"The resort Of love, of joy, of peace, and plenty, where, In all ages and nations mankind have expressed similar sentiments, and indulged kindred feelings in relation to HOME. However stinted in the measure of carthly goods, it has ever wielded attractions more powerful than those of lordly "pleasures and palaces." A glad response has been wakened in every heart to the beautiful sentiment of the poet,— "Mid pleasures and palaces tho' we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." ↑ Luther conld engage in battle-scenes for social and religious reform with dauntless mien; he could stand up against the fierce anathema of Pope and Cardinals without a trembling nerve; he could face the angered Dict of Worms with all the courage and calmness of a Christian hero; but when, upon a journey to meet the Counts of Mansfield, he came in sight of his own native Eisleben, the great man was overcome with emotion, and he bowed his head and wept. It was an unfeigned recognition of the power of home, or family attractions. The power of the Family Relation is augmented by the inluence which God gives to every member of it, and to every object connected with it. Even the little infant wields a power that controls the plans and efforts of an entire household. We are want to look upon the prattling boy or girl in babyhood solely as an object of attachment-a beautiful plaything till its mind demands some positive culture for immortality. We scarcely think that from its natal day it is swaying our hearts and directing our efforts, with greater effect than the laws of the land. A little reflection will surprise us that so many of our purposes, so much of our business, so many of our steps, have reference to it—that such a share of our purest sympathies and kindest feelings owe their existence to the child—and that it so materially affects the character and destiny of the family. Every object, we have said, connected with home makes more or less impression upon the heart. Home may be the place of our birth. How vivid and delightful is the recol lection of its scenes which transpired in our childhood! Fresh as of yesterday's occurrence, they still draw our hearts back to the homestead where the united family gathered in fond and unbroken fellowship. The mind's eye rests gladly upon the shady trees, and the meandering stream on whose verdant banks we plucked the mint and cowslip; and we scem to see the merry warblers, the robin, thrush and jay, skipping from branch to branch, and filling the air with the music of their mellifluous songs. Fond parents, now possibly in the grave, we behold as when we moved obedient to their mandates, and their voices seem to fall upon the car with the same tones of authority, and their eyes beam with the same kindling expressions of love, as when our childhood nestled under the wing of their affection. Even the sacred hymns that we were wont to sing in happy concert live in blissful recollection, and the antique painting and portrait seemingly hang upon the parlor-wall as when we used to gaze upon them in childish delight. These are some of the bright mementocs of childhood's home, surviving the perishing scenes of meridian manhood, which we shall carry with us, impressing our hearts continually to the goal of life-the grave. Most of human life is spent in the family. Most of human duties are mediately or immediately connected with the family. This renders the institution one of paramount interest and importance. Surely that which absorbs so much of life, and imposes so many of our duties, has a claim upon our prayerful consideration. It is well to compass, if possi ble, a relation which radiates in every direction of life, and creates obligations with every phase of the heart. Too often the Family is regarded only as a sort of retreat or refuge from the storms of life, where one may delight in the exercise of the natural affections, independent of all influence and responsibility abroad. Generally it is supposed, that a man is wielding an influence, which affects our social and civil interests, only when he is heartily engaged in secular and public affairs. Few stop to reflect, that within the quiet family the father-citizen is doing more, indirect ly, for the weal or woe of society, than he is upon the arena of public effort. There he does not act simply upon the surface of things, but moulds, and even creates the essential elements which are to enter into the social structure in coming time. His affections may, indeed, delight in the homecircle as a quiet retreat from the din of business, and a place in all respects congenial; but then, the very ties that make it a social luxury to abide in the family increase the force of every word and act upon minds and hearts, which are to constitute eventually the life and soul of society. Volumes have been written, and prolonged discussions multiplied in relation to the form of civil government best suited to the wants and welfare of the human race. Systems of private and public education have been originated, and variously applied. Theories, in respect to government and education both, have been reduced to practice, often to prove a failure, for no other reason than a disregard of the importance of the Family Relation, which underlies all civil and religious institutions, as the foundation underlies the fabric. Reformers have even become so wild in their speculations about a social millennium, as to advocate the abolition of the family, instead of its improvement. The wild experiment would not reorganize society, but shiver its organism into countless fragments. "To injure the family by bringing its claims into doubt, by diminishing its purity, or weakening its authority, is to do an injury to society in general. Law, order, the state, intellectual improvement, morals, every thing, would fall with the family. And it would so, because the family is of God; and nothing which is of God can be shaken out of its position, or be lost, without causing the most disastrous results." In nearly all examples of distinguished men in church or state, the influence of the Family upon their characters in carly life is quite apparent. Tracing back these influences. to their origin at the domestic altar, we are constrained to attach paramount importance to this divine institution. It is said that Alfred the Great owed his intellectual distinction and true greatness to a single incident in the family when he was about twelve years of age-a parent's offer of a manuscript of Saxon poetry to any one who would commit it to memory. The excellent and talented Cecil said. "I detect myself, to this day, in laying down maxims in my family, which I took up at three or four years of age, before I could possibly know the reason of them." The reason of Baxter's singular devotion to the work in which he acquired such eminence was, that, in the family, his mind was carly directed to the historical portions of the Bible. To influences within the family domain, history ascribes much that is great, or good, in the character of Lord Bacon, Johnson, Edwards, Newton, Buchannan, Dwight and many others. AS ARE FAMILIES, SO IS SOCIETY. This proposition needs no extended proof. A community or state is a collection of families, possessing such a moral and intellectual character as the families possess. If cach family is thoroughly christian, the community or state which they constitute will be equally christian. Were every citizen to give heed to his * Upham. personal duties and responsibilities, and faithfully discharge them, the community would be disturbed by no deeds of lawless violence. And if every family were a model in purity and intelligence, the state would be a model in all that pertains to civil polity. If each member of a church should set a watch over his own heart, and see to it that one heart is pure, the whole church would be cared for and preserved pure, in the care of each for himself. So, if each family should "observe to do" all that the Lord has commanded in order to promote its peace and prosperity, aiming to present one pure, christian family, the church and state would be full of "whatsoever is lovely and of good report." Hence, the important relation which the Family sustains to all other institutions, inferior only to the church of God. As another has said, “it antedates and underlics all other organisms, is the oldest human society, the mother and nurse of the church, the strong foundation on which rest the state and civil society, and the teacher and model of government." Consider more particularly the RELATION OF THE FAMILY TO THE STATE. Says John Angell James, "Well instructed, well ordered, and well governed families, are the springs, which from their retirements, send forth the tributary streams that make up, by their confluence, the majestic flow of national greatness and prosperity; nor can any state be prosperous, where family order and subordination are generally neglected; nor otherwise than prosperous, whatever be its political forms, where these are generally maintained. It is certainly under the wise instruction and the impartial sceptre of a father, and within the little family circle that the son becomes a good citizen; it is by the fireside and upon the family hearth, that loyalty and patriotism, and every public virtue grows; as it is in disordered families, that factious demagogues, and turbulent rebels, and tyrannical oppressors, are trained up to be their neighbor's torment, or their country's |