tender nature of the mother is more likely to lead to the spoiling of the child, through unwise fondness and indulgence; while the father may rather err through too much severity, strictness, and austerity. As our Heavenly Father has established family life, and has given us its ideal, domestic government should be simple and kind, affectionate and firm, as much as possible after the pattern of the Divine. In it love is the mightiest power. There is law with its sanctions and solemnities, the vindication of righteousness, the manifestation of wrath, and the working of retribution; but love triumphs in all, for the Almighty Father is love. So in the earthly family, and with fathers of the flesh, there must be authority and order: chastisement at times is necessary, and punishment for wrong-doing must be inflicted; but throughout all a wise love will be the ruling power. To the child the Apostle says, "Obey;" to the father he does not say, 66 Govern," but, "Provoke not to anger by your government." The father must not rule too sternly or with harshness, lest the heart of his child should be discouraged and his spirit broken. In domestic government and the training of children it is of immense importance that both parents should act together and in loving harmony. It is ruinous in a family to see the word or influence of one parent undoing and counteracting what the other has done; to see principle guiding the one, while impulse mainly directs the other. While children are not to be injured by indulgence, they are not to be discouraged by severity. Their endeavours to do right, and their efforts to please, should always meet with a hearty response and an approving acknowledgment. The youthful spirit is to be lovingly and tenderly developed, and must not be crushed by harsh, hasty, and ungenerous treatment. Various things in paternal government tend to discourage children. It may be done by overstrained authority. If the father is known simply as a governor in the real, not in the slang sense of that word, constantly issuing commands and prohibitions, demanding or expecting too much of his children, he will be likely to discourage them. A parent should be careful not to allow himself to appear only as a ruler, the mere personification of authority in his home. His voice should be heard otherwise than in commanding, scolding, and ordering his children about, as if they were always in the way. Constant command chafes the spirit and irritates the soul; the voice of affection and tones of encouragement should ever mellow and modify the fact of authority. Some things must be forbidden; but let the prohibitions be as few as possible; and the voice which forbids or commands should be as kind as it is firm. Continual fault-finding is almost sure to discourage a child. Some fathers are difficult to please, and rarely give a word of commendation to their children. They meet all their efforts with a frowning countenance, or with disparaging remarks. Approbation is just as necessary for a child as admonition, and the word of promise is as indispensable as the word of reproof. You see how God deals with His children; how constantly He gives them encouragement, and holds forth the prospect of a rich reward. His promises are, indeed, "exceeding great and precious." Let parental government then be like "that of the Household of God." Children love approbation, and are disappointed and discouraged if, in trying to win it, they meet with complaints and fault-finding. If the endeavour be sincere, and the effort the best they can make, it ought to meet with welcome and approval, though it may be very imperfect. Nothing is more likely to be detrimental to the spirit of a son than for him to be led to say, "It is of no use trying to please my father; he never smiles on my endeavours; he never gives me a word of commendation." Such indifference or sourness on the part of a parent irritates and disheartens the child. Passionate chastisement will also most surely irritate a child. To punish a son in the excitement of your passion or the ebullition of your anger is most likely to provoke him. to wrath. He sees that you are gratifying a hasty feeling of your own, rather than seeking his good: the true end of punishment is missed, and bitterness enters his mind. against your authority. When a child does wrong, and seriously offends against parental precept, he will expect reproof and correction, for he knows he deserves it; and the righteous anger of a wise father will never really discourage his boy. But if he sees you lift your hand to punish while you are yourself under the power of ungoverned rage, the moral influence on him is bad, and his heart is steeled against the desire to obey or to please you. Further, do not forget that a fretful over-anxiety on your part as a parent has a tendency to depress and discourage the child. If the son or daughter sees the parent over-anxious and fidgety, without repose of heart and trust in God, it is sure to have an injurious influence. A careful concern which makes a parent unhappy when his child is out of his sight, and turns parental anxiety in his presence into a sort of perpetual whine or fear, is most unhappy and hurtful. If the child catch the influence, it may so discourage him as to prevent him from attempting to form or carry out manly purposes throughout his after-life. The undue discouragement of a child is a very serious thing. If his spirit be crushed, or his heart hardened, his character may be irreparably damaged and his prospect blighted for life. Let family government, then, be like the government of our Father in heaven, where law is vindicated and order maintained by the triumph of love. To this end there should be an altar for God and for His worship in every household. What a holy and happy scene does a loving Christian household supply! "The father rules by the influence and law of kindness-a king and a priest in his own house. No churlish word is on his lip; no capricious restlessness fires his eye; his approach is no signal of consternation; his appearance is no imposition of gloom. The partner of his lot, the wife of his bosom, the mother of his children, is as a fountain of love and joy. 'The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.' The blooming band, the happy infant group, attest the vigilance and kindness which tend and guard them."* "The children are like olive plants round about the table." And this picture is but a preparation and a prelude for a grander reality-the happiness of a family in heaven-all safely landed on the celestial shore; at home "for ever with the Lord." What parent aspires not to the blessedness of a complete and undivided family circle in the Father's house above? * Pastoral Appeals by Dr. Winter Hamilton, p. 107. XXXVIII. Belative Duties-The Duties of Servants. "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons."-COLOSSIANS iii. 22—25. THE HE relation between master and servant involves a great social problem of our day, one of the most important and at the same time one of the most difficult questions of political economy. There is surely some solution or settlement of it that is sound and just, in harmony with the rights and privileges of masters and servants alike. At present we too often see two hostile armies ranged against each other, each jealous of the other, and each eagerly watching against any undue encroachment from the other. Sometimes we see collisions between employers and employed as painful as they are perilous to the best interests, and prejudicial to the healthiest feelings, of society. This state of things, expressed on the one side by a strike, and on the other by a lock-out, has gradually arisen, and seems to increase with the expansion of commerce and the growth of civilization. Alas! that it should be so. In days of old the feudal chieftain could summon his retainers and vassals to follow his standard and do |