the latter, and through it, to Christ,―her glorious head, and is hence unworthy of the name of Christian home. The true Christian home yearns after the church, loves to lean upon it, to look up to it, to consecrate all to it, to move and develop its interests in the sphere of the church, and to labor to complete itself in it.

CHAPTER V.

HOME INFLUENCE.

"By the soft green light in the woody glade,)
On the banks of moss, where thy childhood play'd;
By the gathering round the winter hearth,

When the twilight call'd unto household mirth,

By the quiet hour when hearts unite

In the parting prayer and the kind 'Good night ;'
By the smiling eye and the loving tone,

Over thy life has the spell been thrown,
And bless that gift, it hath gentle might,

A guarding power and a guiding light!"

THE Christian home has an influence which is stronger than death. and binds us with a spell which neither time nor change can break. The darkest villainies which have disgraced humanity cannot neutralize it. Gray-haired and demon guilt will make his dismal cell the sacred urn of tears wept over the memories of home; and these will soften and melt into penitence even the heart of adamant.

It is a law to our hearts,

The home-influence is either a blessing or a curse, either for good or for evil. It cannot be neutral. In either case it is mighty, commencing

with our birth, going with us through life, clinging to us in death, and reaching into the eternal world. It is that unitive power which arises out of the manifold relations and associations of domestic life. The specific influences of husband and wife, of parent and child, of brother and sister, of teacher and pupil, united and harmoniously blended, constitute the home-influence.

From this we may infer the character of homeinfluence. It is great, silent, irresistible, and permanent. Like the calm, deep stream, it moves on in silent, but overwhelming power. It strikes its roots deep into the human heart, and spreads its branches wide over our whole being. Like the lily that braves the tempest, and "the Alpine flower that leans its cheek on the bosom of eternal snows," it is exerted amid the wildest storms of life, and breathes a softening spell in our bosom even when a heartless world is freezing up the fountains of sympathy and love. It is governing, restraining, attracting and traditional. It holds the empire of the heart, and rules the life. It restrains the wayward passions of the child, and checks him in his mad career of ruin.

Hold the little hands in prayer, teach the weak knees their kneeling,

Let him see thee speaking to thy God; he will not forget it afterward;

When old and gray, will he feelingly remember a mother's

tender piety,

And the touching recollection of her prayers shall, arrest the strong man in his sin!"