The home no refuge from the vicissitudes of life-Vacant places-Dr. Vaughan-Sorrow not without mitigation-Job-David-The home at Bethany-Luther-Dr. Morison-John Foster-Andrew Fuller-Sir T. F. Buxton-Cowper-Matthew Henry-Loss of children in infancy The "Father's house"-Imperfections of Christian homes on earth; contrast presented by the heavenly home-Development of the affections in heaven -The widening of the circle of our affection not a lessening of its intensity—The heavenly home never to be broken up-Earthly homes ought to be preparations for the heavenly one-The eternal home only The heart has many a dwelling-spot Leads human foot to stray. But time, nor change, can e'er efface The cot may for a palace change, By fortune's golden spell, But this can ne'er our love estrange That truth, which memory loves to trace, That the heart has many a dwelling-place, FREDERICK ENOCH. CHRISTIAN HOME-LIFE. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY. WHEN the Most High was about to bestow upon Abraham a new and signal mark of the Divine favour, the reason assigned for it was, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment." When a judgment was about to descend upon the house of Eli, so terrible, that "both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle," it was, "because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not." The prophet Jeremiah invokes the wrath of God "upon the families that call not on thy name;" and he is commissioned to declare, in the name of the Lord, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel." In such words as theseand Scripture is full of them-parents and heads of families have both solemn warning and gracious encouragement. Blessings are promised, and judgments are denounced, according to the violation or the observance of parental duties and family relationships. Even apart from the clear and explicit statements of B Scripture, reason suffices to show the immense influence exerted by our home-life upon our interests, both for time and for eternity. Heathen moralists, no less than Christian teachers, have strenuously insisted upon the importance of family piety as essential to public virtue. But whilst all admit this, too many rest satisfied with a mere verbal acknowledgment of it. Their words neither express any deep conviction, nor produce any practical result. Though called, as the heads of households, to a post of great responsibility, they do not really recognise their position; and they sadly fail in the discharge of their duties, to their own sorrow, and to the injury, often the irreparable injury, of those who are dependent upon them. Many who are conscious of their failure in this respect feel it painfully. They grieve over a disorderly household and disobedient children; they mourn over the evil ways of those whom they most dearly love, but they seem quite unable to remedy, or even to arrest, the evil. The fact is, they have never set themselves seriously and prayerfully to consider how they should fulfil their duties. They have contented themselves with wishing and sorrowing, when they should have been prayerfully seeking strength to enable them to act. Some, again, fail in this duty for the want of vigilant, persevering effort to maintain their authority. They allow themselves to become careless. They pass by faults which ought to be noticed and checked. They let the reins of authority slip from their hands. Like Eli, they first allow their children to do what is right in their own eyes, and then are wanting in the moral courage necessary to recover their lost rule. An |