHE CHOICE OF PURSUITS.\n\n  \"For what then was I born? to fill the circling year\n  With daily toil for daily bread, with sordid pains and pleasures?\n  To walk this chequered world, alternate light and darkness,\n  The day-dreams of deep thought followed by the night-dreams of fancy?\n  To be one in a full procession?--to dig my kindred clay?\n  To decorate the gallery of art? to clear a few acres of forest?\n  For more than these, my soul, thy God hath lent thee life!\"\n\n\nThe choice of positions and pursuits in life is one important and\nresponsible mission of home. Children look up to their parents to aid them\nin this. They are to have them prepared for a useful citizenship in the\nstate. Life demands that each of us, in obedience to the law of\nself-preservation and of our relations to human society, prepare for some\nuseful occupation, not only for a livelihood, but also for the benefit of\nthe state. The duty and the interest of the parent are to bring up the\nchild to such a pursuit as is best adapted to his circumstances and\nabilities. Our character, success and happiness in life, depend upon our\nobedience to this law of adaptation.\n\nAs such pursuits are chosen and prepared for, while under the guardian care\nof our parents, it is evident they should take an active part both in the\nchoice and the preparation. They are responsible for these as far as their\ninfluence extends. It is their duty to afford their children aid in\nchoosing and preparing for a useful and appropriate occupation, to fit them\nfor the circumstances in which the Providence of God may place them, and to\neducate them for an efficient citizenship in the state.\n\nThis is but developing the principle of self-preservation in the child, and\nfitting him for a proper adherence to it in after life. The home prepares\nthe individual for his legitimate position in the state as well as in the\nchurch; and this implies not only his education in the principles and\npractice of virtue and religion, but also in some useful and appropriate\npursuit, by which he may meet the wants and prepare for the exigencies of\nlife. To rear up your children therefore, in idleness and ignorance of any\nuseful occupation, is not only doing great injustice to the child, but also\nto human society, subjecting her to expenditure and corruption in the\nsupport and influence of paupers and criminals. Every child should learn\nsome trade or profession in order to self-subsistence and to the prosperity\nand well-being of the state.\n\nHence it is a breach of moral obligation for parents, whether rich or\npoor, to permit their children to grow up in idleness and vagrancy. If they\ndo so, and as a consequence, drag out an impoverished and miserable\nexistence, struggling between the importunities of want and those\nprecarious contingencies upon which its satisfaction is suspended; and in\nthe hour of despair and urgent necessity, they resort to crime in order to\nmeet their wants, or to dissipation in order to avert their wretchedness\nfor a time, is it not plain that their parents are responsible to God for\nall their crime and misery?\n\nNothing will, therefore, justify them in their omission of this duty. No\namount of inherited wealth; no dependence upon wealthy relatives; no\nhonorable station in society, will excuse them from training up their\nchildren to some useful employment by which, if circumstances demand, they\nmay secure a subsistence. And even if their legacy render it unnecessary to\nbe followed in order to subsistence, it is a duty which is due to the\nstate. No man can with impunity live in the state without some employment.\nThis would be an infringement upon her rights and an abuse of her\nprivileges. The individual, with all his wealth and talents, belongs to the\nstate, and should, therefore, make such an appropriation of these as will\nbe most conducive to its welfare.\n\nAnd besides, we know not what disastrous changes may take place in life.\nThe parental legacy may soon be squandered by the child, and he be left\nwithout funds or friends; the emergencies of the future may increase\nbeyond all anticipation; sickness and manifold adversities may soon sweep\naway all his inheritance. And then what will become of your child if he is\nignorant of any pursuit in which to engage for a subsistence? Besides, it\nis a matter of very common observation, that those who receive a large\nlegacy and have been brought up in idleness, become prodigal in their\nexpenditure, and squander their fortune by dissipation more rapidly than\ntheir parents amassed it by industry and frugality; and then, ignorant and\nhelpless and profligate, they eke out a wretched existence in abject\npoverty, resorting to illegitimate means for a living, until the last\nfruits of their improper training may be seen in the state's prison or upon\nthe gibbet.\n\nHistory will afford ample illustration of this. From it we may easily infer\nthe duty of parental interposition. The Athenians expressed their sense of\nthis duty in the enactment of a law that, if parents did not qualify their\nchildren for securing a livelihood by having them learn some occupation,\nthe child was not bound to make provision for the parent when old and\nnecessitous.\n\nIn the selection of an occupation for his children, the parent should\nconsult their taste and talents and circumstances, and choose for them a\npursuit adapted to these. If his child is better suited for a mechanical\npursuit, he should direct his attention to it, and educate him for it. And\nthus in all respects he should obey the great law of correspondence between\nthe taste and capacity of the child, and the occupation to be chosen for\nhim.\n\nThe violation of this law does great injury to the child and to society,\ninasmuch as it prevents his success and contentment, and floods the state\nwith quacks and humbuggery. The parent should never compel the child to\nlearn a trade or profession which he dislikes, and for which he shows no\ntalents. Many parents, through a false pride, force their children into a\nprofession for which they have neither inclination nor capacity. While the\nparent has a right to interfere in the choice of a pursuit, his\ninterference should not be arbitrary, neither should it run counter to the\nwill of the child unless for special moral and religious reasons, or on\naccount of inability to gratify him. However, this is often done. Even\nthough they acknowledge their unfitness for a profession, yet their\nmisguided pride prompts them to drag their children into a calling which in\nafter life they disgrace.\n\nSome parents, on the other hand, through a penurious spirit, refuse to aid\ntheir sons in their preparation for a profession for which their talents\neminently qualify them. They refuse to educate their sons for the ministry\nbecause it is not a lucrative calling, though they give evidence of both\nmental and moral adaptation for that holy office. Others, through a blind\nzeal and a false pride, force their sons into this sacred calling. Mistaken\nparents! rather let your children break stone upon the road, or dig in the\nearth, yea, rather let them beg their bread, than thrust them into an\noccupation to which God has not called them, and for which they have\nneither inclination nor talents, and in which they would, perhaps, not only\nruin their own souls, but contribute to the damnation of others. \"There are\ndiversities of gifts and of operations.\" All are not called nor fitted for\nthe ministry. Children soon give indications of specific talents and\nsuitableness for a calling in life. We should critically observe their\nearly propensities. These will indicate their peculiar talents. Unfit for\nand disliking an occupation, they will become unsettled, and dissatisfied,\nand at best will be but mimics and quacks. Their business will make them\nsullen slaves. It is because of parental disobedience to this law of\nadaptation that we have so much humbuggery in the world at the present day.\nStudy, therefore, the infantile predilections of your children to\nparticular employments. These will be an index to their providential\ncalling, and should govern your choice for them.\n\nThe social position of the child should also be considered. If possible,\nthe character of his pursuits should not conflict with those social\nelements in which he has been reared up. It should not detract from his\nstanding in society, nor disrupt his associations in life. Many parents,\nfor the sake of money, will refuse to educate and fit their children for\nsustaining the position they hold in society. They bring them up in\nignorance, and devote them exclusively to Mammon; and then when thrown\nupon their own resources they are qualified neither in manners nor in\npursuit for a continuance in those peculiar relations to society which they\nat first sustained.\n\nThe exigencies of the child should also be considered. If his home can\nafford him no patrimony, it is then more important to consider the\nlucrative character of the pursuit chosen, and also the demands of that\nsocial position he is to maintain in life. Its profits should then be fully\nadequate to these demands, and suited to the emergencies which are peculiar\nto his circumstances. The capital required to engage in it, and its bearing\nupon the health of body and mind, should also be regarded. This is an\nimportant consideration, and not sufficiently attended to by parents. How\nmany children are forced into employments which they have not the means of\ncarrying on, and for which their state of health altogether unfits them! A\npursuit involving sedentary habits does not suit a child whose state of\nhealth demands exercise.\n\nYou should make choice of but one pursuit for your child, and discourage in\nhim the American tendency to be \"jack of all trades.\" One occupation,\nwhatever it may be, whether trade or profession, if properly pursued, will\ndemand all his energies, and give him no time to follow another; and\nbesides, it will afford him an ample subsistence. There is much truth in\nthe two old and quaint adages, \"jack of all trades, and master of none;\"\n\"he has too many irons in the fire,--some of them must burn!\" Show your\nchildren the truth and application of these.\n\nBut while this is one extreme, and detrimental to the interests of the\nchild, its opposite extreme, viz., that of bringing up the child to no\npursuit whatever, is still more injurious. We had better have too many\nirons in the fire than none at all. It is a base and cowardly desertion of\nduty to shrink from the task of human occupation. Constituted as human\nsociety is, the members of it being mutually dependent upon each other for\nsupport, it is evident that our happiness materially depends upon the\nactive concurrence of each individual in the general system of social\nwell-being. He who withholds, therefore, his cooperation and stands aloof\nfrom all employment, destroys a link in that chain of things by which the\nfabric of society is kept together and preserved. He is unfaithful to those\nsacred obligations which arise out of our relations to the state and the\nchurch, and he abuses those inalienable rights with which God has invested\nthe social compact. Besides, he fails to meet those conditions upon which\nthe vigorous development of individual life and character depends.\nIndolence is no friend either to physical, mental or moral development. The\nbody becomes imbecile, the spirit supine and sentimental, the morals\nvitiated, and the mind sinks into complete puerility. Activity is a law of\nall life, and the condition of its healthy development and maturity.\nWithout it we resort to jejune amusement, and from amusement we are hurried\non to dissipation, to the card table and dram shop; and from dissipation\nwe sink to degradation, infamy and wretchedness. Idleness is thus the\nfruitful mother of vice and misery. Our lives cannot exist in a state of\nneutrality between active good and active evil. It is, therefore, the duty\nof the Christian home to prepare her young members for some useful calling\nin life, not only as a means of subsistence, but also as a safeguard\nagainst the evils of idleness.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nTHE HOME-PARLOR.\n\n  \"The foolish floatiness of vanity, and solemn trumperies of pride,--\n  Harmful copings with the better, and empty-headed apings of the worse;\n  Vapid pleasures, the weariness of gaiety, the strife and bustle of\n    the world;\n  The hollowness of courtesies, and substance of deceits, idleness and\n    pastime--\n  All these and many more alike, thick conveying fancies,\n  Flit in throngs about my theme, as honey-bees at even to their hives!\"\n\n\nThe Christian home includes the parlor. This department we must give but a\nbrief and passing notice. Yet it is as important and responsible as the\nnursery. In it we have a view of the relations of home to society beyond\nit. The parlor is set apart for social communion with the world. Much of\nmomentous interest is involved in this relation. The choice of companions,\nthe forming of attachments and matrimonial alliances, the establishment of\nsocial position and influence in life beyond the family,--these are all\ninvolved in the home-parlor.\n\nIf we would, therefore, escape the shackles and contamination of corrupt\nsociety, we must hold the parlor sacred and give to it the air and bearing\nof at least a moral aristocracy. Home is the first form of society. The law\nof love rules and reigns there. It is enthroned in the heart, and casts\nlight around our existence. In that society we live above the trammels of\nartificial life. In its parlor the members merge with society beyond its\nsacred precincts. Hence it is the most beautiful room; the best furniture\nis there; smiles adorn it; friends meet there; fashion meets there in her\nsilks and jewels, with her circumstance and custom, her sympathies,\nantipathies and divers kinds of conversation; form and profession reign\nthere; flatteries and hypocrisies intrude themselves there; pledges are\ngiven there; attachments and vows are made there; the mind and heart are\nimpressed and moulded there; the cobweb lines of etiquette are drawn there;\na panorama of social fascinations pass before the youthful eye\nthere,--these make the parlor the most dangerous department of home. There\nthe young receive their first introduction to society; there they see the\nworld in all the brilliancy of outward life, in the pomp and pageantry of a\nvanity fair. All seems to them as a fairy dream, as a brilliant romance;\ntheir hearts are allured by these outward attractions; their imaginations\nare fed upon the unreal, and they learn to judge character by the external\nhabiliments in which its reality is concealed. They estimate worth by the\nbeauty of the face and form, by the cost of dress and the genuflections of\nthe body. They form their notions of happiness from fashion, fortune and\nposition. They become enslaved to love-sick novels and fashionable\namusements. There, too, they make choice of companions; there they form\nmatrimonial alliances; there their hearts are developed, their minds\ntrained for social life, their affections directed, and influence brought\nto bear upon them, which will determine their weal or their woe.\n\nIf such be the influence of the home-parlor, should it not be held sacred,\nand made to correspond, in all the uses for which it is set apart, with the\nspirit and character of a Christian family; and should not its doors be\neffectually guarded against the intrusion of spurious and demoralizing\nelements of society?\n\nParents should teach their children all about the character, interests and\ndeceptions of parlor-life. They should undeceive them in their natural\nproneness to judge people from the standpoint of character assumed in the\nparlor. They see the lamb there, but not the lion; the smile but not the\nfrown; the affability of manner, but not the tyranny of spirit. They hear\nthe language of flattery, but not the tongue of slander. They see no weak\npoints, detect no evil temper and bad habits. There is an artificial screen\nbehind which all that is revolting and dangerous is concealed. Who would\nventure to judge a person by his mechanical movements in the parlor? Many\nare there the very opposite to what they are elsewhere:--\n\n  \"Abroad too kind, at home 'tis steadfast hate,\n  And one eternal tempest of debate.\n  What foul eruptions from a look most meek!\n  What thunders bursting from a dimpled cheek!\n  Such dead devotion, such zeal for crimes,\n  Such licensed ill, such masquerading times,\n  Such venal faiths, such misapplied applause,\n  Such flattered guilt, and such inverted laws!\"\n\nOne of the most dangerous periods of life is, when we leave the nursery and\nschool, and enter the parlor. With what solicitude, therefore, should\nChristian parents guard their parlors from social corruption. They should\nprepare their children for society, not only by teaching them its manners\nand customs, how to act in company, how to grace a party, and move with\nrefined ease among companions there, but also by teaching them the dangers\nand corruptions which lurk in their midst and follow in the train of\nrustling silks and fashionable denouement. They should never permit their\nparlor to become the scene of fashionable tyranny. The Christian parlor can\nbe no depot for fashion. It should be sacred to God and to the church. It\nshould be a true exponent of the social elements of Christianity. It should\nnot be a hermitage, a state of seclusion from the world; but should conform\nto fashion, yet so far only as the laws of a sanctified taste and\nrefinement will admit.\n\nThese laws exclude all compromise and amalgamation with the ungodly spirit\nand customs of the world. Allegiance to the higher and better law of God\nwill keep us from submission to the laws of a depraved taste and carnal\ndesire. We must keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Whenever we submit\nwith scrupulous exactness to the laws of fashion; whenever we yield a\nservile complaisance to its forms and ceremonies, wink at its extremes and\nimmoralities and absurd expenditures, seek its flatteries and indulge in\nits whims and caprices, by throwing open our parlors as the theatre of\ntheir denouement, and introducing our children to their actors and\nmaster-spirits, we prostitute our homes, our religion and those whom God\nhas given us to train up for Himself, to interests and pleasures the most\nunworthy the Christian name and character.\n\nThere is much danger now of the Christian home becoming in this way\nslavishly bound to the influence and attractions of society beyond the pale\nof the church, until all relish for home-enjoyment is lost, and its members\nno longer seek and enjoy each other's association. They drain the cup of\nvoluptuous pleasure to its dregs, and flee from home as jejune and supine.\nThe husband leaves his wife, and seeks his company in fashionable saloons,\nat the card table or in halls of revelry. The wife leaves the society of\nher children, and in company with a bosom companion, seeks to throw off\nthe tedium of home, at masquerade meetings, at the theater or in the\nball-room, where\n\n     \"Vice, once by modest Nature chained,\n  And legal ties, expatiates unrestrained;\n  Without thin decency held up to view,\n  Naked she stalks o'er law and gospel too!\"\n\nThe children follow their example; become disgusted with each other's\ncompany, and sacrifice their time and talents to a thousand little trifles\nand absurdities. Taste becomes depraved, and loses all relish for rational\nenjoyment. The heart teems with idle fancies and vain imaginations.\nSentimentalism takes the place of religion; filthy literature and\nfashionable cards shove the Family Bible in some obscure nook of their\nparlor and their hearts. The hours devoted to family prayer are now spent\nin a giddy whirl of amusement and intoxicating pleasure, in the study of\nthe latest fashions and of the newly-published love adventures of some\nnabob in the world of refined scoundrelism. The parental solicitude, once\ndirected to the eternal welfare of the child, is now expended in\nmatch-making and setting out in the world.\n\nThus does the Christian home often become adulterated with the world by its\nindiscriminate association with unfit social elements. That portion of\nsociety whose master-spirits are love-stricken poets, languishing girls,\namorous grandmothers, and sap-headed fiction writers, is certainly unfit\nfor a place in the parlor of the Christian family. We should not permit the\nprinciples of common-sense decorum to give place to the lawless vagaries of\nfancy and the hollow-hearted forms of artificial life. Under the gaudy\ndrapery of smiles and flounces, of rustling silks and blandishments, there\nare hearts as brutish and stultified, and heads as brainless and incapable\nof gentle and moral emotion, and characters as selfish and ungenerous, as\nwere ever concealed beneath the rags of poverty, or the uncouth manners and\nrough garb of the incarcerated villain!\n\nIt is, therefore, beneath the dignity of the Christian to permit his home\nto become in any way a prey to immoral and irreligious associations and\ninfluences. Like the personal character of the Christian, it should be kept\nunspotted from the world; and no spirit, no customs, no companions, opposed\nto religion, should be permitted to enter its sacred limits. Heedless of\nthis important requisition, parents may soon see their children depart from\nthe ways in which they were trained in the nursery, and at last become a\ncurse to them, and bring down their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.\n\nHere is indeed the great fault of many Christian parents in the present\nday. They do not exert that guardian care they should over the social\nrelations and interests of their children. They are too unscrupulous in\ntheir introduction to the world, and leave them in ignorance of its snares\nand deceptions. What results can they look for if they permit their parlor\ntables to become burdened with French novels, and their children to mingle\nin company whose influence is the most detrimental to the interests of pure\nand undefiled religion? Can they reflect upon their daughters for forming\nimproper attachments and alliances? Can they wonder if their sons become\ndesperadoes, and ridicule the religion of their parents? No! They permitted\nthem to dally with the fangs of a viper which found a ready admittance into\ntheir parlor; and upon them, therefore, will rest the responsibility,--yea,\nthe deep and eternal curse! Woe unto thee, thou unfaithful parent; the\nvoice of thy children's blood shall send up from the hallowed ground of\nhome, one loud and penetrating cry to God for vengeance; and thou shalt be\n\"beaten with many stripes.\" It will not only cry out against you, but cling\nto you!\n\nGuard your parlor, therefore, from the corrupting influence of all immoral\nassociations. Be not carried away by the pomp and glare of refined and\ndecorated wickedness. Let not the ornaments and magnificence of mere\noutward life divert your attention from those hidden principles which\nprompt to action. In the choice of companions for your children in the\nparlor, look to the ornaments of the heart rather than to those of the\nbody. Be not allured by the parade of circumstance and position in life: Be\nnot carried away by that which may intoxicate for a moment, and then leave\nthe heart in more wretchedness than before. Ever remember that the future\ncondition of your children, their domestic character and happiness, will\ndepend upon the kind of company you admit in your parlor. This leads us to\nthe consideration of the part Christian parents should take in the marriage\nof their children. This we shall investigate in our next chapter under the\nhead of \"Match-making.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nMATCH-MAKING.\n\n\nSECTION I.\n\nTHE RELATION OF PARENTS TO THE MARRIAGE CHOICE OF THEIR CHILDREN.\n\n  \"Youth longeth for a kindred spirit, and yet yearneth for a\n      heart that can commune with his own;\n  Take heed that what charmeth thee is real, nor springeth of\n      thine own imagination;\n  And suffer not trifles to win thy love; for a wife is thine unto\n      death!\"\n\n\nOne of the most affecting scenes of home-life is that of the bridal hour!\nThough in one sense it is a scene of joy and festivity; yet in another, it\nis one of deep sadness. When all is adorned with flowers and smiles, and\nthe parlor becomes the theater of conviviality and parade, even then hearts\nare oppressed with sorrow at the thought of that separation which is soon\nto take place.\n\nThe bridal is a home-crisis. It is the breaking up of home-ties and\ncommunion, a separation from home scenes, a lopping off from the parent\nvine, an engrafting into a strange vine, and alas! too often, into a\ndegenerate vine. As the youthful bride stands beside her affianced husband,\nto be wedded to him for life, and reflects that the short ceremonial of\nthat occasion will tear her forever from the loved, objects and scenes of\nher childhood-home, what tears of bitter sorrow adorn the bridal cheek, and\nwhat pungent feelings are awakened by her last farewell!\n\n  \"'I leave thee, sister! we have played\n      Through many a joyous hour,\n  Where the silvery gleam of the olive shade\n      Hung dim o'er fount and bower.'\n\n\"Yes! I leave thee, sister, with all that we have enjoyed together; I leave\nthee in the memory of our childhood-haunts and song and prayer. We cannot\nbe as we have been. I leave thee now, and all that has bound us together as\none; and hereafter memory alone can hail thee, and will do so with her\nburning tear; therefore, kind sister, let me weep!\n\n  \"I leave thee, father! Eve's bright moon,\n      Must now light other feet,\n  With the gathered grapes, and the lyre in tune,\n  Thy homeward steps to greet.\"\n\n\"Yes, I leave thee, father! I receive thy last blessing; no longer shall\nthy protecting hand guide me; no longer shall thy smile be music to my ear.\nI leave thee, oh, therefore, let me weep!\n\n  \"'Mother! I leave thee! on thy breast,\n  Pouring out joy and woe;\n  I have found that holy place of rest\n  Still changeless--yet I go!\"\n\n\"Yes, I go from thee, mother! Though you have watched over me in helpless\ninfancy with all a mother's love and care, and 'lulled me with your\nstrain;' and though earth may not afford me a love like yours; yet I go!\nOh, therefore, sweet mother, let me weep!\"\n\n  \"'Oh, friends regretted, scenes forever dear\n  Remembrance hails you with her burning tear;\n  Drooping she bends o'er pensive fancy's urn,\n  To trace the hours which ne'er can return.'\"\n\nIf momentous interests' are involved in marriage, then, we think that\nparents should take an important part in the matrimonial alliances of their\nchildren. When they grow up, they naturally seek a companion for life. The\nmaking choice of that companion is a crisis in their history, and will\ndetermine their future interest and happiness. If separation from home is a\ngreat sacrifice, then we should look well to the grounds of our\njustification in making that sacrifice.\n\nWe propose, under the head of \"match-making,\" to consider the part which\nparents should take in the marriage of their children; and also the false\nand true standards of judgment both for parents and their children, in\nmaking the marriage choice and alliance.\n\nHave parents a right to take any part in the marriage choice and alliance\nof their children? Have they a right to interfere in any respect with the\nmarriage of their children? That they do possess such a right, and are\njustified in the exercise of it within just and reasonable limits, is, we\nthink, undisputed by any one acquainted with the Word of God. It is one of\nthe cardinal prerogatives and duties of the Christian parent. His relation\nto his children invests him with it. The age and inexperience of the child,\non the one hand; and the seductions of the world, on the other; imply it.\nChildren need counsel and admonition; and this is a needs be for the\ninterposition of the parent's superior wisdom and greater experience.\n\nThis right is plainly exemplified in sacred history. Abraham interfered in\nIsaac's selection of a companion. Isaac and Rebecca aided in the choice of\na wife for Jacob. And indeed throughout the patriarchal age, you find this\nright recognized and practiced. It was also acknowledged and exercised in\nall the subsequent ages of Judaism, in the age of primitive Christianity,\nand even down to the present time, in every true Christian household. The\nright still exists, and receives the sanction of the church. The great\ndereliction of parents now is, that they do not exercise it; and of\nchildren, that they do not recognize it. \"A wise son heareth his father's\ninstructions.\" \"The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey\nhis mother, the ravens of the valley shall pluck it out, and the young\neagles shall eat it.\"\n\nWhat now is the extent, and what are the duties of that right to\ninterfere? This is a difficult question, and can receive but an imperfect\nanswer. In infancy the authority of the parent is exercised without any\nreference to the will of the child, because reason is not yet developed.\nBut when he reaches the age of personal accountability, the control of the\nparent is exercised on more liberal principles; and when, by age, he\nbecomes a responsible citizen, the legal authority of the parent ceases.\nStill he possesses moral authority, and has a right to exert a restraining\ninfluence over the child. This does not, of course, involve a right to\ncompel him to yield to the parent's arbitrary will. He can exert but a\nmoral control over him; and it is the child's duty to yield to this, so\nlong as it is consistent with scripture and the maxims of sound reason and\nconscience. He should consult his parents, receive them into his\nconfidence, and give priority to their judgment and counsels.\n\nParents have the right to use coercive measures to prevent an imprudent\nmarriage by their children before they have arrived at age; for until they\nare of age they are both legally and morally under the authority and\ngovernment of their parents, who are responsible for them. Hence the child\nshould recognize and submit to their authority. But this right to the use\nof coercive measures extends only to the prevention of unhappy\nmarriages,--not to the forming of what the parents may regard happy\nalliances, against the will of the child. No parent has the right to\ncompel a child under age to marry, because the marriage alliance implies\nthe age and free choice of the child.\n\nBut when the child reaches legal maturity, the coercive authority of the\nparent ceases. His interposition then should not involve coercive, but\npersuasive measures. Then a mere mechanical prevention of an unhappy\nmarriage would have no good moral effect, but would be productive of great\nevil, inasmuch as it not only involves parental despotism, but the\nrestriction of a manifest and conceded right of the child. It would destroy\nthe sense of personal dignity and responsibility.\n\nPersuasive measures will then accomplish more than all the efforts of the\nparent to prevent an unhappy union, by threats of disinheritance and\nexpulsion from home. In this way parents often extend their interference to\nmost unreasonable extremes, and to the great detriment of the interests and\nhappiness of their children; while at the same time they often bring\ndisgrace and misery upon their own heads and home. They set themselves up\nas the choosers of companions for their children, presuming that they\nshould passively submit to their selection whatever it may be. This is\ntaking away the free moral agency of the child, making no account of his\ntaste, judgment, or affections; and forming between him and the object thus\nchosen a mere outward union, with no inward affinity.\n\nIn such cases it most generally happens that parents are prompted by\nsinister motives and a false pride, as that of wealth, honor, and social\nposition. They do not consult the law of suitability, but that of\navailability. They think that wealth and family distinction will compensate\nfor the absence of all moral and amiable qualities, that if outward\ncircumstances are favorable, there need not be inward adaptation of\ncharacter. Hence they will dictate to their children, make their marriage\nalliance a mere business matter, and demand implicit obedience on the\npenalty of expulsion from the parental home, and disinheritance forever.\nThey are thus willing to prostitute the domestic peace and happiness of\ntheir offspring to the gratification of their own sordid and inordinate\nlust for gain and empty distinction.\n\nWho does not perceive and acknowledge the evil of such a course? It\ninvolves unfeeling despotism on the one hand, and a servile obedience on\nthe other. The affections are abused; the idea and sacredness of marriage\nare left out of view; the conditions of domestic felicity are not met. All\nis supremely selfish; the power exercised is arbitrary; the submission is\nslavish and demoralizing; the obedience involuntary and degrading; and the\nresult of it all is, an outrage against nature, against marriage, and\nagainst God.\n\nOn the other hand, the interference of the parent should be persuasive, and\nthe obedience of the child, voluntary. The parent should reason with and\ncounsel the child; and seek by mild and affectionate means to secure\nobedience to his advice. And if the child then persist in his own course,\nthe parent, we think, has discharged his duty, and the responsibility will\nrest upon the child. He should not expel and disinherit him, and thus add\nthe hard-heartedness of the parent to the folly and perversity of the\nchild. He should love him still, and seek by parental tenderness to\nalleviate the sad fruits of filial recklessness. Parents should so train\ntheir children in the nursery and parlor, by instilling in them correct\nprinciples of judgment in the choice of a companion, as to secure them ever\nafter from an imprudent choice. Here is the place to begin. Parents too\noften omit this duty, until alas, it is too late.\n\nWe have now seen that the parent has no right to destroy the domestic\nhappiness of a child by uniting him forcibly in wedlock to one for whom he\nhas no true affection. On the other hand, the child should pay due\ndeference to the parent's moral suasion, and seek, if possible, to follow\nhis counsels. \"A child,\" says Paley, \"who respects his parent's judgment,\nand is, as he ought to be, tender of their happiness, owes, at least, so\nmuch deference to their will, as to try fairly and faithfully, in one case,\nwhether time and absence will not cool an affection which they disapprove.\nAfter a sincere but ineffectual endeavor by the child, to accommodate his\ninclination to his parent's pleasure, he ought not to suffer in his\nparent's affections, or in his fortunes. The parent, when he has\nreasonable proof of this, should acquiesce; at all events, the child is\nthen at liberty to provide, for his own happiness.\"\n\n\nSECTION II.\n\nFALSE TESTS IN THE SELECTION OF A COMPANION FOR LIFE.\n\n\nBefore we advert to some of those biblical principles upon which parents\nand children should proceed in the marriage choice, we shall take a\nnegative view of the subject, and mention some of those false principles\nand considerations which have in the present day gained a fearful\nascendancy over the better judgment of many professed Christians.\n\nIn the matter of marriage, too many are influenced by the pomp and parade\nof the mere outward. The glitter of gold, the smile of beauty, and the\narray of titled distinction and circumstance, act like a charm upon the\nfeelings and sentiments of many well-meaning parents and children. But it\nis not all gold that glitters. We must not think that those are happy in\ntheir marriage union, because they are obsequious in their attentions to\neach other, and live together in splendor, overloaded with fashionable\ncongratulations. We cannot determine the character of a marriage from its\npomp and pageantry. We rather determine the many unhappy matches from the\nfalse principles upon which the parties acted in making choice of each\nother. What are some of these? We answer--\n\n1. The manner of paying addresses involves a false principle of procedure.\nThese are either too long or too short, and paid in an improper spirit and\nmanner. There are too much flirtation and romance connected with them. The\nreligious element is not taken up and considered. They do not involve the\ntrue idea of preparation, but have an air of mere sentimentalism about\nthem. The object in view is not fully seen. The most reprehensible motives\nand the most shocking thoughtlessness pervade them throughout. These\naddresses carry with them an air of trifling, a want of seriousness and\nfrankness, which betrays the absence of all sense of responsibility, and of\nall proper views of the sacredness of marriage and of its momentous\nconsequences both for time and for eternity.\n\n2. The habit of match-making involves a false principle. This we see more\nfully among the higher classes of society. It is the work of designing and\ninterested persons, who, for self-interest, intrude their unwelcome\ninterposition. Its whole procedure implies that marriage is simply a legal\nmatter, a piece of business policy, a domestic speculation. It strikes out\nthe great law of mutual, moral love, and personal adaptation. It makes\nmarriage artificial, and apprehends it as only a mechanical copartnership\nof interest and life. It is sinister in spirit, and selfish in the end.\nMany are prompted from motives of novelty to make matches among their\nfriends. All their schemes tend to wrest from the parties interested all\ntrue judgment and dispassionate consideration. They are deceived by base\nmisrepresentation, allured by over-wrought pictures of conjugal felicity,\nso that when the marriage is consummated, they soon find their golden\ndreams vanish away, and with them, their hopes and their happiness forever.\n\nBut there are not only personal match-makers, in the form of tyrannical\nfathers, sentimental mothers, amorous grandmothers, and obsequious friends;\nbut also book match-makers, in the form of love-sick tales and poetry,\ncontaining Eugene-Aram adventures, and scrapes of languishing girls with\ntitled swains running off, calculated to heat the youthful imagination,\ndistort the pictures of fancy, giving to marriage the air of a romantic\nadventure, and throwing over it a gaudy drapery, leading the young into a\nworld of dreams and nonentities, where all is but a bubble of variegated\ncolors and fantastic forms, which explodes before them as soon as it is\ntouched by the finger of reality and experience.\n\nThese are the most dangerous match-makers. Their sister companions in this\nevil are, the ball-room, the giddy dance and masquerade, the fashionable\nwine-cup and the costly apparel. Let me affectionately exhort the members\nof the Christian home to keep all these at a distance. Touch not, taste\nnot, handle not! They will poison the spirit and the affections, and\nencircle you with a viper's coil from which there is no hope of escape.\nHere parents have a right, and it is their duty, to interfere. They can do\nso effectually by not allowing such filthy match-making intruders to pass\nthe threshold of their homes. What can you expect out an unhappy marriage,\nif you permit your sons and daughters to spend their time in converse with\nlove-sick tales and languishing swains? They will become love-sick, too,\nand long for marriage with one who is like the hero of their last-read\nromance. Perhaps they will not think their matrimonial debut sufficiently\nflavored with romantic essence, unless they run off with some\nself-constituted count, or at least with their papa's Irish groom!\n\n3. We might advert, finally, to some of those false influences which are\nfrequently brought to bear upon the children's choice of a companion for\nlife. The term smitten is here significant and deserves our serious\nconsideration. It carries in its pregnant meaning the evidence of a\nspurious feeling, and a false foundation of love and union. Be it\nremembered that there must always be something to smite one. We may be\nsmitten by a scoundrel, or by something unworthy our affections. Empty\ntitles and mustaches often smite the susceptible young. Sometimes the heart\nis smitten by a pretty face and form; and sometimes by a rod of gold. The\nsimple fact that we are smitten is not enough; we should know who or what\nit is that smites us. When we are drawn to each other, it should be by a\ntrue cord, and by an influence which binds and cements for life. The\ninfluence of mere outward beauty is a false one. Those who are smitten by\nit, and drawn thus into a matrimonial union by an interest which is but\nskin-deep, and which may fade like the morning flower, are allured by a\ndazzling meteor, by a mere bubble, beautifully formed and colored, but\nempty within. It may dazzle the eye, but it blinds us to all its blemishes\nand inward infirmities. It is deceptive. Often beneath its gaudy veil there\nlies the viper, ready to poison all the sweets of home-life, and cause its\nvictim to lament over his folly with bitter tears and heart-burning\nremorse. How soon may beauty fade; and what then, if it was the only basis\nof your marriage choice? The union which rested upon it must then be at\nleast morally dissolved; and that which once flitted like an impersonated\ncharm before your admiring eye, now becomes an object of disgust and a\nsource of misery.\n\nTo fall in love, therefore, with mere outward beauty is, to dandle with a\ndoll, to fawn upon a picture, to rest your hopes upon a plaything, to\npursue a phantom which, as soon as you embrace it, may vanish into nothing.\nLook not to external beauty alone; but also to the ornaments of an inward\nspirit, of a noble mind, and an amiable and pious heart. \"If,\" says the\nRev. H. Harbaugh, \"you will be foolish, follow the gilded butterfly of\nbeauty, drive it a long chase; it will land you at last at some stagnant\nmud-pond of the highway.\"\n\nNeither is impulsive passion a true basis of marriage. This is falling in\nlove at first sight, which often proves to be a very dangerous and\ndegrading fall,--a fall from the clouds to the clods, producing both\nhumiliation and misery. It is indeed a fearful leap,--a leap without\njudgment or forethought; and, therefore, a leap in the dark. It is too\nprecipitate, and shows the infatuation of the victim. Falling in love is\nnot always falling in the embraces of domestic felicity. Such leaping is an\nact of intoxication. The drunkard, falling in the mire, often thinks that\nhe is embracing his best friend, whereas it is but descending to fellowship\nwith the swine. It is blind love, which is no love, but passion without\nreason. It is crazy, fitful, stormy, raising the feelings up to boiling\npoint, and bringing the affections under the influence of the high-pressure\nsystem. Consequently it is raving, frothy, of a mushroom growth, making\nmere bubbles, and completing its work in an evaporation of all that it\noperated upon, passing away like the morning cloud and the early dew.\n\nTrue love is very different. It is substantial, reasonable, moral, acting\naccording to law, temperate in all things, keeping the heart from extremes,\npermanent, and based upon principle. Passion, without love, may keep you in\na state of pleasurable intoxication until the knot is tied, when you will\nsoon get sober again, only to see, however, your folly and to contemplate\nthe height from which you have fallen, and then, with the recklessness of\nsullen despair, to pass over into the opposite extreme of stoical\nindifference and misery. All emotions are transient, and hence no proper\nstandard of judgment in the serious matter of a marriage choice. The heart,\nunguided by the head, is, in its emotions, like the flaming meteor that\npasses in its rapid, fiery train across the heavens. It flames only for a\ntime, and soon passes away, leaving the heavens in greater darkness than\nbefore.\n\nNeither is wealth a true basis for the marriage choice. \"The love of money\nis the root of all evil;\" and when it is the primary desideratum in\nmarriage, it acts like a canker-worm upon domestic peace and happiness.\nWith too many in this day of money-making, marriage is but a pecuniary\nspeculation, a mere gold and silver affair; and their match-making is but a\nmoney-making, that is, money makes the match. Many parents (but we don't\ncall such Christians,) sacrifice their children upon the altar of mammon,\nand prostitute their earthly and eternal happiness to their love of filthy\nlucre.\n\nFatal mistake! Will money make your children happy? Is it for money you\nhave them led to the bridal altar? Ah! that sordid dust may cover the grave\nof their fondest hopes and connubial felicity. Wed not your children to\nmere dollars and cents. The hand that holds a purse and shakes it before\nyou for your child, may hold also a dagger for both the child and the\nparent. \"Look not only for riches, lest thou be mated with misery.\" Wealth\nis good in its place, and we should not object to it, other things being\nequal. But it never was nor can be good as an inducement to marry. What a\nmiserable policy it is, to make it the test of a proper match! \"Do not make\nthe metals of earth the cord of the marriage tie.\" They are too brittle in\ntheir nature to do so. They take to themselves wings and fly away. The fine\ngold becomes dim; their cords are like ropes of glass-sand,--\n\n  \"Like the spider's most attenuated thread,\n  They break at every breeze.\"\n\nRank also is a false standard of judgment in the forming of a marriage\nalliance. Many look only to position in society, make it everything, and\nthink that acknowledged social distinction will compensate for the want of\nall other interests. While there should be a social adaptation of\ncharacter, and while you should--\n\n  \"Be joined to thy equal in rank, or the foot of pride will kick at thee,\"\n\nyet there is nothing to justify marrying a person because of his or her\nsocial position. The evils of this may be seen in the first classes of\nEnglish society, where rank is mechanical, and where law forbids a trespass\nupon its bastard prerogatives; and as a consequence, relatives intermarry,\nuntil their descendants have degenerated into complete physical and mental\nimbecility. Such nepotism as this is replete with untold disaster both in\nthe family and in the state. Too many in our democratic country ape this,\nlook to rank, and are blind to all things else. The fruits of this are seen\nin that codfish aristocracy which floats with self-inflated importance upon\nthe troubled waters of society, causing too many of the little fish to\nfloat after them, until they land themselves in the deep and muddy waters\nof domestic ruin.\n\n\nSECTION III.\n\nTRUE TESTS IN THE SELECTION OF A COMPANION FOR LIFE.\n\n\nHaving considered some of the false standards of judgment in the choice of\na companion for life, we now revert to those true tests which are given us\nin the Word of God. There we have the institution and true idea of\nmarriage, and the principles upon which we should proceed in making the\nmarriage choice.\n\nWe are taught in the holy scriptures, the primary importance of judicious\nviews of the nature and responsibilities of the marriage institution\nitself. We should apprehend it, not from its mere worldly standpoint, not\nas a simple legal alliance, not only as a scheme for temporal welfare and\nhappiness, but as a divine institute, a religious alliance, involving\nmoral responsibilities, and momentous consequences for eternity as well as\nfor time, for soul as well as for body. We are commanded to look to its\nreligious elements and duties; and to regard it with that solemnity of\nfeeling which it truly demands. When the light of the bridal day throws\nupon the cheek its brightest colors, even then we should rejoice with\ntrembling, and our joy and festivity should be only in the Lord.\n\n                    \"Joy, serious and sublime,\n  Such as doth nerve the energies of prayer,\n  Should swell the bosom, when a maiden's hand,\n  Filled with life's dewy flowerets, girdeth on\n  That harness which the ministry of death\n  Alone unlooseth, but whose fearful power\n  May stamp the sentence of eternity.\"\n\nIn the days of our forefathers, marriage was thus held sacred, as a divine\ninstitution, involving moral and religious duties and responsibilities; and\ntheir celebration of it was, therefore, a religious one. They realized its\nmomentous import, and its bearing upon their future welfare. It was not,\ntherefore, without heavings of deep moral emotion and the flow of tears as\nwell as of joyful spirits, that they put the wedding garment on.\n\n  \"There are smiles and tears in that gathering band,\n  Where the heart is pledged with the trembling hand\n  What trying thoughts in the bosom swell,\n  As the bride bids parents and home farewell!\n  Kneel down by the side of the tearful fair,\n  And strengthen the perilous hour with prayer!\"\n\nTrue love in each, and reciprocated by each, must determine the marriage\nchoice. The marriage of children should not be forced. Mutual love is the\nbasis of a proper union, because marriage is a voluntary compact. When\nparents, therefore, force their children into an alliance, they usurp their\nundoubted natural and religious rights. Hence there should be no _must_,\nwhere there is no _will_, on the part of the child. That choice which is\nmade upon any other than reciprocated affection, is an unreasonable and\nirreligious one. \"Parents have no right,\" says Paley, \"to urge their\nchildren upon marriage to which they are averse;\" \"add to this,\" says he,\n\"that compulsion in marriage necessarily leads to prevarication; as the\nreluctant party promises an affection, which neither exists, nor is\nexpected to take place.\" To proceed to marriage, therefore in the face of\nabsolute dislike and revulsion, is irrational and sinful.\n\nAs true, mutual love is the basis of marriage, so also should it be a\nstandard of our judgment in the marriage choice. Without it, neither\nbeauty, wealth, nor rank will make home happy. True love should be such as\nis upheld in scripture. It is above mere passion. It never faileth. It is\nlife-like and never dies out. It is an evergreen in the bosom of home. It\nhas moral stamina, is regulated by moral law, has a moral end, contains\nmoral principle, and rises superior to mere prudential considerations. It\nis more than mere feeling or emotion; it is not blind, but rational, and\nabove deception, having its ground in our moral and religious nature. It\nextends to the whole person, to body, mind, and spirit, to the character as\nwell as to the face and form. It is tempered with respect, yea, vitalized,\npurified, directed and elevated by true piety. Such love alone will survive\nthe charms and allurements of novelty, the fascinations of sense, the\nravages of disease and time, and will receive the sanction of heaven.\n\nMutual adaption of character and position is another scripture standard of\njudgment. Is that person suited for me? Will that character make my home\nhappy? Could I be happy with such an one? Are we congenial in spirit,\nsentiment, principle, cultivation, education, morals and religion? Can we\nsympathize and work harmoniously together in mind and heart and will and\ntaste? Are we complemental to each other? These are questions of far\ngreater importance than the question of wealth, of beauty, or of rank.\n\nFitness of circumstances, means, and age should be also considered. Am I\nable to support a family? Can I discharge the duties of a household? Where\nthere is ignorance of household duties, indolence, the want of any visible\nmeans of supporting a family, no trade, no education, no energy, and no\nprospects, there is no reason to think there can be a proper marriage.\nThus, then, mutual love, adaptation of character, of means, of\ncircumstances, of position, and of age, should be considered, in the\nformation of a marriage alliance.\n\nBut the standard of judgment to which the scriptures especially direct our\nattention is, that of religions equality, or spiritual adaptation. \"Be not\nunequally yoked together with unbelievers.\" The positive command here is,\nthat Christians should marry only in the Lord. Here is a test in the\nselection of a companion for life, from which neither parents nor children\nshould ever depart. It evidently forbids a matrimonial union with those who\nhave no sympathy with religion. We should make more account of religious\nequality than of equality of rank and wealth. Is not true piety of more\nimportance than education, affluence or social distinction? When husband\nand wife are unequally yoked together in soul and grace, their home must\nsuffer spiritually as well as temporally. The performance of religious\nduties and the enjoyment of religious privileges, will be impossible. The\nunbeliever will discourage, oppose, and often ridicule, the pious efforts\nof the believer. Partiality will be produced, and godliness will decline;\nfor, says Peter, unless we dwell as heirs together of the grace of life,\nour prayers will be hindered. The pious one cannot rule in such a home.\nThus divided and striving with each other, their house must fall. Where one\ndraws heavenward and the other hellward, opposite attractions will be\npresented, and the believer will find constant obstructions to growth in\ngrace, to the discharge of parental duty, and to the cultivation of\nChristian graces in the heart. How can the unbeliever return, like David,\nto bless his household? How can he bring up his children in the nurture and\nadmonition of the Lord? Can he be the head of a Christian home? And, tell\nme, does the true Christian desire any other than a Christian home? \"How\ncan two walk together, except they be agreed?\" And are you, then, in your\nmarriage, agreed to walk with the unbeliever in the broad road of sin and\ndeath? You are not, if you are a true Christian!\n\nWe see, therefore, the importance of a rigid adherence to the scripture\nstandard, \"Be not unequally yoked, together with unbelievers.\" It is even\ndesirable that husband and wife belong to the same branch of the church,\nthat they may walk together on the sabbath to the house of God. There is\nindeed something repugnant to the feelings of a Christian to see the\nhusband go in one direction to worship, and the wife in another. They\ncannot be thus divided, without serious injury to the religious interests\nof their family, as well as of their own souls. It is impossible for them\nto train up their children successfully when they are separated by\ndenominational differences. It is a matter of very common observation that\nwhen persons thus divided, marry, the one or the other suffers in religious\ninterest. From these and other considerations, we think it Is expedient to\nmarry, if possible, within the pales of our own branch of the church. Then,\nbeing agreed, they can walk together with one mind and one purpose.\n\nBut how much more important that they be united in their pilgrim walk to\neternity,--united In the Lord Jesus Christ, by a common life and faith and\nhope! We believe that Christians commit a sin when they violate this law of\nreligious equality, and unite themselves in matrimony with those who pay no\nregard to religion. Who can estimate the peril of that home in which one of\nits members is walking in the narrow way to heaven, while the other one is\ntraveling in the broad road to perdition! Whom, think you, will the\nchildren follow? Let the sad experience of a thousand homes respond. Let\nthe blighted hopes and the unrequited affections of the pious wife, reply.\nLet those children whose infamy and wretchedness have broken the devout\nmother's heart, or brought the gray hairs of the pious father down with\nsorrow to the grave, speak forth the answer. It will show the importance of\nthe scripture rule before us, and will declare the sin of violating that\nrule.\n\nAnd does not, therefore, a terrible judgment accompany that indiscriminate\nmatrimonial union with the unbelieving world, of which so many Christians,\nin the present day, are guilty? Parents encourage their pious children to\nmarry unbelievers, though they are well aware that such unholy mixtures are\nexpressly forbidden, and that spiritual harmony is essential to their\nhappiness. \"She is at liberty to be married to whom she will, only in the\nLord!\" Those who violate this cardinal law of marriage, must expect to\nsuffer the penalties attached to it. History is the record of these. The\ndisappointed hopes, and the miseries of unnumbered homes speak forth their\nexecution. This great scripture law has its foundation in the very nature\nof marriage itself. If marriage involves the law of spiritual harmony; if,\nin the language of the Roman law, it is \"the union of a man and woman,\nconstituting an united habitual course of life, never to be separated;\" if\nit is a partnership of the whole life,--a mutual sharing in all rights,\nhuman and divine; if they are one flesh,--one in all the elements of their\nmoral being, as Christ and His church are one; if it is a mystery of man's\nbeing, antecedent to all human law; if, in a word, man and woman in\nmarriage, are no more twain, but one flesh; and if the oneness of our\nnature is framed of the body, the soul, and the spirit, then is it not\nplain that when two persons marry, who possess no spiritual fitness for, or\nharmony with, each other, they violate the fundamental law of wedlock; and\ntheir marriage cannot meet the scripture conception of matrimonial union or\noneness. There will be no adaptation of the whole nature for each other;\nthey will not appreciate the sacred mysteriousness of marriage; instead of\nthe moral and religious development of the spiritual nature, there will be\nthe evolution of selfishness and sensuality as the leading motives of\ndomestic life. We see, then, that the Christian cannot with impunity,\nviolate the scripture law, \"Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers.\"\n\nShall the Christian parent and child disregard this prohibition of God?\nWill you ridicule this fundamental principle of Christian marriage? Will\nthe children of God not hesitate to marry the children of the devil? Can\nthese walk together, in domestic union and harmony? Can saint and sinner be\nof one mind, one spirit, one life, one hope, one interest? Can the children\nof the light and the children of darkness, opposite in character and in\ntheir apprehension of things, become flesh of each other's flesh, and by\nthe force of their blended light and darkness shed, around their\nhome-fireside the cheerfulness of a mutual love, of a common life and hope,\nand of a progressive spiritual work?\n\nParents! it is your right and duty to interfere when your children violate\nthis law. Bring them up from infancy to respect it. In the parlor, train\nthem to appreciate its religious importance. Show them that God will visit\nthe iniquity of their departure from it, unto the third and fourth\ngeneration. You are stimulated to do so by the divine promise that when\nthey grow old, they will not depart from it.\n\nSuch unequal matches are not made in heaven. \"God's hand is over such\nmatches, not in them.\" \"What fellowship hath light with darkness?\" If love,\nin Christian marriages, is holy and includes the religious element, then it\nis evident that the Christian alliance with, one between whom and himself\nthere is no religious affinity whatever, is not only an outrage against the\nmarriage institution, but also exposes his home to the curse of God, making\nit a Babel of confusion and of moral antipathies.\n\nBoth the old and the new testaments give explicit testimony to the law of\nspiritual harmony in marriage. Thus the law of Moses forbid the children of\nIsrael to intermarry among heathen nations. \"Neither shalt thou make\nmarriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his\ndaughter shalt thou take unto thy son.\"--Deut. vii., 3. Abraham obeyed this\nlaw in the part he took in the marriage of his son Isaac, as recorded in\nthe twenty-fourth, chapter of Genesis. His obedience was reproduced in\nIsaac and Rebecca, who manifested the same desire, and took the same care\nthat Jacob should take a wife from among the covenant people of God. See\ntwenty-eighth chapter of Genesis.\n\nThe evil consequences of the violation of this law may be seen in the\nhistory of Solomon,--i. Kings, chap. 11; also in the case mentioned in the\n10th chap.; and in Nehemiah, chap. 13. Paul upholds this law when he\nexhorts the Corinthians to marry \"only in the Lord.\" Reason itself\nadvocates this law. The true Christian labors for heaven and walks in the\npath of the just; the unbelieving labor for earth, mind only the things of\nthis world, and walk in the broad road to ruin. Can these now walk\ntogether, live in harmony, when so widely different in spirit, in their\naims and pursuits? \"What fellowship hath righteousness with\nunrighteousness? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what\nagreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the\nliving God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them; and I will be their\nGod, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and\nbe ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will\nreceive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and\ndaughters.\"\n\nThe primitive Christians developed this law in their families. They forbade\nmarriage with Jews, Pagans, Mohammedans, and ungodly persons. With them,\npiety was the first desideratum in marriage. The sense of the Christian\nchurch has ever been against religious inequality in marriage. It has\nalways been felt to be detrimental to personal piety and to the general\ninterests of Christianity. It limits and neutralizes the influence of the\nchurch, brings overwhelming temptations to lukewarmness in family religion,\nand is, in a word, in almost every instance, the fruitful cause of\nspiritual declension wherever it is practiced.\n\nLet me, then, exhort you to marry only in the Lord. Such an union will be\nblessed. Daughter of Zion! marry such a man as will, like David, return to\nbless his household. Son of the Christian home! marry no woman who has not\nin her heart the casket of piety. Make this your standard; and your home\nshall be a happy, as well as a holy home, and\n\n  \"In the blissful vision, each shall share\n  As much of glory as his soul can bear!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nTHE CHILDREN'S PATRIMONY.\n\n  \"Give me enough, saith wisdom; for he feareth to ask for more;\n  And that by the sweat of my brow, addeth stout-hearted independence;\n  Give me enough, and not less; for want is leagued with the tempter;\n  Poverty shall make a man desperate, and hurry him ruthless into crime;\n  Give me enough, and not more, saving for the children of distress;\n  Wealth oftentimes killeth, where want but hindereth the budding.\"\n\n\nThe children's patrimony is a vital subject. It involves the great\nquestion, what should Christian parents leave to their children as a true\ninheritance from the Christian home? We shall return but a very brief and\ngeneral answer.\n\nThe idea of the home-inheritance is generally confined to the amount of\nwealth which descends from the parent to the child. And this is indeed too\noften the only inheritance of which children can boast. Many parents, who\neven claim to be Christians, enslave both themselves and their families,\nto secure for their offspring a large pecuniary patrimony. They prostitute\nevery thing else to this. And hence it often happens that the greatest\nmoney-inheritance becomes the children's greatest curse, running them into\nall the wild and immoral excesses of prodigality; and ending in abject\npoverty, licentiousness, and disgrace; or perhaps making them like their\ndeluded parents, penurious, covetous, and contracted in all their views and\nsentiments.\n\nWe think, therefore, that the children's patrimony should be more than gold\nand silver. This may pamper the body, but will afford no food for the mind\nand spirit. We do not mean by these remarks, that their patrimony should\nnot include wealth. On the other hand, we believe that parents should make\npecuniary provision for them, that they may not begin life totally\ndestitute. But we mean, that when this is the only patrimony they receive,\nit often proves a curse, because it tends to destroy their sympathy with\nhigher interests, exposes them to the uncertainties of wealth, and makes\nthem dependent upon that alone. If it should elude their grasp, all is\ngone, and they become poor and helpless indeed.\n\nWhat, therefore, besides wealth, should be the children's patrimony from\nthe Christian home? We briefly answer.\n\n1. A good character. This is more valuable than wealth; for a good name is\nrather to be chosen than great riches. This character should be physical,\nintellectual, and moral. Give your children the boon of good health by a\nproper training to exercise and industry. Transmit to them the patrimony of\ngood physical habits by educating their bodies, and developing their\nmaterial existence according to the principles of natural law. Develop\ntheir intellectual faculties, and enrich them with, the treasures of\nknowledge. Give character to their minds as well as to their bodies; and\nthey will be blessed with an intellectual dowry which cannot be taken from\nthem, and which will bring them an adequate recompense. Give to your\nchildren the patrimony of good and just principles. Train the heart to good\nmorals; fill it with the treasures of virtue, of truth, of justice and of\nhonor. Give it moral stamina. Educate the moral sense of your children.\nDirect the unfolding powers of their conscience; in a word, develop their\nmoral faculties, and supply them with appropriate nutriment; mould their\nwill; cultivate their emotions; rule their desires and passions; and thus\nunfold their moral nature according to the rules of God's revealed law.\n\nSuch a character, involving a true and vigorous evolution of body, mind and\nspirit, is an effectual safeguard against the evils of prodigality, the\ndisgrace of penuriousness, and the woes of vice and crime. Their property\nmay burn down, and they may he robbed of their gold; but neither the flame\nnor the robber can deprive them of their character; their intellectual and\nmoral worth, is beyond the power of man to destroy; no enemy can rob them\nof those virtues which a well-developed mind and heart afford; they will\nbe to them a standing capital to enrich them in all that is essential to\nhuman happiness.\n\n2. A good occupation is another patrimony which should descend to the\nchildren of a Christian home. Bring up your children to some useful\nemployment by which they may be able to make a comfortable living; and you\nthereby give them hundreds, and, perhaps, thousands of dollars per year;\nyou give them a boon which cannot he taken from them. Many parents, hoping\nto secure for their children a large pecuniary patrimony, will not permit\nthem to learn either a trade or a profession; but let them grow up in\nindolence and ignorance, unable as well as unwilling, to be useful either\nto themselves or to others, living for no purpose, and unfit even to take\ncare of what they leave. And when their wealth descends to them, they soon\nspend it all in a life of dissipation; so that in a few years they find\nthemselves poor, and friendless, and ignorant of all means of a livelihood,\nwithout character, without home, without hope, a nuisance to society, a\ndisgrace to their parents, a curse to themselves! But as we have already\ndwelt upon this subject in the chapter on the choice of pursuits, we shall\nnot enlarge upon it here.\n\n3. True religion is another inheritance which should descend to the\nchildren of the Christian home. This is an undefiled and imperishable\ntreasure, which does not become worthless at the grave, but which will\ncontinue to increase in preciousness as long as the ages of eternity shall\nroll on. If through the parent's pious agency, the child comes into\npossession of this invaluable blessing, there is given to him more than\nearthly treasure, more than pecuniary competency, more than a good name, or\na fair reputation, or a high social position in this life; he receives a\ntitle to and personal meetness for, the undefiled and imperishable\ninheritance of heaven, composed of glittering crowns of glory, of\nunspeakable joys, and sweet communion with all the loved and cherished\nthere. Thus the fruits of a parent's labor for the salvation of his\nchildren constitute an infinitely more valuable patrimony than all the\naccumulated fruits of his industry in behalf of wealth. All the wealth, and\nrank, and reputation which may descend from parent to child, can not\nsupersede the necessity of a spiritual patrimony. It is only, as we have\nseen in a former chapter, when you minister to the spiritual wants of your\nchildren and tinge all their thoughts and feelings with a sense of\neternity; when your home is made a spiritual nursery; and you work for\ntheir eternal benefit, and thereby secure for them the fulfillment of those\nblessed promises which God has given concerning the children of believing\nparents, that you leave them a patrimony worthy the Christian home. Such a\nspiritual patrimony it is within the power of all Christian parents to\nbestow. And without its enjoyment by your children, you fail to minister\nunto them as a faithful steward of God. You may minister to their bodies\nand minds; you may amass for them a fortune; you may give them an\neducation; you may establish them in the most lucrative business; you may\nfit them for an honorable and responsible position; you may leave them the\nheritage of social and political influence; and you may caress them with\nall the passionate fondness of the parental heart and hand; yet, without\nthe heritage of true piety,--of the true piety of the parent reproduced, in\nthe heart and character of the child, all will be worse than vain, yea, a\ncurse to both the parent and the children.\n\nHaving thus briefly pointed out some of the essential features of the\nchildren's patrimony, as physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, we\nshall now advert to the principles upon which parents should proceed in the\ndistribution of their property to their children.\n\nThey should not give them more than a competency. That they should lay by\nsomething for them is conceded by all. This is both a right and a duty. It\nis included in the obligation to provide for them; and he who does it not\n\"hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.\" Natural affection, as\nwell as supernatural faith, stimulates the parent to provide thus for his\noffspring.\n\nBut this does not demand a great fortune; but a simple competency, that is,\njust enough to meet their immediate wants and emergencies when they enter\nthe world and begin business-life. This competence should correspond with\nthe social position they occupied under the parental roof. It should not\ngo beyond this; it should be just enough to meet the social and financial\nexigencies of the child. It should be measured also by the peculiar\nnecessities of the child, by his health, abilities and circumstances. \"A\nparent is justified,\" says Paley in his Moral and Political Philosophy, \"in\nmaking a difference between his children according as they stand in greater\nor less need of the assistance of his fortune, in consequence of the\ndifference of their age or sex, or of the situations in which they are\nplaced, or the various success which they have met with.\"\n\nNow the law of competence does not demand, yea, it forbids, more than a\nsufficiency to meet these peculiar exigencies of the child. Those parents\nwho seek for more, become parsimonious, unfaithful to the moral interests\nof their household, and indifferent to all legitimate objects of charity\nand benevolence. These are indeed but the necessary fruits of\nunfaithfulness to this law; for the course of God's providence indicates\nthe impossibility of our faithfulness to the duty of Christian beneficence,\nand at the same time lay up for our children more than a sufficiency. We\nfind indeed, that in almost every instance in which parents have\ntranscended the limits of competence, and thus raised their children above\nthe necessity of doing anything themselves for a subsistence, God has\ncursed the act, and the canker of His displeasure has consumed this\nill-saved property. That curse we see often in the prodigality and\ndissipation of the children. They walk in the slippery paths of sin, kneel\nat the altar of Mammon, fare sumptuously every day, as prodigal in spending\ntheir fortune as their parents were penurious in amassing it, until at last\nthey come to want, rush into crime, and end their unhappy life in the\nstate's prison, or upon the gibbet.\n\nWe see, therefore, that when parents give their children more than what\nthey actually need, they place in their possession the instruments with\nwhich, they ruin themselves. History shows that the most wealthy men\nstarted out in the world with barely enough, and some, with, nothing; and\nthat generally those who started with an independent fortune ended with\nless than they started, and many closed their earthly career in abject\npoverty and misery. Besides, the man who made his fortune knows how to keep\nand expend it; and in point of happiness derived from property, \"there is\nno comparison between a fortune which, a man acquires by well applied\nindustry, or by a series of success in his business, and one found in his\npossession or received from another.\" Let, therefore, the property you\nleave your children be just enough to meet the exigencies of their\nsituations, and no more; for\n\n  \"Wealth hath never given happiness, but often hastened misery;\n  Enough hath never caused misery, but often quickened happiness;\n  Enough is less than thy thought, O pampered creature of society,\n  And he that hath more than enough, is a thief of the rights of\n    his brother!\"\n\nParents should be impartial in the distribution of their patrimony among\ntheir children. They should never give one more than another unless for\nvery plausible and Christian reasons, such as bad health, peculiar\ncircumstances, of want, &c. They should have no pets, no favorites among\nthem; and care more for one than for another, or indulge one more than\nanother. Neither should they withhold a dowry, from a child as a\npunishment, unless his crime and character are of such an execrable nature\nas to warrant the assurance that its bestowment would but enhance his\nmisery. Then indeed, it would be a blessing to withhold it. \"A child's\nvices may be of that sort,\" says Paley in his Philosophy, \"and his vicious\nhabits so incorrigible, as to afford much the same reason for believing\nthat he will waste or misemploy the fortune put into his power, as if he\nwere mad or idiotish, in which, case a parent may treat him as a madman, or\nan idiot; that is, may deem it sufficient to provide for his support by an\nannuity equal to his wants and innocent enjoyments, and which he may be\nrestrained from alienating. This seems to be the only case in which a\ndisinherison, nearly absolute, is justifiable.\"\n\nNeither should parents be capricious in the distribution of their property\namong their children. They have no right to withhold a dowry from children\nbecause they have married against their will, no more than they have a\nright, for this reason, to disown, them. This would be distributing their\nproperty upon the principle of revenge or reward. No parent has a right to\nindulge a preference founded on such an unreasonable and criminal feeling\nas revenge. Neither has he a right to distribute his property from\nconsiderations of age, sex, merit, or situation. The idea of giving all to\nthe eldest son to perpetuate family wealth, and distinction; or of giving;\nall to the sons, and withholding from the daughters; or of giving to those\nchildren only who were more obsequious in their adherence to their parent's\ntyrannical requisitions,--is unreasonable, unchristian, and against the\ngenerous dictates of natural affection.\n\nFrom this whole subject we may infer the infatuation of those parents who\ntoil as the slave in the galley, to amass a large fortune for their\nchildren. To accomplish this object they become drudges all their life.\nThey rise early and retire late, deny themselves even the ordinary comforts\nof life, expend all the time and strength of their manhood, make slaves of\ntheir wives and children, and live retired from all society, in order to\nlay up a fortune for their offspring. To this end they make all things\nsubordinate and subservient; and, indeed, they so greatly neglect their\nchildren as to deprive them of even the capacity of enjoying intellectually\nor morally the patrimony they thus secure for them. They bring them up in\ngross ignorance of every thing save work: and money. They teach them\nclose-fisted parsimony, and prepare them to lead a life as servile and\ninfatuated as their own. Miserable delusion! \"What shall it profit a man\nif he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?\"\n\n  \"O cursed lust of gold! when for thy sake\n  The fool throws up his interest in both worlds;\n  First starved in this, then damned in that to come!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\nTHE PROMISES OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.\n\n  \"The promise is unto you, and to your children.\"\n\n  ACTS II., 39.\n\n  \"Parent who plantedst in the joy of love,\n  Yet hast not gather'd fruit,--save rankling thorns,\n  Or Sodom's bitter apples,--hast thou read\n  Heaven's promise to the seeker? Thou may'st bring\n  Those o'er whose cradle thou didst watch with pride,\n  And lay them at thy Savior's feet, for lo!\n  His shadow falling on the wayward soul,\n  May give it holy health. And when thou kneel'st\n  Low at the pavement of sweet Mercy's gate,\n  Beseeching for thine erring ones, unfold\n  The passport of the King,--'Ask, and receive!\n  Knock,--and it shall be opened!\"'\n\n\nThe promises of the Christian home may be divided into two kinds, viz.:\nThose which God has given to the family; and those which Christian parents\nhave made to God.\n\nGod has not only laid His requisitions upon the Christian home, but given\nhis promises. Every command is accompanied with a promise. These promises\ngive color to all the hopes of home.\n\nWhen the dark cloud of tribulation overhangs the parent's heart; when the\noverwhelming storm of misfortune rages around his habitation, uprooting his\nhopes and demolishing his interests; when the ruthless hand of death tears\nfrom his embrace the wife of his bosom and the children of his love;--even\nin hours of bereavement like these, the promises of God dispel the gloom,\nand surround his home and his heart with the sunshine of peace and joy.\n\nHis promises extend to both the parents and their offspring. \"Unto you, and\nunto your children,\" \"I will pour my spirit on thy seed, and my blessing on\nthine offspring; and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by\nthe watercourses. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call\nhimself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand\nunto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel.\" His promises\nextend to children's children; and whatever they may be for the parent,\nthey are \"visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.\"\n\nNow these divine promises are of two kinds,--the promise of punishment, and\nthe promise of reward. He promises to punish the unfaithful parent, and to\nreward the faithful parent. He also promises to visit both the evil and the\ngood of the parents upon their children. Such is the constitution of the\nfamily, and such are the vital relations which the members sustain to each\nother, that by the law of natural and moral reproduction, the child is\neither blessed or cursed in the parent. What the parent does will run out\nin its legitimate consequences to the child, either as a malediction or as\na benediction.\n\nWe have divine promises to punish the unfaithful members of the Christian\nhome. If the parent becomes guilty of iniquity, it will be visited upon the\nchildren from generation to generation. There is no consideration which\nshould more effectually restrain parents from unfaithfulness than this. Let\nthem become selfish, sensual, indolent, and dissipated, and soon these\nelements of iniquity will be transmitted to their offspring. What the\nparent sows, the child will reap. If the former sow to the flesh, the\nlatter shall of the flesh reap corruption. Thus, whatsoever the parent sows\nin the child he shall reap from the child. The promised curse of the\nparent's wickedness is deposited in the child so far as that wickedness\naffected the child's character. This is all based upon the great principle\nthat the promises are unto you, and to your children.\n\nBut while this great principle is ominous of terror to the ungodly, it is a\npleasing theme to the pious and faithful. Home is a stewardship; and if\nfaithful to its high and holy vocation, it has a good reward for its labor\nof love. \"If ye sow to the spirit ye shall of the spirit reap life\neverlasting.\" This promise of reward is \"to you and to your children.\"\n\"Many souls shall be given for its hire.\" Their children shall reap the\nreward of the faithfulness of the parents. Of them it shall be said, \"this\nis the seed which the Lord hath blessed.\" Faithful parents have thus a\nglorious recompense of reward. God shall reward thee openly. Make your\nhousehold a true nursery for the soul; and He will give thee thy wages. The\nblessing of the Most High will descend like dew upon you and your children.\nAnd when they grow up to manhood, He will make them His agents in rewarding\nyou. They will honor and comfort you in your declining years. They will not\ndepart from the ways of the Lord in which you trained them. Though they may\nbe in a distant land,--far from you and the cherished home of their\nchildhood, yet they will obey your admonitions, gratefully remember your\nkindness; and their grateful obedience and remembrance will be your great\nreward from them. They will rise up and call you blessed.\n\n    \"Though we dwell apart,\n  Thy loving words are with me evermore,--\n  Thy precious loving words. Thy hand, and heart.\n  And earnest soul of love, are here impressed,\n  For me, a dear memorial through all time.\n  Mother! I cannot recompense thy love,\n  But thy reward is sure, for thou hast done\n  Thy duty perfectly, and we rise up\n  And call thee blessed; and the Lord shall give\n  Thy pious cares and labors rich reward.\"\n\nAnd when you descend to the grave and are gathered to your fathers, the\nassurance of fidelity to your home-trust, the prospect of meeting your\nchildren in heaven, and all the brilliant hopes that loom up before you,\nfull of the light and glory of the eternal world, will furnish you a great\nrecompense of reward.\n\nParents can rely upon these promises of God with the full assurance of\nfaith; for His promises are yea and amen. Let them but lay hold upon the\npromises, and act upon the conditions of their fulfillment, and then leave\nthe rest to God. Abraham and Joshua, and David, acted upon this principle\nin their families. Let the members of the Christian home do the same, and\nthe blessing of God will rest upon them.\n\nGod promises to reward parents in this life. We find their fulfillment in\nthe peace, the hopes, the interests, and the pleasures of the faithful\nhousehold. The members are happy in each other's love, in each other's\nvirtue, in each other's worth, in each other's hopes, in each other's\ninterests, in each other's confidence, in each other's piety, in each\nother's fidelity, in each other's happiness. Thus God shall reward thee\nopenly. He has never said to the seed of Jacob seek ye me in vain. \"Verily\nthere is a reward for the righteous.\" \"This is the seed which the Lord hath\nblessed.\"\n\nThe promised reward of faithful parents may be seen in their children. They\nare in the true Christian home a precious heritage from the Lord. Thus a\nparent's faithfulness was rewarded in the piety of Baxter, and Doddridge,\nand Watts. What a rich reward did Elkanah and Hannah receive by their\ntraining up Samuel! And were not Lois and Eunice rewarded for their\nfaithfulness to young Timothy? What a glorious reward the mother of John Q.\nAdams received from God, in that great and good man! God blessed her\nfidelity, by making him worthy of such a mother. He himself was conscious\nthat he was his mother's reward, as may be seen from the following anecdote\nof him. Governor Briggs of Massachusetts, after reading with great interest\nthe letters of John Q. Adam's mother, one day went over to his seat in\nCongress, and said to him:\n\n\"Mr. Adams, I have found out who made you!\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\" said he.\n\n\"I have been reading the letters of your mother,\" was the reply.\n\nWith a flashing eye and glowing face, he started, and in his peculiar\nmanner, said: \"Yes, Briggs, all that is good in me, I owe to my mother!\"\n\nBut God promises to reward faithful parents in the life to come. Their\ngreat reward is in heaven. The departure of every pious member of their\nhome but increases the heavenly reward. The little child that dies in its\nmother's arms, and is borne up to the God who gave it, but increases by its\nsainted presence there, her joyful anticipations of the eternal reward.\n\n  \"And when, by father's lonely bed,\n  You place me in the ground,\n  And his green turf, with daisies spread,\n  Has also wrapt me round;\n  Rejoice to think, to you 'tis given,\n  To have a ransomed child in heaven!\"\n\nAnd oh, how glorious will be this reward when all the members shall meet\nagain in heaven, recognize each other there, and unite their harps and\nvoices in ascriptions of praise to God. There in that better home, where no\nseparations take place, no trials are endured, no sorrows felt, no tears\nshed, they shall enjoy the complete fulfillment of divine promises. Heaven,\nwith its unfading treasures, with its golden streets, with its crowns of\nglory, with its unspeakable joys, with its river of life, and with its\nanthems of praise, will be their great recompense of the reward. How the\nanticipation of this should stimulate Christian parents to increased\nfidelity; oh, what a happy meeting will that be, when husband and wife,\nparent and child, brother and sister, after many long years of separation,\nshall great each other in that glorious world, and feel that parting grief\nshall weep no more!\n\n  \"Oh! when a mother meets on high,\n    The child she lost in infancy;\n  Hath she not then for pains and fears,\n    The day of woe, the watchful night,\n  For all her sorrows, all her tears,\n    An over-payment of delight?\"\n\nWith these gracious promises of reward sounding in their ears, Christian\nparents should never despair; neither should they doubt for a moment the\nfidelity of God to all his promises. It is true that His promises are\nconditional, and their fulfillment depends upon the parent's performance\nof his part as the condition, yet to every duty he has attached a promise;\nand wherever He has made a promise for us, he has given us the ability to\nuse the means of securing its fulfillment; and as soon as their conditions\nare thus met, they become absolute. \"Train up a child in the way he should\ngo.\" Here is the duty. \"And when he grows old he will not depart from it.\"\nHere is the promise. The condition is, that you discharge the duty. If you\ndo so, the promise becomes absolute, and shall with certainty be divinely\nfulfilled in your child, though the time and manner of this fulfillment may\nnot meet your expectations.\n\nBut some may object to this position, and remind us that pious parents are\nknown to have ungodly children who died in their sins. They may refer us to\nthe case of Absalom, and to the sons of Eli. In reply we would state that\nthis is begging the question. It is here taken for granted that these pious\nparents did fulfill the conditions attached to the above promises. This is\na mere assumption; for Absalom was not properly trained; and both he and\nthe sons of Levi, were ruined by the misguided fondness and extreme\nindulgence of their parents. And thus also does the foolish partiality of\nmany pious parents prevent their fidelity to their children. We must not\nthink that all pious parents are faithful to their duty to their children.\nThe above objection, however, assumes this ground; and, therefore, it is\nnot valid. It is often said that the children of ministers and pious\nparents are usually more wicked than other children. This is false. The\nopposite is true. We admit, some have bad children; but it is the fault of\nthe parents; not because God does not fulfill His covenant promises to His\npeople. His people, in these instances, do not meet the conditions upon\nwhich His promises are made absolute.\n\nWe must not suppose that because a divine promise exists detached from\nexpressed conditions, it will be fulfilled without the use of means. There\nis a manifest compatibility between the absolute promises of God and the\nuse of the means in our power for their fulfillment. The promise to Paul in\nthe ship in which he was conveyed to Rome, that none of the passengers\nshould perish, was not incompatible with Paul's declaration, \"except these\npersons abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.\" Neither were the efforts of\nthe mother of Moses to save him, incompatible with the absolute promise of\nGod that \"this babe shall be saved, and be the deliverer of Israel.\" What\nshe did to preserve his life was accompanied with an active, confiding\nfaith in the divine promise concerning him. And thus should faith in God's\npromises stimulate Christian parents to zealous activity in the use of all\nthose means which secure their fulfillment.\n\nThe Christian home should ever keep in lively remembrance the solemn\npromises made by her to God. In marriage, in holy baptism, she has made\nvows unto God, and he says to her, pay thy vows. \"When thou shalt vow a vow\nunto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it; for the Lord thy\nGod will surely require it of thee.\" These parental promises made to God\nregard themselves and their children; and their faithful fulfillment brings\nthem within the glorious promise which God gave to Abraham; for, says Paul,\n\"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the\npromise:\" Gal. iii., 29.\n\nChristian parents: the promises of God shine forth as brilliantly now as\nover they did upon the pages of sacred history. They are as bright for you\nas they were for Abraham and Joshua, when they trembled in sublime\neloquence upon the lips of God. Let them, therefore, be not in vain. The\npromises are unto you, and to your children. And you in turn have promised\nGod that you would bless your household, and be faithful to your children.\nHold, fast to these promises without wavering. Hang all your hopes upon\nthem. Cling to them with the wrestling spirit of Jacob. And remember that\nyou cannot shake off your vows and promises made to God. He will sorely\nrequire it of thee. Therefore pay thy vows unto the Lord. God will reward\nyou for so doing. \"The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed;\nbut my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of\nmy peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee:\" Isaiah liv.,\n10.\n\n[Illustration: Rural Landscape.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\nTHE BEREAVEMENTS OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: In this chapter we have made free use of poetical quotations\nfor the benefit of the afflicted.]\n\n  \"On, long ago\n  Those blessed days departed, we are reft,\n  And scattered like the leaves of some fair rose,\n  That fall off one by one upon the breeze,\n  Which bears them where it listeth. Never more\n  Can they be gathered and become a rose.\n  And we can be united never more\n  A family on earth!\"\n\n\nBereavement involves the providential discipline of home. In almost every\nhousehold there have been sorrows and tears as well as joys and hopes. As\nthe Christian home is the depository of the highest interests and the\npurest pleasures, so it is the scene of sad bereavements and of the darkest\ntrials. It may become as desolate as the home of Job. The Christian may,\nlike the aged tree, be stripped of his clusters, his branches, all his\nsummer glory, and sink down into a lonely and dreary existence. His home,\nwhich once rang with glad voices, may become silent and sad and hopeless.\nThose hearts which once beat with life and love, may become still and cold;\nand all the earthly interests which clustered around his fireside may pass\naway like the dream of an hour!\n\nThe members of home must separate. Theirs is but a probationary state.\nTheir household is but a tent,--a tabernacle in the flesh, and all that it\ncontains will pass away. The fondest ties will be broken; the brightest\nhopes will fade; all its joys are transient; its interests meteoric, and\nthe fireside of cheerfulness will ere long become the scene of despondency.\nEvery swing of the pendulum of the clock tells that the time of its\nprobation is becoming shorter and shorter, and that its members are\napproaching nearer and nearer the period of their separation.\n\n  \"There is no union here of hearts,\n  That finds not here an end.\"\n\nAlas! how soon this takes place! The joy of home would be perfect did not\nthe thought of a speedy separation intrude. No sooner than the voice of\nchildhood is changed, than separation begins to take place. Some separate\nfor another world; some are borne by the winds and waves to distant lands;\nothers enter the deep forests of the West, and are heard of no more;--\n\n  \"Alas! the brother knows not now where fall the sister's tears!\n  One haply revels at the feast, while one may droop alone;\n  For broken is the household chain,--the bright fire quenched and gone!\"\n\nWhat melancholy feelings are awakened within at the sight of a deserted\nhome, in which loved ones once met and lived and loved; but from which they\nhave now wandered, each in the path pointed out by the guiding hand of\nProvidence. How beautifully does Mrs. Hemans portray this separation in the\nfollowing admirable lines!--\n\n  \"They grew in beauty side by side,\n    They filled one home with glee;\n  Their graves are severed, far and wide,\n    By mount, and stream, and sea.\n\n\"The same fond mother bent at night\n    O'er each fair sleeping brow;\n  She had each folded flower in sight--\n    Where are those dreamers now?\n\n  \"One midst the forests of the West\n    By a dark stream is laid;\n  The Indian knows his place of rest\n    Far in the cedar shade.\n\n  \"The sea, the blue lone sea, hath one,\n    He lies where pearls lie deep;\n  He was the loved of all, yet none\n    O'er his low bed may weep.\n\n  \"One sleeps where southern vines are dress'd,\n    Above the noble slain;\n  He wrapped his colors round his breast,\n    On a blood-red field of Spain.\n\n  \"And one--o'er her the myrtle showers,\n    Its leaves by soft winds fanned;\n  She faded midst Italian flowers--\n    The last of that fair band.\n\n  \"And parted thus, they rest, who played\n    Beneath the same green tree;\n  Whose voices mingled as they prayed\n    Around one parent knee!\"\n\nIt is thus in almost every household. The members may be divided into two\nclasses,--the present and the absent ones. Who may not say of his family--\n\n          \"We are not all here!\n  Some are away--the dead ones dear,\n  Who thronged with us this ancient hearth,\n  And gave the hour of guiltless mirth.\n  Fate, with a stern, relentless hand,\n  Looked in and thinned our little band.\n  Some like a night-flash passed away,\n  And some sank lingering day by day,\n  The quiet graveyard--some lie there,--\n          We're not all here!\"\n\nThe bereavements of home are diversified. The reverses of fortune\nconstitute an important class of family afflictions, causing the habits,\ncustoms, social privileges and advantages of home to be broken up and\nchanged. Many a family, which, in former days, enjoyed all the pleasures\nand privileges of wealth and social distinction, have now to struggle with\ncruel poverty, and receive from the world, scorn and ridicule and dishonor.\n\nBut the greatest bereavement of home is, generally, death. They only, who\nhave lived in the house of mourning, know what the sad bereavements are\nwhich death produces, and what deep and dark vacancies this last enemy\nleaves in the stricken heart of home.\n\n  \"The lips that used to bless you there,\n  Are silent with the dead.\"\n\nTo-day we may visit the family. What a lovely scene it presents! The\nmembers are happy in each other's love, and each one resting his hopes upon\nall the rest. No cares perplex them; no sorrows corrode them; no trials\ndistress them; no darkness overshadows them! What tender bonds unite them;\nwhat hopes cluster around each heart; what a depth of reciprocated\naffection we find in each bosom; and by what tender sympathy they are drawn\nto each other!\n\nBut alas! in an hour of supposed security, that loving group is broken up\nby the intrusion of death, and some one or more carried from the bosom of\nlove to the cold and cheerless grave. The curfew-bell speaks the solemn\ntruth, and warns the members that \"in the midst of life they are in death.\"\nWhere is the home that has not some memorial of departed ones,--a chair\nempty, a vacant seat at the table,--garments laid by,--ashes of the dead\ntreasured up in the urn of memory! What sudden ravages does this ruthless\nfoe of life, often make in the family! The members are often taken away,\none by one in quick succession, until all of them are laid, side by side\nbeneath the green sod.\n\nWhat a memorable epoch in the history of home is that, in which death finds\nhis first entrance within its sacred enclosures, and with ruthless hand\nbreaks the first link of a golden chain that creates its identity! We can\nnever forget that event. It may he the first-born in the radiant beauty of\nyouth, or the babe in the first bursting of life's budding loveliness, or a\nfather in the midst of his anxious cares, or the mother who gave light and\nhappiness to all around her. Whoever it is, the first death makes a breach\nthere which no subsequent bereavement can equal; new feelings are then\nawakened; a new order of associations is then commenced; hopes and fears\nare then aroused that never subside; and the mysterious web of family life\nreceives the hue of a new and darker thread.\n\nWhat a sad bereavement is the death of the husband and father! Children!\nthere is the grave of your father! You have recently heard the clods of the\nvalley groan upon his coffin. The parent stem from which, you grew and to\nwhich, you fondly clung, has been shattered by the lightning-stroke of\ndeath, and its terrible shock is now felt in every fiber of the wrenched\nand torn branches. Yours is now a widowed and an orphaned home. The\ndisconsolate members are left helpless and hopeless in the world; the\nwidowed mother sits by the dying embers of her lonely cottage, overwhelmed\nwith grief, and poor in everything but her children and her God. These\norphans are turned out upon the cold charities of an unfriendly world,\nneglected and forlorn, having no one to care for them but a poor,\nbroken-hearted mother, whose deathless faith points them to the bright\nspirit-world to which their sainted father has gone, where parting grief\nshall weep no more.\n\nBut a greater bereavement even than this, is, the death of a wife and\nmother. Ah! here is a bereavement which the child alone can fully feel.\nWhen the mother is laid upon the cold bier, and sleeps among the dead, the\ncenter of home-love and attraction is gone. What children are more desolate\nand more to be pitied than the motherless ones? She, who fed them from her\ngentle breast and sung sweet lullaby to soothe them into sleep,--she, who\ntaught them to kneel in prayer at her side, and ministered to all their\nlittle wants, and sympathized with them in all their little troubles,--she\nhas now been torn from them, leaving them a smitten flock indeed, and the\nlight of her smile will never again be round their beds and paths. As the\nshades of night close in upon that smitten home, and the chime of the bell\ntells the hour in which the mother used to gather them around her for\nprayer, and sing them to their rosy rest, with what a stricken heart does\nthe bereaved husband seek to perform this office of love in her stead; and\nas he gathers them for the first time around him, how fully does he feel\nthat none can take a mother's place!\n\n  \"My sheltering arms can clasp you all,\n    My poor deserted throng;\n  Cling as you used to cling to her\n    Who sings the angel's song.\n  Begin, sweet ones, the accustomed strain,\n    Come, warble loud and clear;\n  Alas, alas! you're weeping all,\n    You're sobbing in my ear;\n  Good night; go, say the prayer she taught,\n    Beside your little bed.\n  The lips that used to bless you there,\n    Are silent with the dead.\n  A father's hand your course may guide\n    Amid the storms of life,\n  His care protect those shrinking plants\n    That dread the storm of strife;\n  But who, upon your infant hearts,\n    Shall like that mother write?\n  Who touch the strings that rule the soul?\n    Dear smitten flock, good night!\"\n\nWho can forget a mother, or lose those impressions which her death made\nupon our deeply stricken hearts? None,--not even the wretch who has\nbrutalized all the feelings of natural affection. The memory of a mother's\ndeath is as fadeless as the deep impress of a mother's love upon our\nhearts. As often as we resort to her grave we must leave behind the\ntribute of our tears. Who can read the following beautiful lines of Cowper,\nand--if the memory of a sainted mother is awakened by them,--not weep?\n\n  \"My mother! When I learned that thou wast dead,\n  Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed?\n  Hovered thy spirit o'er thy sorrowing son,\n  Wretch even then, life's journey just begun!\n  Perhaps thou gay'st me, though unfelt, a kiss;\n  Perhaps a tear, if souls can weep in bliss--\n  Ah, that maternal smile! it answers--yes!\n  I heard the bell toll on the burial day,\n  I saw the hearse that bore thee slow away,\n  And, turning from my nurs'ry window, drew\n  A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu!\n  But was it such? It was. Where thou art gone.\n  Adieus and farewells are a sound unknown.\n  May I but meet thee on that peaceful shore,\n  The parting word shall pass my lips no more!\"\n\nThe death of children is a great bereavement of home. Behold that little\nblossom withered in its mother's arms! See those tears which flood her eyes\nas she bends in her deep grief over the grave of her cherished babe! Go,\nfond parents, to that little mound, and weep! It is well to do so; it is\nwell for thee in the twilight hour to steal around that hallowed spot, and\npay the tribute of memory to your little one, in flooding tears. There\nbeneath those blooming flowers which the hand of affection planted, it\nsweetly sleeps. It bids adieu to all the scenes and cares of life. It just\nbegan to taste the cup of life, and turned from its ingredients of\ncommingled joy and sorrow, to a more peaceful clime. Cold now is that\nlittle heart which once beat its warm pulses so near to thine; hushed is\nnow that sweet voice that once breathed music to your soul. Like the\nfolding up of the rose, it passed away; that beautiful bud which bloomed\nand cheered your heart, was transplanted ere the storm beat upon it:--\n\n  \"Death found strange beauty on that polished brow,\n  And dashed it out--\n                     There was a tint of rose\n  On cheek and lip. He touched the veins with ice,\n  And the rose faded.\n                      Forth from those blue eyes\n  There spake a wishful tenderness, a doubt\n  Whether to grieve or sleep, which innocence\n  Alone may wear. With ruthless haste he bound\n  The silken fringes of those curtained lids\n  Forever.\n           There had been a murmuring sound,\n  With which the babe would claim its mother's ear,\n  Charming her even to tears. The spoiler set\n  His seal of silence.\n                       But there beamed a smile\n  So fixed, so holy, from that cherub brow,\n  Death gazed--and left it there.\n                                  He dared not steal\n  The signet-ring of heaven!\"\n\nThe death of such an infant is indeed a sore affliction, and causes the\nbleeding heart of the parent to cry out, \"Whose sorrow is like unto my\nsorrow!\" Unfeeling Death! that thou shouldst thus blight the fair flowers\nand nip the unfolding buds of promise in the Christian home!\n\n  \"Death! thou dread looser of the dearest tie,\n  Was there no aged and no sick one nigh?\n  No languid wretch who long'd, but long'd in vain,\n  For thy cold hand to cool his fiery pain?\n  And was the only victim thou couldst find,\n  An infant in its mother's arms reclined?\"\n\nThus it is that death often turns from the sickly to the healthy, from the\ndecrepitude of age to the strong man in his prime, from the miserable\nwretch who longs for the grave to the smiling babe upon its mother's\nbreast, and there in those \"azure veins which steal like streams along a\nfield of snow,\" he pours his putrefying breath, and leaves within that\nmother's arms nothing but loathsomeness and ruin! It was thus, bereaved\nparents, that he came within your peaceful home, and threw a cruel mockery\nover all your visions of delight, over all the joys and hopes and interests\nof your fireside, personifying their wreck in the cold and ghastly corpse\nof your child. All that is now left to you is, the memorials around you\nthat once the pride of your heart was there;--\n\n  \"The nursery shows thy pictured wall,\n      Thy bat, thy bow,\n  Thy cloak and bonnet, club and ball,\n      But where art thou?\n  A corner holds thine empty chair,\n  Thy playthings idly scattered there,\n  But speak to us of our despair!\"\n\nHow sad and lonely especially is the mother who is called thus to weep the\nloss of her departed infant. Oh, it is hard for her to give up that loved\none whose smile and childish glee were the light and the hope of her heart.\nAs she lays it in the cold, damp earth, and returns to her house of\nmourning, and there contemplates its empty cradle, and that silent nursery,\nonce gladsome with its mirth, she feels the sinking weight of her\ndesolation. No light, no luxury, no friend, can fill the place of her lost\none.\n\nAnd especially if this lost one be the first-born,--the first bud of\npromise and of hope, how doubly painful is the bereavement. It makes our\nhome as dark and desolate as was the hour when Abraham with uplifted knife,\nwas about to send death to the throbbing heart of his beloved Isaac.\nNothing can supply the place of a first-born child; and home can never be\nwhat it was when the sweet voice of that first-born child was heard. The\nfirst green leaf of that household has faded; and though leaves may put\nforth, and other buds of promise may unfold, and bright faces may light up\nthe home-hearth, and the sunshine of hope may play around the heart; but--\n\n  \"They never can replace the bud our early fondness nurst,\n  They may be lovely and beloved, but not like thee--the first!\"\n\nYour heart continues lonely and desolate; its strings are broken; its\ntenderest fibers wrenched; you continue to steal \"beneath, the church-yard\ntree, where the grass grows green and wild,\" and there weep over the grave\nof your first maternal love; and like Rachael, refuse to be comforted\nbecause he is not. Your grief is natural, and only those who have lost\ntheir first-born can fully realize it:--\n\n  \"Young mother! what can feeble friendship say,\n  To soothe the anguish of this mournful day?\n  They, they alone, whose hearts like thine have bled,\n  Know how the living sorrow for the dead;\n  I've felt it all,--alas! too well I know\n  How vain all earthly power to hush thy woe!\n  God cheer thee, childless mother! 'tis not given\n  For man to ward the blow that falls from heaven.\n  I've felt it all--as thou art feeling now;\n  Like thee, with stricken heart and aching brow,\n  I've sat and watched by dying beauty's bed,\n  And burning tears of hopeless anguish shed;\n  I've gazed upon the sweet, but pallid face,\n  And vainly tried some comfort there to trace;\n  I've listened to the short and struggling breath;\n  I've seen the cherub eye grow dim in death;\n  Like thee, I've veiled my head in speechless gloom,\n  And laid my first-born in the silent tomb!\"\n\nNow in all these bereavements of the Christian home we have developed the\nwisdom and goodness of God; and the consideration of this we commend to the\nbereaved as a great comfort. They are but the execution of God's merciful\ndesign concerning the family. Pious parents can, therefore, bless the Lord\nfor these afflictions. It is often well for both you and your children that\nbereavements come. They come often as the ministers of grace. The tendency\nof home is to confine its supreme affections within itself, and not yield\nthem unto God. Parents often bestow upon their children all their love, and\nlive for them alone. Then God lays his rod upon them, takes their loved\nones to his own arms, to show them the folly of using them as abusing them.\nIf home had no such bereavements, eternity would be lost sight of; God\nwould not be obeyed; souls would be neglected; natural affection would\ncrush the higher incentives and restraints of faith; earthly interests\nwould push from our hearts all spiritual concerns; and our tent-home in\nthis vale of tears would be substituted for our heavenly home. We see,\ntherefore, the benevolent wisdom of God in ordaining bereavements to arrest\nus from the control of unsanctified natural affection. When we see the\nflowers of our household withered and strewn around us; when that which we\nmost tenderly loved and clung to, is taken from us in an unexpected hour,\nwe begin to see the futility of living for earthly interests alone; and we\nturn from the lamented dead to be more faithful to the cherished and\ndependent living.\n\nLet us, therefore, remember that in all our afflictions God has some\nmerciful design, the execution of which will contribute to the temporal and\neternal welfare of our home. He designs either to correct us if we do\nwrong, or to prevent us from doing wrong, or to test our Christian\nfidelity, or to instruct us in the deep mysteries and meandering ways of\nhuman life, and keep before us the true idea of our homes and lives as a\npilgrimage. Nothing, save supernatural agencies, so effectually removes the\nmoral film from our intellectual eye as the hand of bereavement. Death is a\ngreat teacher. Sources of pensive reflection and spiritual communion are\nopened, which none but death could unseal. A proper sense of the\nspirit-world is developed; life appears in its naked reality; heaven gains\nnew attractions; eternity becomes a holier theme,--a more cheerful object\nof thought; the true relation of this to the life to come, is realized; and\nthe presence of the world of the unseen enters more deeply into our moral\nconsciousness.\n\nThough our loved ones are gone, they are still with us in spirit; yea, they\nare ours still, in the best sense of possession; our relationship with them\nis not destroyed, but hallowed. Though absent, they still live and love;\nand they come thronging as ministering spirits to our hearts; they hover\nnear us, and commune with us. Though death may separate us from them, it\ndoes not disunite us. Your departed children, though separated from you in\nbody, are still yours, are with you in spirit, and are members of your\nfamily. They represent your household in heaven, and are a promise that you\nwill be there also. You are still their parents; you are still one\nfamily,--one in spirit, in faith, in hope, in promise, in Christ. You still\ndwell together in the fond memories of home, and in the bright\nanticipation of a coming reunion in heaven. Oh, with this view of death\nand with this hope of joining love's buried ones again, you can gather\nthose that yet remain, and talk to them of those you put, cold and\nspeechless, in their bed of clay; and while their bodies lie exposed to the\nwinter's storm or to the summer's heat, you can point the living to that\ncheering promise which spans, as with an areole of glory, the graves of\nburied love; you can tell them they shall meet their departed kindred in a\nbetter home. Oh, clasp this promise to your aching heart; treasure it up as\na pearl of great price. Your departed children are not lost to you; and\ntheir death to them is great gain. They are not lost, but only sent before.\n\"The Lord, has taken them away.\" With these views of death before you, and\nwith the moral instructions they afford, you cannot but feel that your\nchildren, though absent from you in body, are with you in spirit,--are\nstill living with you in your household, and are among that spirit-throng\nwhich ever press around you, to bear you up lest you dash your foot against\na stone. Such were the feelings of the Christian father, as expressed in\nthe following touching lines:--\n\n    \"I cannot make him dead!\n    When passing by his bed,\n  So long watched over with parental care,\n    My spirit and my eye\n    Seek it inquiringly,\n  Before the thought comes that--he is not there!\n\n  \"When at the day's calm close\n    Before we seek repose,\n  I'm with his mother, offering up our prayer,\n    Whate'er I may be saying,\n    I am, in spirit, praying\n  For our boy's spirit, though--he is not there!\n\n    \"Not there? Where, then, is he?\n    The form I used to see\n  Was but the raiment that he used to wear.\n    The grave, that now doth press\n    Upon that cast-off dress,\n  Is but his wardrobe locked;--he is not there!\n\n    \"He lives! In all the past\n    He lives; nor, to the last,\n  Of seeing him again will I despair;\n    In dreams I see him now,\n    And on his angel brow,\n  I see it written, 'Thou shalt see me there!'\n\n    \"Yes, we all live to God!\n    Father, thy chastening rod\n  So help us, thine afflicted ones, to bear,\n    That in the spirit-land,\n    Meeting at thy right hand,\n  'Twill he our heaven to find that--he is there!\"\n\nFrom this view of the educational principle involved in all our\nbereavements, we may easily infer that God designs to benefit us by them.\nThere is an actual usefulness in all the bereavements of the Christian\nhome. They are but the discipline of a Father's hand and the ministration\nof a Father's love. Though His face may wear a dark frown, or be hid\nbehind the tempest-cloud, and His rod may be laid heavily upon you, yet you\nare not warranted to believe that no sweet is in the bitter cup you drink,\nthat no light shines behind the cloud, or that no good dwells in the\nbursting storm around you. The present may indeed he dark; but the future\nwill be bright and laden with a Father's blessing. The smile will succeed\nthe frown; the balm will follow the rod. The good seed will be sown after\nthe deep furrows are made. \"No chastening for the present seemeth joyous,\nbut grievous, yet it worketh out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of\nglory to them that are exercised thereby.\" The memory that lingers around\nthe grave of our loved ones, is sad and tearful. The stricken heart heaves\nwith emotions too big for utterance, when we hear no more the sound of\ntheir accustomed footsteps upon the threshold of our door. Oh, the cup of\nbereavement is then bitter, its hour dark, and the pall of desolation hangs\nheavily around our hearts and homes.\n\nBut this is only the dark side of bereavement. The eye which then weeps may\nfail at the time to behold through its tears, the quickening, softening,\nsubduing and resuscitating power which dwells in the clouds of darkness and\nof storm; and the heart, wounded and bleeding, too often fails to realize\nthe light and glory which loom up from the grave. But when we look upon the\ncold, pale face of the dead, in the light of a hopeful resurrection; when\ntheir silent forms move in the light of those saving influences which have\nbeen exerted upon us, we learn the necessity of bereavement; the mournful\ncypress will become more beautiful than the palm tree, and in view of its\nsaving power over us, we can say, \"it is good for us that we have been\nafflicted!\"\n\n  \"The path of sorrow, and that path alone,\n  Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.\n  No traveler e'er reached that blest abode,\n  Who found not thorns and briers in his road.\n  For He who knew what human hearts would prove,\n  How slow to learn the dictates of His love;\n  That, hard by nature and of stubborn will,\n  A life of ease would make them, harder still;\n  Called for a cloud to darken all their years,\n  And said, 'Go, spend them in the vale of tears!'\"\n\nWho will not admit that it is an act of real kindness for God to remove\nlittle children from this world, and at once take them as His own in\nheaven? This is surely an act of His mercy, and for their benefit. It\narrests them from the perils and tribulations of mature life; it makes\ntheir pilgrimage through this vale of tears, of short duration; they escape\nthereby the bitter cup of actual sin, and the mental and moral agonies of\ndeath. It is well with them. How true are the following beautiful verses on\nthe death of children, from the pen of John. Q. Adams:--\n\n  \"Sure, to the mansions of the blest\n  When infant innocence ascends,\n  Some angel brighter than the rest\n  The spotless spirit's flight attends.\n  On wings of ecstasy they rise,\n    Beyond where worlds material roll,\n  Till some fair sister of the skies,\n    Receives the unpolluted soul.\n  There at the Almighty Father's hand,\n    Nearest the throne of living light,\n  The choirs of infant seraphs stand,\n    And dazzling shine, where all are bright!\"\n\nChrist became a little child, that little children might receive the crown\nof their age and be eternally saved. He took them in His arms, blessed\nthem, and said, \"of such is the kingdom of heaven.\" And we are told that\n\"out of the mouths of babes and sucklings He has ordained strength.\" The\nsweetest hosannas before His throne, doubtless proceed from cherub-lips,\nand they glow nearest to the bright vision of the face of unveiled glory.\n\n  \"Calm on the bosom of thy God,\n    Young spirits! rest thee now!\n  Even while with us thy footsteps trod,\n    His seal was on thy brow.\"\n\nThey stand before the throne in white robes, with palms in their hands, and\ncrowns of glory on their heads, crying-out, \"Salvation to our God, which\nsitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!\" Tell me, does not this view\ndilate the parent's heart, and make him thankful that he has a sainted\nchild in heaven? Weep for those you have with you, who live under the\nshades of a moral death, who have entered upon a thorny pilgrimage, and\nare exposed to the ravages of sin; oh, weep for them!--\n\n  \"But never be a tear-drop given\n  To those that rest in yon blue heaven.\"\n\nThe sainted dead of your home are more blessed than the pilgrim living.\nWeep not, then, that they are gone. Their early departure was to them great\ngain. Had they been spared to grow up to manhood, you then might have to\ntake up the lamentation of David, \"Would to God I had died for thee!\" While\nthey, in the culprit's cell, or on the dying couch of the hopeless\nimpenitent, would respond to you in tones of deepening woe,--\n\n  \"Would I had died when young!\n  How many burning tears,\n  And wasted hopes and severed ties,\n  Had spared my after years!\"\n\nWould you, then, to gratify a parent's heart, awake that little slumberer\nfrom its peaceful repose, and recall its happy spirit from its realms of\nglory? There the light of heaven irradiates it; its visions are unclouded\nthere; and from those battlements of uncreated glory it comes to thee on\nerrands of love and mercy. Would you, now, that this inhabitant of heaven\nshould be degraded to earth again? Would you remove him from those rivers\nof delight to this dry and thirsty land? Would not this be cruel?\n\nWhen, therefore, your babe is taken from you, regard it as a kind deed of\nyour heavenly Father, and say, \"even so it seemeth good in thy sight:\"\n\n  \"Pour not the voice of woe!\n    Shed not a burning tear\n  When spirits from the cold earth go,\n    Too bright to linger here!\n  Unsullied let them pass\n    Into oblivion's tomb--\n  Like snow-flakes melting in the sea\n    When ripe with vestal bloom.\n  Then strew fresh flowers above the grave,\n    And let the tall grass o'er it wave.\"\n\nBut the death of little children is a great mercy, not only to themselves,\nbut also to the living. Those that remain behind are greatly benefited\nthereby. It exerts a sanctifying, elevating and alluring influence over\nthem. As they pass in their bright pathway to heaven, they leave a blessing\nbehind. God takes them in goodness to us. The interests of the parents are\nnot different from, or opposed to, those of their offspring. The happiness\nof the latter is that of the former. If, therefore, their death is their\nblessing, it must be the parent's blessing also. \"If love,\" says Baxter,\n\"teaches us to mourn with them that mourn, and rejoice with them that\nrejoice, then can we mourn for those of our children that are possessed of\nthe highest everlasting happiness?\"\n\nIt is true, their sweet faces, unfurrowed by guilt or shame, we shall\nnever more gaze upon; the sound of their happy lullaby we shall never again\nhear. They are gone now to the spirit-land. But a parent's care and\nsolicitude are also gone. All alarm for their safety is gone; and you now\nrejoice in the assurance that they have gone to a higher and happier home;\nand can joyfully exclaim now with Leigh Richmond, \"My child is a saint in\nglory!\" His infant powers, so speedily paralyzed by the ruthless hand of\ndeath, are now expanding themselves amidst the untold glories of the\nheavenly world, and are enlisted now in ministering to his pilgrim kindred\non earth.\n\nIt is true, your children were a source of great joy to you here.\nInsensibly did they entwine themselves around your heart, and with all the\nwild ecstasy of maternal love, you embraced them, as they attached\nthemselves, like the slender vine, to you. They were indeed, the life and\nlight of your home, and the deepest joy of your heart. But if they had\nlived, might they not also have been a source of the deepest sorrow and\nmisery? Might they not have drawn your souls from God and heaven, causing\nyou to live alone for them, and bringing eventually your gray hairs down\nwith sorrow to the grave?\n\nBut you have watched at their dying couch, and seen them die; and in that\ndeath you have also seen the departure of all such fears and dangers. They\nare now transplanted to a more congenial clime, where they will bloom\nforever in unfading loveliness, and from which they will come on errands\nof ministering love to your household:--\n\n  \"They come, on the wings of the morning they come,\n  Impatient to lead some poor wanderer home;\n  Some pilgrim to snatch from his stormy abode,\n  And lay him to rest in the arms of his God!\"\n\nOne of the greatest blessings which the death of our pious kindred confers\nupon their bereaved friends is, that they hold a saving communion with\nthem, and are ministering spirits sent to minister salvation and\nconsolation unto them.\n\n  \"The saints on earth, and all the dead,\n  But one communion make.\"\n\nThey constitute our guardian angels; they witness our Christian race; they\ncommune with our spirits; they link us to the spirit-world; they impress us\nwith its deep mysteries; they stimulate our religious life, and bear us up\nlest we dash our feet against the pebble which lies in our pathway to the\nmansions of the blest. The mother who bends in the deep anguish of her\nsoul, over the little grave in which her infant slumbers, has in heaven a\ncherub spirit to minister to her. And oh, could the veil which wraps the\nspirit-world from our view, be now removed, and we permitted to catch a\nglimpse of the heavenly scene there displayed, we should doubtless behold\non the threshold of that better home, an innumerable host witnessing with,\nintensity of interest, the scenes of human life; and no doubt to you,\nbereaved friend, the most conspicuous among that celestial throng, would be\nthe sainted form of that dear one whose grave you often adorn with the warm\ntribute of memory's gushing tears. And oh, could you understand the\nrelation in which that sainted one stands to you, you would doubtless be\nconscious that over and about you it hovers from day to day as your\nguardian spirit, watching all the details of your life, soothing the\nanguish of your troubled heart, and ministering unto you in holy things!\n\n  \"The spirits of the loved and departed\n    Are with us; and they tell us of the sky,\n  A rest for the bereaved and broken-hearted,\n    A house not made with hands, a home on high!\n  They have gone from us, and the grave is strong!\n    Yet in night's silent watches they are near;\n  Their voices linger round us, as the song\n  Of the sweet skylark lingers on the ear.\"\n\nThe whole dispensation of grace is like the ladder set up on earth, whose\ntop reached heaven, and upon which Jacob saw the angels ascending; and\ndescending. As the Christian pilgrim in his spiritual progression mounts\neach round of this ladder, he finds himself in the midst of a spirit-throng\nascending and descending on errands of love and mercy to him; yea, the\ncanopy of the sky seems lined with so great a cloud, of witnesses and\nministering spirits; and among them we behold our sainted friends bidding\nus climb on to their lofty abodes; they beckon us to themselves; their\nvoices animate us, as they steal down upon our spirits in solemn and\nbeautiful cadence.\n\n      \"Hark! heard ye not a sound\n  Sweeter than wild-bird's note, or minstrel's lay!\n  I know that music well, for night and day\n      I hear it echoing round.\n\n      \"It is the tuneful chime\n  Of spirit-voices!--'tis my infant band\n  Calling the mourner from this darkened land\n      To joy's unclouded clime.\n\n      \"My beautiful, my blest!\n  I see them there, by the great Spirit's throne;\n  With winning words, and fond beseeching tone,\n      They woo me to my rest!\"\n\nWeeping mother! that little babe, whose spirit has been borne by angels to\nheaven, where it now glows in visions of loveliness around God's throne,\ncomes often as a ministering spirit to thee, whispers peace and hope to thy\ndisconsolate heart, and with its tiny hands bears thee up in thy dark and\ntroubled path! And my dear bereaved young friend! that mother, who nursed\nyou on her knee, who taught your infant lips to lisp the name of Jesus, and\namid whose prayers you have grown up to maturity,--that sainted mother over\nwhose grave you have often wept in bitter anguish, hovers over you now with\nall the passionate fondness of a mother's love, guides and impresses you,\nattends you in all your walks, takes charge of you in all your steps;\nsoothes you in your sorrows; and when burning with fever on the sick bed,\nfans you with angel wing and breath, and warms your chilled nerves with an\nangel's heart!\n\nNow when we regard the departed of our homes in this light, shall we not\nadmit that the death of those who go to heaven is a blessing, not only to\nthem, but to those they leave behind! And especially when we remember that\nthey return to us in spirit to minister to our wants even unto the smallest\ndetails of life, that they are our guardian angels, are with, us wherever\nwe go, to warn and deliver us from temptation and clanger, to urge us in\nthe path of duty, to smooth our pillow when thrown upon beds of\nlanguishing, and then, when the vital spark has fled, to convey us to the\nparadise of God,--oh, when we remember this, we say, shall we not rather\nbless God that He has afflicted us? Though our hearts may be lonely, yet\nwith this view of the departed ones of our home, we can feel that we are,\nnevertheless, not alone.\n\n  \"I am not quite alone. Around me glide\n    Unnumbered beings of the unseen world;--\n  And one dear spirit hovering by my side,\n    Hath o'er my form its snow-white wings unfurled,\n  It is a token that when death is nigh,\n  It then will wait to hear my soul on high!\"\n\nWhat afflicted heart will not respond with deep and grateful emotion, to\nthe following beautiful address of a bereaved pilgrim to his sainted loved\nones in heaven:--\n\n  \"Gone!--have ye all then gone,--\n    The good, the beautiful, the kind, the dear?\n  Passed to your glorious rest so swiftly on,\n    And left me weeping here?\n\n  \"I gaze on your bright track;\n    I hear your lessening voices as they go;\n  Have ye no sign, no solace to fling back\n    To those who toil below?\n\n  \"Oh! from that land of love,\n    Look ye not sometimes on this world of wo?\n  Think ye not, dear ones, in brighter bowers above,\n    Of those you left below?\n\n  \"Surely ye note us here,\n    Though not as we appear to mortal view,\n  And can we still, with all our stains, be dear\n    To spirits pure as you?\n\n  \"Is it a fair, fond thought,\n    That you may still our friends and guardians be;\n  And heaven's high ministry by you be wrought\n    With objects low as we?\n\n  \"May we not secretly hope,\n    That you around our path and bed may dwell?\n  And shall not all, our blessings brighter drop\n    From hands we loved so well?\n\n  \"Shall we not feel you near\n    In hours of danger, solitude, and pain,\n  Cheering the darkness, drying off the tear\n    And turning loss to gain?\n\n  \"Shall not your gentle voice\n    Break on temptation's dark and sullen mood,\n  Subdue our erring will, o'errule our choice,\n    And win from ill to good?\n\n  \"Oh, yes! to us, to us,\n    A portion of your converse still be given!\n  Struggling affection still would hold us thus,\n    Nor yield you all to heaven!\n\n  \"Lead our faint steps to God;\n    Be with us while the desert here we roam;\n  Teach us to tread the path which you have trod,\n    To find with you our home!\"\n\nWhat a comfort does this view of the pious dead afford the pious living. We\ncommend it now to you. What consolation to the bereaved parents is the\nassurance that all infants are saved! This gives them \"beauty for ashes,\nthe oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of\nheaviness.\" Your infant has gone to heaven; for \"of such is the kingdom of\nheaven.\" Zuinlius was perhaps the first who proclaimed salvation for all\nwho died in infancy. He based this doctrine, so comforting to the afflicted\nparent, upon the atonement of Christ for all; and he believed that Christ\nmade provision for infants in this general atonement or redemption of human\nnature. This is the general belief now. Calvin declared that \"God adopts\ninfants and washes them in the blood of his son,\" and that \"they are\nregarded by Christ as among His flock.\" Dr. Junkin says, \"It is not\ninconsistent with any doctrine of the bible, that the souls of deceased\ninfants go to heaven.\" Newton says, \"I hope you are both well reconciled to\nthe death of your child. Indeed, I cannot be sorry for the death of\ninfants. How many storms do they escape! Nor can I doubt, in my private\njudgment, that they are included in the election of grace.\" This is the\nopinion, too, of all evangelical branches of the Christian church. If so,\nyou have here a source of great consolation.\n\n  \"Though it he hard to bid thy heart divide,\n  And lay the gem of all thy love aside--\n  Faith tells thee, and it tells thee not in vain,\n  That thou shalt meet thy infant yet again.\"\n\nWhat, oh, what, if you had not the assurance of the salvation of all\ninfants? What if your faith would tell you that all children who die before\nthey can exercise faith would he lost or annihilated! Then indeed you might\nwell refuse to be comforted because they are not. But your child is not\nlost,--but only removed to a better home:--\n\n       \"A treasure but removed,\n  A bright bird parted for a clearer day--\n       Yours still in heaven!\"\n\nAnd yours to meet there! The hope of a glorious reunion with, departed\nfriends in heaven, lifts the afflicted Christian into regions of happiness\nnever before enjoyed. And as he contemplates their better state, and, muses\nover the trials and sorrows of his pilgrim land, he longs to pass over the\nstream which divides that happy home from this. He is grateful to God that\nheaven has thus become doubly attractive by his bereavement, and that he\ncan look forward with fond anticipation, to the time when he shall there\nbecome reunited with those who have gone before.\n\n                             \"Oh! I could weep\n  With very gratitude that thou art saved--\n  Thy soul forever saved. What though my heart\n  Should bleed at every pore--still thou art blessed.\n  There is an hour, my precious innocent,\n  When we shall meet again! Oh! may we meet\n  To separate no more. Yes! I can smile,\n  And sing with gratitude, and weep with joy,\n  Even while my heart is breaking!\"\n\nWe infer from the whole subject, that we should not murmur against God when\nafflicted, however great our bereavements may he. This does not, of course,\nforbid godly sorrow and tears. It is not inconsistent to weep; neither does\nsorrow for the dead, as such, imply a murmuring spirit. Christ himself\ninvited to tears when he wept over the grave of his friend Lazarus. It is\nmeet that we pay our tribute to departed kindred, in falling tears. These\nare not selfish; neither is the sorrow they express, a sin, nor an evidence\nof filial distrust, or of reluctant submission to the will of God. The\nunfeeling stoic may regard it such; but he outrages the generous impulses\nof humanity. Undefiled religion does not aim to cancel natural affection.\nOur piety, if genuine, will not make us guilty of crimes against nature,\nand prompt us to bend with apathy over the grave of buried, love. The\nmother of Jesus wept her pungent woes beneath the Cross; and the Marys\ndropt the tear of sorrowing love and memory at the mouth of his sepulchre.\nAnd shall we refuse the tribute of sorrow to the memory of those dear ones\nwho sleep beneath the sod? To do so would, but unchristianize the deep\ngrief which bereavement awakens, and which true piety sanctifies; it would\nunhumanize the very constitution of home itself. To be Christians, must the\nunnumbered memories of life be all without a tear? When we walk in the\nfamily grave-yard, and think of the loved who slumber there; when we open\nthe family bible, and read, there the names of those who have gone before\nus, say, shall this awaken no slumbering grief, invite no warm, gushing\ntears, and not bear us back to scenes of tenderness and love?\n\nAh, no! The gospel encourages godly sorrow over the dead. We are permitted\nto sorrow, only not as those who have no hope, as not being cast down, and\nas not being disquieted within us. Such godly sorrow is refreshing, and the\ntears it sheds are a balm to the wounded spirit. They refine our\nsentiments, and beget longings after a better country. The memory of\nbereaved affection is grief. In traversing the past, our thoughts glide\nalong a procession of dear events arrested by the tomb; and we become sad\nand weep. But this is not inconsistent with a confiding faith in God, nor\nwith a meek: resignation to His afflicting providence. Faith was not\ndesigned to overpower a visible privation. When death enters our home we\nshould feel pungently, though we have the faith of an angel, and weep\nbefore the smile of God. The evidences of faith, and the brilliant\nidealities of hope will hush the voice of murmur, and incite us to kiss the\nrod that is laid upon us.\n\nIt is, therefore, a Christian privilege to weep over the death of our\ndeparted kindred, yea, who can stifle the anguish of the heart when the\ntender flowers of home sink into the waxen form of death? when the\nflickering flame of infant life burns lower and weaker; when the\ndeath-glazed eye is closed, and the little bosom heaves no more, and that\nlovely form becomes cold as the grave, what parental heart can then remain\nunmoved, and what eye can then forbid a tear? Not even the assurance of\ninfant salvation and the hope of reunion in heaven, can prevent sorrow for\nthe dead.\n\n  \"To think his child is blest above,\n     To pray their parting grief,\n  These, these may soothe, but death alone,\n     Can heal a father's grief.\"\n\nBut this grief should never amount to dissatisfaction with God. Though it\nis right to weep, it is wrong to murmur. Many parents murmuringly mourn\nthe loss of their children, and in wrestling with God to spare them, betray\nthe want of a true submission to His will. It is sinful to murmur at the\ndecrees of God. We have seen that they are wise, and all designed for our\ngood. Methinks if your dying babe could respond to your murmuring sighs and\ntears around its crib, it would thus reprove you:--\n\n  \"Nay, mother, fix not thus on me\n    That streaming eye,\n  And clasp not thus my freezing hand;\n    For I must die.\n  To Him ye gave the opening bud,\n    The early bloom;\n  Then grieve not that the ripened fruit\n    He gathers home.\"\n\nBut we should not only refrain from murmuring, but meekly submit to the\nprovidential afflictions of our home. We should remember that all the\nadversities of life are from the Lord, and that when death invades our\nhousehold, and crushes the fond hopes of our hearts, it is for some wise\nand good purpose. Though we may not understand it here, where we look\nthrough a glass darkly; but eternity will reveal it. Though the dying of a\nchild is like tearing a limb from us; but remember God demands it.\nSurrender it to Him, therefore, with Christian resignation. He does not\ndemand it without a cause. It may offend thee, though it be a right hand or\na right eye. Let the branch be cut off. At the resurrection you shall see\nit again. Give it up willingly; for it is the Lord's will that you should.\nHave the meek submission, to exclaim, \"Not my will, but Thine be done!\"\nWhatever may be your pleas to the contrary, they are all selfish; when, you\ncome to look at your bereavement, with the candid, discerning eye of faith,\nyou cannot murmur; but will bend under the stroke with silent tears and\nwith grateful submission. Faith in God, the hope of reunion in heaven, and\ntrue Christian love for the object taken from us, will effectually quell\nevery uprising of complaint in our hearts:--\n\n  \"My stricken heart to Jesus yields\n    Love's deep devotion now,\n  Adores and blesses--while it bleeds--\n    His hand that strikes the blow.\n  Then fare thee well--a little while\n    Life's troubled dream is past;\n  And I shall meet with thee, my child,\n    In life--in bliss, at last!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\nTHE MEMORIES OF HOME.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: In this, as in the preceding chapter, we have introduced\npoetry, for the same reason.]\n\n  \"The home of my youth stands in silence and sadness:\n    None that tasted its simple enjoyments are there,\n  No longer its walls ring with glee and with gladness\n    No strain of blithe melody breaks on the ear.\n\n         *       *       *       *       *\n\n  \"Why, memory, cling thus to life's jocund morning?\n    Why point to its treasures exhausted too soon?\n  Or tell that the buds of the heart at the dawning,\n    Were destined to wither and perish at noon?\n\n  \"On the past sadly musing, oh pause not a moment;\n    Could we live o'er again but one bright sunny day;\n  'Twere better than ages of present enjoyment,\n    In the memory of scenes that have long passed away.\n\n  \"But time ne'er retraces the footsteps he measures;\n    In fancy alone with the past we can dwell;\n  Then take my last blessing, loved scene of young pleasures;\n    Dear home of my childhood--forever farewell!\"\n\n  CHIEF JUSTICE GIBSON.\n\n\nThe bereavements of home fill up the urn of memory with its most hallowed\ntreasures. Though these memories of the household have an alloy of sorrow\nand are the product of its adversities, yet there is no pleasure so\ndelicate, so pure, so painful, so much longed after, as that which they\nafford. They bring to our hearts the purest essence of the past, and cause\nus to live it over again. They come over us like the \"breath of the sweet\nsouth breathing over a bed of violets.\" When we revert to the happy scenes\nof our childhood, we live amid them in spirit again, and remembrance swells\nwith many a proof of recollected love; sweet ideals of all that lived under\nthe parental roof spring up within us, and pass before us in visions of\ndelight; the home of the past becomes the home of the present. The things\nof that home are spiritualized and changed into the thoughts of home; we\nenjoy them again; and we live our life over again with those we loved the\nmost.\n\n           \"Why in age\n  Do we revert so fondly to the walks\n  Of childhood, but that there the soul discerns\n  The dear memorial footsteps, unimpaired,\n  Of her own native vigor; thence can hear\n  Reverberations, and a choral song\n  Commingling with the incense that ascends,\n  Undaunted, towards the imperishable heavens,\n  From her own lonely altar?\"\n\nThe memories of home are both pleasing and painful. When we leave the\nparental home for some distant land, how many pleasing recollections sweep\nover our spirits then. Even when tossed to and fro upon the angry wave,\nfar from our native land.\n\n  \"There comes a fond memory\n  Of home o'er the deep.\"\n\nThe memory of departed worth is a kind of compensation for the loss we\nsustain. The pious mother's recollection of her sainted husband or child\nbecomes the soother of her grief, and casts a pleasing light along her\npathway, and awakens a new joy in her widowed heart. Pious memories, when\nthey reflect the hope of reunion in heaven, are like the radiant sky\nstudded with brilliant stars, each shining through the clouds which move\nalong the verge of the horizon. They sweep as gently over the troubled\nheart as the summer zephyr over the blushing rose, touching all the chords\nof holy feeling, making them vibrate sadly sweet, in blended tones, too\nsweet to last.\n\n  \"Here a deeper and serener charm\n              To all is given,\n  And blessed memories of the faithful dead\n  O'er wood and vale, and meadow-stream have shed\n              The holy hues of heaven.\"\n\nHow indelibly does memory paint the image of a departed child upon the\nmother's heart! No flight of years; no distance from the grave in which he\nslumbers, can erase the image. It will be ever fresh, and, with awakening\npower, mingle with her tears and glow in her fondest hopes. Though time and\ndistance and vicissitudes may calm her troubled heart, and cause her to\nsettle down into tranquility of feeling; but these can never destroy the\ntenacity and vividness of her memory. Even then those objects to which it\nfondly clings, become the theme of her holiest and her happiest thoughts;\nand she retains them with a passionate ardor, exceeded only by that with\nwhich she clung to the living child. Her greatest pleasure is, to retire\nfrom the busy cares of the world, to some solitude where she may sit among\nflowers that remind her of the one that withered in her arms, and meditate\nupon him who slumbers beneath the clods of the valley. Oh, these are sweet\nand precious moments to her; and the tears which are then drawn from the\ndeep well-springs of reminiscence, are sacred to him with whom she in\nspirit there communes. There with, rapture she remembers\n\n  \"All his winning ways,\n  His pretty, playful smiles,\n  His joy, his ecstasy,\n  His tricks, his mimicry,\n  And all his little wiles;\n  Oh! these are recollections\n  Round mothers' hearts that cling--\n  That mingle with the tears\n  And smiles of after years,\n  With oft awakening!\"\n\nMemory links together the loved, ones of home though they be widely\nseparated from each other, some on earth, and some in eternity. There is a\nmystic chain which binds them together, and brings them in spirit near to\neach other and infuses, as it were, with electric power, a realizing sense\nof each other, while their past life under the same roof, \"like shadows\no'er them sweep.\" In the light of memory their faded forms are vividly\nbrought back to view; they see each other as when they rambled over their\nchildhood haunts; and the echo of their playful mirth comes booming back in\ndeep reverberations through their souls. In this respect the memory of the\ndead is a pleasure so deep and delicate, and withal so melancholy, yea, so\npainful, that the heart shrinks from its intensity. This we experience when\nwe ramble through the family graveyard, and bring within the sweep of\nrecollection our past communion with the loved who slumber there. There is\na mysterious feeling awakened in our hearts,--a feeling of peculiar\nmelancholy, which, combines two opposite emotions,--that of pleasure and\nthat of pain. These seem to embrace each other, and their union in our\nhearts affords us a strange enjoyment. We enjoy the pain; the agony\nawakened by the remembrance of those who lie beneath the sod is pleasing to\nus. It is a bitter cup we love to drink; we love to keep open the wounds\nthere inflicted. The sadness we then feel we dearly cherish; and we linger\naround these tombs as if bound to them by some mystic chord we could not\nbreak; we are loth to leave a spot in which are accumulated the fondest\nassociations of early life. Would the mother, if she could, forget the\nchild that slumbers beneath the flower-crowned sod of the family cemetery?\n\"Where,\" in the beautiful language of Irving, \"is the child, that would\nwillingly forget the most tender of parents, though to remember be but to\nlament? Who, even in the hour of agony, would forget the friend over whom\nhe mourns? Who, even when the tomb is closing upon the remains of her he\nmost loved and he feels his heart, as it were, crushed in the closing of\nits portals, would accept consolation that was to be bought by\nforgetfulness? And when the overwhelming burst of grief is calmed into the\ngentle tear of recollection, when the sudden anguish and the convulsive\nagony over the present ruins of all that we most loved, is softened away\ninto pensive meditation on all that it was in the days of its loveliness,\nwho would root out such a sorrow from the heart? Though it may sometimes\nthrow a passing cloud even over the bright hour of gayety, yet who would\nexchange it even for the song of pleasure or the burst of revelry? No;\nthere is a voice from the tomb sweeter than song; there is a recollection\nof the dead to which we turn even from the charms of the living!\" How\npassionately we cling to those memories of a sainted mother, which crowd in\nrapid succession upon our minds!\n\n  \"Weep not for her! Her memory is the shrine\n    Of pleasing thoughts, soft as the scent of flowers,\n  Calm as on windless eve the sun's decline,\n    Sweet as the song of birds among the bowers.\"\n\nWhat a purifying and restraining influence does the memory of a pious\nparent's love, exert upon the wayward child! When he bends in mournful\nrecollection over the grave of a sainted mother, how must every\nheart-string break, and with what remorse he reviews his past life of\nwickedness and filial disobedience. The memory of that mother's love and\nkindness to him, haunts him in all his revels, and draws him back, as if by\nmagnetic force, from scenes of riot and of ruin. Can he think of that\nmother's prayers and teachings and tears of solicitude, and not feel\ndeeply, and often savingly, his own guilt and ingratitude? If there is a\nmemory of home-life which allures him to heaven, it is the recollection of\nher love and pious efforts to save him.\n\nThe child who lives in exile from his country and his home, is soothed in\nthe midst of his cares and disappointments, by the stirring imagery of his\nfar-distant friends and home. And oh, if he has been unfaithful to the\nministrations of that home; if he has trodden under foot the proffered love\nof his parents, and repulsed all the overtures of their pious solicitude,\nwill not the memory of their anguish haunt his soul, and plough deep\nfurrows of remorse in his conscience? The sense of past filial ingratitude,\nand the recollection of a parent's injured love and disappointed hope,\nconstitute one of the most powerful incentives to repentance and\nreformation. It was thus with the prodigal son. As soon as he came to\nhimself, he remembered the dear home of his youth, the kind love of his\nfather, and his own unworthiness and ingratitude; and this brought him to\nrepentance and to the resolution to return to his father, confess his sin,\nand seek pardon. How many now, in thus looking back upon the home of their\nchildhood, do not remember their abuse of parental love and kindness!\n\n  \"Oh! in our stern manhood, when no ray\n  Of earlier sunshine glimmers on our way;\n  When girt with sin and sorrow, and the toil\n  Of cares, which tear the bosom that they soil;\n  Oh! if there be in retrospection's chain\n  One link that knits us with young dreams again--\n  One thought so sweet we scarcely dare to muse\n  On all the hoarded raptures it reviews;\n  Which seems each instant, in its backward range,\n  The heart to soften, and its ties to change,\n  And every spring untouched for years to move,\n  It is--the memory of a mother's love!\"\n\nWe see, therefore, that there are painful, as well as pleasant, memories of\nhome. When the absent disobedient child remembers how he abused the\nprivileges of the parental home, and brought the gray hairs of his parents\ndown with sorrow to the grave, and turned that household into a desolation;\nwhen\n\n  \"Pensive memory lingers o'er\n  Those scenes to be enjoyed no more,\n  Those scenes regretted ever,\"\n\nhow dark and painful must be the shadows which then sweep over his penitent\nspirit! \"If thou art a child, and hast ever added a sorrow to the soul or\na furrow to the silvered brow of an affectionate parent; if thou art a\nhusband, and hast ever caused the fond bosom that ventured its whole\nhappiness in thy arms, to doubt one moment of thy kindness or thy truth; if\nthou art a friend, and hast ever wronged the spirit that generously\nconfided in thee; if thou art a lover, and hast ever given one unmerited\npang to that true heart that now lies cold and still beneath thy feet; then\nbe sure that every unkind look, every ungracious word, every ungentle\naction, will come thronging back upon thy memory; then be sure that thou\nwilt lie down sorrowing and penitent on the grave!\"\n\nIf we would avoid the agony of declining age, let us be faithful to our\nchildhood-home. What must be the anguish of that wretch who has brought\ninfamy upon it; how painful must be every recollection of it, when in the\ndistance of years and of space, from its scenes and its loved ones, his\nremembrance hails them with its burning tear.\n\n  \"I am far from the home that gave me birth,\n    A blight is on my name;\n  It only brings to my father's hearth\n    The memory of shame;\n  Yet, oh! do they think of me to-day,\n    The loved ones lingering there;\n  Do they think of the outcast far away,\n    And breathe for me a prayer?\n  That early home I shall see no more,\n    And I wish not there to go,\n  For the happy past may nought restore--\n        The future is but woe.\n  But 'twould be a balm to my heavy heart\n        Upon its dreary way,\n  If I could think I have a part\n        In the prayers of home to-day!\"\n\nEvery thing within the memory of home will question our hearts whether we\nhave been faithful to her parental ministry. Every cherished association;\nevery remembered object, and even the old scenes and objects around the\nhomestead, will challenge our faithfulness. The trees under whose shade we\nfrolicked and of whose fruit we ate; the streams that meandered through the\nmeadow; the hills and groves over which we gamboled in the sunny days of\nchildhood; the old oaken bucket and the old ancestral walls that yet stand\nas monuments of the past,--these will all question your fidelity to the\ntraining you received in their midst; and oh, if they assume, in the courts\nof memory, the attitude of witnesses against you; if nursery recollections\nspeak of forgotten prayers and abandoned habits, what a deep and painful\nsense of guilt and ingratitude will this testimony develop in your bosom,\nand\n\n  \"Darken'd and troubled you'll come at last,\n  To the home of your boyish glee.\"\n\nHow precious are the mementoes of home! Memory needs such auxiliaries. That\nlock of silken hair which the mother holds with tearful contemplation, and\nwears as a precious relic, near her heart, what recollections of the\nburied one it awakens within her!\n\n  \"Thou bringest fond memories of a gentle girl,\n  Like passing spirits in a summer night!\n                Oh, precious curl!\"\n\nAnd that picture of a departed mother which the orphan child presses with\nholy reverence to her bosom! As she gazes upon those familiar features, and\nreads in them a mother's love and kindness, what scenes of home-life rise\nupon the troubled thought, and what echoes of love come through the lapse\nof years from the old homestead, touching all the fires of her soul, and\ncausing them to thrill with plaintive sadness and with painful joy. What\nmementoes of a sad, yet pleasing memory are found in the chamber of\nbereavement, where death has done his work; the empty chair; the garments\nlaid by; playthings idly scattered there;--these are pictures upon which\nthe eye of memory rests with pensive meditation. And our letters from home!\nWhat sweet recollections they awaken as we read line after line; and what\nvolumes of love they contain from those dear ones who now moulder in the\nnarrow vaults of death! Oh, how miserable must he be who has no\nrecollections of home, who is not able to revert to the scenes of\nchildhood, and amid whose cherished memories of life, the image of a mother\ndoes not glow!\n\nLet us lay the foundation of a joyful, grateful memory. Let us be faithful\nto home, that when we leave it, and when the members of it leave us, we\nmay delight in all the memories which loom up from the scenes of home-life:\n\n  \"Oh, friends regretted, scenes forever dear,\n  Remembrance hails you with her burning tear!\n  Drooping she bends o'er pensive fancy's urn,\n  To trace the hours which never can return;\n  Yet with retrospection loves to dwell,\n  And soothe the sorrows of her last farewell!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nTHE ANTITYPE OF THE CHRISTIAN HOME.\n\n  \"Oh, talk to me of heaven! I love\n  To hear about my home above;\n  For there doth many a loved one dwell\n  In light and joy ineffable.\n\n  \"O! tell me how they shine and sing,\n  While every harp rings echoing,\n  And every glad and tearless eye\n  Beams like the bright sun gloriously.\n\n  \"Tell me of that victorious palm,\n    Each hand in glory beareth;\n  Tell me of that celestial calm,\n    Each face in glory weareth!\"\n\n\nThe Christian home on earth is but a type of his better home in heaven. The\npious members feel the force of this. Every thing within their earthly\nhomes reminds them of that happy country which lies beyond the Jordan.\nBesides, they behold the impress of change upon every aspect of their home.\nAll that is near and dear to them there is passing away. It is but the\nshadow of better things to come. And as the type bears some resemblance to\nthat which it typifies, we may understand both by considering the relation\nthey sustain to each other. We may gain a new view of the Christian home by\nlooking at it in the light of its typical relation to heaven; and we have a\ntransporting view of our heavenly home when we contemplate it as the\nantitype of our home on earth.\n\nThe Christian home on earth is a tent-home, a tabernacle adapted to the\npilgrim-life of God's people, set up in a dreary wilderness, designed to\nsubserve the purposes of a few years, as a preparation for a better home.\nThe Christian, amid all his domestic enjoyments, does not realize that his\nhome is his rest, but that it is only a probationary state, the foretaste\nand anticipation of the rest that remaineth for the people of God. It is\nbut the emblem,--the shadow of his eternal home; and it is, therefore,\nunsatisfying; it does not meet all the wants of our nature; there is a\nyearning after a better state; the purest happiness it affords proceeds\nfrom the hopes and longings it begets, and the interests it is transferring\nto eternity, laying up, as it were, treasures in a better home. Our home\nhere, develops our wants, inflames our desires, excites our expectations,\neducates, and points us to the realities of which it is an emblem; but it\ndoes not fully satisfy our desires, it only increases their intensity. The\npilgrim soul of the child of God pines and frets amid all\n\n  \"Her sylvan scenes, and hill and dale\n  And liquid lapse of murmuring streams.\"\n\nThese afford him no satisfaction; they only develop in him the saving sense\nof earth's insufficiency; all the scenes of this wilderness state are but\nthose of thorns, and desert heath, and barren sands; and he cries out in\nthe midst of his happy home,--\"This is not your rest!\" Our tent-home may\ninclude every earthly cup, and all the riches and honors of the world, yet\nit satisfies not, and the Christian turns from it all to rest and expatiate\nin a life to come. Every home here is baptized with tears and scarred with\ngraves. Its poverty is a burden, its riches are snares, its friends are\ntaken from us; broken hearts agonized there; restlessness is tossed to and\nfro there; and disappointment reigns in every member there. Hence in our\nwilderness-home we hunger and thirst, and pine for something more\nsatisfying. We turn from the shadow to the reality; and realizing the\ninsufficiency of home as a mere type, we turn with anxious hope to that\nwhich it typifies--our heavenly home.\n\nHeaven is the antitype of the Christian home. There the latter reaches its\nconsummation, and reaps the rich harvest of its great reward. The Father;\nthe Mother of us all; our Brethren; our inheritance; our all sufficiency\nare there. Yea, all that is included in the dear name of home, is treasured\nup there, for the child of God. In that better land he finds the reality of\nhis home on earth; the latter is but the prophecy of the former:--\n\n  \"There is my house and portion fair,\n  My treasure and my heart are there,\n    And my abiding home.\"\n\nThat better home is radiant with light and love. There you shall not see\nthrough a glass darkly, but shall behold all things face to face. You shall\nnot merely know in part, but even as you are known. There you shall realize\nin all its fulness what you dimly taste here. We have a hunger here which\nis not fully satisfied till in heaven we pluck the fruits of the tree of\nlife. We have a thirst here which is not fully quenched till in heaven we\ndrink of the waters of the river of life which flows fast by the throne of\nGod. In our tent-home here, we eat and drink, but hunger and thirst again;\nwe are healed, but we sicken again; we live in the light of truth, but\ndarkness and clouds intervene; we are comforted by the spirit and by\nfriends; but we sorrow and weep again.\n\nBut in heaven \"sighing grief shall weep no more;\" and we \"shall hunger no\nmore, neither shall we thirst any more; and we shall not say I am sick;\nand there shall be no night, nor sorrow, nor tears, nor sighing, nor death;\nfor the former things are passed away.\" Love will then be perfect; there\nwill be no heart-burnings and disappointments there. There you shall enjoy\nthe honey without the sting, and the rose without the thorn. \"Earth hath no\nsorrows that heaven cannot heal.\" All care and toil, and tears, and\norphanage, and widowhood, shall drop and disappear at the threshold of\nheaven. If our tent-home stirs up within us imperishable joys, by the power\nof anticipation and foretaste, what joy will not that better land afford?\nIf the promise is so cheering, what must the fulfillment be! If the pursuit\nis so inspiring, what must the possession be! If our home on Tabor, where\nwe have but a distant view of home-life, affords us so much happiness, what\nmust our home on the eternal throne of God be? There your intercourse with\nthe loved ones of earth will not be clogged by pain and infirmities. Your\nsociety there will be the most endearing, and with \"a great multitude which\nno man could number, of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues,\nstanding before the throne, clothed with white robes, and palms in their\nhands.\" You shall there hold fellowship with the fathers of a thousand\ngenerations, with the patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and martyrs,\nand reformers, and the \"innumerable company of angels.\" With these you\nshall engage in the most delightful avocation. There will be no indolence\nthere, as we often find in earthly homes; but all will be continually\nengaged. \"They serve Him day and night in His temple.\" There will be one\nunbroken worship, which will afford you rapturous delight. You shall be\npresented, before God's glory, with exceeding joy; for \"in His presence is\nfullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures for evermore.\" These\njoys will be eternal,--forever and ever. That better home will never be\ndissolved, cannot be shaken, and your crown of glory there is a crown which\nfadeth not away.\n\nBut this happiness and glory of heaven are not only eternal but\nprogressive,--ever increasing. There is nothing stationary there with the\nsaints; but their powers will ever expand and their glory increase. New\nsongs will be ever bursting in new strains from the celestial choir; new\ndiscoveries and fresh exclamations of praise and gratitude will he\ncontinually made. Here on earth they were \"by nature the children of wrath,\neven as others;\" they had their tribulations and often murmured at God's\ndealings with them. But there in that heavenly home they will understand\nthe reason for all this. The deep mysteries of the Christian life are now\nrevealed, and they see that a father's chastisements are the work of a\nfather's love, and worketh out for them that are exercised thereby, an\n\"exceeding and eternal weight of glory.\" They now see that while in their\ntent-home they lived in the center of a grand system of natural,\nprovidential and spiritual things, all of which were working in beautiful\nharmony together for \"the good of them that loved God and were the called\naccording to His purpose;\" and with rapturous gratitude they cry out,\n\"Marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are all thy\nways, O thou King of Saints!\"\n\nHere, too, they will fully realize the wisdom of the Christian home and\nlife; they will now see how wise it was for them as a family, to serve the\nLord. In their earthly home, they \"knew whom they believed, and were\npersuaded that he was able to keep that which they committed unto Him\nagainst that day.\" They did this in the midst of fiery trials. They were\nunknown. The world, hated and despised them as she did their divine Master.\nBut they persevered unto the end; and now they \"shine forth as the sun in\nthe kingdom of their Father.\" We shall not there, as we do here, eat the\nbread of care and drink the waters of bitterness. Here thunders spend their\nechoes and lightnings gleam in fierce wrath around our homes. There such\nsounds and storms never come.\n\n  \"No sickness there,\n    No weary wasting of the frame away;\n  No fearful shrinking from the midnight air;\n    No dread of summer's bright and fervid ray.\n\n  \"No hidden grief,\n    No wild and cheerless vision of despair;\n  No vain petition for a swift relief,\n    No tearful eye, no broken hearts are there\n\n  \"Care has no home\n    Within that realm of ceaseless praise and song;\n  Its tossing billows break and melt in foam,\n    Far from the mansions of the spirit-throng.\n\n  \"The storm's black wing\n    Is never spread athwart celestial skies;\n  Its wailings blend not with the voice of spring,\n    As some too tender floweret fades and dies.\"\n\nChrist is the great center of heaven's glory and attraction. \"Whom have I\nin heaven but thee?\" It would not be heaven if He were absent. Its harps\nwould become unstrung, and its voices would lose their tune. When eternity\ndawns upon our disembodied spirits, and the heavenly home appears in view,\nwith its golden streets, and living temples, and crowns, and thrones, and\njoys, bursting on our sight; while seraphim and cherubim, and angels, and\nthe sainted spirits of departed friends--our parents and children, and\nkindred, bend over its threshold to hail our entrance with songs and shouts\nof everlasting joy,--oh, what a glorious heritage will this be! But all\nthis will fade into insignificance before the Lamb on the throne. He will\nabsorb all interest; and will be all and in all to its unfading treasures.\nOh, there is much in that celestial home to allure us there. Its \"fields\narrayed in living green, and rivers of delight.\" Its blood-washed throng,\nits crowns and peace, the angelic choir, our friends and\nrelations,--perhaps a father and a mother, perhaps a husband or wife,\nperhaps a brother or a sister, or a child,--a lovely babe;--all these make\nheaven dear, and draw us there. They beckon us to themselves; they are\nwaiting for us now, and on the glowing pinions of love they come thronging\nas ministering spirits, to our hearts.\n\nBut what are all these attractions of that spirit-home, compared with Jesus\nthere as the crowning glory of them all! other things are stars and\nstreamlets. He is the central sun,--the source of all. Take Him away, and\nall the brightness and the glory of that heavenly world would become\nshrouded in darkness and desolation.\n\nThere is a living union between the Christian's home on earth, and his home\nin heaven. Christ represents our nature and advocates our cause there. The\nsaints on earth and the inhabitants of heaven \"but one communion make.\" The\nlatter minister to the former. \"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent\nto minister unto them who shall be the heirs of salvation?\"\n\n  \"Oh! a mother's spirit hung\n    O'er her last pledge of earthly love,\n  And, while attending angel's sung,\n    Welcom'd her dear one home above.\n\n  \"Gentle babe, I come for thee:\n    I did come to bear thee home,\n  Far from mortal agony;\n    Come, then, gentle infant, come.\n\n  \"Yes; while o'er thy mouldering dust\n    Falls the tear of earthly love,\n  Thou shalt live amidst the just,\n    Brighter life in heaven above.\"\n\nEvery thing good in our earthly home has its echo in heaven, and sweeps\nlike the breath of God over the harps of the blessed. When the pious mother\nkneels with her child in prayer to God, it sends a thrill of new ecstasy\ninto the bosom of the redeemed around His throne. When the child gives its\nheart to Christ, each harp bursts forth with a new anthem of joy at the\nprospect of that accession to their happy band. And oh, what unspeakable\njoy must thrill the bosom of a sainted mother when the news of her child's\nconversion reaches her there!--\n\n  ... \"A new harp is strung, and a new song is given\n  To the breezes that float o'er the gardens of heaven.\"\n\nAnd there, too, sainted relations continually warn the impenitent members\nof the tent-home. \"Though dead they yet speak.\" \"Turn ye, turn ye; for why\nwill ye die?\" \"The spirit and the bride say, come!\" Oh, regard those solemn\nadmonitions which come to you from the spirit-world! With unearthly\neloquence they urge you to \"lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so\neasily beset you, and run the race set before you, looking unto Jesus, the\nauthor and finisher of your faith.\" And oh, if you, in obedience to these\nangelic persuasives to piety, yield yourself unto the Lord, all the arches\nof that eternal home will reverberate with the sound of jubilee over your\nsalvation, until its echo from harp to harp shall be borne up to the throne\nof God.\n\nAnd as there is a living union of the Christian's home on earth and in\nheaven, so also will there be a conscious union and recognition of the\nmembers of the Christian home, when they enter that better land. When the\ntent-home is broken up, and its members take their place and enter upon\ntheir joys in the heavenly home, they will recognize each other, and\nexchange congratulations. The bonds of natural affection which bound them\ntogether here will bind them also there. They will possess the same\nhome-feeling and sympathy; they will love each other as members of the same\nhousehold; the parents will know and love their children as parents; and\nthe children will feel towards their parents as children. Thus in the clear\nlight of that blessed land we shall see and know our kindred, and shall be\nrecognized, and known by them. All family ties will be re-knit; all\nhome-relationships will be restored; all the links of affection will be\nrenewed. The babe that withered in your arms like a frost-stricken flower\nin winter, will come forth clad in redemption robes, to embrace you there;\nand one of your joys will be a conscious reunion with him:--\n\n  \"We shall go home to our Father's house:\n    To our Father's house in the skies,\n  Where the hope of our souls shall have no blight,\n    Our love no broken ties;\n  We shall roam on the banks of the river of peace,\n    And bathe in its blissful tide;\n  And one of the joys of our heaven shall be,\n    The little boy that died!\"\n\nAnd that sainted mother of yours shall greet you there. In your earth-home,\nyou and she were united in faith and love and hope; and in the morning of\nthe resurrection you shall ascend together from the family grave-yard; and\ntogether bow in grateful adoration before the throne of God.\n\nAnd oh, what a glorious meeting in heaven that will be, when all the\nmembers of the Christian household shall unitedly surround the marriage\nsupper of the Lamb! It will be joyful beyond conception. There they \"shall\nmeet at Jesus' feet,--shall meet to part no more!\" No one is absent. Bright\nfaces will meet there; bounding hearts will meet there; and on the banks of\nthe river of life they will walk hand in hand, as they did unitedly in this\nvale of tears. \"There is hereafter to be no separation in that family. No\none is to lie down on a bed of pain. No one to wander away into temptation.\nNo one to sink into the arms of death. Never in heaven is that family to\nmove along the slow procession, clad in the habiliments of woe, to consign\none of its members to the tomb!\"--REV. A. BARNES.\n\nIf heaven is our better home, where the members of Christian families meet\nto part no more; if dreams cannot picture a world so fair; and if eye has\nnot seen, nor ear heard, nor human heart conceived, the felicity of its\npeaceful inhabitants, then we should greatly rejoice that our pious kindred\nhave been taken there, and that we are blessed with the hope of reunion\nwith them in that heavenly home:--\n\n  ... \"If to Christ, with faith sincere,\n    Your babe at death was given,\n  The kindred tie that bound you here,\n  Though rent apart with many a tear,\n    Shall be renewed in heaven!\"\n\nIn our tent-home, we should cultivate spiritual longings after heaven, and\nlive in the true hope and assurance of entering there. The soul of the\nChristian, conscious of the emptiness of all things here, rests and\nexpatiates in a life to come. In proportion to his preparation for it, and\nhis nearness to it, will be the depth of his aspirations and the assurance\nof his hope. The widowed mother, who feels that part of her household is in\nheaven and that soon she will join them there, yearns with all the pining\nof home-sickness, for departure to the promised land, which is far better.\n\n  \"When shall my labors have an end,\n  In joy and peace and thee!\"\n\nEven these hopes and longings after reunion with the departed in heaven,\nafford her joy, and open in her panting spirit a foretaste of unearthly\nbliss. To her aspiring faith all things look heavenward. The stars of the\nsky, and the flowers of the field smile their blessings upon her; and she\nwelcomes death to break off her chains, to draw the bolts and bars, and\nopen the prison doors of her house of clay, that her home-sick spirit may\ngo up to that happier land where her possessions lie:--\n\n  \"Let me go! my heart is fainting\n    'Neath its weight of sin and fears,\n  And my wakeful eyes are failing\n    With these ever-falling tears!\n  For the morning I am sighing,\n    While I earth's long vigils keep;\n  Here the loved are ever dying,\n    And the loving live to weep!\n\n  \"Let me go! I fain would follow,\n    Where I know their steps have passed--\n  Far beyond life's heaving billows,\n    Finding home and heaven at last!\n  While my exiled heart is pining\n    To behold my Father's face,\n  They, in His own brightness shining,\n    Beckon me to that blest place!\n\n  \"Let me go! I hear them calling,\n    'Ho! thou weary one,--come home!'\n  Words which on mine ears are falling,\n    Wheresoever my footsteps roam,\n  I can catch the far-off murmurs\n    Of life's river, sweet and low,\n  Calling, from earth's bitter waters,\n    Unto me--O let me go!\"\n\nGentle reader! seek that better land. Let your home be a preparation for,\nand a pilgrimage to, a home in heaven. You are now in the wilderness beset\non every side by enemies. Go forward! You are now in the deep vale,--in the\nlow retreats of pilgrim life. \"Friend, go up higher!\" \"Be thou faithful\nunto death, and you shall receive a crown of life.\" Be patient in\ntribulation. The storms that swell around your pilgrim home will soon\nsubside, and a cloudless sky will burst upon you; the winter gloom and\ndesolation will soon pass away; and \"sweet fields arrayed in living green\nand rivers of delight,\" will spread out themselves before your enraptured\nvision. Remember that \"the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to\nbe compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.\" In a few years at\nmost the conflict shall end, and sighing grief shall weep no more; the\nwormwood and the gall will be exchanged for the cup of salvation; the armor\nand the battle-field will be exchanged for the white garment, the crown and\nthe throne. Soon your typical homestead shall be exchanged for your\nantitypical home; and we shall unite in the home-song of everlasting\njoy,--the song of, \"unto Him that loved us and washed us in His own blood,\nto Him be praise and glory and dominion forever!\"\n\nLet the hope of soon entering that happy home, stimulate you to increased\nardor in the cause of your Master. Methinks, some who will read these\npages, have snow-white locks and wrinkled brows and faded cheeks; and these\ntell you that soon your pilgrim journey will be ended, your tent-home\ndissolved, and your staff laid aside; and oh, if you have made God the\nstrength of your heart and your portion forever, you shall welcome death\nwith joy; yea, you will now be anxious to lay aside these garments of toil\nand conflict, and soar away to that better country, where the wicked cease\nfrom troubling, and the weary are at rest. With holy pantings after God you\nwill say, \"Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!\"\n\n  \"Let me go! my feet are weary,\n    In the desert where I roam.\n  Let me go! the way is dreary--\n    Let the wanderer go home!\n  I am weary of the darkness\n    Of these lonely, failing streams--\n  Let me go where founts are flashing\n    In the light of heaven's beams!\n\n  \"Let me go! my soul is thirsting\n    For those waters, bright, and clear,\n  From the fount of glory bursting--\n    Ah! why keep the pilgrim here?\n  Let me go! O, who would linger,\n    Fainting, fearing, and athirst,\n  When before us lies a region\n    Where undying pleasures burst?\"\n\nWe have now enumerated some of the elements of the Christian home--its\nconstitution, its ministry, its trials, its joys, and its relation to a\nbetter home in heaven. But we have not exhausted this interesting subject;\nwe have given but a very general and imperfect sketch. If this our first\neffort will contribute to the salvation of one soul, we shall be\ncompensated; and should our encouragement justify it, we may continue the\neffort, in the preparation of a work on the historical development of the\nChristian home.","title":"The Christian Home: As it is in the Sphere of Nature and the Church; Showing the Mission, Duties, Influences, Habits, and Responsibilities of Home, its Education, Government, and Discipline; with Hints on \"Match Making,\" and the Relation of Parents to the Marriage Choice of their Children; together with a consideration of the Tests in the Selection of a Companion, Etc.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":88787}