useful," in which he had "a peculiar excellence;" and that the practice might be continued in the families. of his children, he bequeathed to his four daughters a copy each of "Poole's Annotations," together with "Mr. Burton's last and best translation of the singing psalms, requiring and requesting them to make daily use of the same, for the instruction, edification, and comfort of themselves and their families."1

After the exposition, "he required from his children some account of what they had heard," sometimes conversing plainly and familiarly with them about it, and then came the prayer. And this was emphatically family prayer. Family mercies, family sins, family blessings, were the main topics of his addresses at the throne of grace. The absent were especially remembered, and sometimes, in praying for his children, he would put up a separate petition for each child. Their birthdays were always noticed, with thanks for the gift of the child, and some special request on its behalf. The servants were prayed for, not only generally, but with a particular regard to their circumstances. Visitors shared in the petitions of the family supplication, and those who had especially desired his prayers. The dealings of Providence were noticed in a devout and trusting spirit. "Nor did he," adds his son, "ever forget to pray for the peace of Jerusalem." The children then on bended knees sought a blessing of him and of their mother, which was given "with great solemnity and affection."

Day by day, and year by year, through many scenes of trial, yet ever in the enjoyment of a calm and happy

piety, did this good man and pious householder maintain the habit of worship, never omitting it, even when he left home early and returned late. Prudence sometimes, under such circumstances, led him to shorten the service, but he would never wholly neglect it. And though, to modern methods of conducting it, it seems somewhat elaborate and lengthy, yet he so managed it, “as to make it a pleasure and not a task to his children and servants." Not all, however, have the power which he possessed of preventing such a service from becoming tedious, and a shorter and simpler plan will probably be found more suitable for ordinary use. Yet it must have been a delightsome service which welcomed and closed each day in that home sanctuary at Broad Oak.

How distinctly even now, through the mists of nearly two centuries, does this picture of Christian home-life rise before us! A house in which the service of God was the first thought and the last; a family trained for heaven; every domestic incident and relationship made a theme for solemn prayer; every day greeted with Divine songs of praise, and ended with words of child-like confidence in the care of a covenant-keeping God! We seem to see before us the pleasant assembly;-the venerable father, and loved and venerated mother, their children grouped quietly around them; the servants, workmen, and labourers, who had been called to rest awhile from their toil, that they might unite in the solemn service; the sojourner for the night, who, as a welcome guest, occupied the place of honour, and was invited to join their worship. We attend to the joyful hymn of praise preparing all hearts to lister to the

subsequent instruction. Our attention is riveted by the grave yet familiar manner in which the Scripture is read, and by the curt, pregnant sentences which cast light on obscure passages, and impress the truth upon the mind. Then we join in the prayer, so simple, yet so comprehensive, a prayer in which all must feel they have a part. Then, in the hushed stillness, the children seek their morning or evening blessing. And then all depart to their daily avocations, or to their quiet chambers, in peace.

How invigorating at the commencement, how soothing at the close of the day, must such a service have been to the devout mind! What a holy influence it must have exerted day by day upon the inmates of the house! What an influence it must have had upon the very order of the household itself! In Philip Henry's own quaint words, it was "like a hem to all their other business, to keep it from ravelling." Nor do we wonder to find it recorded that "many of his servants, by the blessing of God upon his diligent endeavour, got those good impressions upon their souls which they retained ever after, and blessed God with all their hearts that ever they came under his roof."1 Well may we exclaim with Newton, "Happy is that family where the worship of God is constantly and conscientiously maintained. Such houses are temples in which the Lord dwells, and castles garrisoned by a Divine power.

'Life, by his Son.

"2

2 Newton's Letters.

151

CHAPTER X.

THE LORD'S DAY AT HOME.

We have no need, in considering Christian homelife, to argue the sacred obligations of the Lord's day. The object of this chapter is to show how this day may be, as good Philip Henry called it, "the queen of days, the pearl of the week," to all the inmates of the house; how it may be identified with the early life of childhood as a happy day; how even children may be led to recognise

"The beauty of the Sabbath kept
With conscientious reverence, as a day

By the almighty Lawgiver pronounced
Holy and blest."

1. In order to this, the sacred obligations of the day must be faithfully maintained.

The great moral power of the Sabbath, and its great charm too, is in the fact of its Divine institution. No arrangement of convenience, no appropriation of a day to religious services by any legal enactment, could possibly stand in stead of this Divine ordinance. The recollection that God himself at the Creation blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; that he placed among the laws of unchanging moral obligation the command to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;" the fact of the transfer of the day

of rest and holy service to the first day of the week, a day signalized by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, all combine to give to the observance of this day an interest that no day of human appointment, whatever charm of "hoar antiquity" it might have, could possibly possess. It is identified with our warmest Christian sympathies, with our loftiest Christian hopes.

And it is a prime condition of Christian home-life, that the sacred character of the day should be fully and faithfully maintained. Laxity here will be sure to induce, if it does not indeed betray, laxness of religious principle altogether. The Lord's day must be to children, from the earliest period of consciousness, a day "holy of the Lord, honourable;" a sacred day, God's own day, to be regarded, therefore, as distinct from all other days. Everything about the house, all the household and family arrangements, should show that it is held to be so by those who rule the house. Not only the cessation of ordinary worldly toil on that day, but the enforcement of wise restrictions upon the behaviour, the conversation the general pursuits of the household, should accustom children to look upon it as set apart for holy purposes, a day which would be desecrated by the ordinary pursuits of this life.

This involves, with regard to children, the exercise of an amount of restraint on their conversation and behaviour, which to some may seem an unnecessary and even cruel limitation of their childish liberty. This restraint, however, will, if wisely enforced, be not a source of evil, but of good; and we shall slow presently how, even by means of this restraint, the