THE HOMES OF THE RICH. 309 CHAPTER XII. THE HOMES OF THE RICH AND THE POOR. I.-The Homes of the Rich-The Ungodly-And their Ruin-Pleasant Places-An Example.-II.-The Homes of the Poor-The Dissolute-The Devout-The Trials of the Poor-Manufactories-The Interlinkings of Society-ExamplesA Galaxy. IT is a truism to observe that it is not what we possess, but what we are that decides our character. Judged by that maxim, the first in the world's esteem would often be lastthe last would often be first; and as some of the suggestions already offered may not seem to bear upon all classes, we may here glance at the Homes of the rich and the poor in the light of Scripture, in some of their distinctive characteristics. I. THE HOMES OF THE RICH. It is a melancholy sight to see God utterly forgotten in the Homes where he has shed down the affluence of his bounty. On the right hand and on the left, his blessings in providence are strewed, but never once is the knee bent to implore his guidance, or praise him for his goodness; the families who dwell there "call not on the name of the Lord." Children grow up without being won by a parent's religion; and the good impressions which may be received from others, the parent's example often speedily effaces. Amid the insipidities which fashion exalts to the rank of virtues, the soul is entombed. The more God bestows, the more he is 310 LORD COLLINGWOOD-LORD NELSON. neglected. Men enjoy so many of his gifts that, in practice, they can dispense with himself, and they pass on to his tribunal amid frivolities which need scarcely arrest the attention even of the winged insect of an hour. Such homes are like a galley richly freighted, but sailing amid rocks, and quicksands, and coral reefs. One book could be their chart, their God's-but that book is unheeded, and they sink. It is pleasant, however, to turn from such a scene to con-template those abodes of affluence which are also the homes of piety, or sanctuaries in which God is honoured. "The Church in the house" assembles there from day to day. Parents there seek by prayer and painstaking to advance the highest interests of their little ones, and some, whose social position gives them rank at the right hand of royalty, thus evince an earnestness in their love of truth which becomes them better than coronet or star. Their simple faith and lowly goodness not seldom make their piety as rich and as captivating as the trees of the tropics. The vortex of fashion compels such decided souls to grasp the truth in the hand of a very simple faith. They must either do so, or be sucked from the rock by the surge: but by grace they grasp that truth and are safe. Children, servants, all within their gates, are cared for, and the beauties of such holiness are far more attractive than all that affluence or titles can pile upon men. What believer, with the Bible in his hand, will think of Lord Collingwood's victories when his piety is depicted? or of Lord Nelson's achievements, brilliant as they were, when seen behind the dark shadows of his ignoble private life? In the princely palace at B- one wanders from hall to hall, and from corridor to corridor, admiring, or sometimes even awed by what he sees. Literature finds a stately sanctuary there. Art embellishes long suites of apartments. Science is largely represented. Taste walks hand in hand with affluence. From cupola to threshold all is princely, and the visitant cannot help glancing, perhaps, from the windows of that magnificent abode to the far-off cottage, scarcely perceptible from the vastness of park and lawn, and marvelling at the contrasted homesteads of the co-equal sons of mortality, the labourer and the lord. But he is led to that portion of the pile which is set apart for the worship of God-the Chapel of the Palace—and what meets him there? All is confusion-tasteless, tawdry, and offensive. Paltry pictures, displaced from more prominent positions, disfigure the walls of God's portion of that Home. They are incongruous as well as tasteless; and when the eye of a worshipper rests upon them, they must suggest ideas antagonistic to reverence towards God. Now, all that is just an embodied representation of what often takes place in the homes of the rich, and what the final result must be Rutherford may tell. "The wound of a wounded spirit" "impaireth the health, drieth up the blood, wasteth away the marrow, pineth away the flesh, consumeth away the bones, maketh pleasure painful, and shorteneth life: no wisdom can counsel it, no counsel can advise it, no advice can persuade it, no assuagement can cure it, no power can overcome it, no sceptic can affray it, no enchanter can charm it;" and all that sad experience awaits those who subordinate God to self-who glorify man in stately halls, and God in a dust-laden corner. II. THE HOMES OF THE POOR. "The common people heard Jesus gladly." Though a life 312 THE CHILDREN OF TOIL. of holiness possesses many attractions when it is led by the influential or the accomplished, it is among the sons and the daughters of toil that we commonly find godliness in greatest vigour. Many of them are, no doubt, the victims of debasing habits, and we cannot look upon some of their homes, their little ones, or themselves, without seeing mournful proofs of that truth. Home laws are violated, and home rights set at nought. A bleak soul within scowls upon a bleak world without, and all is wretchedness there. But, on the other hand, where godliness exists, it rectifies such disorders. It sheds light upon dark homes. It tames wild children. It curbs the outbreak of passion. It may restore even bodily health; and those who have visited the homes where such godliness dwells, have felt that it was good for them to be there, to see the humble but saintly children of labour "far more illumined, and with nobler truths,” than the doating devotees of mere earthly science or mere material wealth. In such homes, amid poverty, perhaps, and toil, and not seldom sickness, we learn more and more to admire the domestic constitution. We see what blessings it can diffuse when the will of God is paramount, and the simple annals of such abodes proclaim at once the power of grace, the blessedness of the righteous, and what it is that constitutes the felicity of Home. He saw far into many things who said, that without intercourse with his poorer neighbours in affliction, there is no spiritual health or full happiness for man. * But we can scarcely glance at the homes of the poor without being reminded of the peculiar trials which abound in them, and the peculiar sympathy which is due to their inThe children are often doomed to premature toil, mates. * Dr Arnold. and leave their homes before correct principle is taught, far less confirmed. Often from early dawn till evening twilight, or later still, are parents and children separated. Some crowded manufactory is then their day-long home, and there all that should be cherished is often overlaid. "Men, maidens, youths, Mothers and little children, boys and girls, Now, philanthropy looks round in vain for a remedy for such moral evils. The grasp of cupidity refuses to be relaxed, and homes deserted, parents and children toiling to the uttermost, must continue to abound. But what philanthropy cannot achieve, religion can; and it furnishes an antidote to much of the evil, when it shews to the poor or the toil-worn a Saviour once like themselves. So attractive is he in his love, so genial in his sympathy, so perfectly human in his lowliness, yet so mysteriously divine, that men may rejoice even in poverty when it supplies one tie more between Jesus and the soul. A Home may be very humble, and the fare of its inmates may be frugal or coarse. But he who said so wisely, "An altar of earth shall you make to your God," and not a gaudy or a gorgeous pile, never despises the worship of such a Home when it is the heart that adores. When such a blameless pair as those mentioned by Luke,* "both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord," occupy a Home, he takes up his abode there his peace rests upon that house. * Chap. i. 6. There may |