in 1802, all but eight of them were the sons of pious parents. The whole number, (twenty-two) who were received to the Communion in 1808, had either a christian father or mother, or both. And of seventy who professed religion, as the fruit of the revival of 1831, all but ten were the children of pious parents. Thirty students were hopefully converted in McKendree College, Illinois, in 1850, all but three of whom had praying mothers, and a large portion of them praying fathers also; and six of them were the sons of ministers of different denominations. An inquiry was instituted not long since, with regard to the students connected with the Andover Theological Seminary, eighty in number; and it was found that only "four of the students were born of parents neither of whom was pious, that of six, the mother only was pious, and that of seventy the father and mother both were pious." In another Theological Seminary all but six of the members were reared in religious families. A similar inquiry instituted in relation to all the Theological Schools of the land, of evangelical principles, would, doubtless, present similar results. Of the large number of devoted ministers, breaking the bread of life to the many saints in christendom, and the missionaries of the cross, bearing the glad news of salvation to the perishing, how very few are the offspring of parents neither of whom are devoted to the Lord! Probably ninety-nine hundredths of them came forth from households where one parental heart, at least, was in true sympathy with Christ. Such facts as these show that God has put his seal of approbation upon the religious family, and now points us to it as the agency, which, by grace, is to replenish his bloodbought church. Other families throng, with their godless members, the ranks of Christ's enemies and persecutors, and swell the number of the "tormented" to a fearful aggregate. But the families of the church, dear to God by the bonds of the everlasting covenant, are to furnish the mass of the trained sons and daughters of salvation; so that the question: how fast the truth shall advance from land to land, and how soon the cross be planted upon every heathen shore ? finds its truest answer in the character of the families which abide in christian countries. Some months since the author listened to the interesting plea of an agent in behalf of perishing children, in which he argued that our efforts in the conversion of the world have been wrongly directed. The drift of his argument was somewhat as follows: “We have been laboring in the Lord's vineyard a great number of years, yet how few, comparatively, are converted! In many christian communities the admissions of converted sinners to the church scarcely keeps pace with the removals by "death's doings." Talents, learning, wealth, time, all are devoted to the salvation of men, yet how slowly does the work of conversion advance! At this rate of progress how long a time will elapse before the world will be converted to God! There is error somewhere in this great and glorious enterprise. We believe it lies in our overlooking the salvation of children. We have commenced at the wrong place to convert the world. This great moral machinery is operating mainly upon adult minds, while childhood is almost wholly neglected. Men established in their sinful habits, with a cultivated hostility to the gospel, or blinded by gross superstition, are labored with, while children, so susceptible to religious impression, are left to harden by sin, and advance to maturity with increasing enmity to the truth, before they are made the special objects of christian regard. In this way, the young pass the season which is most favorable to bring them to Christ, and are not wrought upon by the church until they are far less likely to be converted. May not the error be found here? Is it not the part of wisdom to convert the children, that, by and by, there may be no adults, comparatively, to be converted? * Rev. Mr. Pierce of the American Sunday School Union. While adults may not be neglected now, ought not our christian efforts to be directed more and mainly to the salvation of the young? The sentiment met with a response in my heart, as it doubtless will in the heart of every christian. It is philosophical, and true to the claims of human nature. Take care of the children, and adults will take care of themselves. And it exhibits, in the most comprehensive view, the importance of the relation which the family sustains to the militant church of God. See it, ye living heads of families, and know that God intended by the precious bond that makes your members one, to ally the household closely to his church. You number FIVE MILLIONS nearly in this land alone, each one of which is an integral part of the aggregate of hatred and love for Zion. Ye have it in your power to say what shall be the character and strength of the visible church, when the next generation are obliged to sustain its ordinances, and perform its work. One characteristic of THE FAMILY ON EARTH, which might have been cited before, deserves here a passing notice, by way of magnifying the importance of what has already been urged. It is not a DEPENDANT. Neither government nor possessions give it laws or existence. "It may live and flourish," says John Angell James, "in all its tender charities, and all its sweet felicities, and its moral power, in the cottage as well as in the mansion; under the shadow of liberty, and even under the scorching heat of tyranny. Like the church, of which it is in some respects the emblem, it accommodates itself to every changing form of surrounding society, to every nation and to every age, forming with the church, the only two institutions ever set up by God, as to their frame work. Like its kindred institute, it remains amidst the ruins of the fall, the lapse of ages, and the changes of human affairs, the monument of what has been, the standing prediction of what shall be. Tyrants, that crush the liberties of a state, cannot destroy the constitution of the family; and even persecutors, that silence the preacher, and scatter the congregation, cannot hush the voice of parental instruction, or extinguish parental influence. Religion, hunted and driven from the place of public concourse, would still find a retreat, as it often has done under such circumstances, in the household of faith; and there would keep alive upon the family altar, that holy fire, with which the sacrifice of the temple, under happier auspices shall be offered. Neither families nor the church of the redeemed shall ever be entirely lost, whatever changes the world may yet have to pass through; but, blessing and being blest, will, of themselves alone, one day introduce the millennium.' If a correct view of the FAMILY ON EARTH has been presented, the duties which grow out of the important relation deserve to be carefully studied. They cannot be esteemed too sacred or important. They cannot be revolved too long, or too prayerfully. They cannot be discharged with too much concern or fidelity. To neglect or trifle with them does not issue simply in personal detriment, but in disaster to state and church. In the following chapters these duties are discussed as they naturally issue from remarks already made. The sentiments of this chapter are considered a sufficient basis for all that follows. If the truth is contained in the foregoing paragraphs, SOCIALISM is an enormous sin. It abolishes the family, to group the sexes together in large communities. Under the pretence of reform or social improvement, it annihilates the family relation, and thus mines away at the very foundation of the social organization. It destroys the germ of the state and the nursery of the church. It blasts the brightest hopes of the nation. It denies the material of which to construct a prosperous commonwealth. It "nips in the bud" the expanding affections of the soul. It quenches the flow of the heart's sweet charities. It removes one of the most powerful motives to toil and industry. It tempts the lusts of depraved human nature, and provokes the passions to wanton exercise. Socialism is thus the plotting antagonist of a pure and peaceful society, and its adherents are the enemies of mankind. There is a delightful inheritance in the relations of an unbroken FAMILY ON EARTH. Before the dire hand of misfortune or necessity has scattered abroad the members, or the scythe of the fell destroyer cut them down as the grass, when the reciprocal flow of love causes hearts, "Like kindred drops to mingle into one," and, especially, when the spirit of true religion pervades and regulates the entire fellowship, the FAMILY ON EARTH presents a scene of the purest social enjoyment this side THE But how frail the tie that WHOLE FAMILY IN HEAVEN. "makes the members one!" How weak the "earthen vessel" which contains such joys! How soon this cup of joy is dashed in fragments at our feet! "Heaven has confirmed the dread decree, That Adam's race must die; One general ruin sweeps them down, A few fleeting months and years pass, and how changed! Yea, in the very morning of the blissful union, sudden as the lightning's flash, death lays his finger upon one warm heart, and it is motionless as marble. A vacancy occurs, and the household is wrapped in gloom! The destroyer only lifts his wand, and the bright vision of delight vanishes as a thing of air!" In a moment the carthly Eden is overshadowed with a cloud of sorrow, and a period is put to unbroken fellowship, till grace reunites the severed family in 66 |