on the other hand, who are hopefully the heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, will for ever ascribe that character and that glory to the impressions which a mother made, ere the world had hardened the heart, or made it -defiant of restraint alike from God and man! They early learned to imitate the young disciple, who said that "if he had a thousand hearts, he would engage them all in love to Immanuel," and with such resolutions, the youngest rank already among the blessed for ever.

Parental Responsibility-The Perils of Sons-Control passing into Counsel-Education-Choice of a Profession-The Parents' Duty-Difficulties-PassionIgnorance-Caprice-Training "for the Church"-Prodigals-The Misery which they Spread-Wise Sons-Glad Parents-Examples-George Washingtor-Richard and Rowland Hill-George Canning-Scriptural Cases.

Ir might solemnise the most unthinking parent could he but once realise the fact that he must answer to the Just Judge for the soul of every child beneath his roof. His own soul and his children's constitute his spiritual charge, and could all that is implied in such responsibility be felt as it ought to be, the most worldly would be startled for a little, the most thoughtless would be compelled to think. That so much as a single parent should be neglecting his children's souls, and therefore doing what he can to ruin them for ever, is one of the saddest considerations that can engross the mind of man. What guilt where there should be blamelessness! What folly where there should be wisdom! What cruelty where there should be love! What woe when the day of repentance, or, failing that, of righteous retribution comes!

And this circumspection is specially needed whenever there are special temptations. If there be some members of our homes in whom passion not seldom usurps the place of principle, they demand a parent's peculiar care; and this

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is too often the case with Sons. Often thoughtless, impatient of control, bent upon their own will and their own way, both the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove are required to guide them in duty-let us next glance, then, at the sons of our homes.

Upon the sun-dial it is the shadow that indicates the hour, and in the life of boys, character is often displayed by unholy deeds. Passing from infancy to boyhood, they often wish to overleap one stage and be men at a bound. They long to be independent, or only self-dependent, and are often defiant of every wise restraint. This may not arise from any precocity of power, but only from precocity in sin, and perhaps no future years of life witness so much iniquity as those of this transition time. Conscience sometimes appears to be dormant; reason is overborne; and hence the need of firmness tempered at once by wisdom and affection. The young

soul is wayward in proportion to its ignorance or its want of conscience; and the parent who would neither connive at a son's guilt nor conspire to ruin him, must resolutely adopt the maxim,

"Principiis obsta: sero medicina paratur

Cum mala per longas invaluere moras.'

"Crush the first germ: too late your cares begin
When long delays have fortified the sin."

The greatest strain upon parental wisdom, and the clearest proof of parental impotency for good, without the blessing of God, meet us in many a home just at the point now referred to.

But this is too vague. That sons should obey their parents "in all things" is a scriptural maxim which only infidelity can challenge. During infancy the parent's claim

to that obedience is absolute. He is answerable only to God for commanding, and the child only for obeying. "Honour thy father and thy mother" is the basis of all duty between man and man: it is the first clause in the decalogue after the precepts which relate to God. The fifth is thus a compound command, enjoining obedience alike to the heavenly and the earthly father; and all that, for the first time in the decalogue, is accompanied with a promise. The parent is thus put in God's place in regard to infant obedience.

But as the son advances in days, a period arrives when absolute control passes into rational guidance—when reasons should be given for commands—when consultations should be held and confidence cherished. In some cases the child's preference should decide the measures to be adopted, in others that preference should be resolutely withstood; and it is this that tries both the head and the heart of many a parent. Neither to expect that in boyhood which can be found only in maturity, nor to yield to passion, or caprice, or waywardness; neither to do as despotism does, making children serfs, nor, as Eli did, leaving them unchecked and sin ascendant-requires a wisdom more than mortal; and what parent dare say that he has never erred at this important era in the history of his home?

Further, in the case of sons, their education must of course be influenced by their pursuits in life. They should learn not merely to know, but to be wise. They are not merely to be taught, but to be trained—not merely to learn to inquire, but moreover to do and to act. Even a heathen emperor could say, "The highest learning is to be wise, the highest wisdom is to be good ;" and that maxim should preside over the training of boys. As youth is the season of progress,

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while age becomes conservative, stagnant, or timid, that youthful tendency should be both fostered and directed; and the secret of home-happiness is not fully known where the longing to advance so native to youth is not carefully studied, or skilfully employed for good.

That

But all that need be said upon this subject here may be comprehended under suggestions regarding the choice of a profession. It frequently happens that a father consults his own views in this respect, rather than his son's. The prospect of gain, some domestic arrangement, vanity, caprice, and similar causes, may decide one of the most important steps in life. But these things ought not so to be. son is less than dutiful who lightly sets aside a parent's counsel; but, on the other hand, unless the choice be wicked, or foolish, or ignorant, it should form an element in the final decision. The neglect of that maxim has shed a blight over some hearts for life; and warned thereby, talent, taste, and physical and mental energy are all to be considered in deciding a boy's course for life. A parent's plans may be thwarted, and bright hopes may seem to be dashed, but unless the chosen pursuit be one to which no Christian parent can be a party without sin, he may solace himself with the thought that no one ever did well what he did from compulsion, perhaps with hatred or loathing. In a word, the predelictions, the taste, and the likings of youth have their place, and the wisest father will be most prompt in conceding to them all their legitimate scope.

And when coercion has been employed, how ruinous have been the effects! It often happens, for example, that parents train their son "for the Church." In some homes it is just as fixed a law that the second son shall inherit the