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Co Young Mothers.

"I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice."-2 TIMOTHY i. 5.

"The aged women likewise, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."-TITUS ii. 3-5.

WHAT associations with all that is lovely are formed by that blissful word-a mother! To that sound the tenderest emotions of the human heart, whether it beat in the bosom of the savage or the sage, awaken. The beauty of that term is seen, and its power felt, alike by the prince and the peasant, the rustic and the philosopher. It is one of the first words which infant lips are taught to lisp, and the charm of which the infant heart is first to feel. It is a note to the music of which it is difficult to say whose soul most responsively vibrates, that of the parent or the child. Humanity, however semi-brutalized by oppression, by ignorance, and even by vice, has rarely been sunk so low

as to have the last spark of maternal love extinguished, or the last sensibility of this kind crushed out of it. This strength of woman's love to her child must be turned to good account, and be directed in its exercises to the best and most useful purposes. There is this difference, and it is a momentous one, between the maternal instinct of the lower tribes and that of woman; the former goes no further than provision and protection; training forms no part of it. The same power which taught the parent bird or beast what habits belong to its nature, teaches also the offspring. The latter, without any pains bestowed on its education, or any solicitude cherished for its welfare, will learn the lessons of its existence by the intuitions of nature, and be capable of rising to its specific perfection, unaided either by the parent or the teacher. Not so the young of the human species; they also require provision and protection; but more than this they need instruction. And who must be their instructor? First of all, and chief of all, their

MOTHER.

But, before we reason and descant upon the subject of a mother's duties, let us look at FACTS. It is universally admitted that scarcely any great man has appeared in our world who did not owe much, if not most, in the formation of his character, to a mother's influence. In a very useful little volume, by Dr. Jabez Burns, entitled, "The Mothers of the Wise and Good," there is an extended series of biographical memorials of pious and judicious moth

ers, and eminent sons, amounting to about fifty, in which are included Alfred the Great, Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Sir William Jones, General Washington, among the illustrious of this world; together with St. Augustin, President Edwards, Dr. Doddridge, Dr. Dwight, Mr. Newton, Mr. Cecil, Leigh Richmond, and many others among the good; all of whom were blessed with pious or eminently judicious mothers, and owed to them their eminence in the church or in the world. From among these I select the following account of Mr. Cecil: Richard Cecil, of London, when but a young man, had pursued a bold and determined career, till, sunk in sin, hardening himself in infidelity, and instilling the same principles into others, there seemed no prospect of any change. His excellent mother, however, had performed her part, and still remembered that it was good, not only to pray always, but not to faint, or desist upon any account. At last, one night he lay contemplating the case of his mother: "I see," said he within himself, "two unquestionable facts: first, my mother is greatly afflicted in circumstances, body, and mind; and yet I see that she cheerfully bears up under all, by the support she derives from constantly repairing to her closet and her Bible; secondly, that she has a secret spring of comfort, of which I know nothing; while I, who give an unbounded loose to my appetites, and seek pleasure by every means, seldom or ever find it. If, however, there is such a secret in religion, why

may I not find it as well as my mother?" He instantly rose and began to pray, but was soon damped, by recollecting that much of his mother's comfort seemed to arise from her faith in Christ. Now, thought he, "this Christ I have ridiculed: He stands much in my way, and can form no part of my prayers." In utter confusion he lay down again; but, in process of time, conviction of sin continuing, his difficulties were gradually removed, his objections answered. He now listened to those admonitions of his mother, which he had before affected to receive with pride and scorn; yet they had fixed themselves in his heart like a barbed arrow; and though the effects were concealed from her observation, yet tears would fall from his eyes as he passed along the street, from the impression she had made on his mind. Now he would discourse with her, and hear her without outrage, which revived her hopes, especially as he then attended the public worship of God. Thus he made some progress, but felt no small difficulty in separating from his favorite connections. Light, however, broke into his mind, till at last he discovered that Christ Jesus, so far from "standing in the way," as he once thought, was, indeed, "the way, the truth, and the life, to all who come unto God by him."

At a pastoral conference held not long since, at which about one hundred and twenty American clergymen, united in the bonds of a common faith, were assembled, each was invited to state the hu

man instrumentality to which, under the Divine blessing, he attributed a change of heart. How many of these, think you, gave the honor of it to their mother? Of one hundred and twenty, above one hundred! Here, then, are facts, which are only selections from myriads of others, to prove a mother's power, and to demonstrate, at the same time, her responsibility. But how shall we account for this? What gives her this influence? What is the secret of her power? Several things.

First, there is, no doubt, the ordinance of God. He that created us, and formed the ties of social life, and who gives all the sweet influences and tender susceptibilities of our various relationships, appointed it to be so, that maternal power over the soul of her child should be thus mighty. It is God's ordinance, and the woman who forgets or neglects this, is disobedient to a Divine institute. God has made the child to be peculiarly susceptible of this power over his nature.

Then comes a mother's love. This is stronger, at any rate, more tender, than even a father's. There is more of instinct, if not of reason, in her affection. She has had more to do with the physical being of her child, having borne him in her womb, and fed him from her breast, and watched him in his cradle: all this naturally and necessarily generates a feeling which nothing else can produce. Now love is the great motive power in, and for, human conduct. "I drew them," said "with bands of a man, with cords of love."

God,

Here is the

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