or rationality, is a blessing of the greatest domestic felicity of which philosophers have value to man, will be at once admitted as reasoned and poets sung, is vividly portrayed unquestionably true. It is clearly indubit- on the imagination. Attractive sympathy able. But for this very reason demonstration with the quiet endearments of home is felt. I would be difficult. And the citation of in- The mind of the man of business, chafed stances in which reason has been employed by contact with the perplexities and "chances" as the adversary of good, or the agent of of trade, reverts to the calm retreat where evil, though it would seem to remove the order, love, and purity-the angelic three!— axiomatic character of the proposition, would preside; and the wish arises that the hour scarcely diminish the difficulty; for moral for nestling down there were arrived. Alas! considerations belong to another province, in many cases the domestic hearth exhibits and are related to a different class of ques- no such fascinating scene as this. The real tions; and, moreover, the abuse of a good and the ideal are widely different things. thing, instead of necessitating proof of its Instead of home repose, there are discord, essential excellence, actually furnishes that broils, and clamour, pride, ill-will, and selfishproof, if it be admitted, as in the case supposed, ness. Why? Simply because the Divine that it is an abuse. Hence an elaborate de- | law of subordination is habitually broken! fence of the value of reason to the human This accounts for all the unhallowed, and family would be an unnecessary employment therefore unhappy occurrences which characof the blessing itself. It would be reason terize many a family. Discontented wives, vindicating itself from an irrational charge irascible husbands, rebellious children, un—a task, superfluous in the judgment of the reasonable masters, unfaithful servants, are wise, and without advantage to the foolish. so many lurid illustrations of the misery consequent upon a disregard of God's beneficent law, as laid down in these words of the Apostle; so many living exponents of the guilt incurred by those who transgress the boundaries of domestic duty; and so many warnings to spectators of the certain wretchedness that lies in the path of those who venture across a Divine inclosure.

Difficulties of a precisely similar character attend the effort to prove that obedience to the law of subordination would secure the happiness of the world. Some remarks, however, on this most interesting subject, may be profitable to our readers. Those remarks, though condensed as much as possible, will require three short papers, relating respectively to households, nations, and God's moral government.

In the inspired letter to the Colossians the following passage occurs:-"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: and whatsoever ye do, do heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done; and there is no respect of persons."

Now, no man given to reflection can read this paragraph, or the cluster of parallel precepts in the Epistle to the Ephesians, without feeling himself arrested by the beautiful law of subordination. Pictures of order, peace, prosperity, arise before the mind. The

But

Pride urges certain pleas, and ignorance urges others, against compliance with these Scriptural injunctions; but we really do not think the world is under such weighty obligations to pride and ignorance, as to be bound to listen to the voice of either. Neither of them has done much good to the human race; and the sooner they are deposed from their usurped supremacy the better. these attempted palliations of insubordination may be exhibited by one or two examples. Take, for instance, the youth who is of age sufficient to know right from wrong, and who has been rebuked by parental authority, or kindly remonstrated with, for doing the latter. His ready excuse is, he could not help it; he felt inclined to do it; he only yielded to his inclinations: and, besides, he does not see great harm in the thing after all. Now, if the evil terminated with the offender himself, it would still be a matter deeply to be deplored, because the spirit of insubordination to legitimate authority is the seedprinciple of all crime; and he who begins by rebelling against a father in the comparative seclusion of home has taken the first step in a downward career, which, if not

times caused by the discordant example of parents; and this not merely among the rudest, and uninstructed, and vicious portions of society; but too frequently among the educated and comparatively refined; and occasionally, we regret to say, even among those who profess themselves the disciples of Jesus Christ. Parents who break the law of mutual love, wives who refuse that submission to the head of the family which "is fit in the Lord," and husbands who, instead of bearing with, are "bitter against" their wives, exhibit to their little ones a most deplorable example, which their depraved natures are prepared to imitate, and which inevitably sow seeds of discord, sin, and misery, which nothing but the special grace of God can eradicate. True it is, that without grace no human being, not the most gentle and amiable, can be saved; but if the thousandth part of the amount of sin and

checked, will soon precipitate him amidst the penalties of civil law, and blast and ruin his character for life. Public criminals have, with hardly an exception, been home rebels. He who has no regard to the wise counsel of a father will pay but little respect to the civil magistrate, and will feel but little reverence for the authority of God. But the evil does not find its limits in the experience of the individual youth, whom we are supposing. Far from it. His offence introduces discord into the whole family. The hearts of the parents are deeply wounded and grieved. The younger children feel that there is something wrong; their happiness is marred; and they are in danger of imitating the example; the servants are agitated; and the concord of the family is broken up. And with respect to the excuse of inability to help it, we would say to the offender, in words of heart-felt kindness, Dear youth! this plea is the language of a perverse will, not that of a sound judg-woe, which the quarrels of parents have diment. The knowledge that you should have avoided the offence was, in fact, the standard and measure of your ability. Obligation never extends beyond ability. The one is the exact test of the other. The extent of our ability is always the limit of our obligation. And the inclination to do wrong, to which you refer, was so well known by God that he graciously placed your father over you, making it imperative upon him to check that evil inclination in you. It is his duty to God to train you up in the way you should go; he must obey that law, and if you would obey him, the inclination would be overcome, the evil would be stopped, you would get into the habit of obedience, and then you would find that ability and duty are precisely the same thing. Then, also, there would be harmony, peace, and happiness in the family of which you are a member; every thing would go smoothly, like the properly adjusted wheels of a piece of machinery; your father obeying God, and you obeying your father, you would both be safe under God's law of subordination; and you yourself would find, not only that obedience is easier and more pleasurable than its opposite, but soon, with well-trained habits, and a properly formed character, you would be trusted to go out into the world, a loyal subject of the Divine government, without exciting the anxiety of your friends, or causing a parent's heart to tremble for your welfare.

rectly let loose upon the surface of society
were known, it would make the stoutest
hearts to tremble! The day of judgment
can alone reveal the fearful depth and width
of the weltering dead sea of corruption which
has sprung from this source alone! Instead
of presuming to take our place on the judg-
ment-seat, we kneel uncovered by its side;
but we must express the conviction that
myriads of parents-parents, appointed by
God to bless, and train, and instrumentally
save the souls of their children—will in that
day be found chargeable with the enormous
guilt of leading or driving them to perdition!
Tenderly has the father of mercies watched
over little ones. Mercifully has he provided
for the supply of their wants in the years of
utter helplessness, by lodging in the mother's
heart that most powerful of all guardians,—
love of offspring. And graciously has Christ,
our compassionate Lord, taken them in his
arms, and uttered the never-to-be-forgotten
words,—which have ever since rung like a
shout of joy across the world,—“ of such is
the kingdom of heaven!" Yet, with all this,
some parents are so criminally reckless of
consequences, that in the presence of their
children, they will so quarrel about some de-
spicable trifle, as to sow the seeds of misery,
rebellion, and pride in those young hearts,
which might easily, at that beautiful period
of life, have been won to love and gentle-
ness, and trained for Jesus and heaven!
these calamities might have been avoided, by
making the law of Christ the rule of the
household. This shame and sin would dis-

All

appear if husbands and wives would make the blessed New Testament the standard of domestic words and deeds. And the families of England would speedily become nurseries for its Christian churches, and for the heaven that is above it, if the benign law of subordination were cordially adopted as positively binding and obligatory.

But, turning from this sad paragraph, which truth and love compelled us to write, how beautiful the dwelling of the righteous, where Christianity is a cheerful, living, and constant tenant! Each feels it his and her duty to minister to the comfort and happiness of all the rest. They all realize the fact that they are under law to their Father in heaven. Each man is in his appointed sphere, like the planets of the heavens, and there is perfect harmony. Each bears with the rest as God bears with us all, and there is progress in moral purity and love. Each feels that duty is synonymous with peace, and the perfect law of liberty is hailed as a gift from the Lord. They all kneel together at the same throne of grace, and the "Amen!" which responds to the father's "giving of thanks,” is the utterance of grateful hearts. And, by-and-by, when the training time is past, they shall meet,-"A family in

heaven!"

AN ARGUMENT.

ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON, in his admirable discourse on "The wisdom of being religious," proves, that there having been so many false gods is more an argument that there is a true God than that there is none, in the following satisfactory and conclusive manner. "There would be no counterfeits but for the sake of something that is real. For though all pretenders seem to be what they really are not, yet they pretend to be something that really is. For, to counterfeit is to put on the likeness and appearance of some real excellence. There would be no brass money if there were not good and lawful money. Bristol-stones would not pretend to be diamonds, if there never had been any diamonds. Those idols in Henry the Seventh's time, (as Lord Bacon calls them,) Lambert Simnell and Perkin Warbeck, had never been set up, if there had not once been a real Plantagenet and Duke of York. So the idols of the heathen, though they be set up in affront to the true God, yet they rather prove that there is one than the contrary.”

DIVINE EJACULATION.

GREAT GOD, whose sceptre rules the earth,
Distil thy fear into my heart,
That, being rapt with holy mirth,

I may proclaim how good thou art:
Open my lips, that I may sing
Full praises to my God, my King.
Great God, thy garden is defaced,
The weeds thrive there, thy flowers decay;
O call to mind thy promise past,
Till then let not the weeds have power
Restore thou them, cut these away:
To starve or stint the poorest flower.

In all extremes, Lord, thou art still
The mount whereto my hopes do flee;
O make my soul detest all ill,

Because so much abhorr'd by thee:
Lord, let thy gracious trials show
That I am just, or make me so.
Shall mountain, desert, beast, and tree,
Yield to that heavenly voice of thine,
And shall that voice not startle me,

Nor stir this stone-this heart of mine?
No, Lord, till thou new-bore mine ear,
Thy voice is lost, I cannot hear.

Fountain of light and living breath,

Whose mercies never fail nor fade,
Fill me with life that hath no death,

Fill me with light that hath no shade;
Appoint the remnant of my days
To see thy power, and sing thy praise.

Lord God of gods, before whose throne

Stand storms and fire, O what shall we
Return to heaven, that is our own,

When all the world belongs to thee?
We have no offering to impart,
But praises, and a wounded heart.

O Thou that sitt'st in heaven, and seest
My deeds without, my thoughts within,
Be thou my prince, be thou my priest-
Command my soul, and cure my sin:
How bitter my afflictions be
I care not, so I rise to thee.
What I possess, or what I crave,

Brings no content, great God, to me,
If what I would, or what I have,

Be not possest and blest in thee:
What I enjoy, oh make it mine
In making me—that have it—thine.
When winter-fortunes cloud the brows

Of 'summer friends,-when eyes grow strange,-
When plighted faith forgets its vows,-

When earth and all things in it change,-
O Lord, thy mercies fail me never—
When once thou lovest, thou lovest for ever.
Great God, whose kingdom hath no end,

Into whose secrets none can dive,
Whose mercy none can apprehend,
Whose justice none can feel-and live;
What my dull heart cannot aspire
To know, Lord, teach me to admire.

JOHN QUARLES.

WHERE God intends utter vengeance, he lets men harden themselves to a reprobate senselessness, and make up their own measure without contradiction, ancient republics rested on this strong but narrow as purposing to reckon with them but once, for ever. -Bp. Hall.

THE only men who are really privileged are those who are enabled to do most good for others.-Fenelon. THE end of a thing is better than the beginning; The safest way is to reserve our joy till we have good proof of the worthiness and fitness of the object.-less progressive development of the purely manual or Bp. Hall.

SUNDAY READING

FOR CHRISTIAN FAMILIES.

CONDUCTED BY JOHN KITTO, D.D., F.S.A.

FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 1853.