were the highest joy of life. What will they do when they stand before God without the robe of a Saviour's righteousness to cover their sins, naked and helpless, lost and condemned ?

IX.

Home: its Pleasures, Duties, and
Dangers.

Attractions of home-The heavenly antitype-Its educational influences-Christian sympathy-The sphere of the woman-Absorbing interests of home life-Dangers of familiarity-Fireside tempers-Mutual respect-Every class of the home circle to be considered Our duty towards the faults of others-Conversation.

PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT.

Social love. Lev. xix. 18; S. Song viii. 6, 7; Matt. xxii. 39; Eph. v. 2; Col. ii. 2; 1 Thess. iv. 9; 1 Pet. i. 22; ii. 17; iv. 8; 2 Pet. i. 7.

Husbands and Wives. 1 Cor. xiv. 34; Eph. v. 22, 33; Col. iii. 18, 19; 1 Tim. ii. 9, 14; v. 14.

;

Parents and children. Exod. xx. 12; xxi. 15; Lev. xx. 9 Deut. xxi. 15; Prov. x. 1; xiii. 22; xvii. 25; xxii. 6; xxx. 17; Matt. xv. 4, 6; Eph. vi. 1, 4; Col. iii. 20; 1 Tim. iii. 4.

Masters and servants. Lev. xix. 13; Deut. xxiv. 15; Jer. xxii. 13; 1 Cor. vii. 21, 24; Eph. vi. 5; Col. iii. 22; iv. 1; 1 Tim. vi. 1-4; Tit. ii. 9, 10; James v. 4; 1 Pet. ii. 18-21.

Social life. Prov. xii. 4; xviii. 22; xix. 13, 14; xxi. 19 Eph. iv. 31, 32.

INSTANCES.

Abraham commanding his children. Gen. xviii. 19.

Eli indulging them. 1 Sam. ii. 22; iii. 13.

Jacob's partiality. Gen. xxxvii. 3—35.

Rachel envious of Leah.

Gen. xxix. 30.

Moses and Zipporah. Exod. iv. 25.

Michal despising David. 1 Chron. xv. 29.

The centurion and his servant. Luke vii. 2.

Cornelius and his devout household.

Acts x. 7.

Our Lord at home. Luke ii. 51.

Our Lord and the family at Bethany. John xii. 1.

There is a spot of earth supremely blest,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest,
Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside
His sword and sceptre, pageantry and pride,
Whilst in his softened looks benignly blend
The sire, the son, the husband, father, friend.
Here woman reigns: the mother, daughter, wife,
Strews with fresh flowers the narrow way of life;
In the clear heaven of her delightful eye,
An angel-guard of loves and graces lie;
Around her knees domestic duties meet,

And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet.-MONTGOMERY IT is unnecessary to dilate upon the enjoyments and privileges of home life. They have often been sung by poets, and explained by moralists, and fall more or less within the personal experience of all men. Many probably value them who have not taken the trouble of examining into their nature. The first element of the charm appears to consist in the sense of that mutual proprietorship in each other which grows out of intimate relationship, and fosters, and is itself fostered by love. A home circle is but a man's or a woman's larger self, a manifold mirror, as it were, to reflect personal joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. Friends and acquaintanceship we may have beyond, but the tie of blood cannot be transferred, and with its sacredness no stranger can intermeddle. Springing from this proprietorship is the sense of perfect ease and security connected with home. The

formalities and restraints of daily life are thrown off, and perhaps also the unrealities and insincerities of more formal society. The strain is thus relaxed, and the mind, wearied, and on the stretch, relapses into repose. Hence it is, on the other side, that home is the great test of character. It is not what a man is abroad, when the restrictions of society, or of interest and habit, hem him in on all sides, but what he is in his own fireside character, that really illustrates his character and principle. Then there is the mutual reliance and confiding trust of home. For in the world no man can live very long without encountering mistakes and misapprehensions, without being misunderstood, and his motives harshly judged. At home, at least, we feel sure of sympathy, of confidence being placed in our truth, and of our motives and conduct being gently judged. Hence home appears a kind of haven from the rough storms of life, where the sore wounds made during the day by its unkindness are healed by the soft balm of love; and conflicts, disappointments and annoyances, forgotten in the interchange of a loving companionship. This is perhaps the highest character of home. It is in this respect a type of God, an earthly foretaste of that heavenly refuge which is the true consolation of the saints, when the soul, sick with its struggles, hides itself in the secret place of the Most High, and like a wounded dove nestling in her quiet home, finds refuge beneath the shadow of the Almighty.