domineering nor wild revolt. There is rule, order, subjection, prompt obedience-else there could be no liberty; for as the service of God is perfect freedom, obedience to Him, in our homes or elsewhere, is but another name for joy. What Socialism or Communism seeks to promote by outraging some of the deepest principles in man's nature. Home advances in harmony with them all, and when conducted as the Author of all good designed it to be, the abode of our youth is at once the birthplace of our blessedness, and the bulwark of our rights. Birds at night flock to their nests, and wild beasts to their lair; certain fishes periodically resort, by a strong instinct, to the place where they were spawned; some birds, by a sagacity yet more marvellous, return, season after season, from far off lands, to the eaves where they were hatched; and, in like manner, many a wretched exile has felt the attractions of home, with its remembered liberty and joy, to be so strong that absence was worse than death. Some have accordingly returned, though, in seeking their home, they found only a grave.

Or, finally home has been called "A Little world." We are there trained for acting the part which shall be allotted to us upon a wider arena. Obedience to law, implicit and cordial deference to authority, sympathy with suffering, affection, duty, hope, fear, are all brought into vivid play; and it is not difficult for an observant eye to note or to predict how each young inmate will act in public life. selfishness of one promises woe to himself and to others.

The

The

generosity of another points him out as a future benefactor. Pre-eminence over playfellows, or cunning, or cruelty, or dishonesty, or high-toned honour, all find their place in the little world of home, in training for the wider platform of

society. Here, as well as in the country churchyard, poetry, nay, plainest prose, may find

"Some village Hampden, that, with dauntless breast,

The little tyrant of his fields withstood;

Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest,

Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood,"

while all presage the future which stretches far beyond the horizon of the passing day, and will become a busy present when these young souls have taken their place in the battle of life; when they have chosen God or Mammon, Christ or Belial, life or death.

Such are some of the aspects of Home, as indicated by the names which are sometimes applied to it; and even from these glimpses, it would be difficult to over-estimate the importance of the domestic constitution. Most of the corruptions of society may be traced up to its neglect, while the history alike of the world and of the Church, from the days of the deluge downward, proclaims the blessings which may flow from home well-ordered. Let God be supreme there e; let His will preside, and streams of joy will emanate from that fountainhead-streams ever deepening and fertilising as they flow. But let the will of God be superseded by that of man; let children assert their independence, and be allowed to rule both themselves and others; let the family be self-centred, instead of being lovingly knit to God-then hastening ills are at hand; the gray hairs of parents will be brought in sorrow to the grave. The Phaeton of fable becomes the model-the little world will be all on fire.

And when the delicate framework of the Home constitution has been dislocated, what power can re-adjust it? Who shall restore the bloom of the plum if only a finger tip has

THE SENSITIVE PLANT.

31

touched it? Who shall recompose the nervous system of the mimosa or the sun-dew after it has been rudely outraged? No human hand, nay, the touch of the kindliest, only deranges that plant the more; and in like manner, no human legislation, no mortal device, can rectify or readjust the family when its parts have been displaced. It is the model of all rule, upon the one hand, and of all obedience, upon the other; and when that model is interfered with, moral confusion must ensue. There is no cure for the distemper but just to return to the simple truth-the authoritative mind of God. It is the system of love revealed in the gospel, that system "which makes one thing of all theology," that must reign in our homes, paramount, unchallenged, and alone. Then it is well-for God is first.

32

THE CONSTITUTION OF HOME.

CHAPTER IV.

SCRIPTURAL VIEWS OF HOME.

The Fountainhead of Rivers-The Elements of Society-Its Degeneracy-The Means of its Restoration-First, the Human-Knowledge-RefinementSecond, the Divine-Goodness-Holiness-Godlikeness-Family Training-Its long Continuance--The Benefit.-The Reigning Influence, Love-The Regulator, God's Truth-A Moral Factory-The Church and School dependent upon Home-Home obliterated-The Consequences-Examples-France-The East.

WE have often crossed a high tableland in this island, from whose sloping sides, at three points not far from each other, three important rivers hasten to the sea. One of them runs westward, and, though at first only a threadlike rill, ere it reaches the ocean it could bear upon its bosom the wealth and the navies of an empire. A second stream zigzags eastward, and waters some of the scenes the most renowned in history and song of all that the northern section of this country contains. The third stream finds its way quietly to the deep. There is nothing remarkable, though there is not a little that is beautiful, along its margin. Its course is brief; but its banks also have witnessed some of the most stirring events of past ages of rampant feudalism and its attendant pillage.

The whole is an emblem of Home. From it, as from a centre, proceeds branch after branch, each producing its own effects, or wearing its own characteristics. One is signalised for good, and operates like a Howard; another for evil, and

stalks among men a demon; one steals placidly through life, lowly in sphere, and unnoticed in character; another ascends to some proud position, and is perhaps the victim of his own But all are swelling the aggregate of good or of evil in the world; all are casting in their lot either with those who are blessings or those who are banes to society.

success.

And since so much depends upon home, and its influence, it were well did we study with care its constitution and its laws. Let us next, then, glance at some of these.

The individual-the family-the neighbourhood - the country or the commonwealth—the world-these form the order in which society is developed. "Persons are elements of families; families are the elements of which both churches and kingdoms or commonwealths are made up. ."* Now, if the second in this list depends on the first for its character, it is equally obvious that the second, or the family, must largely mould or modify the rest. It is there, as we have seen, that resistless influences come into operation, and just as the constant dropping of water can smoothe even a granite rock, do these influences mould and fashion society. And it is the purpose of God over all that it should be so. When man became a fallen creature, a great problem was raised, which has not yet been adjusted by any human deviceHow counteract that degeneracy? How lift man from that degradation? How replace the statue on its pedestal? How restore happiness and purity to man? In solving that problem he has sought out many inventions.

Impart knowledge, is the prescription of some-and that will rectify all. Knowledge is power, and with that in his possession, it is argued, man will soon emerge from moral

C

* John Howe.