ornament of a meek and quiet spirit at home she may commend the Lord whom she supremely loves; and so, by deference to the position of her husband, one who does not obey the gospel of God "may without the word be won by the conversation of the wife."

II. The Apostle does not, however, forget the duty of the husband. "Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them." The sum and fountain of all other duties on the part of the husband to the wife is love. The duty as here laid down is twofold, on the one side positive, love your wives, and on the other negative, "be not bitter against them." This duty of the husband, as the converse of the duty of the wife, is beautiful. The wife's duty is to submit, the husband's duty to love. St. Paul does not say as the complement of submission, "Govern your wives, rule them wisely, be particular in making them maintain their subordinate position;" but "love them, yield them the sincere and manifest affection of your hearts." The rule of love is sweet, and the yoke of true affection is easily borne. Either side is, perhaps, apt to forget its own special obligation: the wife is not so likely to forget her love as her subjection; the husband is not so likely to forget his authority as to forget or neglect the duty of love. That husband will most surely and fully receive the acknowledgment due to him as the head of the household, who most truly loves; and that wife, as a rule, will be most tenderly loved, who most heartily shows deference and submission. The root and flower, then, the blossom and fruit of home life is love. He who governs lovingly, wisely, and unpretentiously will have a power in his household, cheerfully and readily acknowledged. Let everything in the duties, arrangements, and relationships of the family be gone about in love: "God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." On the one side love softens and sweetens the subjection of

the wife, and on the other it tempers and sanctifies the authority and headship of the husband. Let the love which won the youthful bride be continued, augmented, manifested, in the married life. Manifested, I say; it is sometimes, perhaps frequently, regarded as a matter of course, a thing that requires no after cultivation. But contact with the world, the burden of care, the excitements of business, the companionships of other men, often deaden the finer sensibilities, crush the tenderness of the soul; and love at home, love to her who is queen of the fireside, is left to care for itself, and to struggle for a precarious existence. It may come to be that there is seldom any sign or token of it, and the least word of love, or even look of it, shortly becomes altogether a-wanting. The wife as the weaker vessel craves for love; it is the very life of her heart: a tone of tenderness, a word of affection, a beam from the loving eye of her husband, may make her soul rich and happy for days together, amid the manifold cares and duties of the home. While husbands are to love their wives, they ought not to withhold the manifestation of it. It is one thing to be silly in the expressions of a rapturous fondness; it is quite another thing to be manly in the exhibition of a sincere affection. If a man is not ashamed of being married, he ought never to be ashamed of fitly showing his tender affection for his wife. His love may appear in many ways, as in seeking her company and fellowship, and preferring it under ordinary circumstances to the attractions of any other company; in seeking to please her, assured that a faithful wife is not exacting; in endeavouring always to help, guide, and protect her, and in taking an interest in those things which specially occupy her thought and enlist her sympathy. The world abounds in allurements, gaieties, and festivities which are a snare to many husbands, so that they abandon the pure and quiet pleasures of home to run after the sensational, exciting, and

dangerous pleasures of the outside world. There is a monotony in household cares, of which men, whose duties call them out into the world, should never be unmindful: the most joyful break in that monotony should be the husband's return to the home which needs his presence to crown its life.

Besides love, the Apostle adds another-a negative direction-" Be not bitter against them." It must not be forgotten that this injunction is given to professedly Christian men; and it would not have been so had there been no need for it. It is possible to have a general feeling or sentiment of affection towards a wife, and yet not unfrequently to be bitter against her. Sourness and churlishness of disposition should never be indulged by a Christian man towards the woman who has given up all to him and for him. Bitterness of spirit may be manifested as much by a surly silence as by sharp words or angry reproaches. Give way to neither. All bitterness in thought and feeling, in word and action, should be checked and restrained, that the peace of home may be pure, and its love a perpetual fountain of joy. There will be need of patience and forbearance on either side; and where can these virtues be more beautifully or sacredly exercised and exhibited than within the hallowed precincts of a Christian home? Some homes, alas! are in a state of chronic conflict and bitterness from the disposition of the husband or of the wife, possibly from both. He commands imperiously, and she resists proudly. Some menfare pleasant and genial abroad, who are ill-tempered and tyrannical at home. In such homes Christ's influence is disregarded and His presence unsought. Love should reign supreme, throwing a halo around every domestic tie and every domestic duty. Thus will the Divine ideal of wedded life be more certainly realized or more nearly reached. Thus will more flowers of beauty and fragrance, and fewer thorns, be found in the

married state, which, as it is the complete and natural, ought to be the happiest state of man. Marriage is left us as a wreck saved from the blessings of primeval paradise; according to our spirit and conduct in that state it will be either a painful reminder of "paradise lost," or a helpful and happy stimulus towards "paradise regained."

XXXVII.

Relative Duties Children and Parents.

"Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged."-COLOSSIANS iii. 20, 21.

HE domestic constitution is of God. As the Almighty

THE

and All-wise Father, He puts before us the truths connected with His kingdom and our relation to Him, under the familiar ideas of paternal governance and fatherly love. The appeals of Christ's religion are made to the affections and sympathies of our nature, and to relationships here which are based on them. Thus it seeks to lay hold of the powers and sensibilities of our being. "I will be a Father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty; "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you;" "Now are we the sons of God; "And if children, then heirs, heirs of God;" "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." These and such-like utterances abound in Scripture, and are full of tender and suggestive instruction. "Children are an heritage of the Lord"—a great truth never to be forgotten by parents. The children in our homes are, so to speak, the poetry of the nation, the fresh spring flowers of the land, growing up by our own firesides, and as yet uncovered by the dust of