The Christian home

Front matter

THE

CHRISTIAN HOME,

AS IT IS IN THE

Preface

It is a fact conceded by all, that the constitution of the Christian family, and its social and spiritual relations, are not as fully developed as they should be. In this age of extreme individualism, we have almost left out of view the mission of home as the first form of society, and the import* ant bearing it has upon the formation of character. Its interests are not appreciated ; its duties and privileges are neglected ; husbands and wives do not fully realize their moral relation to each other ; parents are inclined to renounce their authority; and children, brought up in a state of domestic libertinism, neither respect nor obey their parents as they should. The idea of human character as a development from the nursery to the grave, is not realized. Home as a preparation for both the state and the church, and its bearing, as such, upon the prosperity of both, are renounced as traditionary, and too old and stale to suit this age of mechanical progression and "young Americanism."

As a consequence, the influence of home is lost ; the lambs of the flock are neglected, grow up in spiritual ignorance, and become a curse both to themselves and to their parents. The vice and infidelity which prevail to such an alarming extent in the present day, may be ascribed to parental neglect of the young. The desolating curse of heaven invariably accompanies neglect of domestic obligations and duties ; it was this that constituted that dreadful degeneracy which preceded the coming of the Messiah. The parents were alienated from the children, and the children from their parents. And the only way in which 1:he Jews could avert deserved and impending ruin, was by " turning the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers."

"We must adopt the same method. We need in the present day a deeper and more scriptural sense, both in the state and church, of the importance of the family, and of its position in the sphere of natural and religious life. The attention of the people should be directed to the nature, the influences, the responsibilities, the prerogatives, duties and blessings of the Christian home.

Any work which contributes to this end is worthy of our high regard and subserves a noble purpose ; for it i3 only when the details of home-life are given to the public, that . proper interest in them will be developed, and we can hope for a better state of things in this first form of associated life.

The following work is an humble contribution to this important cause. It is intended to excite interest in the religious elements of family life, and to show that the development of individual character and happiness in the church and state, in time and in eternity, starts with, and depends

PREFACE.

upon, home-training and nurture. The author, in presenting it to the public, is fully conscious of its many palpable imperfections ; yet, as it is his first effort, and as it was prepared amid the multiplied perplexities and interruptions of his professional life, he confidently expects that it will be received with charitable consideration. It is now published as an introduction to a work on the historical development of home, to which his attention has for years been directed. If this unassuming volume should be instrumental in the saving of one family from ruin, we shall feel ourself fully compensated.

THE AUTHOR.

Chambersbdrg, Pa., 1859.

Contents

BAGS,

Preface, 3

Chapter I

What is the Christian Home. — Section I. : Borne in ihe Sphere of Nature. — The Power of Home-Association. Inadequate Ideas of Home. Home is a Divine Institute. Its Highest Conception. Definition of Home. Its Two-fold Aspect. As simply Physical. As

Eurely Moral. Home in the Sphere of Natural Affection. Homeove. Home-Ties. The Angel-Spirit of Home. Our Nature Demands Home. Home-Sickness. Conclusion, . . . .13 Section II. : Home in the Sphere of the Church. — The Heathen Home. Constituent Elements of the Christian Home. Marriage. Husband and Wife. Parents and Children. Union of the Members of a Family. The Christian Home must be Churchly. How we Abuse it. Examples of True Homes. Parental Neglect. Address to Parents and Children. Home-Meetings and Greetings, . . . , .20

CHAPTER n.

The Mission- of the Christian Home— The Nature of this Mission. David. Joshua. It is Two-fold. The Temporal Well-Being of the Members. How Parents Abuse this part of the Home-Mission. The Eternal Weil-Being of the Members. Extent of the Home-Mission. Its Importance and Responsibility. Seen in the Vicarious Character of Home. The Principle of Moral Reproduction. The Visitation of Parental Iniquity upon the Children. The Guilt of Unfaithfulness to this Mission. Qualifications for it. The Law of Equality in Marriage. How Parents may Disqualify themselves for it. Incentives to Faithfulness. Address to Parents, . 27

CHAPTER in.

Family Religion. — The Christian Home Demands Family Religion. What is it ? Different from Personal Religion. Co-existent with Home. Essential to its Constitution. Its Historical Development from Eden to the Present Age. Its Present Neglect. What it Includes. The Example of our Primitive Fathers. The Forms in which it is Developed. The Home-Mission Demands it. Its Necessity seen in the Value of the Soul. Home without it. Home with it. Relations of Home Demand it. Reply to Excuses from it. Defect of it now. Reasons for this. It is Implied in the Marriage Relation and Obligation. Motives to Establish it, . . 40

CHAPTER IV.

The Relation of Home to the Church.— It must be Churchly. This Relation is Vital and Necessary, involving Mutual Dependence. Relation of Preparation. Home Completes Itseif in the

Vlll CONTENTS.

PASS.

Church. It has Power only in the Sphere of the Cburch. This Relation involves Duties and Responsibilities, .... 50

CHAPTER V.

Some-Influence. — Home has Power. This is either a Curse or a Blessing. What is Home-Influence? Its Character. Its Degree Estimated from the Force of First Impressions. Scripture Testimony to it. Its Legitimate Objects. How it Acts in the Formation of Character. Augustine. Washington. John Q. Adams. Bishop Hall. Dr. Doddridge. Dr. Cummmg. A Mother Won to Christ by a Daughter. Its Influence upon the State. Napoleon. Homes of the Revolution. The Spartan Mother and Home. Its Influence upon the Church. Its Responsibility Inferred, . 56

CHAPTER VI.

Home as a Stewardship. — What is a Steward V Home is a Stewardship. Parents. Home-Interests. Identity of Interest between the Master and Steward. Mother of Moses. Character and Responsibilities of this Stewardship, The Social Prostitution of Home. The Principle of Accountability this Stewardship Involves. The Final Settlement, 66

CHAPTER VII.

Responsibilities of the Christian Home. — These Inferred from Home-Influence and Stewardship. Their Measure. By the Magnitude of Home -Interest. By the Kind of Influence upon the Members. By the Guilt and Punishment of Parental Unfaithfulness. They are Incentives to Parental Integrity. A Family Drama in Two Acts. Filial Responsibility. Address to Parents and Children, 74

CHAPTER VIII.

The Family Bible. — The Memories which cluster around it. The Household Interests it Contains. The Bible as a Family Record. As a Home-Inheritance. As the Gift of a Mother's Love. An Indispensable Appendage to Home. Its Adaptation to Home. It should be Used a3 the Text-Book of Home-Education. Its Abuse and Neglect, 82

CHAPTER IX.

Infancy. — New Eras in Family History. The First-Born. Charm and Interest of Infancy. The Infant as a Member of Home. Its Emblematic Character. Its Helplessness. Its Prophetical Character. The Trust and Responsibility Involved. The Mother's Relation to Infancy. Address to Parents, . . . . .92

CHAPTER X.

Home-Dedication. — The Hebrew Mother and her Child. Reasons for Dedication. Dedication of Children. Abraham. Offering of Isaac. Little Samuel. David. Typical Character of Old Testament Family Offerings. Benefits of Home-Dedication. Duty of Parents to Devote their Sons to the Ministry. The Unfaithfulness of Parents to this duty, 103

CHAPTER XI.

Christian Baptism. — The Baptismal Altar. It is the Sacrament of Home-Dedication. Infants are its True Subjects. Home Demands it. Infant Baptism Proven, by the Child's Need of Salvation, by the Idea and Mission of Christ, by the Idea of the Church,

CONTENTS. IX

TXOM.

by the Hereditary Character of Sin, by the Relation of Christian Parents to their Children, by the Constitution of Family Life. Enemies of Infant Baptism. Why Opposed to it. Their Sophistry. Dr. A. Carson. Appeal to Parents. Duty and Privilege of Parents to have their Children Baptized. Its Neglect and Abuse. How Abused. The Old Landmarks. Striking Statistics. Abuse by Parents and Children, 113

CHAPTER XII.

Christian Names.— Proper Kind of Names. Law of Correspondence and Association. Christian Names. Much in a Name. Naming a Child should not be Arbitrary. Nebuchadnezzar. Adam. The Hebrews. Woman. Eve. Cain. Seth. Samuel. Dr. Krummaeher. Names now Given. The Folly and Evil of it. Why we should give Suitable Names. Why Scriptural Names. Mary. Instances of Proper Christian Names, 132

CHAPTER XIII.

Home as a Nursery. — Idea of Nursing. What a Nursery Is. The sense in which Home is a Nursery. Character of the Home-Nursery. The Mother's Special Sphere. Relation of the Nursery to the Formation of Character. The Nursery is Physical. Sickly and Immoral Nurses. Consequences. It is Intellectual. Its Abuse. It is Moral and Spiritual. Ihe Ways in which the Nursery is Abused. Boarding Schools, . 142

CHAPTER XIV.

Home-Sympathy. — An Argument against the Neglect and Abuse of the Nursery. Its Natural Elements. Its Definition and Nature. The Ancients. Baptista Porta. Plato. Middle Ages. It is Passive and Active. Its Disease. Good Samaritan. Rousseau. Robespierre. Its Relation to Natural Affection. Its Relation to Woman. Its Religious Elements. Christ. Ruth. Joseph. Mother of Samuel. Peter. Esther. Paul. Family of Lazarus. Its True Pattern. Its Attractive Power. Unfaithfulness to its Law. Its Highest Element, 151

CHAPTER XV.

Family Prayer. — Its Relation to Home-Sympathy. Its Necessity. Its Idea. Dr. Dwight's View. The Duty to establish it Proven. Its Neglect. Excuses from Family Prayer. Address to Parents, 168

CHAPTER XVI.

Home-Education. — Section J. : The Character of Eome-Educaiion. What is Home-Education. Different Kinds. It must be Physical. Intellectual. Moral. The Means. Circumstances. Temptation. Example. Training. Habit. The Feelings. Conscience. Motives. Cardinal Virtues. When it should Begin. It must be Religious. Necessity of this. St. Pierre. The Mother as Teacher. Objections Considered. Encouragement to Home-Training. Dr. Doddridge. A Pious Minister. Dr. D wight. Young Edwards. Polycarp. Timothy. John Randolph. J.Q.Adams. Daniel. The Power of Home-Training in Religion, 177"

Section IT,: The Neglect and Abuse of Home-Education.— Popular Prejudices Exposed. Dr. Johnson. Edmund Burke. Miss Sedgwick. Everett. Robert Hall. Fruits of a Neglected Education. Law of the Icelanders. Parents are Responsible. Crates. Pleasure of Teaching the Young. Thompson. Abuse of it. Fashion-

1*

CONTENTS.

PAGB.

able Boarding Schools. A Hopeful Young Lady. How to Ruin a Son. Duty of Parents inferred. Books. Bartholin. Home-Training not isolated from Church-Training. Must be Churchly, . 195

CHAPTER XVII.

Family Habits. — Their Importance. Their Idea. Different Kinds. Their Formation. Tobacco and Liquor. Evil and Good Habits. Family Prayer. Omission of Dutv. Their Influence. Kev. C. C. Colton. A "Criminal in India. Habit as the lnteroreter of Character. Its Reproductive Power. We are Responsible for our Habits. Christian Habits. Habit of Industry. Rutherford. Habits of Perseverance ana uontentment. . . • 204

CHAPTER XVIII.

Home-Government. — Home is a Little Commonwealth. Includes the Legal Principle. Relation of Parents to Children. Principle of Home- Government. Parental Authority Threefold. Schlegel. Old Roman Law. A Divine, Inalienable Right. Extent of Parental Authority. False View of it. Correlative Relation between Filial Obedience and Parental Authority. Character and Extent of Filial Obedience. Neglect and Abuse of Home-Government. Parental Indulgence and Despotism. The True Medium. Address to Farents, 213

CHAPTER XIX.

Home-Discipline. — Its Idea. Its Necessity. False Systems. Discipline from the standpoint of Law without Love. It3 Fruits. A Quaint Anecdote. The Europeans. The Arabs. Discipline from the standpoint of Love without Law. Examples. Eli. David. Its Fruits. True Christian Discipline. Chastisement. A Model Sys* tern. Abraham. His Children. When Discipline should be Intro- • duced. When it should be Administered. Importance of Parental Co-operation. Favoritism. Relation of Command to Chastisement. The Kind of Rein and Whip. When Corporeal Punishment should be Used. Dr. South. Dr. Bell. Its Adaptation to the Real Wants of the Child. Fidelity to Threats and Promises. Examination of Offenses. Never Chastise in Anger. Let your Child know the Object of Discipline, 223

CHAPTER XX- Home-Example. — Its Idea and Influence. The Child is the Moral Reproduction of the Parent. Solomon. Paul. Shakspeare. Dr. Young. Its Necessity proven from its Relation to Precept — William Jay ; from its Adaptation to the Capacity and Imitative Disposition of the Child. Duty of Parents to show a Model Example to the Child. Archbishop Tillotson. Motives to this Duty. Obstacles to the Efficacy of good Home-Example. Unequal Marriages. Jacob's Marriage. Zacharias and Elizabeth, .... 239

CHAPTER XXI.

The Choice of Pursuits.— Duty of Preparation for some Useful Occupation. This should be made in Childhood. The part Parents should take in this. Duty of all Persons to engage in some Useful Pursuit shown from the Relation of the Individual to the State, from the Possibility of Future Misfortune, from the Excessive Prodigality of those who have been brought up in Idleness. Law of the Athenians. What Parents should consider in their selection of an Occupation for their Children. Injudicious Course of

CONTENTS. XI

PAGE.'

some Parents. Fruits of Disobedience to the Law of Adaptation. Social Position. Exigencies. But one Pursuit. Jack of All Trades. Loaferism. Fruits of Indolence, 247

CHAPTER XXII.

The Home-Parlor. — Its Idea and Kelations to Society. Why -we should hold it Sacred. The most Dangerous Departments of Home. Duty of Parents to instruct their Children in reference to it. How far the Christian Parlor may Conform to the Laws aud Customs of Fashion. Adulteration of the Christian Home through Indiscriminate Association. The Sad and Demoralizing Effects. Address to Parents, 256

CHAPTER XXIII.

Match-Making. — Section I.: The Relation of Parents to the Marriage Choice of their Children. — The Bridal Hour. A Home-Crisis. The Bride's Farewell. Have Parents a right to take any part in the Marriage Choice of their Children? This Eight Proven from their Relation to their Children, from the Inexperience of Children, from Sacred History. The Patriarchal Age. Judaism. The Christian Church. The Extent of this Right. The Duties it Involves. Moral Control. Coercive Measures. Improper Parental Interposition. Its Sad Effects. Persuasive Measures. Should Parents Banish and Disinherit Children for their Marrying against their will? Paley, 265

Section IT. : False Tests in the Selection of a Companion. — The Mere Outward. How we determine Unhappy Matches. The Manner of Paying Addresses. The Habit of Match-Making. Tricks of Match-Makers. The Sad Fruits. Book Match-Makers. Their Auxiliaries. The Evil. How Parents may Preserve their Children. False Influences. Smitten. Outward Beauty. Impulsive Passion. Falling in Love at First Sight. Wealth. Rank. English Aristocracy. Nepotism. Snobbishness, . . . . 27S

Section ITT. : True Tests in the Selection of a Companion. — Judicious Views of the Nature and Responsibilities of the Marriage Institution. Our Forefathers. Reciprocal Affection. Paley. True Love. Adaptation of Character and Position. Fitness of Circumstances, Means, and Age. Religious Equality and Adaptation. Only in the Lord. The Sad Effect of Inequality. Should Persons Marry Outside of their Own Branch of the Church ? Sin and Curse of Disobedience to the Law of Religious Equality. Duty of Parents in reference to Religious Equality. All Matches not made in Heaven. Law of Moses. Abraham. Historical Instances of the Fruits of Disobeying this Law. Reasonableness of the Law. The Primitive Christians. Sense of the Christian Church. Address to Christians, 281

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Children's Patrimony.— The Question this Involves. Not Confined to Wealth. A Good Character and Occupation. True Religion. How Parents should proceed in the Distribution of their Property. Why they should give only a Competency. The Rules to Determine a Competence. Paley. What the Law of Competence Forbids. Penalties of its Violation. History. Impartiality. Paley. The Infatuation of many Parents, .... 292

CHAPTER XXV.

The Promises op the Christian Home.— Two Kinds. Divine Promises to Parents and Children. Those of Punishment. Law

231 CONTENTS.

FAOB.

of Reproduction. Iniquity of the Parents upon the Children. Promises of Reward. In this Life. John Q. Adams. In the Life to Come. God's Fidelity to His Promises. They are Conditional. When they become Absolute. Popular Objections. Compatibility between Promises and Agencies. Paul. Moses. Promises made by Parents, 303

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Bereavements of Home.—- Separation. Bereavements Diversified. Reverses of Fortune. Death. First Death. Of Husband and Father. Of a Wife and Mother. Of Children. Of the Infant. Of the First-Born. Wisdom and Goodness of God in Bereavements. Discipline. Moral Instruction. The Dead and Living still Together. Benefit. Death of Little Children is a Kindness to them. Why. Why Christ became a Little Child. We should not wish them Back. Their Death is a Benefit to the Living. Communion of Saints. Ministering Spirits. The Spirit- World. A Ministering Child. A Ministering Mother. Infant Salvation. Zuinlius. Calvin. Dr. Junkin. Newton. The Hope of Re-union in Heaven. We should not murmur against God. This does not forbid Godly Sorrow and Tears. Meekly Submit, . . 313

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Memories op Home. — Chief Justice Gibson. Relation of Memoiy to Bereavement. Memories are Pleasing and Painful. Pleasing and Pious Memories. A Mothers's Recollection. The Pleasures of Remembering the Pious Dead. . Irving. The Saving Influence of Memory. Painful Memories. Critical Power of Memory. Mementoes of Home. Pictures. Memorials. Letters from Home. Seek Pleasing Memories, 348

CHAPTER XXVIII.

The Antitype op the Christian Home. — Typical Relation between Home and Heaven. The Christian's Tent-Home in its Relation to Heaven. The Antitypical Character of Heaven. A Comparative View of our Earthly and our Heavenly Home. Christ the Center of Heaven's Joy and Attraction. Union between Home and Heaven. A Conscious Union of the Members in Heaven. Family Recognition and Love in Heaven. Family Greeting and Joy in Heaven. Longings after Heaven. Conclusion, • . . 860

CHAPTER I.

WHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN HOME?

Section I. Home In The Sphere Op Nature

" My home ! the spirit of its love is breathing

In every wind that plays across my track, From its white walls the very tendrils wreathing

Seem with soft links to draw the wanderer back. There am I loved — there prayed for ! — there my mother

Sits by the hearth with meekly thoughtful eye, There my young sisters watch to greet their brother ;

Soon their glad footsteps down the path will fly ! And what is home ? and where, but with the loving ?

Home ! That name touches every fibre of the soul, and strikes every chord of the human heart as with angelic fingers. Nothing but death can break its spell. What tender associations are linked with home ! What pleasing images and deep emotions it awakens ! It calls up the fondest memories of life, and opens in our nature

THE CHRISTIAN HOME.

the purest, deepest, richest gush of consecrated thought and feeling.

" Home ! 'tis a blessed name ! And they who rove,

Careless or scornful of its pleasant bonds,

Nor gather round them those linked soul to soul

By nature's fondest ties,

But dream they're happy !"

But what is home, — honie in the sphere of nature ? It is not simply an ideal which feeds the fancy, nor the flimsy emotion of a sentimental heart. We should seek for its meaning, not in the flowery vales of imagination, but amid the sober realities of thought and of faith.

Home is not the mere dwelling place of our parents, and the theater upon which we played the part of merry childhood. It is not simply a habitation. This would identify it with the lion's lair and the eagle's nest. It is not the mere mechanical juxtaposition of so many human beings, herding together like animals in the den or stall. It is not mere conventionalism, — a human association made up of the nursery, the parlor, the outward of domestic life, resting upon some evanescent passion, some sensual impression and policy. These do riot make up the idea of home.

Home is a divine institution, coeval and congenital with man<The first home was in Eden ; the last home will be in Heaven. It is the first form of society, a little commonwealth in which we first lose our individualism and -come to the consciousness of our relation to others. Thus it is the

HOME IN THE SPHERE OF NATURE. 15

foundation of all our relationships in life, — the preparation-state for our position in the State and in the Church. It is the first form and development of the associating principle, the normal relation in which human character first unfolds itself. It is the first partnership of nature and of life ; and when it involves "the communion of saints," it reaches its highest form of development. It is an organic unity of nature and of interest, — the moral center of all those educational influences which are exerted upon our inward being. The idea of the home-institution rests upon the true love of our moral nature, involving the marriage union of congenial souls, binding up into itself the whole of life, forming and moulding all • its relations, and causing body, mind and spirit to partake of a common evolution. The loving soul is- the central fact of home. . In it the inner life of the members find their true complement, and enjoy a kind of community of consciousness.

"Home's not merely four square walls, Though with pictures hung and gilded ; Home is where affection calls — Filled with shrines the heart hath builded."

Home may be viewed in a twofold aspect, as simply physical, and as purerjinioral. The former comes finally to its full meaning and force only in the latter. They are interwoven ; we cannot understand the one without the other ; they are complements ; and the complete idea of home as

THE CHRISTIAN HOME.

we find it in the sphere of nature, lies in the living nnion of both.

By the physical idea of home, we mean, not only its outward, mechanical structure, made up of different parts and members, but that living whole or oneness into which these parts are bound up. Hence it is not merely adventitious, — a corporation of individual interests, but that organic unity of natural life and interest in which the members are bound up. By the moral idea of home, we mean the union of the moral life and interests of its members. This explodes the infidel systems of Fourierism, Socialism, Mormonism, and " Woman's Eights." These forms of Agrarianism destroy the ethical idea and mission of home ; for they are not only opposed to revelation and history, but violate the plainest maxims of natural affection.

Love is an essential element of home. "Without this we may have the form of a home, but not its spirit, its beating heart, its true motive power, and its sunshine. The inward stream would be gone, and home would not be the oneness of kindred souls. Home-love is instinctive, and begets all those silken chords, those sweet harmonies, those tender sympathies and endearments which give to the family its magic power. This home-love is the mother of all home delights, yea, of all the love of life. We first draw love from our mother's breast, and it is love which ministers to our first wants. It flashes from parent to parent, and from parent to child,

HOME IN THE SPHERE OF NATURE.. 17

making up the sunshine and the loveliness of domestic life. "Without it home would have no meaning. It engenders the "home-feeling" and the " home-sickness," and is the moral net-work of the home-existence and economy. It is stronger than death ; it rises superior to adversity, and towers in sublime beauty above the niggardly selfishness of the world. Misfortune cannot suppress it ; enmity cannot alienate it ; temptation cannot enslave it. It is the guardian angel of the nursery and the sick-bed ; it gives an affectionate concord to the partnership of home-life and interest. Circumstances cannot modify it ; it ever remains the same, to sweeten existence, to purify the cup of life, to smooth our rugged pathway to the grave, and to melt into moral pliability the brittle nature of man. It is the ministering spirit of home, hovering in soothing caresses over the cradle and the death-beds of the household, and filling up the urn of all its sacred memories.

But home demands not only such love, but ties, tender, strong, and sacred. These bind up the many in the one. They are the fibres of the home-life, and cannot be wrenched without causing the heart to bleed at every pore. Death may dissect them and tear away the objects around which they entwine* and they will still live in the imperishable love which survives. From them proceed mutual devotions and confiding faith. They bind together in one all-expanding unity, the perogatives of the husband, and the

THE CHRISTIAN HOME.

subordination of the wife, the authority of the parent and the obedience of the child.

"0, not the smile of other lands,

Though far and wide our feet may roam,

Can e'er untie the genial bands That knit our hearts to home !"

The mother is the angel-spirit of home. Her tender yearnings over the cradle of her infant babe, her guardian care of the child and youth, and her bosom companionship with the man of her love and choice, make her the personal center of the interests, the hopes and the happiness of the family. Her love glows in her sympathies and reigns in all her thoughts and deeds. It never cools, never tires, never dreads, never sleeps, but ever glows and burns with increasing ardor, and with sweet and holy incense upon the altar of home-devotion. And even when she is gone to her last rest, ' the sainted mother in heaven sways a mightier influence over her wayward husband or child, than when she was present. Her departed spirit still hovers over his affections, overshadows his path, and draws him by unseen cords to herself in heaven.

Our nature demands home. It is the first essential element of our social#)eing. The whole social system rests upon it: body, mind and spirit are concerned in it. These cannot be complete out of the home-relations ; there would be no proper equilibrium of life and character

HOME IN THE SPHERE OF NATURE. 19

without the home feeling and influence. The heart, when "bereaved and disappointed, naturally turns for refuge to home-life and sympathy, i^o spot is so attractive to the weary one : it is. the heart's moral oasis ; there is a mother's watchful love, and a father's sustaining influence ; there is a husband's protection, and a wife's tender sympathy ; . there is the circle of loving brothers and sisters, — happy in each other's love. Oh, what is life without these ? A desolation ! — a painful, glooming pilgrimage through " desert heaths and barren sands." But home gives to life its fertilizing dews, its budding hopes, and its blossoming joys. "When far away in distant lands or upon the ocean's heaving breast, we pine away and become "home-sick;" no voice there like a mother's ; no sympathy there like a wife's; no loved one there like a child; no resting place there like home ; and we cry out, "Home! sweet, sweet home!"

Thus our nature instinctively longs for the deep love and the true hearts of home. It has for our life more satisfaction than all the honors, and the riches and the luxuries of the world. "We soon grow sick of these, and become sick for home, however humble it may be. Its endearments are ever fresh, as if in the bursting joys of their first experience. They remain unforgotten in our memories and imperishable in our hearts. When friends become cold, society heartless, and adversity frowns darkly and heavily upon us, oh, it is then that we turn with fond assurance to home, where loved ones will weep as well as rejoice with us.

"Oh, the blessing of a home, where old and young mix kindly,

The young unawed, the old unchilled, in unreserved communion !

Oh that refuge from the world, when a stricken son or daughter

May seek with confidence of love, a father's hearth and heart;

Come unto me, my son, if men rebuke and mock thee, There always shall be one to bless, — for I am on thy side !"

SECTION IL

HOME IN THE SPHERE OP THE CHURCH.

"A holy home,

Where those who sought the footprints of the Lord,

Along the paths of pain, and care, and gloom, Shall find the rest of heaven a rich reward."

"What is the Christian home ? Only in the sphere of Christianity does the true idea of home become fully developed. Home with the savage is but a herding, a servitude. Even among many of the Jews it was little better

HOME IN JWE SPHERE OF THE CHURCH. 21

than a Mahommedan seraglio. The most eminent of the heathen world degrade the family by making it the scene of lust, and introducing concubinage and polygamy. Plato, one of the most enlightened of the heathen, had base conceptions of home, and abnsed its highest and holiest prerogatives by his ideas of polygamy. We find too that in the ethics of Aristotle, the most lovely and sacred attributes of the family are totally discarded. The home which he holds up to view is unadorned with chastity and virtue. And Sophocles follows in the same path, stripping home of all that is sacred and essential to its true constitution. And when we come down to the present age, and view this divine institute in the light of Mormonism and Socialism, who will say that here we have unfolded its true idea and sacred character ?