piety and peace, mutual confidence and love reign in all the dwellings of a nation, and how little after all can a tyrant do to mar the immense amount of enjoyment which will gladden the land! He may draw off, by taxation, a portion of their substance, he may condemn a few individuals unjustly to death,-but despotism on the throne will bear no comparison, in regard to its efficiency in working evil, with irreligion and vice at the fireside.

On the other hand, there is no picture of happiness in more bright or permanent colours, than that exhibited by the christian family, whatever may be its worldly condition. Bound by a common band to God, its members are kept more closely to each other; and the scene of harmony and piety and happiness will continue until the first burst of grief comes over them, at the loss of the first one whom God shall summon to another world. Then, it is true, will follow days of mourning, separation, and sorrow, as one after another is transferred to his final home. But the grief, which in other cases is unmitigated and irremediable, is here soothed and assuaged by the feeling that this separation is only for a time; and there comes certainly, at last, the reunion in heaven, as spirit after spirit joins the happy company above. Yes, the christian family, whether all of its members are on earth, or some on earth and some in heaven, is the happiest family which the world can show.

THE CHRISTIAN IN THE FAMILY.

"OH! sweet as vernal dews that fill

The closing buds on Zion's hill,

When evening clouds draw thither,

So sweet, so heavenly 'tis, to see
The members of one family

Live peacefully together.

"The children, like the lily flowers,
On which descend the suns and showers,
Their hues of beauty blending;
The parents, like the willow boughs,
On which the lovely foliage grows,
Their friendly shade extending.

"But leaves the greenest will decay,-
And flowers the brightest fade away,
When autumn winds are sweeping;
And be the household e'er so fair,
The hand of death will soon be there,
And turn the scene to weeping.

"Yet leaves again will clothe the trees,
And lilies wave beneath the breeze

When spring comes smiling hither; And friends who parted at the tomb, May yet renew their loveliest bloom, And meet in heaven together."

THE DUTY OF FAMILY PRAYER

CHAPTER II.

TO THE PARENTS.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

FAMILY prayer has perhaps more influence than any other one thing in bringing a household under the control of christian principles. Every one whose heart has been touched with love to God, will feel this to be his most delightful privilege. Sometimes we hear even professing Christians ask, Where is family prayer enjoined in the Bible? Point me to the chapter and the verse, they say, and then I will obey the command. What a state of heart does this show! Here is a man who pretends to be a Christian, and yet regards family prayer as an irksome task, which is only to be endured when imposed by rigorous and unrelenting authority. He has no heart to come with his children, and bow around the altar of God, commending himself and them to divine care. If God imperiously and positively requires it, he will submit, but he refuses unless you point out to him the direct command. This is not the spirit of genuine piety. The sincere Christian would rather give up a portion of his daily food, or deprive himself of necessary rest, than not have God recognized in his family. Nothing would give him

greater pain than to be debarred from this privilege. He is resistlessly impelled by his own feelings to go to the Lord and implore his blessing upon his household.

THE MODE OF CONDUCTING FAMILY PRAYER.

I WAS once passing a few days in the house of a devoted Christian, who had a family of small children. Every morning they were assembled, and the father read a long chapter from the Bible, together with all the notes and practical observations of a voluminous commentary upon the passage, and concluded the exercise with a long prayer. A little reflection might have taught this parent, that the exercise so conducted must have been exceedingly uninteresting and irksome to his children. The hour of prayer was to them an hour of weariness. They waited in impatient endurance, till its close allowed them to return again to their sports. Where there are children, it is necessary that the devotions of the morning and evening should be short, and fervent, and simple. Let a short passage of scripture be read. Let the parent throw in such simple explanations as will arrest the attention of his children. Such reflections will occur to every one of common understanding. To illustrate my idea, let us suppose a father, with a family of children of various ages around him, opens to the fifth chapter of Matthew to read at morning prayers. He reads slowly and understandingly the first eight verses, adding such suggestions as cccur, so that the exercise is somewhat as follows.

"And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him."

It seems that such a crowd came to see the Saviour, that no house was large enough to receive them, and Christ therefore went to a neighbouring mountain, where the multitude could stand around him, and he could easily speak to them all.

"And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

If we are proud, and think ourselves better than others, and despise the poor and the humble, we cannot be received to heaven.

"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

If we would be Christians, we must pray for God's assistance most earnestly. Sometimes, children, you feel hungry, and you come into the house and ask your mother for bread, and you are so hungry you can hardly wait for her to get it. And sometimes you are so thirsty that I have to get up in the night and get you some water. Now God says, if you are as anxious to live and obey him as you are to have bread when you are hungry, or water when you are thirsty, he will make you holy, and prepare you for heaven.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I suppose, James, that you sometimes hear boys at school make use of bad words. Now there are some persons who will not say bad words but who will think them. God says, we must not even think of things that are impure and wicked. Our language must not only be pure, but our hearts must be pure, if we would see God in heaven.

Some such simple remarks and explanations as these, which every parent may introduce, will often fix the attention and interest the feelings of all the children of the family.

It is not necessary to attempt the explanation of every difficult passage, but merely to explain those which are capable of a brief and satisfactory explanation, and to throw in such remarks