X. I B R A^ R Y 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 BV 4526 .P3 1876 
 
 Q 
 
 Palmer, B. M. 1818-1902 
 The family in its civil andl 
 churchly aspects 
 
 No, 
 
-^ 
 
 
iriiH Jfamilir, 
 
 IN ITS 
 
 CIVIL AND CHURCHLY ASPECTS. 
 
 AN ESSAY, IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 /BY 
 
 B. M. PALMEK, 
 
 PASTOR, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW ORLEANS, LA. 
 
 KICHMOND: 
 
 Pbesbyteeian Committee of Publication. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 A. D. F. Randolph & Co., Broadway. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18T6, by 
 
 CHARLES GENNET, 
 
 in trust, as 
 
 Treasure!^ of Publication of the General Assemrly of 
 
 THE Presbyterian Chuech in the United States, 
 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 "Whittet & Shepperson, 
 
 PETXTESS, 
 
 Cor. Ttnth and Main Sts., Richmond, Va. 
 
 Li. Lewis, Stereotypes, 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
Contents. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CHAP TEE I. 
 Gexebal YrEw OF the Family J> 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SuPKEilACT OF THE HUSBAXD 25 
 
 CHAP TEE III. 
 
 SUBOBDIXATION OF THE WlFE 49 
 
 CHAP TEE lY. 
 
 AUTHOBITY OF THE PaEZXT 75 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 FzLiAii Obedlexce 9D 
 
 CHAPTEE YI. 
 ArTHOKiTT OF Mastzes 123 
 
 CHAPTEE YII. 
 Subjection OF Seeyaxts 147 
 
 CHAPTEE YII I. 
 
 COT.T.ATEBAE EeLATIOXS EN' THE FA>nLY 171 
 
 iii 
 
IV CO^^TKXTS. 
 
 PAKT 11. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 HiSTOKiCAL, Development or the Chuech in the 
 
 Family 195 
 
 CHAPTEE IL 
 
 The Chitkch under Natural Religion 217 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Church under the System of Grace 2:51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Symbolical Mystery of Marriage 217 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 The Church, the Family of God 203 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 The Family in its Offices of Instruction and 
 
 Worship 281 
 

 NOTE. 
 
 This little volume has its origin in a series of articles 
 originally pubUsbed in tlie columns of the South West- 
 ern Presbyterian. Under the advice of jiidicious 
 friends, they are gathered in this more enlarged and 
 permanent form. The reader will perceive that it is the 
 mere outhne of what might easily be expanded into a 
 treatise. It is brief, because intended simply to be 
 
 suggestive of general j)rinciples. 
 
 ' The Authoe. 
 
 
^i I trsi 
 
 THE FAMILY 
 
 IN ITS 
 
 Civil Aspects. 
 
CHAPTEK I. 
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE FAMILY, 
 
 mi 
 
 "God setteth the soUtartj in. families.'' —PSAh'M Ixviii. 6, 
 
 HESE words lay bare the prin- 
 ciple by wbich the individual is 
 drawn out from his own seclu- 
 sion; so that, by the co-exist- 
 ence of many households, society 
 at large may be constituted. The 
 Family, then, may be viewed under 
 several general aspects : 
 
 I. As THE Original Society from which the 
 State emerges, and the Church, and every 
 other Association known amongst men. That it 
 is a Divine ordinance is seen from the law of 
 marriage, the foundation on which it rests. 
 God created first the individual — the man, who 
 was the compendium of all His creative acts- 
 made in His own image, with reason, con- 
 
 9 
 
10 THE FAMILY. 
 
 science and will, and appointed as ruler over 
 the creatures. Then, from his substance an 
 exact counterpart was fashioned, the reflection 
 of his own being; the mode of her derivation 
 establishing identity of nature, and a unity 
 which is not weakened by diversity. "When 
 ^iven to him as a helpmeet, these remarkable 
 words are added: "Therefore shall a man leave 
 Ms father and his mother, and shall cleave unto 
 his wife, and they shall be one flesh." That is 
 to say, it is the province of the man, as the 
 head of the woman, to step first from the limits 
 of his o^^^l home, and to become the founder 
 of a new house. Neither State nor Church 
 could exist, but of materials which the Family 
 affords. Hence, it is historically true, that the 
 Family expands through the tribe into the na- 
 tion ; and the Church has thrice been founded 
 within its bosom. It would be strange, there- 
 fore, if, under every Dispensation thi'ough which 
 she has passed, this genetic development were 
 not recognized in her organic law, by which 
 the Chui'ch and the Family should be ideally 
 associated. The circumcision of the Old Cove- 
 
GENERAL VIEW. 1 1 
 
 nant, and the baptism of the New, were ob- 
 viously intended to fix, in the constitution under 
 which the Church is organized, and in the char- 
 ter under which she is incorporated, the his- 
 torical and fundamental fact of her origin, just 
 where the root of human society is found. 
 Equally so with the State. The authority 
 which it wields is first realized in the natural 
 control of the father ; and the property which 
 it protects, is first created in the parental pro- 
 vision for the offsj^ring. 
 
 But this introduces the second topic : 
 
 . II. That the Family is the Normal School 
 IN which Subjection to Law is first taught. 
 The old theory of the social compact is his- 
 torically untrue and intrinsically absurd. Apart 
 from other difficulties, it is perfectly clear that 
 no government could be framed strong enough 
 to subdue and control a thousand imperious 
 wills. Even now, with all their training under 
 government and law, men could never be held 
 in check if consolidated in masses. We should 
 be compelled to fall back upon some device like 
 
12 THE FAMILY. 
 
 that of the Family for the pui'poses of disci- 
 phne. We must invent the Family, if we did not 
 already have it. God's wisdom is conspicuously 
 illusti'ated m this arrangement, and we may pro- 
 fitably consider some of its featui'es. 
 
 1. There is the minuteness of the subdivi- 
 sion. The whole race is broken up into small 
 sections; in which, for a long season, and dur- 
 ing the plastic period of youth, a few wills are 
 put under supreme subjection, and the princi- 
 ple of obedience is woven into the character 
 and being of the child. If men were thrown 
 together in large groups fi'om the beginning, it 
 is difficult to see how the necessary subordina- 
 tion could be secured. Certainly the despo- 
 tism must be very severe, which should at once 
 bring into harmony many discordant wills ; 
 and the result could not be attained without 
 serious and permanent injury to the character, 
 which must be bruised and maimed in the very 
 process of subjugation. God's plan is wiser. 
 He breaks the race up into these compact do- 
 mestic empires, and fits it there for the larger 
 organizations which shall in due time be formed. 
 
GENERAL VIEW. 13 
 
 Here the supervision is minute and con- 
 stant, and the central authority bears with an 
 equable pressure upon every member of the lit- 
 tle state. The reciprocal influence, too, which 
 these members exert ujoon each other, is not 
 weakened by diffusion over a large sj^ace, but 
 is concentrated within the limits by which it is 
 restrained. The power is less severe, because 
 of the ease and constancy with which it is ex- 
 ercised; and the obedience runs into a fixed 
 habit, before it has the opportunity to remon- 
 strate; whilst the surveillance of a mild and * 
 steady police prevents the possibility of com- 
 bination and intrigue, which are necessary to 
 organized resistance. 
 
 2. Then toe have the harshness of authority 
 tempered by parental affection^ interposing an 
 effectual check to the abuse of power. There 
 is authority, indeed, and that in its most abso- 
 lute form. It must be just this, or it is useless 
 for the end designed ; that of first breaking in 
 the will, and making it obedient to law. In 
 this httle empu'e the parent is supreme, and 
 no appeal can lie to a higher tribunal, except 
 
14 THE FAMILY. 
 
 the Divine. The power to enforce is as com- 
 plete as the authority is absolute. It is a gov- 
 ernment under which the subjects are helpless, 
 and must either bend or break. Shall we say 
 the trust is too dangerous to be allowed '? See 
 how God tempers this authority and checks its 
 abuse, by that wealth of affection which comes 
 in to soften the des^^otism, and puts the lining 
 of gentleness under the yoke. 
 
 3. Again^ two parties^ who are the comple- 
 ments of each other, are vested with a joint 
 jurisdiction: thus anticipating the most re- 
 fined arrangements of modern civilization, iu 
 which, by double legislation in two co-orduiate 
 chambers, the greatest deliberation is secured, 
 and a restraint is imposed upon the absolutism 
 , of authority. So here, in this double executive, 
 two wills are united, the exact counterparts of 
 each other, one supplementing what the other 
 lacks. The father's will is robust and unyield- 
 ing — the granite rock against which the child 
 must rub and be subdued. The mother's will 
 brings in the element of gentleness ; and, blend- 
 ing with its co-factor, tones down its severity,. 
 
GENERAL VIEW. 15 
 
 whereby the jomt rule is rendered alike strong 
 and loving. Both, too, operate with the uni- 
 formity of instinct ; and, whilst susceptible of 
 regulation and culture, act spontaneously, and 
 without the consciousness of effort on either 
 side. 
 
 4. Still further, laio is presented under every 
 manifestation, and is illustrated by every 
 sjjecies of obedience. It is the model state, with 
 its entire machinery at work. Law is at every 
 moment in force, and takes hold upon every re- 
 lation at once, to which the homage of obedi- 
 ence is at every point rendered. Law, in it& 
 actual and diversified outworking : this is the 
 instructive feature. It could not be more hap- 
 pily illustrated, even though its sphere of opera- 
 tion were broader than it is. It is law in the 
 conjugal relation, beautifully reflected in the 
 reverence of the wife. When it passes down 
 into the second relation of the parent, it has 
 been akeady exemplified to the child, not only 
 in the headship of the husband, but in the 
 wifely obedience which is its commentary. Be- 
 fore it reaches the relation of the servant, it has- 
 
16 THE FAMILY. 
 
 already swept throngli that of the child ; and a 
 double exposition of its nature has been afforded 
 to those who stand at the farthest remove. 
 It gathers up all its honours, at the last, in a 
 three-fold homage, to each of which a distinct 
 ex23ression belongs. It is submission with the 
 wife, whilst the obedience of the son is charac- 
 teristically distinguished from that of the ser- 
 vant. Could there . be a happier institute for 
 the training of men to the duties of society and 
 g^overnment than this, in which the subordi- 
 nation is so complete, the law so immediate in 
 its control, the obedience so diverse in its 
 forms, and the whole regulated and sweetened 
 by an affection which renders service a privi- 
 lege, and duty a j^leasure ? 
 
 III. In the Family God Illustrates the 
 Fundamental Principles of His Universal 
 Moral Government. We scarcely know how to 
 bridle this topic, that it may not branch into 
 too wide a discussion. Let one or two hints 
 be given here, which will need to be reproduced 
 and expanded hereafter. 
 
GENERAL VIEW. 17 
 
 1. 77te Qnost difficult of all problems is to 
 hring into harmony and co operation tioo or 
 more separate wills^ each moving upon its ap- 
 pointed plane. It was a sublime exercise of 
 wisdom and power when God created tlie 
 heavens and the earth, impressing upon mat- 
 ter its various properties, and determining the 
 methods by which its imprisoned forces should 
 be develoiDed, But this was as nothing com- 
 j)ared with the diflficulties which emerge when 
 He created a living soul, made in His own im- 
 age, endowed with reason, personality and will. 
 Whether we contemplate it in the history of 
 angels or of men, it was a mighty event when 
 a being was fashioned with intelligence and 
 will separate from that of the Creator, moving 
 upon its own plane, under the guidance of his 
 own thought, and under the promptings of his 
 own choice. "What shall be the relation of this 
 wall to the Will that is higher ? And how shall 
 the subordination be maintamed, consistently 
 with the spontaneity and freedom of that which 
 is controlled ? These are questions upon which 
 are hinged all the problems of Providence and 
 
18 THE FAMILY. 
 
 of Grace ; and they have their outworkmg in 
 the continuous history of both. Angels, who * 
 steadfastly held to the allegiance which they 
 owed to Jehovah, and angels who, in the ex- 
 ercise of the same freedom, fell from their loy- 
 alty and became apostate, both declare the 
 nature and peril of the problem of separate 
 wills, which must, somehow or other, be co- 
 ordinated. Man, too, under temptation, fails 
 in the exercise of his ]3ersonal freedom ; and 
 the great mystery of Grace is, how to recover 
 that enslaved and depraved will, and to bring 
 it again into harmony with the will of the Su- 
 preme, without controvening the spontaneity of 
 its own determinations. The reader need not 
 be told that we are plunged just here into the 
 entire mystery of the Spirit's work in regen- 
 eration and sanctification, in which we are 
 " made willing in the day of His power." 
 
 Now, it is exactly this problem that is brought 
 down into the sphere of the Family ; where the 
 first stones in the social structure are laid, and 
 the foundation of all government and law is 
 placed, in the subordination of concuiTent 
 
GENERAL VIEW. 19 
 
 wills. There is the will of the husband and 
 wife, the joint rulers over the domestic state ; 
 . and there is the will of parent and child, in the 
 union of obedience with authority. The great 
 problem of God's sovereign control over the 
 spontaneous will of the creatui'e finds its best 
 illustration within the government of the Family; 
 and we can partly see how power blends with 
 freedom, as the factors of a common product. 
 
 2. There is, again, the sujjremacy of lato, 
 loith its natural necessary penalties. Physi- 
 cal science is more and more enlarging the 
 domain of law in the world of matter, law en- 
 folded within law, as we push our investigations 
 and probe to the bottom the phenomena around 
 us. The same fact obtrudes itself upon those 
 who study the unfoldings of Providence, m the 
 history of individuals and of nations ;, whilst 
 the entire scheme of Grace, with all its pro- 
 visions for the redemption of a lost race, founds 
 upon the inexorable character of the moral law, 
 whose last requirement must be met before the 
 sinner can be saved. We shall have occasion 
 to signalize this prevalence of law in the con- 
 
20 THK FAMILY. 
 
 stitution of the liouseliokl, and in the terms by 
 which its several relations are defined in the 
 Sacred Word. The general suggestion must 
 suffice for the present, reserving the elucida- 
 tion when it shall re-appear in its concrete con- 
 nections hereafter. 
 
 3. Equally so with the 2>rmci2)le of si(bo7'di- 
 7iation and dependence^ which j'uns through all 
 nature and grace. In tracing this as the in- 
 dispensable prerequisite to harmony in the 
 smallest house, we shall find ourselves always 
 stepping upon the line of — 
 
 " That wonderful all-prevaleut analogy, 
 The aiTow of the Great King carved on all the stores of 
 His arsenal." 
 
 4. Finally^ loe refer to the law of progres- 
 sion^ by tohich loicer ends are typical of the 
 higher^ and introductory to them. It is the 
 aim of all true science to disclose this ; all the 
 links of creation leading up from lower forms 
 of life to those which are higher, and each, in 
 its turn, affording prophetic intimation of what 
 is to follow. In like manner, a wonderful com- 
 bination of useful ends pervades the constitu- 
 
GENERAL VIEW. 21 
 
 tion of the family, springing from each of its 
 complex relations, as the successive arches of a 
 bridge from the buttresses ujDon which they 
 rest. We shall find this abundantly verified in 
 the exposition upon ^vhich we are about to en- 
 ter, as in the Family we find not only the germ, 
 but also tlie type, of every moral relation in 
 which we stand to each other in life. 
 
 IV. The Family equally reflects the Lead- 
 ing Peinciples of Geace. What shall we say of 
 the great principle of representation, as illus- 
 trated in the parental relation? Or that of 
 mediation in suffering and toil, through which 
 the children first live, and afterwards are 
 nourished? Or the mighty power of love, 
 underlying all sacrifices'? This view of the 
 domestic economy is by far the most interest- 
 ing to the Christian ; and its development is 
 reserved until we come l;o consider the churchly 
 aspects of the Family.' In this introductory 
 chapter, only those broad suggestions are pro- 
 per which will serve to vindicate the supreme 
 importance of this primary society, and to jus- 
 
22 THE FAMILY. 
 
 tif J the examination of its various relations and 
 duties as they are mapped out to us in the 
 Word of God. These fall naturally into four 
 loairs: of Husband and Wife, in the conjugal 
 relation ; of Parent and Child, in the parental ; 
 of Brother and Sister, in the fraternal ; of 
 Master and Servant, in the magisterial. The 
 consideration of these topics will exhaust what 
 we have to say of the Family in its civil aspect, 
 and will clear the way for the contemplation of 
 the Famil}^ in its higher or churchly aspect. 
 
 
9^ 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Supremacy of the Hus-band. 
 
 .O-Cw 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 SUPUhJMACY OF THE HUSBAND. 
 
 *' Husbands, love your icives, and he not bitter again.it them.'' 
 CoLOSsiAXS iii. 19. 
 
 HE first relation in the family 
 is the conjugal, by which it is 
 constituted; and since this is 
 dual, that of the husband takes 
 the precedence. It is worthy of 
 S]3ecial notice that, in all the apostolic 
 injunctions, the great duty enforced 
 upon him is Love. In addition to the testi- 
 mony placed at the head of this chapter, the 
 obligation is more fully expounded in the 
 Epistle to the Ephesians, chap., v. 25, 28, and 
 33 : " Husbands, love your wives, even as 
 Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself 
 for it." "So ou^ht men to love their wives as 
 their own bodies ; he that loveth his Avife, loveth 
 himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh ; 
 
 ^.5 
 
26 THE FAMILY. 
 
 but nourisheth and clierisheth it, even as the 
 Lord the Church." "Let every one of you in 
 joarticular so love his wife even as himself." 
 
 But is not love as much the duty of the wife ? 
 Nay, in our philosophy, we would antecedently 
 say that it chiefly devolves upon her to be the 
 exponent of its mighty power. It is with some 
 surprise that we find it set home upon the con- 
 science of the husband as his paramount obli- 
 gation, and we cannot rest until we ascertain 
 the ground of this discrimination. As we ad- 
 vance in this exposition of the relative duties 
 which belong to the household, nothing will ar- 
 rest the reader's attention more than the preci- 
 sion with which they are severally defined. The 
 terms selected by the Holy Ghost are employed 
 throughout with a rigid and technical applica- 
 tion. Evidently they are the exact terms in 
 which to express the character of the relations 
 and the nature of the corresponding obliga- 
 tions. We signalize this fact right here, where 
 it first presents itself to view. The injunction 
 to LOVE is clearly designed to comi^rehend the 
 entire office of the husband, with its peculiar 
 
SUPREMACY OF THE HUSBAND. 27 
 
 functions. Are we able to trace the wisdom of 
 the word f 
 
 1. Tlie husband is the re2)resentatlve and 
 orgayi of the love in v^hieh the conjugal rela- 
 ton has its ground. It is not necessary to 
 show that love is the element in which the 
 family moves, the atmosphere which sustains 
 its life ; or that it is the basis upon which mar- 
 riage is contracted, and without which it is lit- 
 tle better than licensed concubinage. This 
 may be assumed. If enlarged upon, it w^ould 
 only be to lend emphasis to exhortation, wliich 
 is not at present oiu* aim. 
 
 Let it be observed, then, in the order of na- 
 ture this love begins with the man. He is the 
 chooser; which exj)lains the peculiar language 
 in Genesis ii. 24: "For this cause shall a man 
 leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave 
 unto his wdfe." It is not put the other way, 
 although in reality it involves a hea^der sacri- 
 fice when the woman leaves the home of her 
 youth. But it is not her place to take the ini- 
 tiative. Woman must impose a restraint upon 
 her affections, until she is challenged. Like 
 
28 THE FAMILY. 
 
 the violet, she hides her sweetness beneath the 
 leaf, until the hand is stretched to pluck her 
 from concealment. She may arouse the love 
 which shall draw forth her own in absolute re- 
 sx^onse ; but that love must first speak from 
 another's lips, of which her own is but the echo. 
 Since, then, this love is first cherished by the 
 man, is first recognized and is first uttered by 
 him, he represents it in its active and control- 
 ling power throughout life. His love must 
 always go in the front. As he began, so must 
 he continue to be its exponent and represen- 
 tative. It pertains to his office, as the hus- 
 band, to lay the foundations of the new society 
 and communion in love ; and he is the organ 
 through which it sj^eaks its great commands. 
 There is vast significance in the fact that with 
 him love is a primary duty, binding upon the 
 conscience, and not simply a blind instinct, 
 operating mechanically, like that of the brute. 
 It is a force which he originates, and for the 
 perpetuation of .which he is made therefore re- 
 sponsible. It is to be henceforth the law of 
 his life, and the spring of all his actions towards 
 
SUPREMACY OF THE HL(?BAM». 29 
 
 her who by that love has been won to his em- 
 brace. He is constituted the guardian of that 
 in ^vhich all true marriage has its life and being. 
 2. Mans nature being the rougher of the 
 two, his love needs to be brought under the ein- 
 2) Ire of the icill, mid to be cultivated as a priu- 
 cqyle. The novelist and the poet may treat love 
 as a sentiment or as 2i passion j but the moral- 
 ist must go down to the root out of w^hich both 
 these spring, and recognize it as a principle. 
 As such, it may be cultivated : not direc tly, 
 perhaps, but indii'ectly ; for only thus can the 
 emotions be controlled by a force that lies 
 aback of them, and by a law which makes them 
 dependent upon it for all their manifestations. 
 For example: there is the mighty power of 
 habit, accruing from the repeated exercise of 
 the principle. And w'liere is this more pro- 
 fusely illustrated than in marriage, where the 
 habit of love grows stronger, wliilst the mere 
 sentiment becomes weaker? Again, we may 
 compel attention to those ^^ersonal qualities 
 which first awakened affection; and thus the 
 dying embers may be kindled into as fi'esli a 
 
30 THP] FAMILY. 
 
 ilame as when it first burst forth from the 
 deep places of the heart. Again, the con- 
 science may be trained to consider the obhga- 
 tion growing out of our original choice, when 
 we sued for the reciprocation which Avould 
 render us happy. It must be a cold and un- 
 grateful heart that can resist so constant an ap- 
 peal to its own generosity. These specifica- 
 tions will sufiice to show at least some of the 
 methods by which the principle of love may be 
 made to strike its roots deeper into the heart ; 
 which, by the natural law of expansion, will 
 bud into the sentiment, and bloom at length 
 into the full passion, of love. It is well for us 
 that, when the novelty of enjoyment is quenched 
 in the possession, w^e come, through the con- 
 trolling power of habit, into a fixed necessity of 
 loving; and the mighty principle lives and 
 works* unseen in the depths of our nature, 
 shooting forth new blooms as fast as the old 
 decay and fall. 
 
 With woman, by her constitution more gen- 
 tle and confiding, this may be largely left to 
 the action of her own softer and sweeter in- 
 
SUPREMACY OP'THfi HUSBAND. 31 
 
 stincts. But with man, whose natural rough- 
 ness might oppose the development, it is or- 
 dained that his affections shall be educated by 
 the conscience, and be regulated by the will. 
 By so much the more is he rendered conscious 
 of his responsibility, as the official expounder 
 and guardian of the love on which marriage 
 rests. Of covu'se, nothing that is here written 
 is to be construed as taking woman's reciprocal 
 love out of the sphere of morality, and treating 
 it as simply constitutional and instinctive. Her 
 nature bemg identical with that of man, as 
 shown in her creation fi^om his side, she comes 
 under the guidance and sanctions of the same 
 laws with him. It is only meant, that what is 
 true of both may be aj^phed with a special em- 
 phasis to the man, so far as moral influences 
 may be particularly necessary to the develop- 
 ment of his character and the regulation of his 
 conduct. 
 
 3. Mans occu2yatlons in life being more di- 
 verse than those of icoman, may too completely 
 engross his thoughts. The wife finds her world 
 in the home, the care of whi3h belongs profes- 
 
32 THE FAMILY. 
 
 sionally to her. It is lier function to preside 
 over it, as it is that of the judge to sit upon 
 the bench, or of an advocate to plead at the 
 bar, or of a merchant to move in the circles of 
 commerce. Sheltered from the ruder cares of 
 life, she breathes the amosphere of love; and 
 in the constant discharge of its s^veet and 
 l^leasant duties, is in little danger of escaj^ing 
 from its influence and control. But with man, 
 swallowed up in the details of business, love is 
 apt to prove too much of an episode. Enticed 
 fi'om the soft charities of his home, and pre-oc- 
 cupied with the anxieties and laboui's of the 
 outside world, his heart is aj^t to harden under 
 the influences which are so unfavoiu'able to the 
 development of the affections. We cannot, 
 therefore, but approve the wisdom which lays 
 him thus pre-eminently under the law of love, 
 and binds him with its holy obligations. 
 
 4. This injunction detevTiiines the nature of 
 his authority^ and tempers it with grace. 
 Under eveiy government, the sovereignty must 
 vest in some recognized head; there must be a 
 last tribunal, beyond which no aj)peal can lie. 
 
SUPREMACY OF THE HUSBAND. 33 
 
 In the supreme sense, this belongs to God 
 alone ; but in the Family, which is constituted i 
 under His providence, the dread preroga':ive 
 of representing His power attaches to the hus- 
 band and the father. He is delegated as the 
 head of the domestic state, and his authority 
 binds the house together. This view of his 
 position is too little considered, yet how it 
 sanctifies every relation and every duty ! If he 
 stands as the representative of God to all be- 
 neath his sway, with what consideration should 
 he administer his sacred trust ! And how is all 
 humiliation taken away from those who obey, 
 when the secptre to which they bow bears tlie 
 inscription of the Divine name ! In a sense far 
 higher than that of England's great dramatist, 
 
 " There 's sucli divinity dotli hedge the king," 
 
 whom God hath anointed to be ruler over 
 this little empire. Here is at once the limita- 
 tion and the grant of his power. The one is 
 folded within the other. If he stands for God 
 in the absoluteness of his rule, then must he 
 take the j nstice, the tenderness and forbearance 
 
'c4: THE FAMILY. 
 
 of the Divine Lawgiver as the tests of his own 
 liclehty. He who rules for God in this primary 
 commonwealth, must himself learn the law of 
 love as the undertone of his own authority. 
 AVe construe the Apostle's word, not simply as 
 a check against caprice and wilfulness, but as 
 defining the nature of his rule, bringing it into 
 the sphere of grace, and making it the kingdom 
 of love. It is founded ujDon love, in its origina- 
 tion ; it is to be administered in the spirit of 
 love, as th^ supreme law ; and from the hus- 
 band, standing at the fountain and spring of 
 his solemn headship, flows out this law of love 
 to all under his dominion. In order to this, he 
 is inaugurated into office under the sanction of 
 this great injunction, apart from which he sub- 
 sides into a tyrant and usurper. 
 
 AVithout penetrating further into the philoso- 
 phy of the case, the reasons presented above 
 are sufficient to explain the stress which is laid 
 upon the husband's love. The general idea is 
 enforced by the form of the exhortation ad- 
 dressed to him : ''7?e not bitter against them.'' 
 We have already remarked the peculiar signifi- 
 
SUrKEMACY OF THE HUSBAND. 35 
 
 cance of all the terms chosen to express the 
 specific character of these domestic relations. 
 Here it is the word '•'• hitter f indicating not so 
 much a sj^ecial fault to be censured, as the fun- 
 damental danger and temptation to which the 
 relation is exposed. The reference is to that 
 authority with which the husband is invested, 
 and the abuse of which is his constant peril. 
 The word " bitter " touches this as with the 
 point of a needle ; and it may not be amiss to 
 suggest some of the more obvious directions in 
 which, as often from thoughtlessness as through 
 malignity, an abuse of conjugal authority may 
 be a source of bitterness to her who is the sub- 
 ject of it. 
 
 1. There is sometimes a lordly assumption 
 of superiority and depreciation of the wife as 
 inferior. Nothing can be more galling to her 
 pride. Is it not enough that man is invested 
 with an official supremacy, to which she must 
 pay the homage of reverence, that this must be 
 pushed to the extreme of humiliation '? All her 
 instincts revolt against the degradation, which 
 would really unfit her for the duties of her po- 
 
36 THE FAMILr. 
 
 sition. If taken from his very substance, how 
 can she be inferior in dignity of nature ? If 
 given back to him as an helpmeet, how can she 
 prove his counterpart, if she be not his equal ? 
 How can she be associated with him m a joint 
 rule, if she stand not upon the same level ? The 
 fact is, that all comparisons between the two, as 
 to which should be pronounced the worthier, 
 are shallow and impertinent. Each is the best 
 in its place ; and neither is perfect without the 
 other. The distinction of sex runs through the 
 entire nature of both, so that they differ as truly 
 in their spiritual, as in their corporeal structiu'e ; 
 but this very distinction forbids the comparison 
 between the two. What is called the Aveakness 
 of woman is really her strength. It springs 
 from the more exquisite delicacy of her organi- 
 zation, both intellectual and physical, by which 
 she is fitted for the more delicate and tender 
 offices which she is called to discharge. The 
 dependence to which all this adapts her is not 
 her degradation, but her glory. It betrays, 
 then, only the folly of him who is unable to dis- 
 tinguish betwixt suhordination alid inferiority; 
 
SUPKEMACY OF THE HUSBAND. 37 
 
 and who fails to remember that subordination 
 in office often obtains where there is absohite 
 equahty in rank. There is not a bitterer bitter 
 to a true woman than this disparagement, which 
 degrades her in the eyes of him she is herself 
 bound to honour. 
 
 2. There is also an ostentatious parade of 
 authority, in needless exactions of obedience. 
 It is no small proof of the Divine goodness that 
 there is joy in dependence, whenever it runs in 
 the groove which nature has provided for it. 
 But, then, it may be attended with a friction 
 which shall wear out the machinery. There is, 
 indeed, a soft lining under the chains which 
 love puts around the limbs. But even with 
 this, they may be pulled and twisted with a 
 thoughtless roughness, which shall chafe these 
 limbs, and leave unsightly scars where they 
 should only adorn. Even the gentle depend- 
 ence of woman resents the cowardly tyranny, 
 which wields authority with no other motive 
 than to display the power with which it is 
 grasped. 
 
 3. There is bitterness in loithholding the 
 
38 THE FAMILY. 
 
 demcnistratio7i of love, which is a icomcms so- 
 lace. Slie was won by this, and for this left 
 the calmer affections of her childhood's home. 
 It is the tribute due her for the sacrifice ; and 
 there is a sense of outrage and wrong when, on 
 fitting occasions, it is withheld. It is not sioiply 
 the loss of what, she had reckoned as her gain, 
 but a feeling of dishonour in being displaced 
 fi'om the throne of the affections. The ob- 
 trusive attentions of coiu'tship were accepted as 
 evidences of a love that would never know 
 abatement ; and the sacred pledge can only be 
 redeemed by a considerate watchfulness thi'ough 
 life, which need not degenerate into a fawning 
 uxoriousness to satisf}' all tlie demands of her 
 heart. 
 
 4. Jt is another form of the same thing, 
 v'hen proper sympathy is refused in her cares. 
 Man's burden rests upon him in bulk, and the 
 energies of the will are more easily summoned 
 to its support. Woman's lot is not so much 
 one of toil, as of sohcitude, which wears her 
 out by the attrition. A kind look, or a soft 
 tone, will be as oil to smooth the rub. It makes 
 
SUPREMACY OF THE HUSBAND. 39 
 
 the cross a joy, if it wins love's tribute to love's 
 constant and patient sacrifice. 
 
 5. The withdraioal of society is another 
 hitteroiess to her, who needs to build upon it for 
 herself and for her household. Marriage se- 
 cludes her from the world. It was never meant 
 that home should be her prison, to commune 
 in sohtude and silence only with disappointed 
 hopes and blighted joys. It is a clear subver- 
 sion of her just right, when the deserted wife is 
 reduced to envy the coarser rivals — whether it be 
 an engrossing business, or the frenzy of politics, 
 or the pleasures of the club and the saloon — 
 ■which have supplanted her in her suiDremacy. 
 
 6. Worst of all is the bitterness of her soul 
 tcho mourns over a husband utterly nmoorthy 
 of her reverence. If there be a bondage more 
 intolerable than another, it is to serve without 
 affection. But the pang here is that the affection, 
 which once made service a delight, has been 
 killed outright in the woman's soul, and she 
 cannot recall it to life. Her heart is withered 
 within her, and has turned to dust. She is 
 bound bv chains stronsfer than iron to what is 
 
40 THE FAMILY. 
 
 henceforth to her only ''a body of death." And 
 3^et, to this loathsome corruption, which breeds 
 offence at every turn, she has vowed the hom- 
 age of her reverence. But reverence is a thing 
 which must be deserved. It was cheerfully 
 plighted at the marriage altar, when all seemed 
 to be fair and true. Now, when the temptations 
 of sin have drawn away fi'om integrity and hon- 
 our him whom the law of God and her own 
 choice j)laced over her as a head, what must 
 be the bitterness of her spmt who finds devo- 
 tion, esteem, and love melting out of her heart 
 towards one who has so dismally ceased to be 
 for her a covering and a glory ! 
 
 AVe cannot pursue these thoughts, which ex- 
 cite at once "the twin emotions of indignation 
 and of pity. They have been pushed thus far^ 
 only as illustrating the comprehensive designa- 
 tion of the husband's office by the word Love. 
 The dignity and sacredness of the relation are 
 alike expressed by it ; for no higher or more 
 solemn trust can be assigned, than officially to 
 represent this Divine principle just at the point 
 where all human society is found in the germ. 
 
SUPREMACY OF THE HUSBAJS^l). 41 
 
 Such, then, is the broad doctrine of the hus- 
 band's supremacy grounded in love. It re- 
 ceives additional emphasis from the two-fold 
 argument by which the Apostle enforces it 
 upon the conscience. The first is the con- 
 sideration of the loifes identity with her hus- 
 band. The allusion, of course, is to the mys- 
 tery of the woman's original derivation from 
 the body of the man. She is, therefore, his 
 other seK. "And He took one of his ribs, and 
 closed up the flesh instead thereof ; and the 
 rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, 
 made He a woman, and brought her unto the 
 man. And Adam said, this is now bone of my 
 bones, and flesh of my flesh : she shall be called 
 woman, because she was taken out of man." 
 Genesis ii. 21-23. Though now existing apart 
 from him, with a personality of her own, she is 
 restored by marriage to a mystical re-union 
 with him. The rib, which was taken out of his 
 side, is replaced by the living form which is 
 the complement of himself, so that he "who 
 loveth his wife loveth himself." And as "no 
 man ever hated his own flesh," so in "nourish- 
 
4:2 THE FAMILY. 
 
 ing and cherishing her," he simply "loves his 
 own body." There is a dejDth of tenderness in 
 this, which just floods the heart with soft and 
 blessed sympathies. It is love itself which 
 puts the crown of headship upon man ; who, in 
 the splendour of this majesty, folds within him- 
 self the gentle counterpart of his own being, 
 who wreathes the garland around his brow. 
 She is henceforth one with hun in a mystical 
 unity, hoher and closer than that which was 
 broken when the flesh was closed over the cleft 
 in his side. 
 
 The second argument of the Apostle is the 
 analogy between the husband's love and that 
 of Christ for the Church. We can afford here 
 only to skirt the edge of this mystery, w^hich is 
 reserved for a later exposition in another con- 
 nexion. Were the parallel not suggested in 
 Scripture, we should not ourselves dare to con- 
 ceive of it ; yet in. how many striking particu- 
 lars does it hold good ? For example, the fi'ee, 
 electing, sovereign love by which we were 
 *' chosen in Christ before the foundation of the 
 world," to be the subjects of grace, is faintly 
 
SUPREMACY OF THE HDSBAND. 43 
 
 shadowed forth in the priority of the husband's 
 love, which pitches upon the one woman out of 
 all her sex, to be his solace and his joy. The con 
 tinuance of Christ's love, in which, "having loved 
 His own, He loved them to the end," is like- 
 v.ise adumbrated in the law of marriage, which 
 constitutes a union indissoluble untH death. 
 Then, the immense sacrifice whereby Christ 
 "gave Himself for the Church," finds its tyj)e, 
 indescribably faint, it is true, in the consecra- 
 tion of the husband ; when, forsaking all past 
 associations and fellowship, he cleaves unto his 
 wife, and devotes himself to her alone. Still 
 further, the real but mystical union of the be- 
 hever with Christ, through which he becomes a 
 partaker of His life, found its earliest expression 
 in the mystical union of marriage, wherein the 
 two are made one flesh. Again, the gracious 
 love of Christ with which He "nourishes and 
 cherishes the Chui'ch," by the communications 
 of His Spirit, has an earthly illustration in the 
 providence and toil with which the husband 
 feeds, and protects, and comforts her who is 
 supremely dependent upon his care. Lastly, 
 
44 THE FAMILY. 
 
 the aim of Christ, in all this watchful tender- 
 ness of His redeeiiiing love, is that He " might 
 sanctify and cleanse the Chtirch," and "present 
 it to Himself a glorious Church, not having 
 spot or wrinkle, or any such thmg, but that it 
 should be holy and without blemish." In like 
 manner, have we begun to exhaust the significa- 
 tion of marriage, until we comprehend its moral 
 uses m making the parties to the same purer 
 and better, for this life and the life to come? 
 To this end, how incumbent it is upon him 
 whose nature is the stronger, to bring the sup- 
 port of his will, and the clearness of his judg- 
 ment, and the majesty of his influence, to 
 strengthen and to guide and to uphold her 
 who, by the right of her dependence, leans 
 upon him for all this ! And how beneficent is 
 the reciprocal effect of a true conjugal inter- 
 course between the two; when she, by her 
 winning tenderness, softens in him all that is 
 harsh and rough ; and he, with his kindly firm- 
 ness, upholds and trains those pliant graces 
 which bloom the brighter as they twine them- 
 selves around his strength ! Can higher honoiu' 
 
SUPKEMACY OF THE HUSBAND. 45 
 
 be placed upon the husband's love, or can its 
 sacredness be expressed with greater emphasis, 
 than by this analogy with the redeeming love 
 of Christ our Lord? Were it always cherished, 
 the husband's supremacy would rest gently 
 upon the wife's obedience : the " yoke would 
 be easy" and "the burden would be light." 
 
CHAPTER IIL 
 
 Subordination of the Wife. 
 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SUBORDINATION OF THE WIFE. 
 
 Wives, submit yourselves unto your oion hushands, as it is 
 Jit in the Lord." — Colossiax.s iii. IS. 
 
 HE domestic relations are group- 
 ed in pairs, with duties, of course, 
 ^c^ reciprocal. In each case, as we 
 shall continue to see, the nature 
 \mJ^ of the relation, the character of the 
 duties involved, and the temptations 
 by which it is embarrassed, are all 
 covered by a single word. In the present in- 
 stance that word is submission, the full exjDO- 
 sition of which will yield all that is incumbent 
 upon the wife. Indeed, we shall find veiled 
 beneath it the entire philosophy of the domestic 
 state. A comparison of passages w411 show that 
 it is intended to express exactly the co-ordina- 
 tion of the wife with the husband. In Ephesians 
 
 49 
 
50 THE FAMILY. 
 
 V. 22, tlie injunction is repeated in identical 
 terms : " Wives, submit yourselves unto your own 
 husbands, as unto the Lord." In verse 24, the 
 word "subjection," is substituted: "As the 
 Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives 
 be to their own husbands in everything." In 
 verse 33, it is interchanged with the term " re- 
 verence :" " and the wife see that she reverence 
 her husband." 
 
 In the preceding chapter, the supremacy of T' — 
 the husband was seen to be suggested in a way 
 inconceivably mild — rather hinted, than dis 
 tinctly affirmed. The word which conveys the 
 power, tones it with a softness that takes off 
 the sharpness of its edge. As soon, however, 
 as we reach below the husband, we touch the 
 relation which is subordinate, and where human 
 authority is, for the first time, to be acknow-r 
 ledsfed. We encounter now a second loill ; 
 which must move freely upon its own pivot, 
 and yet harmonize with the will which \^ first. 
 We are fairly abreast of the great problem in 
 both law and grace : What shall be the rela- 
 tion between these two wills'? How shall 
 
t 
 SUBOKDI^ATION OF THE WIFE. 51 
 
 they coalesce, and yet be distinct ? How shall 
 one be superior to the other, and both be free? 
 How shall subordination exist, without destroy- 
 ing" the sj)ontaneity of that which is controlled ? 
 The reader will observe that the difficulty 
 2:)reseuts itself in the severest form, just where 
 he first encounters it. The woman, before she 
 became the wife, was , wholly independent of 
 him whose authority she is henceforth to re- 
 cognize. The relation is grounded simply uj)on 
 their mutual choice, and does not pre-exist by 
 any connection of blood or birth. In fact, we 
 are just at the point where all human ties find 
 their origin ; the conjugal relation being that 
 out of which they spiing, and which is neces- 
 sarily antecedent to them all. The woman 
 must, therefore, relinquish her independence, 
 and must voluntarily assume the obligations 
 for which she exchanges her own freedom. Nay, 
 iii framing the contract she appears as the 
 equal of him beneath whose sceptre she con- 
 sents to bow. The negotiations are transacted 
 with her, not only as independent and free, but 
 as in all respects the peer of her future lord, 
 
4 
 52 THE FAMILY. 
 
 TiDtil tiie bond is sealed by which she resigns 
 it all. What still more complicates the case, 
 this equality of rank must be maintained after 
 the union as before ; that, being his counter- 
 IDart, she may be associated with him in a joint 
 rule If the husband be king, the wife must 
 sit at his right hand, an acknowledged queen, 
 sharing equally the honours of roj^alty. 
 
 In these particulars, the subordination of the 
 wife differs from that in the other relations of 
 the family. The child, for example, is horn 
 in a state of dependence, and at the first dawn 
 of intelligence finds itself under subjection. It 
 is called to no surrender of prerogatives, and 
 raises no question as to its station or rank All 
 this has been antecedently determined, without 
 its voice being heard in the decision. Its will 
 has been manipulated and put under control, 
 before it knew it had a will. The only point 
 it can debate is, whether to continue in this 
 condition of subserviency, or rise in insurrec- 
 tion against authority already established. Not 
 one of the difficulties is presented to it which 
 confront the wife,' who must contrive how to be 
 
SUBOKDINATION OF THE WIFE. 53 
 
 subordinate, and yet an equal ; liow to resign 
 her independence, and yet be free ; how to sur- 
 render her will, and yet preserve her person- 
 ality. It is curious how often in life the 
 solution of a problem sprmgs from the bosom 
 of the perplexity itself. AVe have been hiding 
 the vvife away in a nest of contradictions, and 
 before we have had time to wonder at the com- 
 plications, she clears them all at a single boujid. 
 By one supreme act of will, she cuts through 
 these entanglements at once. It is exactly de- 
 fined by the word " submission," which desig- 
 nates the precise quality of her subordination. 
 This may require a little elucidation. 
 
 1. It is an act of unconstrained choice. The 
 word "submission" technically expresses this ; it 
 is, therefore, in Scripture the preferred term. 
 Subjection, with which it is sometimes inter- 
 changed, is less felicitous ; since it may convey, 
 by association, the idea of compulsion fi*om 
 without. But the freeness of her own choice 
 is signalized in this. In assuming the relation 
 of a mfe, the woman surrenders much ; still, it 
 is a suiTender. There was a moment when her 
 
54: THE FAMILY. 
 
 independeuce was undisputed ; if it be resigned, 
 it is through the election of her own will. The 
 considerations which were addressed to her 
 judgment, or to her fancy, led her to prefer the 
 new condition; where, if her freedom be re- 
 strained, certain advantages accrue, which, in 
 her esteem at least, more than compensate its 
 loss. In the comparison between the two, she 
 deliberately chooses to be less free in order to be 
 more happy, and, therefore, she stibniits herself. 
 In this, there is a manifest reservation of all 
 her original dignity. No sense of degradation 
 can attach in the voluntary surrender of what 
 she might easily have retained ; and in all the 
 friction of will she may hereafter experience, 
 there is a pleasant recurrence to this fact She 
 retains a sense of freedom in the conscious 
 freeness with which it was resigned, and with 
 which it continues to be resigned. The ab- 
 solute freedom of her own surrender of free- 
 dom comprehends within it all the acts of sub- 
 sequent submission; and it makes them as free 
 as the very freedom which she has for ever re- 
 nounced. So far from being dishonoured in 
 
SUBORDINATION OF THE WIFE. 00 
 
 her subordination, it is throughout Hfe a con- 
 scious consecration of herseK to the condition 
 of her choice ; and the sentiment is one by 
 which she is consciously ennobled. 
 
 2. JVomayi is led to this submission hy the 
 instinct of her nature. Many things are made 
 easy to us by the dispositions which adapt us 
 to them. It would be the strangest of all 
 omissions, if we should overlook, in this con- 
 nexion, the different mental and moral organi- 
 zation of the sexes. Man is endowed with at- 
 tributes which qualify him for his more obtru 
 sive position. He is strong, forceful, massive, 
 fond of adventure, full of dash and coui'age. 
 The woman is not less equij^ped for her sta- 
 tion by the qualities which distinguish her. 
 She is endued with grace and beauty, to win 
 rather than to subdue ; exercising the passive 
 virtues of patience and fortitude, of gentleness 
 and humility; and, above all, crowned with 
 that sense of dependence out of which submis- 
 sion springs as an instinct. 
 
 We strike, just here, the princij)le which de- 
 termines the whole case. God never meant 
 
56 THE FAMILY. 
 
 the vine to grow, like the oak of the forest, in 
 sturdy iiidependeuce, buffeting the storm, but 
 to clasp with its tendrils the support given to 
 it ; to twine around that oak itself, covering its 
 limbs with rich fcjliage, and lifting its fi'ail head 
 sometimes even above the rugged strength by 
 which it is upheld. This is more than a figure 
 of rhetoric; it admirably depicts the clinging 
 dependence which is constitutional with wo- 
 man. As the ^dne has a root of its own, which 
 is the source of its life, so is the wife rooted in 
 the consciousness of her distinct personality. 
 As the vine grows by the power of a life with- 
 in itself, so does this personality of the wife 
 find expression in the free exercise of her own 
 volitions. Yet as the vine clings to the rude 
 prop by which it is sustained, so does the 
 gentle will of the wife knit to the will of which 
 her own is the counterpart. Were human 
 nature only m its original and normal state, 
 the two would move together without friction 
 or jar, by a happy coalescence. But in its 
 fallen estate, it must be controlled by positive 
 law, " added because of the transgression " To 
 
SUBORDINATION OF THE WIFE. 5T 
 
 the woman it is given in the words, '• thy de- 
 sii'e shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule 
 over thee." The collision of will, to which sin 
 now exposes her, is obviated bj'- positive statute, 
 vesting the supremacy where it existed before 
 by the appointment of nature. Just as the law 
 of labour imposes upon fallen man only the in 
 dustry which was a duty from the beginnmg, 
 so the law of obedience imposes upon the wo- 
 man only the subordination which existed fi'oni 
 the moment she was created. In the one case, 
 the employment intended only for recreation 
 has deepened into toil ; in the other, the sub- 
 mission intended for repose is changed into 
 discipline ; but in both alike the curse becomes 
 a blessing, through the patience which willingly 
 accei)ts it. She was at the first builded out of 
 man ; she must now build upon man. Nature 
 itself teaches that the rib must find its place in 
 the side from which it was taken. The ideal 
 unity can only be restored by a mystical blend- 
 ing of the two mto one again. The wife only 
 obeys an original instinct in the voluntaiy sub- 
 mission, which sweetly expresses the harmony 
 of tw' o distinct personalities, and nothing more. 
 
58 THE FAMILY. 
 
 8. Just here comes in the influence of love^ 
 holding them together hy its magnetic attrac- 
 tion. It is God's plan to induce a sense of 
 want, and then, in His providence or grace, 
 to satisfy it. By this means, He combines the 
 human element and the divine in the adminis- 
 tration of both. Thus, Adam was made to ex- 
 perience the need of fellowship, as the animals 
 filed before him in pairs to receive their names. 
 To this developed feeling the Lord responds, 
 *' It is not good that the man should be alone ; 
 1 will make him an helpmeet for him :" and in 
 the strength of this awakened desire, Eve is 
 greeted with the welcome, " This is now bone 
 of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." The his- 
 tory pauses, even in its singular brevity, to com- 
 memorate the fact that, fi'om the beginning, 
 marriage builds upon a sentiment which can 
 find enjoyment only in fellowship. As we trace 
 the formation of this tie in all generations, the 
 antecedence of love to mamage becomes more 
 cons^Dicuous. Affection is first aroused, and 
 then the relation is estabHshed which gives it 
 scope. The secret life of the conjugal bond is 
 
SUBORDIXATIOX OF THE WIFE. 59 
 
 this antecedent love, thi'ough which it becomes 
 more than a contract, but rather a true fellow- 
 ship. 
 
 It particularly concerns us, however, to note 
 the influence of sex in determining the quality 
 of this love. Indeed, it does not require the 
 most dehcate observation to discover sex m 
 human love, through all the relationshii3S of 
 life. The mystery is no greater than that of 
 sex in intellect, and of sex in character. Mind 
 in woman is essentially the same with mind in 
 man, and is governed by the same fundamental 
 laws ; yet who does not know that, in both, its 
 operations are qualified by the influence of sex, 
 which justifies us in speaking of the male and 
 of the female mind"? Character is substantively 
 the same in both, including the same elements 
 and requiring the same discipline ; yet in both 
 a peculiar shade is imparted by the peculiar- 
 ities of sex, so that we speak of a masculine 
 and of a feminine character. Equally so with the 
 heart. Love has the same principle or root in 
 both, but is modified in its exercise by the in- 
 fluence of sex. 
 
60 THE FAMILY. 
 
 This constitutional distinction between the 
 two reveals itself more clearly in the affinity 
 which draws them together, and in the specific 
 difference of the affections, as they cross over 
 from the one to the other. No man ever loves 
 one of his own sex, and no woman one of hers, 
 with the precise regard either feels for the 
 other. There is a peculiar quality in the affec- 
 tions when it is interchanged, which notliing 
 will explain but the difference of sex. We shall 
 find this feature running through the family 
 constitution. The father's love for the daughter 
 casts itself into a form which distinguishes it 
 from what is felt to the son. The mother's af- 
 fection for the son is slightly modified from 
 that she entertains for the daughter. In 
 neither case is it stronger or more sincere. 
 Identical in nature, they differ only in the form 
 in which they are disclosed to consciousness; 
 the same as to substance, different only as to 
 quality. The lines of parental affection cross 
 each other in this way for the purpose of bring- 
 ing the whole mto closer imity. The same 
 principle occurs in the recii3rocal mfluence of 
 
SUBORDINATION OF THE AVIFE. 61 
 
 brother and sister ; where, j^erhaps, by and by, 
 it may receive from us a more articulate expo- 
 sition. In no relation, however, is the case 
 stronger than where we first encounter it : be- 
 twixt the husband and the wife. The husbands 
 love is thoroughly masculine, springing right 
 out of his natui'e as man — original, challenging, 
 bold — exactly expressing the characteristics of 
 his sex, and befitting his station as the head. 
 The wife's love is as thoroughly feminine, rest- 
 ing upon her nature as woman — genie, respon- 
 sive, confiding — finding its best expression in 
 a yielding subordination. The two are recip- 
 rocal and complementary. The opposite elec- 
 tricities attract and adjust, by reason of their 
 contradiction. It is not a man's love bargain- 
 ing with a man's love, so much for so much ; 
 nor a woman's love bargaining with a woman's 
 love, and clashing because they are just alike ; 
 but it is a man's love drawing to itself a wo- 
 man's love, its ojDposite and fellow: just not 
 enough alike to clash, and enough alike to co- 
 alesce. The husband's strong love rings out 
 its challenging tone, and the wife's responsive 
 
62 THE FAMILY. 
 
 love answers with the echo, which does not 
 know how to contradict the sound by which it 
 was awakened. 
 
 4. Within her sphere the loife wields an 
 original authority, lohich she acquires through 
 her submission. This phraseology is not the 
 happiest, but it is the best that occurs to us. 
 Her authority is original in the sense that it 
 belongs to her station, and cannot be divorced 
 from it — not in the sense that it is irresponsible 
 and indej)endent. The supremacy vests else- 
 vi^here, wdthin which her orbit must be de- 
 scribed. ' But it is clear the husband and the 
 w^ife possess each a sphere which is distinct. 
 The man, as husband, father and master, moves 
 upon a plane which is his own ; neither his 
 duties nor responsibilities can be transfeiTed. 
 So the woman, as wife and mother and mistress, 
 fills a station wliich is just as exclusively hers, 
 and her trusts are equally incajDable of being 
 delegated. This sphere she must fill with her 
 l^resence and influence, and within its limits it 
 is her privilege to move luichallenged. In this 
 difference of spheres a relief is found from much 
 
SUBORDINATION OF TUE WIFE. 63 
 
 of the peril arising from conflict of ^vill. So 
 long as the boundaries between them are well 
 defined, and neither party is disposed to invade 
 ^ the province assigned by nature to the other, 
 so long will serious collision be forestalled. 
 The danger cliiefly lies in the personal relation 
 between the husband and the wife themselves ; 
 and there the protection must be found in the 
 principles we have already expounded. 
 
 Let it be observed now, that this sphere is 
 hers, as she is the wife ; and that all her m- 
 fluence and control within it are acquired 
 through her allegiance to the paramount sov- 
 ereignty which is vested in her "head." Her 
 submission is, therefore, a source of honour. She 
 is not humiliated by it, but exalted. If, in her. 
 person fr-eedom is in any degree curtailed, in 
 her ofiice she has gained dominion and power. 
 It is not a sacrifice without compensation. She 
 resigns independence, but secures control. 
 Viewing her constitution as woman, there is 
 gain in both. In the first, she finds a restful 
 satisfaction in the chnging trust which leans- 
 upon a frame stronger than her own. In 
 
64 THE FAMILY. 
 
 the second, tliat love of influence and power is 
 gratified, which is often an instinct that is no- 
 ble and good. With her, too, the possession 
 of authority is not burdened with a sole re- 
 sponsibility, but which she divides with him 
 under whom it is exercised. She enjoys the 
 sweetness of office, without being overwhelmed 
 with its solemnity. It is easy thus to see that 
 the submission of the wife, so far from being 
 an act of self-depreciation, is recognized as in- 
 vesting her with special dignity and honour. 
 
 5. Several 7ninor considerations combine to 
 shoio that there is no derogation from her orig- 
 inal dignity in this voluntary sid)ordination. 
 For example, it is worthy of her most grateful 
 reflection, that she occupies the first human re- 
 lation in which it is given to illustrate God's 
 mode of solving the grand problem of His uni- 
 versal government over intelligent and respon- 
 sible beings. In her cordial submission of will, 
 carrying with it the free coalescence of her own 
 individuality with that of another, she becomes 
 the first exponent of the mighty principle by 
 which, through grace, sinful man is restored to 
 
SUBOEDINATION OF THE WIFE. 65 
 
 fellowship with God. She is allowed to cany 
 this principle down into all the details of life ; 
 and by a thousand acts to show how the will 
 may turn upon .its own pivot, and move freely 
 under the law of control. It is a wonderful priv- 
 ilege afforded to her who, "being deceived, was 
 in the transgression," to be called thus openly to 
 assert and illustrate the spontaneous loyalty of 
 a will that perfectly blends with the authority 
 which directs it. Such a mission is immeasur- 
 ably grander in its proportions, and sweeter 
 in its beneficence, than all the usurped dignities 
 of the unsexed sisterhood who aspire, contrary 
 to nature, to be the competitor and rival of 
 man, rather than his counterpart and helpmeet. 
 Again : she is prepared for her queenly supre- 
 macy as a mother and a mistress, by her sub- 
 ordination as a wife. Indeed, her peculiar in- 
 fluence as a ruler springs out of the fact that, in 
 her higher sphere, she has ah-eady illustrated the 
 sweetness of dependence and submission. Her 
 authority is not, like that of the father, naked 
 and hard ; but it is authority which has been 
 softened by passing through her obedience, be- 
 
6<d THE FAMILY. 
 
 fore it takes hold upon the child. If she de- 
 mand of those under her jmisdiction subjection 
 of will, she can point to herself in proof that 
 this is perfectly consistent with the highest self- 
 respect. She enjoins nothing which she does 
 not herself hourly practise. Whilst she com- 
 mands, she leads in the way of obedience. The 
 lesson may not be given in words; but the 
 quick discernment of childhood discovers in all 
 her actions her own deference to a superior 
 will. It is comprehended at a glance, that sub- 
 ordination of office may co-exist with equahty 
 of nature, and that submission of will is not 
 equivalent to the renunciation of character. 
 None but the mother can illustrate the obedi- 
 ence which she enforces. As a wife, she has 
 taken off fi'om subjection the suspicion of mean- 
 ness; and then, as mother, she binds it, en- 
 nobled by herself, upon the conscience and 
 heart of her offspiing. Like her blessed Mas- 
 ter, she has acquired a supremacy through her 
 own submission to authority and law, and has 
 a superior right to enjoin that which she has so 
 supremely honoiu'ed in her own subjection. If 
 
SUBORDINATION OF THE WIFE. 67 
 
 stubborn iDride should still insist that there is 
 ignominy in submission, her sufficient answer 
 is to point to the great Mediator, "who, being 
 in the form of God, thought it not robbery to 
 be equal with God; yet made Himself of no 
 reputation, and took u^Don Him the form of a 
 servant, and became obedient unto death." It 
 is enough for her, if she, like Him, is exalted 
 through submission to a station of privilege 
 and glory. 
 
 Reader, is it not beautiful? Well may the 
 Apostle enforce this submission, in the words 
 "as it IS FIT IN THE LoED." This two fold mo- 
 tive will require to be divided by us. They are 
 both of them eminent considerations. 
 
 "As IT IS fit:" 7'his subordination of the 
 tolfe is urged upon the ground of its meetness 
 or propriety. The duty is thus laid upon her 
 conscience, and is not left simply to the opera- 
 tion of instinct. At the very first, the woman 
 did not separately exist. When God executed 
 His counsel to "make man in His image and 
 after His hkeness," He created Adam alone. 
 The woman existed as yet only j)otentially in 
 
68 THE FAMILY. 
 
 the man ; and was formed afterwards, by what 
 may be termed a secondarj^ creation, out of his 
 substance. According to nature, then, her being 
 is never to be viewed as apart and by itself ; for 
 immediately upon her creation, marriage is in- 
 stituted, by which, in a higher, because moral 
 sense, she is incorporated with him again. She 
 is returned to him, a sejDarate person, indeed, 
 but with that jDcrson so blended with his own, 
 that ideally they are still one as before. The 
 mystery is great, and every reference to it in 
 the Scriptures is as a mystery ; yet it manifestly 
 includes that subordination which we have been 
 endeavouring to explain. Her natural condi- 
 tion is that of union with man, as a portion of 
 him. The wife is always the rib; having her 
 true place in the side; again re included in the 
 man, fi'om whom she was at first taken. In 
 the beautiful language of Matthew Henry, she 
 "was not made out of his head to top him, not 
 out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but 
 out of his side, to be equal with him, under his 
 arm to be protected, and near his heart to be 
 beloved." Her derivation fi-om man as the rib, 
 
SUBOKDINATIOX OF THE WIFE. 69 
 
 and her restoration to liim as tbe woman, are 
 both to be connected together ; and their typi- 
 cal significance is that the union in marriage is 
 the most intimate which can be conceived ; that 
 it is spii'itual in its natui-e ; and that headship 
 in the one,* with submission in the other, are 
 the two halves that make up the whole. It is 
 "fit," therefore, 'that the woman should recog- 
 nize her subordination, as taught in the history 
 of her own creation ; for anything else would 
 be imnatural, monstrous, and grotesque. 
 
 *A curious, but raost emphatic, commentary upon 
 the Batural supremacy of the husband is found in the 
 old Enghsh law, as it came down from the Saxon fore- 
 fathers, which construed the insurrection of the wife 
 as an act of "petty treason." " This is looked upon," 
 says Blackstone, " as proceeding from the same princi- 
 ple of treachery in private life, as would have urged 
 him who harbours it to have conspired in public against 
 his liege lord and sovereign ; and therefore, for a wife 
 to kill Tier lord or husband, a servant his lord or master, 
 and an ecclesiastic his lord or ordinary, these being 
 breaches of the lower allegiance of private and domestic 
 faith, are denominated petit treasons. " (Sharswood's 
 Blackstone's Commentaries, Book IV. Chap. VI.) 
 
TO THE FAMILY. 
 
 "In the Lord," adds the Apostle. This 
 second motive is even more commanding and 
 ennobling". It lifts the wifes submission to 
 the plane of a religious consecration to the 
 service of Almighty God. Indeed, tliis would 
 seem to flow from the view which we have just 
 presented. For what is obedience to the 
 solemn teachings of nature, but obedience to 
 God ? In these fundamental and organic laws 
 of our own mental and moral being — not, of 
 course, as they are now perverted by sin — God 
 has clearly expressed His will for the guidance 
 of the creature. But over and beyond this, 
 God has made the subordination of the wife, 
 and the supremacy of the husband, a part of 
 the constitution of marriage, and has es- 
 tablished both by positive statute. 
 
 Can there be any degradation m the wife's 
 obedience to the law of her husband, when this 
 is obedience directly rendered to the authority 
 of God ? All sense of shame is dissipated, as 
 soon as she rises to this higher view. Her 
 husband becomes to her a crown and a cover- 
 ing, as soon as she sees in him the representa- 
 
SUBORDINATION OF THE WIFE. Tl 
 
 tive of God to her. The shadow of his au- 
 thority falls with no chill upon her heart, w^hen 
 she views it only as the grateful shade fi'om the 
 scorching heats of hfe. Her subjection to it 
 takes on a rehgious character. It is of the na- 
 ture of submission to the Divine sovereignty, 
 of resignation to the Divine will, of obedience 
 to the Divine authority, of rest ujoon the Di\ine 
 support, of enjoyment in the Divine fellowship. 
 Blessed idea of marriage, how imperfectly is it 
 realized, even with the best of our race ! When 
 the man moves with awe in the majesty of his 
 great trust, tender and loving, full of jDrovi- 
 dential thought and care for those to whom 
 God'has appointed him as His own representa- 
 tive! When the woman walks evenly at his 
 side, without fear and without shame ; yielding, 
 in the deepest reverence for his authority, but 
 the homage of her worship to that God of 
 whom he is the shadow ! 
 
L#J 
 
 CHAPTEB IV. 
 
 Authority of the Parent. 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 AUTHORITY OF THE PARENT. 
 
 " Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they he dis- 
 couraged.'" — COLOSSIANS iii. 21. 
 
 FTER the conjugal comes the 
 parental relation, presenting the 
 ^6^ second couplet of reciprocal 
 si£^ duties. The parent precedes 
 
 ^ the child, therefore his office is the 
 first to be considered. And the in- 
 teresting question meets us at the 
 threshold : why, in the passage at the head of 
 this chapter, and also in the parallel passage in 
 Ephesians vi. 4, the injunction should be laid 
 upon the father ? Evidently there is intended 
 here no exclusion of the mother, for she is as- 
 sociated with him in a joint rule. The answer 
 is, that it is addressed to him as the head of 
 the household, the official representative of the 
 
 government within the same. 
 
 75 
 
76 THE FAMILY. 
 
 In the Decalogue, for example, where the law 
 of the parental relation simply is laid down, 
 the two are conjointly recognized in the words 
 "honour thy father and thy mother." But 
 ^ere the Apostle is tracing the different parts 
 of the family constitution, with special reference 
 to the subordination which subsists between 
 them. The injunction is, therefore, carried up 
 to the functionary in whom the authority is 
 primarily lodged. Bearing in mind that the 
 Apostle is stringing together all the relations of 
 the Family upon the one principle around 
 which they crystallize, the omission of the 
 mother in these counsels, evidently designed 
 for parental guidance, is emmently suggestive. 
 With the terseness and brevity so character- 
 istic of the Bible, the generic title of the re- 
 lation is here pretermitted, lest the subordina- 
 tion of office in the domestic state should be 
 overcast and clouded. In the very form of the 
 language, the responsibility is laid squarely at 
 the source and fountain of the power. But, of 
 course, it descends, by necessary inference, to 
 her whose authority is derived, by association 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE PAREiS^T. 77 
 
 with him in whom it is original and supreme ; 
 and in the act of assuming it she is gently re- 
 minded of the " submission " which marks her 
 position, and through which her own authority 
 has been acquired. Her control, however, is 
 none the less real because it is here conveyed 
 only by implication, or because it is a control 
 which descends to her fi*om a source which is 
 higher. 
 
 Let not the reader dismiss this as a mere re- 
 finement of thought. Undoubtedly, the father 
 has a natural right to rule, because he begets. 
 But so has the mother an equal right, grounded 
 also in nature, because she produces. This 
 would yield two wills, both of which are supreme, 
 each resting upon a different basis, and destined 
 to clash through the modifications which attach 
 to both. The Scriptures, however, lift the 
 whole subject to a higher plane, and effect a 
 perfect reconcilation between the two. They 
 teach that the family is a divinely constituted 
 state, in which the parents rule, not simply by 
 natiu'al right, but by an authoiity immediately 
 delegated fi-om God. Hence, in the moral law, 
 
78 THE FAMILY. 
 
 the Fifth Commandment forms the transition 
 between the two tables, and is the link by which 
 they are connected. Will it not exalt our con- 
 ceptions of the Family, to see how exactly God 
 has placed it in the bosom of the law ? As the 
 root fi'om which all human relations grow, it is 
 the point where the exposition of all our rela- 
 tive duties must begin. And yet this Fifth 
 Commandment springs right out of the first 
 table, as natui*ally as a new arch rises from the 
 buttress which supports it. AVe can hardly 
 tell to which of the two tables it most belongs. 
 Clearly to the second, because it defines a hu- 
 man relation, and expounds an earthly duty ; 
 but as clearly to the first, because it states a 
 duty that is primarily owed to God. The fact 
 is, when God descends to dwell amongst men, 
 and covers with His law the whole sphere of 
 human duty. He makes His appearance first in 
 the Family. He constitutes the husband His 
 representative to the wife, and the father His 
 representative to the child. The authority is 
 lodged with the male, as generically including 
 the female, fi'om whom, by derivation, she was at 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE PARENT. 79 
 
 the first created. In marriage, by its fundamen- 
 tal law, she is agam integrated into the man, 
 from whose substance she was taken, by the 
 voluntary coalescence of her own will. Through 
 this free " submission," she is one with him in 
 the authority, which comes derivatively to her, 
 as his came from God by immediate delegation. 
 Her natural right, which springs from the fact 
 that she gives birth, is taken up into the right 
 that is supremely bestowed from heaven. Sub- 
 ordination and unity of will are secured ; and 
 in this parental injunction, the mother is seated 
 as a queen upon the throne, ruling under the 
 king. 
 
 We are brought now to the parental function, 
 expressed, as in the other relations, by a single 
 word, " Fathers, ^rovo/{:e noty The language 
 is not only cautionary, but expository. The 
 reference is clearly to the Family as a school for 
 training. Childi'en are given to us, not simply 
 to be enjoyed and caressed, but to be educated 
 — to be educated for this life and for the life to 
 come. The admonition is addressed to parents 
 in a form that at once recognizes the disci]3li- 
 
80 THE FAMILY. 
 
 nary office with which they are charged, and 
 the peril of miscarriage. Power is a sacred 
 trust, and its abuse is a constant temptation. 
 Beneath the negative style of the admonition 
 w^e ought to discover a positive principle, made 
 the more impressive from the labour of unearth- 
 ing it This positive statement we take to be, 
 that children should never he thrown into an 
 attitude of antagonism to the parent. Were 
 this guiding principle carried steadily through . 
 the parental administration, it would protect 
 against a thousand errors, and save many a 
 household from the wreck which we are often 
 compelled so sadly to witness. The term used 
 by the Apostle is, of course, a grant of power ; 
 and thus it guards against the other extreme of 
 lawlessness and of misrule. But whilst the 
 supremacy is fairly admitted, and its due ex- 
 ercise is, by necessary implication, taught, it is 
 softened by the qualification which is imposed. 
 The rule of the parent is one of law, but of law 
 as tempered with grace. The father must re 
 cognize his resposibility to the whole nature of 
 the child, and regard him as a being to be 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE PARENT. 81 
 
 moulcled as well as controlled. This is the key 
 to the interpretation of the passage. Authority 
 must be used, not only to subdue, but to train. 
 The obedience of the child is to be free and un- 
 constrained, under the promptings of affection. 
 He must not be teased, and worried, and pro- 
 voked, until he loses heart, and renders an 
 obedience in which there is no soul: "lest they 
 be discouraged," adds the Apostle. In the cor- 
 responding passage found in Ephesians vi. 4, 
 the educational office of the parent is more dis- 
 tinctly announced : "Fathers, provoke not your 
 children to wrath, but bring them up in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord." We 
 regard the expression, then, • as defining the 
 gracious character of the parent's authority, to 
 be used for edification, and not for destruction. 
 The splendid advantages for training pos- 
 sessed by the parent diminish by just so much 
 the necessity for bald, external authority. Let 
 these be considered a little, by way of illustrat- 
 ing this position. For exami:)le, there is the 
 long minority of the child, affording oj^i^or- 
 tunity for a constant and equable pressure in 
 
S2 THE FAMILY. 
 
 shaping its character. Time is always an im- 
 portant element in human affairs, but nowhere 
 so important as here. The dominion of the 
 parent, it must be remembered, is strictly a 
 moral one, over a will which must be expected 
 to break foiiih, from its own spontaneity, in 
 occasional resistance of all control. It is only 
 by degrees the great lesson is acquired, that 
 this will must move in its appointed sphere, de- 
 fined by proper metes and bounds. The 
 ligature need not be severe, because there is 
 ample time to secure the result more effectually 
 by the interposition of gentle restraints. The 
 object is not to break that will, but to educate 
 it ; not to bind its freedom by external force, 
 but to teach it to control itself. It is enough 
 to swathe it loosely, until it shall learn how to 
 check its own lawlessness. With this a sweet 
 moral influence should blend, until obedience 
 becomes its choice, and it finds its highest free- 
 dom in moving upon the plane which law pre- 
 scribes for its action. If the conflict be renewed 
 a thousand times, still the long minority which 
 nature has provided gives room to patience to 
 
AUTUOKITY OF THE PARENT. bo 
 
 do its geutle but effective work in training 
 what is wild, and rendering it tractable to duty. 
 He is an unwise parent who disregards this as- 
 sistance of time, and who seeks to carry the 
 will of his child by assault rather than by 
 siege. 
 
 It should not be overlooked that other facul- 
 ties exist besides that of w^ill. There is reason 
 to be developed, affections to be cultivated, 
 conscience to be directed, taste and sensibility 
 to be quickened. These all bring their aid in 
 the discipline of the will, which may be manip- 
 ulated with caresses as well as bruised with 
 punishment. The silent and steady growth of 
 all these powers together is what the parent is 
 called to foster ; and the length of the proba- 
 tion leaves him almost inexcusable, who fails 
 entii'ely. ■ The case must, at least, be one of in- 
 veterate stubbornness which does not yield to 
 the judicious and patient treatment of twenty 
 years. 
 
 This process is materially aided by the ex- 
 treme dependence of childhood. The heart 
 must be unfeehng which is not continually 
 
84 THE FAMILY. 
 
 touched by this. Indeed, one of the special 
 perils of the parent is that of swerving from his 
 duty from the tenderness of his sympathies. 
 But what a lever does it put into his hands in 
 the conflict with a child's will ? Its helpless- 
 ness is so complete, and the instinct of it is so 
 strong, that the principle of subjection may be 
 fau'ly established before a serious purpose of 
 resistance can be formed. The fact is, the 
 parent's trouble arises more from the natural 
 impatience of the child, than from any distinct 
 notion of resistance to authority. This is to 
 be expected from the autonomy of the child's 
 nature, and is far from being in itself an evil 
 omen. It is only when that will is unduly 
 stubborn, and takes on the air of open defiance, 
 that it becomes portentous. But a strong pro- 
 tection against this is the child's own sense of 
 need, which causes it to cling to the parent's 
 protection and care. If early advantage be 
 taken of this instinct, the will may be brought 
 into the habit of submission before the clear 
 consciousness is had that such a faculty exists 
 at all. At this stage the authority may be as 
 
AUTHOKITY OF THE PAREJSJT. 85 
 
 mild as love itself, without impaii-ing its ef- 
 ficiency. 
 
 The crown is ^Dut upon this thought when 
 we add to it the natural credulity a7id homage 
 of childhood. The ignorance at first is so su- 
 preme, that all knowledge must come to it fi'om 
 testimony. No sooner are the senses aroused 
 to observation than they begin to collect the 
 materials of knowledge ; and the proverbial 
 creduHty of the child is simply a mental in- 
 stinct, which renders it capable of receiving in- 
 formation. It is a later process when it under- 
 takes to sift this testimony through the faculty 
 of the reason, which is later in being developed. 
 Combine with this the natiu'al reverence of 
 childhood, which bows before the majesty of 
 the parent with something akin to that worship 
 with which we bow before our Maker; and 
 what is to hinder that parent from erecting an 
 altar in the heart of his child, upon which the 
 sacrifice of a daily obedience will be cheerfully 
 offered "? 
 
 The fact, too, that they are born at intervals, 
 and at intervals sufficiently far removed to al- 
 
86 THE FAMILY. 
 
 low the full assertion of parental supremacy, 
 is somewhat significant. The great practical 
 error in family government lies in tlie ahnost 
 universal overlooking of this idea ; which, there- 
 fore, we express with none the less gravity be- 
 cause the reader will be likely to greet it with 
 a smile. The grand fallacy consists in assum- 
 ing that the child must know in order to obey, 
 and therefore it must be waited on for the 
 knowledf^e ere the obedience is exacted. It 
 should obey without knowing. The will and tiie 
 affections are in exercise before the judgment 
 and the reason. These are to be met at the 
 threshold. At the first dawn of intelligence 
 the child should find itself under authoiity, and 
 obey by the j)Ower of instinct. If the mastery 
 is to be acquii'ed after the will has developed 
 itself in flagrant opposition to authority, the 
 conflict must be proportionally severe, and 
 rarely ends in the parent's acknowledged 
 triumph. We doubt if a child was ever 
 thoroughly conquered after two years of age. 
 Nature has wonderful modes of teaching, if we 
 are only wise enough to take her hint. 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE PARENT. b i 
 
 The iiijluence of older children upon the 
 younger is an important element in family 
 training. The household is a group, and the 
 most wonderful featui'e in it is the complex in- 
 fluences which are constantly at work. There 
 is always 2^ first horn; and it is a cruel satire to 
 say that two grown-up persons cannot manage 
 one poor little weakling, whose only resource 
 is to cry, without forging the thunderbolts of 
 Jove. Now, if parental authority be mildly, 
 but firmly, established at the beginning, the 
 contagion of examjDle, and the reflection of 
 authority in the submission of the older, will 
 settle the law at once in the hearts of the 
 younger. It is often alleged that domestic dis- 
 ciphne waxes milder with the advancing age of 
 the parent. It ought to be so, m the nature 
 of the case ; for with experience comes tact, 
 and the nice sense that avoids unnecessary 
 issues with the child. But the large assistance 
 derived from the trained obedience of older 
 brothers and sisters will go far to explain the 
 difference which is sometimes pointed at a 
 trifle invidiousl3^ 
 
88 THE FAMILY. 
 
 We mention, further, only the immense ad- 
 vantage of constant supervision. It is the 
 nearest to omnipresence of any thing purely 
 human. When is the eye of the parent ever 
 withdrawn % How it watches, when itself un- 
 seen ! A watchfulness, too, so free from es- 
 pionage, or the scrutiny of a detective ! A 
 watchfulness so full of love and tender sym- 
 pathy and providential care, that the child 
 greets it as a perpetual benediction : greets it 
 as it greets the sunlight of heaven, shining un- 
 obtrusive because shining everywhere ! This 
 wonderful police in the Family we do not know 
 with what to compare it, except with the sur- 
 veillance of conscience in the individual breast, 
 so omnipresent, so faithful, so benevolent 
 even m its reproaches. 
 
 W^e signalize only the provision for this in 
 the office of the mother. She, the gentle one,, 
 whom nature has made so loving to those born 
 of her body. She, too, who has learned obedi- 
 ence for herself — she has the function of sitting 
 in the midst of her nestlings, that she may be 
 to them a hol}^ providence. Sometimes with a 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE PARENT. 89 
 
 smile, sometimes with a frown, always watch- 
 ing, soothing, stroking: shaping with her tender 
 hands the hearts which are, by and by, to be so 
 strong for duty. 
 
 We see, then, the import of the Apostle's 
 words, ^''lyrovohe not;' that authority is not all 
 a parent has to wield, but influence as well ; 
 that when the sceptre of rule is stretched over 
 the domestic state, there may be a cunning 
 which shall wreathe it with roses, and conceal 
 its harshness. It remains, then, only to sug- 
 gest some of the obvious forms under which 
 this "provocation" may lui'k. 
 
 1. When there is habitual sternness, holding 
 the child at bay, and never entering into living 
 sympathy with its joys and sorrows. Some- 
 times this arises from natural temperament. 
 The parent is constitutionally phlegmatic and 
 cold, and finds nothing more difficult than to 
 break through the reserve which hangs like a 
 veil over his heart. Sometimes it arises from 
 the pre-occupations of business, which absorbs 
 the attention, and draws one off from com- 
 munion with those about him in life. Some- 
 
90 THE FAMILY. 
 
 times, alas ! it springs from a misdirected con- 
 scientiousness, which fears to indulge in 
 pleasantry lest the reins of austerity should 
 escape fi^om the grasp. The more is the pity, 
 when rehgious principle puts on this authority, 
 and repels where it should draw. It cannot 
 be doubted that many parents, who in all other 
 respects are models of faithfulness, make their 
 piety hateful by clothing it in this ascetic garb. 
 It is a sad loss all round : a loss to the parent, 
 who loses the cream of domestic joy in thus 
 shutting out from his bosom the young prattler, 
 who should make the sweetness of love spring, 
 like honey, out of the rock itself ; and a deeper, 
 sadder loss to the child, who is every day cheated 
 of its birth-right. It is the climax of parental 
 tact, when the faculty is possessed of letting 
 one's self down into the very heart of childhood, 
 in fresh and genial sympathy with all it finds 
 there. Such a parent governs easily and well, 
 and governs almost without curb or rein. 
 
 2. The evil is aggravated when there is a 
 constant and hard exaction of duty. Oh! 
 those shadows which fall upon childhood, when 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE PARENT. 91 
 
 the jparental voice is never beard except to 
 issue a command! The case is worse, if the 
 commands and restrictions are capricious. But 
 even when reasonable and just, surely the 
 parent is something more than an overseer. 
 The quick sensibility of a child feels, even where 
 it cannot exj)lain, the wrench in its relations, 
 when it can never come into the father's pre- 
 sence without being ordered off upon some 
 duty. It has an unreasoning instinct, which 
 tells it has sometimes the right to sit down in 
 the light of that father's smile, and rejoice in 
 his love. 
 
 3. Greater yet is the discouragement, when 
 it is greeted vnth needless and captious criti- 
 cism. The dissatisfaction may not always be 
 groundless, nor the censure unmerited. But 
 it is not wise to be on the alert to find fault. 
 Due allowance must be made for the incon- 
 siderateness of youth ; and few tilings provoke 
 resentment more than to be subjected con- 
 stantly to rigid scrutiny, as under an insj^ec- 
 tor's drill. It is better to allow the rent m the 
 jacket sleeve, than to make a worse rent in the 
 
92 THE FAMILY. 
 
 boy's heart ; who is repelled from a parent, to 
 whom he must give account for every mishap 
 in a boy's rude play. Close akin to this spiiit 
 of criticism is the selfish withholding of com- 
 mendation and praise, where there is an evident 
 desire to please. Even childi'en who are not 
 exact types of youthful piety after the pattern 
 of much of our Sunday School hterature, have 
 a great many moments of good humour, when 
 they wish to gratify those about them ; and a 
 little judicious praise is a healthy stimulant to 
 virtue. We have known persons, in all the 
 walks of life, to whom it would have proved a 
 wholesome tonic, lifting up the flagging en- 
 ergies to new efforts of goodness in hours of 
 despondency and gloom. Let the child's life 
 be seasoned with a little approbation, and per- 
 haps the path of virtue will not be altogether 
 rugged to its feet. 
 
 4. It is a provocation to wrath, when/auowr- 
 itism is indulged^ and disparaging compari- 
 sions are dravm. A child is a child, whatever 
 its natural disjoosition may be, and it may 
 honestly claun a cliild's j)lace in the jDarent's 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE PAREXT. 93 
 
 affection. The jealousy whicli is aroused by 
 an unjust partiality, burns like a juniper coal 
 in the heart that feels itself cast off; and the 
 odious contrasts which are drawn, are instinc- 
 tively resented as insults added to wrong. The 
 heart so treated will burn at length to a crisp 
 under the fires of resentment. 
 
 5. Chastisement inflicted in anger, or ex- 
 cessive in degree, is certainly a just provoca- 
 tion to wrath. The impression of some that 
 chastisement, as such, tends to break the spirit 
 of a child, is contradicted by universal ex- 
 perience. The youthful conscience may safely 
 be trusted to recognize this necessary vindica- 
 tion of parental authority. But this conscience 
 is equally quick to grade the severity of the in- 
 fliction, and to resent it as the mere expression of 
 ill-temper and spleen. Hence, too, the extreme 
 injury of those modes of punishment which are 
 designed conspicuously to humiliate and to de- 
 grade. The parent's office, in this case, is 
 strictly judicial, and must be exercised with 
 transparent fairness and equity. It is not the 
 temporary suffering that bruises the sj^irit of 
 
94 • THE FAMILY. 
 
 a child, but the sense of injustice rankhng in 
 the soul. It is doubtful if obedience ought 
 ever to be enforced under a menace. It is 
 thereby robbed of its frankness, and the proba- 
 tion is to that extent unfair. The child should 
 be allowed the privilege of deferring to au- 
 thority upon the ground of its rightfulness, 
 and of substantiating his obedience as spring- 
 ing from principle. It is then seen to be 
 honourable in its soui'ce, and the youthful 
 -character is ennobled. Punishment should 
 never be admmistered in anger, for the sim- 
 ple reason that the principle upon which it 
 turns is withdi'awn alike from the view of 
 parent and child. It attests simply the power 
 of the one, and fulfils no office of discipline to 
 the other. There is a clear distinction, which 
 no one is quicker than a child to perceive, be- 
 tween a cool, judicial displeasure, and the pas- 
 sion which wreaks its vengeance upon the help- 
 less. , 
 
 6. Last of all among these parental provoca- 
 tions, is the, umclse retention of authority xohen 
 it should gradually give loay to persuasion. 
 
AUTHORITY OF THE PAREXT. 95 
 
 A long season of training is allowed tlie parent, 
 from infancy to matuiity. As the reason ex- 
 pands, and the affections unfold, and the con- 
 science asserts its supremacy, the force of bare 
 authority must slacken. It is a part of the 
 training itself, to throw the eaglets upon their 
 own wing to balance in the air. The youth of 
 sixteen cannot be ruled as the boy of six years ; 
 and the parent has missed his chance who is 
 not able, quietly and by degrees, to substitute 
 influence in the place of authority. Of course, 
 wisdom and tact are required in effecting the 
 change. But as the time must come when the 
 exercise of authority shall cease, the manner of 
 its gentle abdication should be the parent's 
 study. And they who seek to perpetuate it in 
 its original cast-iron form, will succeed only in 
 *' provoking their children to wrath." 
 
Af^ 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 Filial Obedience, 
 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 
 
 " Children, oherj your parents in all things, for- this is lo ell- 
 pleasing unto the Lord." — Colossians iii. 20. 
 
 HE filial relation is correlative 
 with the parental, and comes 
 up next for consideration. It 
 will be observed that the 
 //iM" generic title, parent, is here em- 
 ployed. The reason is obvious. The 
 obligation of the child is to both, and 
 it is not required to note any distinction as to 
 their authority. The proper place to mark this 
 is where the authority is conferred ; and, as 
 we have already seen, the principle of subordi- 
 nation was secured in the pre-eminence as- 
 signed to the father, and in the derivation of 
 power from him to the mother. As to the 
 child, the authority is conjoint, and must be re- 
 cognized as one. It is easy to see that discord 
 
 99 
 
100 THE FAMILY. 
 
 would be introduced into the administration if 
 the subjects iTuder it were allowed to discrimi- 
 * nate between the two. There is now no dif- 
 ference in the complexion of the authority, for 
 the two are blended in the administration. A 
 happy illustration is affoftxled of the nicety and 
 precision of the language of the Bible, that in 
 all the passages which expound the duties of 
 the child, no distinction is hinted at between 
 the parents ; whilst in the insfa'uction given to 
 the parents themselves, they carefully intimate 
 the supremacy of him who is constituted the 
 head of the household. Thus, in the parallel 
 injunction found in Ephesians vi. 1, 2, it reads, 
 " Children, obey your parents ;" " Honour thy 
 father and mother ;" the latter clause being it- 
 self a quotation from the Fifth Commandment 
 in the Decalogue. We specify this feature all 
 the more, as it confirms the general interpreta- 
 tion we have given of this domestic code, the 
 principle running through which is the articu- 
 lation of all the parts into one body, and the 
 consequent subordination between them. 
 Filial duties are embraced in the shigle word 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 101 
 
 "obedience," wliich we shall discover to be en- 
 tirely appropriate, as defining the nature of the 
 relation itself. 
 
 We encounter here again the problem of co- 
 ordinated wills. As in our primary relation to 
 God, His will must be supreme, and our will 
 must bow before it in free subserviency to His 
 control over the creature in all things ; as in 
 the conjugal tie, the wife must blend her whole 
 being with that of her head, in the voluntary 
 submission of her will to his; so again must 
 the child- will, moving freely upon its own plane, 
 bend before the majesty of the parental. Thus, 
 so far as we have yet traced it, the supremacy 
 of law is upheld, from the thi'one of Jehovah 
 itself, downward through all the concentric cir- 
 cles of human relationship and of human duty. 
 Will is drawn up, and is enfolded within will ; 
 order is maintained throughout by this sub- 
 ordination of the lower to the higher ; whilst in 
 dividual fi'eedom remains to each, in the spon- 
 taneity with which the obeisance is rendered. 
 In every case, will turns by its own polarity 
 upon its own pivot, and over the entire sphere 
 
102 THE FAMILY. 
 
 in wiiich it is appointed ; whilst it is magnetized 
 by the influence that is above it, and obeys the 
 secret power that points it ever upward to the 
 sphere in which it is taken up. 
 
 This subordination is, in each case, expressed 
 by a different word ; the wife SKhnits, the child 
 obeys. The selection is far from being acci- 
 dental. Both suggest a subjection of will; but, 
 along T^ath this, the pecuhar property by which 
 the two are discriminated. It may be worth 
 while to trace this distinction a little further 
 than we have heretofore done. In the conjugal 
 relation, there is absolute union between the 
 parties ; in the parental, there is simply con- 
 nexion. The woman, by the law of marriage, 
 is reintegrated into the man, from whose side 
 she was originally drawn. She never exists 
 afterward an independent person. By her 
 voluntary act she is merged, civilly and legally, 
 into the man. "With her office in the house- 
 hold perfectly defined, her status in the same 
 is determined by her relation to the husband. 
 All her privileges and rights flow to her from 
 this association with her head. There is de- 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 103 
 
 manded of her, therefore, a blending of the will, 
 which shall, so to speak, make the two organi- 
 cally one. There must be, on her part, a 
 cleaving to him, which shall, in some sort, 
 mingle together their distinct personahties. 
 What term shall express this peculiar coales- 
 cence of her will with his? The Scriptures 
 have chosen the word " submit^' to enunciate 
 its exact character — a blending of the will, not 
 in one or in a thousand of its separate deter- 
 minations, but in its innermost essence and 
 being. Her will unites with his, not in this 
 and that particular act, but, antecedently to all 
 acts, it blends, as naked will itself, with the 
 will which is its counterpart and fellow. The 
 word " submission " covers this shade of idea : 
 the union of nature, the mixture of being, the 
 blending of personality. 
 
 In the filial relation, however, the connection 
 with the parent is inconceivably close, but it is 
 not union. In the ideal conception of it the 
 child is separate from the parent, and the dis- 
 tance widens betwixt them, until, at maturity, 
 tbe child swiiigs off upon a path of entire inde- 
 
104 THE FAMILY. 
 
 j)endence. Whilst, therefore, the unity of the 
 household must be preserved by a due subor- 
 dination of will, it is not subordination mount- 
 ing into actual coalescence. This shade of 
 thought is marked in the word chosen by In- 
 spiration to express it. For "obedience" looks 
 to the acts of the will, rather than to its sub- 
 stance or essence. It recognizes the remote- 
 ness of the relation which the child sustains, ■* 
 and signalizes the separateness and indepen- 
 dence of its will, which can only be subordina- 
 ted to that of the parent in the way of external 
 homage. Obedience is not the will consciously 
 blending itself with* another will in organic 
 .union ; but it is will conscious of its separate- 
 ness, bringing its own acts, and laying them a 
 sacrifice upon the altar of duty. 
 
 This little essay proposes only to sketch the 
 outline of the family constitution, and par- 
 ticularly to denote the central principle of sub- 
 ordination, by which all its different relations 
 arQ adjusted. It would only obscure this design 
 to dwell minutely upon the various duties 
 which are involved. Filial obedience will, 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 105 
 
 therefore, be discussed only as to its nature, 
 and the ground upon which it rests. We shall 
 thus have a clearer view of the Family as the 
 sphere in which successive generations of men 
 are brought under subjestion to law, and are 
 thereby fitted to be useful and happy, both here 
 and hereafter. 
 
 1. Authority is here presented to the con- 
 science as grounded in absolute right. " Chil- 
 dren," says Paul, "obey your parents in the 
 Lord, /or this is right." A broad foundation 
 is thus laid, upon which 'a steady obedience may 
 rest ; for the appeal is made to the intelligence 
 and reason, as well as to*" the conscience and 
 heart of the child. At first, it may be instinc- 
 tive, or rendered from a sense of helplessness. 
 But as character is formed, the obedience draws 
 deeper, and lays other faculties under requisi- 
 tion. It must express the whole moral nature, 
 just so soon as its attributes come to be de- 
 ■ veloped, and in exact proportion to that de- 
 velopment. If the individual will is prone to 
 assert itself, then conscience and judgment fly 
 to the rescue, and plead for the authority as 
 
106 THE FAMILY. 
 
 essentially righteous. No right can be imag- 
 ined more perfect. It is not an acquired, but 
 a natural right. It is not founded upon pur- 
 chase or conquest, but u^Don natural relation- 
 ship. There is nothing about it accidental 
 or provisional. Its character is absolute. 
 " Hearken to thy father that begat thee," says 
 Solomon, " and she that bare thee shall re- 
 joice." The injunction penetrates to the very 
 fountains of our being. It lays the right su- 
 j^remely in this, that the parent is instrumen- 
 tally the child's creator. The Scriptures 
 abundantly recognize this representative rela- 
 tionship. The whole human race existed 
 potentially in the loins of Adam, and were dealt 
 with in him. All Israel were in the loins of 
 Abraham, and so became heirs of the promise ; 
 and the child is viewed in the loms of its 
 father before it sees the light. It is borne by 
 the mother within the walls of her flesh ; and 
 the earliest pulses of the infant heart beat 
 with the power of her life, which it so mysteri- 
 ously shares. Destined at length to an existence 
 which shall be apart from both, the connexion 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. lOT 
 
 is maiutaiiied through a period of dependence, 
 during which it still exists, civilly and legally, 
 in them. With this derivation from the parent 
 flows the parent's natural right to rule. 
 
 In all these orginal relations nature has 
 planted the instincts which are necessary to 
 maintain them. In the parent is found what 
 we may concisely term the providential instinct, 
 as strong in man as in the bird that flutters 
 over its brood. In the child exists the instinct 
 of dependence, which cleaves to the protection 
 and care indispensable to its preservation. 
 From the dawn of its reason the child is accus- 
 tomed to view its state of subordination as in 
 accordance with nature ; and its simple instincts 
 recognize the subjection as fitting and just. 
 The harshness of authority is thus completely 
 removed. The child can have no sense of 
 humiliation in the dependence which is natural 
 to it, and no feeling of degradation in the 
 obedience which this necessitates. All is 
 rendered easy by the instinct of nature in the 
 beginning, and afterward reason and conscience 
 confirm it as right. In truth, the child needs 
 
108 THE FAMILY. 
 
 this authority as a support to its own will when 
 learning how to exercise itself ; just as the young 
 eagles fear to trust their own wing at first, 
 and are borne up by the parent bird while 
 practising it upon the aii'. In tliis, as in every 
 thing else, the dependent child comes back to 
 the strength and protection whose support it 
 constantly requires ; whilst the sweet affections 
 which are engendered in the act of communi- 
 cating and receiving, make the dependence it- 
 self easy and agreeable. 
 
 But the parent's right is not only natural, 
 it is supernatural : it is a right immediately 
 conferred by God. This is implied in the 
 original grant of power to them, and in the 
 limitations which grace imposes in its exercise. 
 It is more distinctly recognized in the injunc- 
 tions laid upon the child : " Obey your parents 
 in the Lord f and again, " Obey your parents, 
 for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord!' The 
 religious element of our nature finds, perhaps, 
 its earhest action here. The child must obey 
 for conscience sake, or rise in rebellion 
 against the control which is supreme. Parental 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 109 
 
 authority being a shadow of the Divine, obedi- 
 ence to it becomes the first act of worship to 
 the Creator. This princii:>le, of course, cannot 
 be expected to operate until the moral nature 
 begins to develope. But as soon as the dis- 
 tinction betwixt right and wrong can be per- 
 ceived at all, it is recognized just here ; and 
 perhaps the very earliest discrimination of the 
 child between the two is made in the light of 
 the parent's commands. When the conscience 
 is so far educated as to recognize the Divine 
 sanction fully, the last vestige of shame is 
 taken awav fi'om the obedience rendered. It 
 can be no mortification to the creature to bow 
 before the will of the Infinite Creator, who ap- 
 points the parent as His receiver, to gather up 
 the obedience and the worship which are 
 supremely due to Him. 
 
 2. Parental authority is universal in its 
 sweep. " Obey your parents in all things," is 
 the command. The question, of course, arises 
 whether this is to be construed as strictly 
 literal? With human nature corrupt as it is, 
 may not these parental commands be some- 
 
110 THE FAMILY. 
 
 times immoral '? In that case, is not the child 
 shut up between two classes of obligation, both 
 of which appear equally imperative, since both 
 rest upon the same Divine authority ? A limi- 
 tation must exist somewhere; but it must be 
 sought in the law given to the parent, not in 
 the law given to the child. In the first place, 
 all parental authority is delegated; to which, 
 from the nature of the case, a corresponding re- 
 sponsibility attaches. If the parent rules as 
 the representative of God, he must rule accord- 
 ing to the will of God. It would be prepos- 
 terous to plead the Divine sanction in com- 
 manding what is in itself sinful. He clearly 
 transcends the bounds of his authority as soon 
 as he clashes with the superior authority which 
 is the source of his own. Even were there no 
 restraining clause defining the extent of his 
 prerogatives, still this qualification must be 
 supposed. Ruling under a law, his authority 
 is vacated whenever the attempt is made to 
 exalt it above that of the Being by whom it was 
 originally conferred. He has been guilty of an 
 act of treason against the supremacy of his 
 King and Lord. 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. Ill 
 
 In the next place, the office of the parent as 
 an educator makes him doubly guilty for such 
 an assault upon the moral nature of his ward. 
 He is placed at the fountain head of the child's 
 being, that he may shape its earliest affections 
 and thoughts. His empire over the will is 
 subsidiary to the higher end of developing and 
 training the whole moral nature of his offspring. 
 In the very grant of the jurisdiction, its object 
 is distinctly stated: that he may "bring them 
 up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 
 The moral law, which is the inflexible rule of 
 human conduct, must be the text of all parental 
 instructions. To issue commands which are 
 contradictory to this is, therefore, not only a 
 crime against God, but it is a crime against his 
 child. He bruises and maims that nature which 
 was put into his hands, when most supple and 
 plastic, to be moulded aright. He is guilty of 
 such malfeasance in office, as deprives him of 
 all constitutional power in the premises. 
 
 Still further, his authority, in this direction, 
 is bridled by the explicit language of the Law- 
 giver. It is found in the clauses upon which 
 
112 * THE FAMILY. 
 
 we have already commented. The father is en- 
 jomed " not to provoke. " What provocation can 
 be more cruel and unjust than to force one to 
 sin? He is commanded to "bring up his child 
 in the nurture of the Lord " The language to 
 him is the same as that addressed by the 
 daughter of Pharaoh to the. mother of Moses : 
 *'take this child, and nurse it for me." Not, 
 however, to repeat what we have already said, 
 here again is the restriction inserted in the 
 admonition to children: "Obey your parents 
 in the Lord'' " Obey your parents in all 
 things, for this is loell pleasing unto the Lord'' 
 Evidently, in accepting authority, the parent 
 is bound to look at the entire code in which the 
 reciprocal obligations are stated. In this par- 
 ticular connexion, the Divine will is presented 
 as a motive to filial obedience ; but it reflects 
 equally upon parental authority. If the child 
 must "obey in the Lord," the parent must 
 command in the Lord. If the child must obey 
 as "well pleasing to the Lord," the parent is 
 equally to please the Lord in his rule. The 
 two obligations are strictly correlative, and 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 113 
 
 both come under the same du-ection and sanc- 
 tion. In no case can the parent plead a divine 
 warrant for obedience in unlawful things. He 
 must rule, and the child must obey, under the 
 law which sets forth the supreme authority of 
 Him who is the Creator and Lord of them both.. 
 This sweeping phrase, "in all things," refers 
 simply to the extent of proper parental au- 
 thority, in regard to which the child is not 
 vested with discretion to judge. It would de- 
 feat the end of all law were the subjects under 
 it allowed to decide the question of jurisdiction. 
 The j)rotection against the abuse of power must 
 be found in the guards thrown around the 
 power itself, as we have seen in the charter 
 which vests the parent with all his preroga- 
 tives. If his will should, however, deliberately 
 set aside the law of God, which is supreme, 
 and if the child's conscience be sufficiently edu- 
 cated to perceive the issue that is joined, win*, 
 then, the case is analogous to what sometimes 
 happens with a people or nation, which is driven 
 by oppression to overturn the despotism ; fall- 
 ing back upon rights which antecedently exist by 
 
lltt THE FAMILY. 
 
 the gift of God, and which no human govern- 
 ment can lawfully contravene. In such a colH- 
 sion, the law of obedience to the child is to 
 obey only in the Lord; and the responsibility 
 remains with the parent who has perpetrated 
 the outrage. The resistance in this case seems 
 ^ to us to be grounded upon the same j)rinciple 
 with the right of revolution, which is recognized 
 by the law of nature and of nations as inalien- 
 able and indestructible. But in setting up a 
 constitutional government for the Family, the 
 broad principle of subordination must be laid 
 down, without weakening its force by consider 
 ing the excejDtional cases of abuse, which are 
 elsewhere provided against. In the exercise 
 of authority which is directly contrary to this 
 constitution, the appeal must be taken- to Him 
 who ordained it, that He may restrain or avenge 
 what is treasonable to Himself. 
 
 3. The obedience of childhood is strictly pro- 
 bationary. It is at first absolute in its charac- 
 ter, a mere bending of the will to that which is 
 superior to it. But with opening intelligence, 
 it becomes more and more voluntary, not so 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 115 
 
 mucli constrained by the pressure of its own 
 feebleness, as it is prompted by affection, and 
 regulated by conscience. With the greater 
 measure of self control which is gradually ac- 
 quired, the force of authority diminishes, until, 
 at mature years, it entirely ceases. The law of 
 obedience is, indeed, at no period of life, exactly 
 cancelled; but it takes the forni at length of 
 deferential and worshipful homage of the parent, . 
 who is increasingly venerable with age. All 
 these stages, thus briefly sketched, indicate the 
 purpose for which this obedience is enjoined. 
 The great achievement in life is to become the 
 complete masters of ourselves: "He that is 
 slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he 
 that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh 
 a city." No one is prepared to assume the 
 trusts of life until the will, which is the execu- 
 tive faculty, is brought under subjection to the 
 reason. Hence the unconditional submission 
 required at the period when the will has to be 
 broken in, and when the instinct of helplessness 
 claims the protection of authority. The two 
 are adjusted to each other with almost mecha- 
 
116 THE FAMILY. 
 
 nical precision. The language of parental dis- 
 cipline is, "take up that will, and hold it in 
 hand." The trial may, perhaps, be severe, as 
 the stubborn conflict with authority sometimes 
 evinces ; but as self-mastery is gained tlu'ough 
 the habit of subordination, the rein is thrown 
 more loosely upon the neck, until it ceases to 
 be drawn at all. Thus the Family is the school 
 in which men are trained for the duties of 
 citizenship ; for the strongest government would 
 be shattered in a day, were not the concurrent 
 wills of which it is composed taught how to 
 blend with mutual concessions. The limited 
 duration, and the probationary character of 
 fihal obedience, exemphfy the principles on 
 which it is based, and reveal the beneficent de- 
 sign of the whole dispensation. So far fi'om 
 degrading in its tendency, its whole aim is to 
 ennoble : to fit the young for the responsibilities 
 and duties which will devolve upon them in 
 after years. 
 
 The probation of childhood extends beyond 
 this, and its obedience enters as an element into 
 the formation of relisfious character. A con- 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 117 
 
 stant deference must be paid to the wisdom 
 which is higher than its own. There may be 
 questioning enough, but it is without disputa- 
 tion. The parent is the child's oracle, whoso 
 decisions are accepted as nearly infallible. Who 
 does not see the influence of this in shajmig 
 the religious character'? In this sphere, where 
 all rests upon testimony, and in which faith is 
 the fundamental law, a wisdom which is su- 
 preme must be accepted as the only guide. The 
 Family fulfils a high function when it disciplines 
 the young spirit, just as it opens its wondering 
 eyes upon all the mysteries of nature and of God, 
 to receive by simple faith what its own igno- 
 rance can neither anticipate nor deny. But 
 this thought will re appear in another connex- 
 ion, to which it more logically belongs. 
 
 4. God has lent a gracious sanction to filial 
 obedience in the promise appended to it. It is 
 not the province of law to hold out rewards, 
 except so far as these may be implied in the 
 threat which is its sanction. Law spealis rather 
 ^\4th the voice of authority. Its office is not to 
 persuade, but to enjoin. It exhorts no farther 
 
118 THE FAMILY. 
 
 tlian in the appeal wliicli it makes to the self- 
 interest of men. But here, in the centre of the 
 moral law, is a commandment with promise. 
 In the New Testament it is re- engrossed, and 
 stamped with the seal of grace : " that it may 
 be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on 
 the earth." As though to add ,a deejDer em- 
 phasis, this obedience is declared to be ^'well 
 pleasing unto the Lord." One is tempted to 
 speculate uj^on the reasons for this discrimina- 
 tion. But whatever these may be, it invests 
 the parent's office with equal solemnity and 
 sweetness ; with solemnity, because God takes 
 it so immediately under His guardianship; 
 with sweetness, because His smile beams with 
 such open ajjproval of the obedience which is 
 rendered. The homage to the jDarent, as His 
 representative in the household, is as the in- 
 cense of worship offered at His altar. It is 
 grateful to Him that the princij)le of obedience 
 should be early rooted in the soul ; which needs 
 but the transforming touch of the Holy Spirit, 
 in the new birth, to become the spring of 
 IDractical holiness in the believer. And because 
 
FILIAL OBEDIENCE. 119 
 
 He will be known as the God of our salvation. 
 He throws in this element of grace to soften 
 the discipline of childhood, and sanctifies to 
 spiritual uses the natural relations of the flesh. 
 
 The promise itself is abundantly fulfilled in 
 various directions. It may be discovered in 
 that happiness which flows into the child's 
 heart through the submission and service itself. 
 In the goodness of God, the child acquires the 
 great secret of hfe in its first lesson, that virtue 
 is bhss. A subdued will is the indispensable 
 condition of child -happiness. Its desires are 
 so capricious, and its moods are so changeable, 
 as to be sources of positive torture to it, unless 
 they are constantly controlled by a power that 
 is steadier than its own. In the home it learns 
 that hfe's pleasure is to be found in the faith- 
 ful performance of duty, and that self-conquest 
 is indispensable to happiness. 
 
 The sohd character, moreover, which is 
 formed under this discipline, almost insures 
 the success which is promised. The qualities 
 which are thus matiu'ed are precise^ those 
 drawn upon m the prosecution of every earthly 
 
120 THE FAMILY. 
 
 calling, and whicVi will wrest, even from hard 
 fortune itself, a final triumph over all obstacles. 
 Whilst, in addition, the language of the pro- 
 mise conveys an assurance of the ^Divine bless- 
 ing. Large observation will astonishingly 
 confirm the testimony, that a dutiful child 
 seldom fails to receive an earthly reward, in the 
 prosperity which a faithful Providence manages 
 to bestow : " that thy dsijs may be long upon 
 the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.'' 
 It is thus easy to see why "obedience" should 
 define the filial relation, and the authority of 
 the parent should lay the foundation of sub- 
 jection to law, m this world and in the next. 
 
 
N 
 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Authority of Masters. 
 
CHAPTEE YL 
 AUTHORITY OF MASTERS. 
 
 "Ilasters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal, 
 
 knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.''^ 
 
 COLOSSIANS iv. 1. 
 
 HE lowest relation in the domes- 
 tic state is that of master and 
 servant. The question is not 
 here as to the form of the ser- 
 vitude; for the instructions given 
 apply to all forms of it alike. We do 
 not care to perplex this discussion by 
 so much as touching the vexed question of 
 slavei-y ; which, fi'om the statement just made, 
 would only be a digression upon a side issue. 
 The reader would neither be interested nor 
 profited in such an excui'sion over a field tha.t 
 is both thorny and baiTen, and sown \\dth the 
 worst passions which fanaticism and bigotry 
 can engender. It is, however, plainly assumed 
 
 123 
 
124 THE FAMILY. 
 
 that, in some one of its many forms, servitude 
 is a permanent relation, in all the conditions of 
 human society. Whether the distinction would 
 have obtained if man had never fallen, it is, 
 perhaps, idle to enquire ; since there are no 
 data for speculation as to a state of things to 
 us now only imaginary. We have always sup- 
 posed it one of those infelicities in life,whi3h 
 could hardly find place in a society absolutely 
 perfect, and among beings who were entirely 
 sinless. We know that it is not the method of 
 grace to take evil out of the world, but to trans- 
 form it ; softening and sanctifying it into a 
 blessing, by making it a part of a general dis- 
 ciplmary scheme, whereby men are fitted for 
 higher destinies in another world. We know 
 that neither j)overty, nor pain, nor weakness, 
 nor disease, nor sorrow, is taken away by grace ; 
 though all are sanctified into a mighty and lov- 
 ing discipline for good. So servitude, evolving 
 itself from the curse of labour, is simply one of 
 those adjustments of Divine Providence by 
 which the poor find relief from the pressure of 
 their necessities; whilst the rich, by their ex- 
 
AUTHORITY OF MASTERS. 125 
 
 emption from the drudgery of life, have leisure 
 t9 push the world forward in refinement and 
 civilization. "What may have been originally 
 an evil, is thus transmuted into an ultimate 
 blessing. A due subordination is preserved 
 between classes, which would otherwise be 
 thrown into sharp antagonism ; and a whole- 
 some discipline is provided for training the 
 race for greater happiness beyond the grave. 
 Principles, therefore, must be laid down, by 
 which, through all time, servitude shall be re- 
 gulated. 
 
 It will be perceived, in the outset, not only 
 that this relation is the lowest in the domestic 
 economy, but that it rests upon a different 
 foundation from the others. The reciprocal 
 duties involved in it, are stated in terms which 
 imply that its basis is interest rather than af- 
 fection. We do not wish to be understood as 
 intimating that genuine love may not subsist 
 between master and servant. This would be 
 contrary to experience ; for even in slavery, the 
 most intense of all the forms of servitude, the 
 strongest attachments were often formed be- 
 
126 THE FAMILY. 
 
 tween the two. It would also be contradictory 
 to that general law of love which underlies all 
 the relations of society. The divine goodness 
 is conspicuously illustrated in this, that in the 
 interlacing of human interests there springs up 
 a mutual sj^mpathy w^hich binds society to- 
 gether, just as the principle of cohesion binds 
 the atoms of matter together in the mass. We 
 mean simply to say that, in the ideal concep- 
 tion of it, the relation has its ground in mutual 
 advantage, which holds the two together by the 
 bond of interest ; thus distinguishing it from 
 the conjugal and the fihal relations, which have 
 their origin in an instinctive affection. It is, 
 therefore, a lower relation in every sense ; not 
 only as being more remote, but as being in- 
 ferior in degree. 
 
 Perhaps this will explain why the instructions 
 which regulate it are given in a more amplified 
 form than in the other two cases. In them 
 much might be left to the operation of natui'al 
 love, the element in which they exist; whilst 
 the absence of this controlling sentiment makes 
 it necessary, in the servile relation, to appeal 
 
AUTHORITY OF MASTERS. 127 
 
 with greater emphasis to the principle of jus- 
 tice innate in the human heart. The fact itself 
 is, however, a little curious, that, in the higher 
 and more solemn relations of the family, a hint 
 and caution should be deemed sufficient; but 
 in this, where lower interests are inyolved, that 
 a full exposition of duties should be requu-ed, 
 and a more dii-ect reference to a future judg- 
 ment should be made the sanction by which 
 these are bound upon the conscience. "We 
 have already quoted at the head of this chap- 
 ter the' words of the Apostle, as found in the 
 Epistle to the Colossians. The injunction is 
 not less solemn in Ephesians vi. 9: "Ye mas- 
 ters, do the same things unto them, forbearing 
 threatening ; knowing that your Master also is 
 in heaven, neither is there respect of persons 
 with Him." The amplification is still greater 
 in the counsels addressed to the servant, as we 
 shall see in the next chapter. Evidently, there 
 is far more danger of the abuse of power where 
 the subject is so far removed from him who 
 wields it; and more danger of insurrection 
 against authority, where this is not enforced 
 
128 THE FAMILY. 
 
 by a natural and loving dependence. Law 
 must, therefore, throw its guards more care- 
 fully around both, as in each of the Epistles to 
 which reference has been made above. 
 
 In both we have a complete ethical code, in 
 which the Family is represented as an empire 
 under law. The husband rules, the wife sub- 
 mits ; the father commands, the child obeys ; 
 the master reigns, the servant ministers. The 
 authority is supreme throughout, and yet is 
 guarded against abuse : in the husband, against 
 bitterness ; in the father, against harshness ; 
 in the master, against unfairness. The wife is 
 dissuaded from rebellion; the child, from dis- 
 obedience ; the servant, from eye-service. But 
 law prevails throughout, asserting supremacy 
 and enforcing subordination. It is with this 
 fundamental conception of the Family before 
 us, that we must consider all the relations de- 
 fined, and all the duties enjoined. 
 
 In this thu-d couplet we begin naturally with 
 those of the master. Here, again, all duty is 
 resolved into a single principle, expressed 
 in a word happily chosen: "Give that which 
 
AUTHOKITY OF MASTERS. 129 
 
 is just and equal.'' The principle, then, is 
 that of simple justice, and of justice as it is 
 tempered with equity. This, we think, exactly 
 renders the meaning of the injunction. The 
 nse of the word "equal," in this connexion, 
 cannot imply an equality of rank between the 
 parties; for this w^ould annihilate the relation 
 which it is proposed to regulate. It imports 
 rather the rendermg to the servant what is righl; 
 and proper in the circumstances of his station. 
 It is w^hat Calvin happily denominates the jus 
 analogmn : " the analogical or distributive 
 right ; that is to say, which is regulated and 
 proportioned according to the circumstances, 
 station, or calling of individuals." It is what 
 Eadie accurately expresses, when he says : 
 " Right and duty should be of equal measure- 
 ment ; the elements of service have a claim on 
 equal elements of mastership." In the recip- 
 rocal relationshij), reciprocal rights are involved. 
 The master, w^hilst asserting his own, must re- 
 sj)ect those of the servant ; and in the spirit of 
 equity he must give to him all to which he in 
 his position is entitled. Thus the royal law is 
 
130 THE FAMILY. 
 
 fulfilled, of doing unto others what we would 
 desire others should do unto us. 
 
 Three important checks are imposed upon 
 the supremacy of the master: we wiirnot say 
 in the Christian idea of it ; for though enforced 
 by religion, they both lie fundamentally in the 
 relation itself ; and guilt is contracted whencYer 
 they are violated. 
 
 I. The first is, that the Master is eequikei> 
 TO decide, with judicial impaetialty, the Ex- 
 tent OF his own Obligations in the premises. 
 He is, in every instance, to give that which is 
 " just and equal ;" but what this precisely is, the 
 law does not undertake to determine. Indeed, 
 in the shifting conditions of human society, this 
 would be simply impossible. ^Vhat would be 
 "just and equal" in one set of circumstances, 
 would be unjust and partial in another. If 
 this were to be settled by one sweeping act of 
 legislation, it would operate harshness and 
 wrong in the great majority of cases. It must 
 be remembered, too, that under a disiDcnsation 
 of grace, such as ours, the government cannot 
 be one of naked and hard law. Such an ar- 
 
AUTHOKITY OF MASTERS. 131 
 
 raiigeinent would not be suited for the develoxD- 
 ment of dharacter, and the gradual elevation of 
 its tone. General principles must be laid down 
 for human guidance in all the relations of life ; 
 and the moral training largely consists in the 
 application of these to special cases as they 
 arise. If, then, as we have steadily maintained, 
 the Family is an institute designed to educate 
 all the members of wliich it is composed, we 
 may expect just such a general code as that we 
 find : not, split into minute statutes, but con- 
 sisting of broad principles, in the right appli- 
 cation of which constant wisdom and prudence 
 will be requii'ed. Thus, the whole matter we 
 are now considering is carried at once into the 
 court of conscience. From this high tribunal 
 the master himself, clothed with all the respon- 
 sibility of a judge, pronounces upon the claim 
 that is brought before him ; and though a party 
 to the case, it is no slight restraint that he is 
 put upon his mtegrity to render a decision 
 which is fair. 
 
 The feature last named may be plausibly 
 lU'ged as an objection. It may be asked, 
 
132 THE FAMILY. 
 
 when was i'j ever safe to allow the executive to 
 determine the extent of his own prerogative? 
 Has not the lust of dominion always proved 
 too strong for any restraints, except those of 
 positive law "? If this discretion be vested in 
 the ruler, will not power steadily encroach 
 upon the rights and liberties of the subject? 
 Admitting the force of all these interrogatories, 
 it may be asked where, then, in the domestic 
 state, shall this discretion be vested? There 
 are but two parties, the master and the servant. 
 If the decision be not committed to the former, 
 it must be entrusted to the latter. But this 
 would introduce anarchy into the bosom of the 
 law, which is ordained to prevent it. The ser- 
 vant is as much under the bias of selfishness as 
 the master ; with even stronger temptations to 
 abuse his privilege, from indolence, ignorance, 
 and caprice. It will appear, too, a little later, 
 that, in such a case, the master would have less 
 protection against the encroachment of the 
 servant, than the servant has against the exac- 
 tion of the master. All history proves that the 
 worst state of society is that in which the ser- 
 
AUTHORITY OF MASTERS. 133 
 
 vile order has the power of determining its 
 conditions. The spirit of anarchy and insub- 
 ordination Avorks a wider and a deeper mischief 
 than the abuse of power. This comes to a head 
 at last, and breaks down under its own im- 
 j)eriousness, in the unequal conflict between 
 the few and the manj^ ; but that upheaves the 
 foundation of government and law, from which 
 there is no escape but by a reaction into un- 
 limited despotism. 
 
 In this connexion, let the fundamental con- 
 ception of the family be recalled, as the pri- 
 mary state instituted for the purpose of es- 
 tablishing order. It is the first government 
 under which will is placed, that it may be 
 broken in and taught obedience. This benefi- 
 cent design is frustrated, if the paramount idea 
 be not that of subordination to authority. 
 Hence the headship is fixed in the husband 
 over the wife, in the father over the child, and 
 by necessary consequence in the master over the 
 servant. In no other way can the supremacy 
 be preserved; which, once broken down, the 
 Family is destroyed ; and with it vanishes the 
 
lo4r THE FAMILY. 
 
 last liope of order, government, and law in 
 society at large. In conformity Ts-itli the ori- 
 ginal design of the Family, it must be the func- 
 tion of the master to determine the measure of 
 his own obligations. This is done under a 
 written constitution, defining the nature of his 
 jurisdiction, and placing him under the pres- 
 sure of a judicial responsibility to do always 
 that which is "just and equal." This erection 
 of conscience into a court, under whose sanc- 
 tion the decision is in every instance rendered, 
 is a valuable restraint against the abuse of 
 power. Other guards remain to be indicated. 
 But whether they prove effectual or not, there 
 is no alternative but to place the responsibility 
 where it is, and to siuTound it with such precaii 
 tions as the natui*e of the relation will admit. 
 
 II. The second check is, that this Authority 
 IS not Wholly Ireesponsible, but must be ex- 
 ercised in view of a Future Reckoning. The 
 Apostle enforces his admonition with the words, 
 "Knowing that ye also have a Master in hea- 
 ven ;" to which he adds, in another place, 
 " Neither is there respect of persons with Him." 
 
AUTHOKITY OF MASTERS. 135 
 
 Not only is the master put upon his conscience 
 to do all that is fair, but this conscience is 
 stimulated by the consideration that he and his 
 dependants are equally under the law of a 
 superior; and that, in the sight of the great 
 Creator and Ruler, all these artificial distinc- 
 tions disappear. However His providence may 
 allot the different spheres in which His crea- 
 tures move, He has annexed specific obhga- 
 tions to every relation in which they stand to 
 each other ; and will institute a strict inquiry, 
 at last, as to the fidelity with wliich they have 
 severally been fulfilled. In the vast remove at 
 which they are placed from Him, they are all 
 viewed as upon one common plane, between 
 whom no unjust discrimination will ever be 
 made. Thus does the Bible, in its ethical code, 
 supply the principles by which these different 
 ranks are to be controlled. So far as they are 
 applied, they arrest that fearful conflict which, 
 as civilization advances, waxes more fierce be- 
 tween the antagonist elements in human society. 
 A curb is put upon that intense selfishness 
 w-'hicli would take advantage of the necessities 
 
136 THE FAMILY. 
 
 of the poor, to "oppress tlie hireling in his 
 Avages." It strikes at the root of that wild 
 agrarianism which would level all distinctions, 
 by subordinating the parts to each other, and 
 binding them together in true community of 
 interest. The social evils w^hich, in our day, 
 threaten the existence of all order and law, 
 would find an easy solution in this principle of 
 mutual justice under the administration of 
 equity, temperuig the hardness of the one with 
 the gentleness of the other. 
 
 III. The third check may not be so solemn 
 as the preceding, yet practically as operative : 
 it is THE Interest which the two Parties have, 
 
 EACH IN THE PROSPERITY OF THE OTHER. Tllis in- 
 fluence is more immediate and more obvious 
 than the other two, and does not require the 
 same degree of culture to be felt. The jDoor 
 need employment for their maintenance, and 
 the rich require service for their comfort. 
 Neither can dispense with the other, and both 
 are honourable in their place. An important 
 qualilication is thus put upon the absoluteness 
 of the master's control. His interest suffers 
 
AUTHORITY OF MASTERS. 137 
 
 as soon as he becomes unjust. Even invol- 
 untary servitude lias this remarkable compensa- 
 tion for the loss of personal freedom. The 
 slave is the owner's money. Every considera- 
 tion of interest binds the master to promote 
 his well being. Food, shelter, clothing, care in 
 sickness, the protection of his children, all the 
 essential wants of the labourer are brought 
 under the operation of this motive, which is the 
 most controlling in human life. Considering 
 that the vast majority of the race spend their 
 days in a scramble for bare subsistence, these 
 compensations are far from being inconsider- 
 able. That the slave may live as long as pos- 
 sible, that he may be preserved in health and 
 vigour, nay, that he should be contented and 
 happy in his lot ; all this is necessary that the 
 owner may have a return from the investment he 
 has made. In this case, the labour is capital ; 
 and is protected with all the anxiety with which 
 the latter is husbanded. Of course, there will 
 be instances in which passion proves stronger 
 than interest, and power will be abused, as in 
 every other relation between man and man. 
 
138 THE FAMILY. 
 
 Still, for the constancy and force with which it 
 operates, no motive can be substituted for that 
 of interest in regulating the ordinary affairs of 
 society. 
 
 In the servitude which is voluntary this 
 powerful protection, though more uncertain, is 
 not entirely withdrawn: Wisdom will always 
 teach that one is best served from affection, 
 •which must not be estranged by unfau* treat- 
 ment. Should this, however, be experienced, 
 the servant may easily remove himself, and at- 
 tach to another master. The oppression is not 
 like that sometimes endured in the state, from 
 whose jurisdiction the citizen may not be able 
 to escape. The hardship is less than that of 
 the child who suffers under the hand of a harsh 
 and tyrannical parent. As the community is 
 composed of many families, each independent 
 of every other, the aggrieved servant has but 
 to transfer his connexion w^iere his rights will 
 be more fully respected. It was in this par- 
 ticular that we represented the servant as being 
 more fully protected than the master. Both 
 have this resouiTe ; the master may dismiss the 
 
AUTHORITY OF MASTERS. 139 
 
 servant, and the latter may discontinue the 
 service, each at his own pleasure. The only 
 real danger arises from combinations on either 
 side against the other } and the temptation to 
 this is far stronger with the employee than with 
 the emploj^er. As to the latter, the iniquity is 
 so palpable of conspiring to deprive any of their 
 just rights, that combinations are formed with 
 difficult}'', and are incapable of continuance. 
 Whereas, th^re is a feeling of honour in the 
 efforts of the class that is lower to struggle 
 upward towards equality with the higher. The 
 moral sense is not shocked with any scheme 
 which promises to extend its privileges ; whilst 
 every successful encroachment only prej)ares 
 the way for another, until all distinctions shall 
 gradually disappear. For this reason, it is 
 necessary to put the interpretation and deci- 
 sion of these reciprocal obligations, just where 
 the Bible does, in the hands of the governing 
 power. Even though individual instances of 
 wrong should occur, the evil to society is less 
 than to have the foundations of all order and 
 
1-10 ' THE FAMILY. 
 
 rule broken up by tlie spirit of faction and dis- 
 obedience. 
 
 This injunction to the master has its appli- 
 cations in several directipns. To do that which 
 is "just and equal" involves — 
 
 1. Aoi adequate provision for the servant's 
 rnaintenance. Tliis holds as to servitude in 
 any of its forms, both voluntary and involun- 
 tary; under a system of ap^Drenticeshij) and 
 contract, as well as in slavery. The original 
 cui'se, pronounced upon the first transgression, 
 Avraps up a promise in the bosom of the de- 
 nunciation, " in the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
 eat thy bread," The language certainly im- 
 plies that, if man be doomed to labour, he shall 
 at least live by that labour. "With the multi- 
 plication of the arts by w^hich labour is cheap- 
 ened, nay, by which iron arms and hands are 
 made the substitute for human muscle and 
 strength, wealth is more and more accumulat- 
 ing in the hands of the few, and the distance is 
 widening betwixt capital and labour. The 
 great peril of our modern civilization lies in 
 this direction ; and the spectre which is haunting- 
 
AUTHORITY OF MASTERS. 141 
 
 the mind of the statesman, is the gradual and 
 steady approach to that crisis when labour 
 shaU be utterly unable to procure a bare sub- 
 sistence. Notliing will stand when the point 
 of starvation is reached by the masses in society. 
 The only remedy is found in this law of equity 
 which the Bible lays upon the conscience of 
 the master. The servant is entitled to mainten- 
 ance, and wages cannot be reduced below the 
 point of a decent support. If this fundamen- 
 tal law be disobeyed, the retribution may be 
 slow, but it will be only the more terrible in its 
 fury when it breaks upon society at the last. 
 
 2. 7'he master s authority must be consider- 
 ately exercised^ to remove^ as far as j^ossible^ 
 all irritation from the servitude. " Forbearing 
 threatening," says the Apostle. It is a special 
 caution thrown into the body of the law, 
 securing to the servant that regard to his sen- 
 sibilities and feelings due to him as a feUow- 
 being. Measured and merited reproof does 
 not fall within the prohibition : for this is 
 among the things that are "just and equal," 
 and is one of the penalties by which authority 
 
142 THE FAMILY. 
 
 is vindicated. But it should be impartial and 
 judicial in its tone ; never tlie offspring of petu- 
 lance and spleen, and still less the capricious 
 and tyrannical exhibition of the lust of power. 
 Blessed be the law, and the interpretation 
 thereof, which cuts out the tongues of all the 
 scolds upon the face of the earth ! 
 
 3. The obligatio7i is imposed of supplying 
 to the servant those religions p>rivileges xchich 
 will meet the necessities of his spiritual nature. 
 The servant, like the master, is immortal, and 
 both are hastening to eternity. The right to 
 serve and to enjoy God is the highest of human 
 rights, as it is the highest of human duties. 
 No social arrangements can dispense with 
 either. And by just so much as men are cut 
 off by their position fi*om promotion in this 
 world, does the Holy Spirit often draw up the 
 thoughts to the crowns and to the thrones in 
 heaven. By just so much as the servant is 
 brought under the influence, and is dependant 
 upon the care, of the master, is the responsi- 
 bility increased to promote his spiritual well 
 being. Pre-eminent above the wants of the 
 
AUTHORITY OF MASTERS. 143 
 
 body are the interests of the soul It is but 
 " just and equal " that the servant shall enjoy 
 his Sabbaths, and all the privileges of the sanc- 
 tuary, that he may at length lay down the yoke 
 of service among the palm-bearers before the 
 throne. 
 
 We cannot close this exposition without in- 
 dicating the extent to which the above princi- 
 ples reach. True, it is only the ap^Dlication of 
 the royal law to one of the domestic relations. 
 But there are many kinds of masters and of 
 servants; there is the mechanic and his ap 
 prentice, the farmer and his day-labourer, the 
 merchant and his clerk, the property holder 
 and his steward ; in short, every relation in 
 which service is rendered by contract, all are 
 brought under the operation of this injunction 
 to do that which is " just and equal." The 
 employee comes under the same obligation as 
 the master, in all cases where, as a master, he 
 claims the right to command and to control 
 the service which is performed. He is bound 
 to estimate at a fau^ valuation these services, 
 and to reward them accordingly. He who takes 
 
1 ii THE FAMILY. 
 
 advantage of the necessities of the artisan, and 
 fails to remunerate according to the vahie of 
 the work done, and pinches the labour down to 
 the starvation point, is an offender against this 
 law. The merchant who withholds a living 
 compensation from the clerks in his employ- 
 ment, is an offender against this law. All are 
 entitled to live by their labour; and it is the most 
 cruel and guilty species of cannibalism, when 
 one man fattens upon the flesh and blood and 
 sweat and toil of starving labour. What a 
 quiet but solid check does the Divine law place 
 upon the exactions of wealth ! And how soon 
 is the friction between capital and labour eased, 
 as soon as equity takes the place of expediency, 
 and conscience interprets the commercial law 
 of supply and demand ! 
 
 
-^^ 
 
 — ^- 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Subjection of Servants. 
 
 ,<5'fwB , 
 
CHxiPTER YII. 
 SUBJECTION OF SERVANTS. 
 
 *^ Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the 
 fiesh." — OOLOSSIAXS iii. 22. 
 
 HE relation of master and ser- 
 vant, as we have seen in the 
 preceding chapter, rests upon 
 the sohd basis of reciprocal in- 
 terest. After the curse had fallen 
 uj)on guilty man, by which he is com- 
 pelled to '^'restle for his subsistence, 
 servitude comes in as a providential method of 
 bringing the rich and the poor together in 
 mutual advantage. It is a merciful arrange- 
 ment by which the superfluity of the one passes 
 over to meet the necessity of the other, and 
 a hidden harmony is evoked from the very dis- 
 cord of society. Classes, which would other- 
 wise be arrayed against each other in fierce 
 
 147 
 
148 THE FAMILY. 
 
 antagonism, are thus brought together in the 
 reconcihation of interest. The unity of the 
 social fabric is restored, in the community es- 
 tabhshed between its parts. Of course, the 
 adjustment must be effected first of all in the 
 Family, as being the first society that exists ; 
 from which it diffuses itself, by an easy and 
 natural transition, into all the relations of the 
 wider society into which the Family itself ex- 
 pands. So long as this remains a sinful world, 
 where man is under discipline for a holier and 
 happier life hereafter, just so long mjist servi- 
 tude, in some one of its diversified forms, con- 
 tinue to be a permanent relation; and in the 
 Family, where human authority is first enforced, 
 must the conditions of servitude first be re- 
 gulated. The great principles upon which it 
 rests being fully recognized there, will be car- 
 ried over, by a necessary appHcation, to every 
 conceivable relation in which man renders ser- 
 vice to his fellow-man upon the earth. 
 
 We beg the reader not to be offended with 
 the reiteration of this sentiment; since it is 
 precisely here we are to find the solution of 
 
SUBJECTION OF SERVANTS. 149 
 
 tliose vexations problems whicli continually 
 threaten the existence of social order. Plainly, 
 society cannot hold together unless the oppos- 
 ing interests of men can be reconciled in some 
 good degree. In the general law of servitude 
 that obtains in the domestic economy, God has 
 established the only principles by which these 
 jarring interests of society, in all its ramifica- 
 tions, can be adjusted. There are reciprocal 
 rights in this relation, which need to be de- 
 fined; and mutual obligations, which require 
 to be enforced; and when these are clearly 
 perceived, nothing remains but the extension 
 of the comprehensive principle, wherever it will 
 apply in life. 
 
 For this purpose, the instructions are given 
 here in an amplified form. We have already 
 sho"svQ the necessity for this. In the absence 
 of those instinctive affections, which in the other 
 relations of the Family interpose a powerful 
 check against tyranny and wrong, the law 
 must more fully and explicitly set forth the 
 principle of justice upon which this relation 
 particula^rly rests. Hence, in the Epistle to the 
 
150 THE FAMILY. 
 
 Colossians, the servant is tauglit the nature of 
 his duties in these large terms : " Servants, obey- 
 in all things your masters according to the 
 flesh ; not with eye-service 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 resj^ect of jjer- 
 sons." Chap. iii. 22-25. These mj unctions are 
 repeated in almost identical terms in Ephesians 
 vi. 5-8: "Servants, be obedient to them that 
 are your masters according to the flesh, with 
 fear and trembling, m singleness of your heart, 
 as unto Christ; not with eye-service as men- 
 pleasers ; but as the servants of Christ, doing 
 the will of God from the heart ; with good will 
 doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men ; 
 knowing that whatsoever good thing any man 
 doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, 
 whether he be bond or fi-ee." At the risk of a 
 little repetition, we have engrossed both these 
 
SUBJECTION OF SEllYANTS. L51 
 
 passages ; because there are clauses in one not 
 found in the other, and they are mutually ex- 
 planatory. AVe are able to deduce from them 
 the precise attitude in which the two parties 
 stand to each oth^r, the nature of their recip- 
 rocal obligations, the spirit in which they are 
 to be fulfilled, the protection against the abuse 
 of power, and the elements which ennoble ser- 
 vice. 
 
 I. First of all, there is the Assertion of Par- 
 amount Authority in the one, which peremp- 
 torily CHALLENGES ObEDIENCE FROM THE OTHER. 
 
 It is noticeable, too, that the duty of the ser- 
 vant is expressed in the same terms with that 
 of the child .; and in both the command is ap- 
 parently absolute : ^^ohey in all things^ There 
 are checks, indeed, which restrain this absolu- 
 tism ; and it is important to emphasize this, as 
 well as the place where these checks are im- 
 posed. We had occasion to indicate this, when 
 treating of the fihal relation. It challenges the 
 the closer attention here, from the stronger 
 terms in which subjection is made the condition 
 of the servant. Whatever protection may be 
 
152 THE FAMILY. 
 
 afforded against the abuse of authority, is not 
 to be found in the law as expounded to him, 
 except that there is an obhque reference to it, 
 thrown in, as it were, to reassure his confidence. 
 In the statement of a broad princij^le, the effect 
 would be weakened by interposing the excep- 
 tional cases which may arise in its unrighteous 
 application, and which are to be provided for 
 elsewhere. This is simply the enforcement of 
 a general duty upon the conscience alike of 
 servant and child ; and as this duty springs out 
 of the relation itself, neither of the ttvo is per- 
 mitted to sit in judgment upon its propriety. 
 Both being alike dependent, and equally under 
 jurisdiction, the duty is theirs of unquestioning 
 obedience. To the master and the father be- 
 longs the prerogative of command ; which it is 
 not simply his privilege, but his duty, to en- 
 force, under the sanction of the authority with 
 which he is mvested. Just here are found the 
 guards which are needed against the abuse of 
 power : not in the instructions which regulate 
 the duties of the subordinate, but in the re- 
 straints which are laid upon the authority that 
 
SUBJECTION OF SERVANTS. 153 
 
 is delegated. In the case of the father, su- 
 preme control is limited by the caution, " pro- 
 voke not your children to wrath ;" in the case 
 of the master, by the injunction, "give unto 
 your servants that which is just and equal." 
 The law which delegates the power limits its 
 exercise. To the father, for example, power is 
 entiTisted to enforce obedience ; but with the 
 implied reservation that there shall be no in- 
 vasion of those just rights which in the filial 
 relation pertain to the child. So the master 
 has authority to command the servant, but only 
 in the sphere of justice and equity ; he must 
 not fail, in the exercise of his magistracy, to do 
 that which is "just and equal." These injunc- 
 tions correspond exactly, and explain each 
 other. The meaning of the law is simply this : 
 within the sphere of these relations respectively 
 obedience is to be exacted, and is to be ren- 
 dered upon the ground of right ; and for the de- 
 termination of this, the party to whom the 
 administration of the law is committed is in- 
 vested with judicial powers, and is bound under 
 judicial sanctions to decide. If he be guilty 
 
154 THE FAMILY. 
 
 of malfeasance in office ; if he transcends, as 
 magistrate, that law which he, as judge, ex- 
 pounds ; then the case is taken up by natural 
 and necessary appeal to the supreme authority, 
 which shall revoke the decision unlawfully and 
 unconstitutionally rendered. Under these ad- 
 mitted Hmitations, which spring out of the re- 
 lation equally with the power which they qual- 
 ify, the law of servitude is simple submission 
 of the will to the authority which is constituted 
 over it. Thus, in the Family, which is the 
 germ of all society, God erects a sohd bul- 
 wark against the anarchy and misrule which, 
 in the convulsions of human governments, so 
 often sweep over the world. 
 
 II. In the second place, there are Allevia- 
 tions SUGGESTED WHICH ABATE THE HaRDNESS OF 
 
 Service. The eye moistens at this gracious 
 tenderness, which drops a balm into the lowest 
 and the coldest of human relationships. Doubt- 
 less it is felt an infelicity to serve. It is much 
 sweeter, at least we are apt to think so, it is 
 much more to our natural taste, to command 
 them to obey. If we could see and know all, 
 
SUBJECTION OF SERVANTS. 155 
 
 from the beginning to the end, perhaps we 
 would often reverse this judgment. But as it 
 is, those who are at the bottom of the social 
 scale are often tempted to look up with envy of 
 those who seem to sit on softer cushions above 
 them. Therefore, He whose name is Love 
 lines the yoke of servitude with a blessing that 
 is its own, that the sj)mt may not be bruised. 
 This thought branches into several particulars. 
 1. There is a svdit reference to the tempo- 
 rary duration of the servitude, in the words, 
 "Your masters according' to the flesh." Oh! 
 the wonderful double-sidedness of Scripture 
 language! Here is a phrase which seems 
 merely to describe the master as being of the 
 human race. Yet it is cast in such a form as 
 sweetly to suggest that the subordination is 
 limited to this earthly state ; whilst above, 
 there will be found a better society, in which 
 these artificial distinctions forever disappear. 
 All the allusions which are made to the great 
 hereafter, in the several clauses of the Scriptui'e 
 passages we have cited, cut a vista through 
 the thickets of worldly care and toil, present 
 
150 THE FAMILY. 
 
 iiig in the long persi^ective the rest to be en - 
 joyed at the end. If there be bitterness in the 
 service, it is more easily borne in the constant 
 anticipation of a brighter destiny soon to be 
 achieved. Under this support, the character is 
 preserved from abrasion under the mortifica- 
 tions which are seen to be brief. 
 
 2. A promise of reward is held out iti terms 
 v^hich are eminently sicggestlve. In Colossians 
 it is definitely addressed to Christian hoj^e: 
 " Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the 
 reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord 
 Christ." Even though servants, yet are they 
 the Lord's freemen. Equally with their mas- 
 ters adopted into the family of God, with whom 
 "there is no respect of persons," they are 
 equally entitled to the "inheritance among them 
 which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ 
 Jesus." AVith what serenity does the gospel 
 teach men to disregard the differences of earthly 
 fortune, in view of those splendid prizes which 
 grace wiU distribute to all alike who have faith- 
 fully served God in their lot ! " Let every man 
 abide in the same calling wherein he was called. 
 
SUBJECTION OF SERVANTS. 157 
 
 Art tliou called, being a servant? care not for 
 it; but if thou mayest be made fi'ee, use it 
 rather. For he that is called in the Lord, 
 being a servant, is the Lord's freeman; like- 
 wise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's 
 servant," (1 Cor. vii. 20-22.) Both are alike 
 free in Christ, who breaks for both the yoke 
 of sin and death; both are alike servants of 
 Christ, to keep His commandments ; and to 
 both the same prospect of eternal glory is held 
 out as the reward of their fidelit3^ Just in so 
 far, then, as a Christian faith lays hold upon the 
 promises of the gospel, the servant finds in 
 these the balm of every sorrow. 
 
 In Ephesians, this promise of reward is con- 
 veyed in language somewhat more general: 
 "Kno^ving that whatsoever good thing any 
 man doeth, the same shall he receive of the 
 Lord, whether he be bond or fi'ee." In the 
 exercise of distributive justice, or in the dis- 
 pensation of gracious favour, God will be found 
 no respecter of persons. It is not improbable 
 that in the future world large compensation 
 will be provided for the tiials of those whom 
 
158 THE FAMILY. 
 
 God in His sovereignty calls here on earth 
 to glorify Him through patience and sorrow. 
 Their lot here was made severe, in order "that 
 the works of God should be made manifest in 
 them." Will He then forget "their labour of 
 love and patience of hope," when in the midst 
 of the fires they have borne a constant testi- 
 mony to His name? Will there be no propor- 
 tion between the humiliation here and the ex- 
 altation there ? It may be that, in the day of 
 reckoning and adjustment, there will be a sur- 
 prising reversal of positions, when the Master of 
 the feast shall say to one and another of earth's 
 lowly children, " Friend, come up higher," 
 whilst many of the honourable and counsellors 
 shall "begin with shame to take the lowest 
 room." There may be an emphasis which we 
 have never conceived in the words of the 
 ancient prophet, when they come to be repeated 
 on that day: "Thus saith the Lord God, re- 
 move the diadem and take off the crown ; this 
 shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, 
 and abase him that is high." (Ezekiel xxi. 26.) 
 III. The Self-respect of the Servant is 
 
subjection of servants. iso' 
 
 Cautiously protected, even in the Absolute 
 Obedience enjoined. 
 
 Without this, a shadow of immorality might' 
 seem to rest upon a relation into which an ab- 
 ject submission enters as an element. We shall 
 find, however, a perfect defence against depre- 
 ciation thrown about the character even of the 
 slave. For example : 
 
 1. The allotment^ however unequal^ is re- 
 presented as being from God. This appears 
 from the exhortation, "Do it heartily as unto 
 the Lord, and not unto man ;" " as the servants 
 of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." 
 The whole relation is lifted upon a higher 
 plane ; and its duties and trials are contem- 
 plated from the point of view from which God 
 regards them. It matters little, upon this vast 
 projection, whether one is appointed to be a 
 king, or the subject beneath his sway ; whether 
 one is chosen to be the master, or the slave who 
 moves nimbly at his beck. All are alike sub- 
 jects before the Great King, each but a servant 
 to do His will. There the obedience tends at 
 last, and to Him the submission is due. In 
 
160 THE FAMILY. 
 
 €very sphere, the high as well as the low, ser- 
 vice is rendered, and the reward is measured to 
 lidehty. The difference between master and 
 servant is only one of degree. The most 
 menial service is ennobled, when viewed only 
 as an office in which the homage of perfect 
 submission may be paid to the power that is 
 supreme. 
 
 2. Servitude loses every trace of abjectness, 
 when it is taken up with an honest acceptance 
 of the will; "Not with eye-service as men- 
 pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing 
 God." This is the ennobling element, spring- 
 ing fi'om the bosom of what we have stated 
 above, which takes all baseness away from sub- 
 mission. We have seen already how it operates 
 in the relations of the wife and the child. In 
 the strength of conjugal and of filial affection, 
 love finds its highest expression in the blending 
 of two separate wills. The parties feel no dis- 
 honour in subjection, because it is their choice. 
 The p'ain and the shame would be in the separa- 
 tion of what is united by their own preference. 
 The result is the same in the relation of ser- 
 
SUBJECTION OF SERVANTS. 161 
 
 vitnde, when its ideal conception is fully re- 
 alized. Though not under the constraining 
 influence of an instinctiye affection, like the 
 others, still the servant accepts his lot as ap- 
 pointed to him of God, and in the free exercise 
 of his own will renders the obedience which 
 is due. The compulsory feature, which makes 
 it a hardship, is withdrawn. The service is 
 consecrated by the operation of his own choice. 
 We do not think this an over-refinement of 
 speculative thought. In many things our will 
 fi'eely accepts what that will would not origi- 
 nally have ordained. The heart, for example, 
 recoils with terror from anticipated bereave- 
 ment. Yet, when it falls upon us from the 
 hand of God, it is sustained without a mur- 
 mur. It becomes tolerable, as soon as the 
 will submits to it as an accomplished fact. It 
 is a marvellous provision for ameliorating the 
 condition of servitude, that, under the influence 
 of the grandest motives, it can thus be taken 
 up into the domain of the will, and can be dig- 
 nified by the consent with which it is accepted 
 before God. The wheels revolve upon this 
 
162 THE FAillLY. 
 
 plaue not only without jar, but almost without 
 the fiiction of resistance. 
 
 3. AVhere true piety exists, a more ennobhng 
 influence is imparted in the fact, that fidelity 
 to man is transmuted into worship before 
 God. This higher consecration of the soul to 
 God runs, like a scarlet thread, through the 
 whole web of servile duty. Look at the sche- 
 dule as laid down by the Apostle : "In single- 
 ness of heart, as unto Chiist;" "for jq serve 
 the Lord Christ;" "as the servants of Christ, 
 doing the will of God from the heart ;" " doing 
 service as to the Lord, and not to man;" "in 
 singleness of heart, fearing God." The simple 
 but sublime thought is turned over and over, 
 in as many forms as may be combined in the 
 kaleidoscope. It is the great truth which 
 sanctifies all human life. Broken up as life is- 
 into myriads of little, insignificant acts, it is 
 hard sometimes to redeem it from contempt. 
 It becomes, however, a holy thing, when we 
 realize that, with the heart unreservedly given 
 to God, even the most trivial duty becomes 
 an act of worship. Man's first relation to God 
 
SUBJE(JTION OF SEIiVANTS. 163 
 
 was thi'ongh the law, and he worshipped through 
 obedience. Grace sanctifies the principle anew ; 
 and with the acceptance of our persons in Christ 
 
 ■ Jesus, there is the gracious acceptance of every 
 work that is wrought under the power of faith 
 in Him. It is not received as cold obedience 
 only ; but, glowing with the warm affection by 
 which it is inspired, it glides into the frame of 
 devotion itself ; which, as grateful incense, goes 
 up to heaven from the altar of God within the 
 heart. Our worship consists not only in formal 
 acts of praise and prayer, when we bow before 
 God in the sanctuary, or kneel at His feet in 
 
 • the closet ; but in the work-shop, in the count- 
 ing-room, in the office, every where ; and in the 
 hourly transactions of common business, the 
 whole life becomes a sacred chant. The ten 
 thousand httle obediences are the sweet notes 
 which compose it, rising above the din of this 
 poor world, and mingling in the universal psalm 
 of praise that is heard before the throne. Duty 
 is felt in all its sacredness, and a soft radiance 
 beams upon the path of the most obscure and 
 patient of the Lord's saints ujDon the earth. 
 
164: THE FAMILY. 
 
 It is easy to see the influence of this high 
 consideration, in preserving the self-respect of 
 those who are called to serve. The spiritual 
 instinct may catch it up, where there is not the 
 mental culture to explain the Christian phil- 
 osophy. It was embalmed in such a saying as 
 this, that fell once fi'om the lips of a female 
 slave: " Su*, when I sweep my mistress' carpet, 
 I try to do it to the glory of God." Ah! is 
 it not for this, that we are distributed into 
 different providential sj^heres ; that, under 
 every aspect of human character, in every con- 
 dition of human life, grace may win its separate 
 triumphs ? Is it nc^t that, in the blending of 
 these varied expeiiences, this redeemed earth 
 may render the full tribute of praise to Him 
 W'ho rules on high ? The parts of the song may 
 be different — the strophe and the anti- strophe — 
 but all join in swelling the full chorus : "Amen ; 
 blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks- 
 giving, and honour, and power, and might, be 
 unto our God, for ever and ever; Amen." (Re- 
 velation V. 12.) 
 
 It only remains to consider now — 
 
SUBJECTION OF SERVANTS. 165 
 
 IV. The Spirit with which these Servile 
 Duties are to be performed.. These will be em- 
 braced in the three following particulars : 
 
 1. Heverence for the authority of the ?naster. 
 '"Be obedient," saj^s Paul, "to them that are 
 your masters according to the flesh, with fear 
 and trembling.'^ Doubtless these last words 
 have primary reference to a sense of responsi- 
 bihty before God ; for it is immediately added, 
 "in singleness of your heart as unfco Christ. " The 
 fear is that of a tender conscience, rightly af- 
 fected in view of its relations to the Divine law. 
 But this, by necessary implication, includes the 
 other. The master rules by an unquestioned 
 Divine appointment. His authority is the sha- 
 dow of that higher supremacy, of which it is 
 constituted the earthly representative. There 
 cannot be a j)roper homagfe to the latter which 
 is not, partially at least, rendered thi'ough the 
 former. We speak not of the slavish dread 
 simply of the master's power, which finds its 
 place in those who are seeking to evade his 
 control, and constantly feaiing exposure to the 
 penalty which they justly incur ; but of that 
 
166 THE FAMILY. 
 
 lionest recognition of his authority as just and 
 right, to which conscience is always directing^ 
 a cordial and . spontaneous obedience. In its 
 wider application, through all the ramifications 
 of society, the principle is that of reverence for 
 law, which is the only sure foundation of gov- 
 ernment and order. It is inculcated here, where 
 government begins ; but the reason for it ap- 
 j^lies wherever government extends. In no age 
 of the world does this principle need to be 
 asserted more than in this age of restlessness 
 and overturning. In no country upon the globe 
 does it more need to be enforced than in our 
 own, whose democratic institutions tend to be- 
 get a desire to level all distinctions, and to 
 trample upon all authority. Law must always 
 be honoured in the respect shown to those by 
 whom it is administered. In every relation of 
 the Family and of the State, reverence for 
 authority will be evinced in the deference paid 
 to those by whom it is wielded. 
 
 2. Honesty of service is required: "In 
 singleness of heart;" "not with eye-service." 
 Law is omnipresent, in the places which are 
 
SLBJECTION OF SERVANTS. 16T 
 
 secret as well as those which are open. A good 
 conscience will recognize its authority every 
 where alike. Detection is not feared so much 
 as disobedience, and the service is not grudg- 
 ingly rendered to the penalty, but is cordially 
 offered to the precept. Obedience is the free 
 homage paid to duty, under the sanction of an 
 approving conscience. 
 
 3. All this imjjlies a wholeso7ne remon- 
 hrance of the account to he given at the final 
 judgment. The solemn thought is addressed 
 impartially to those who rule and to those 
 who serve. It is held up before the master, in 
 the admonition, " Knowing that ye also have a 
 Master in heaven ;" before the servant, in the 
 consolation, "Knowing that of the Lord ye 
 shall receive the reward of the inheritance." In 
 the one it operates as a check upon power ; in 
 the other as a stimulus to duty. Both shall 
 render an account of their trust. If there be 
 injustice on either side, " he that doeth wrong 
 shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, 
 and there is no respect of persons." It is a 
 solid support for all the oppressed of earth, 
 
168 THE FAMILY. 
 
 when they can lean upon the judgment throne, 
 and remand their case to its unerring arbitra- 
 tion. 
 
 AYhat a reyokition would be wrought in the 
 history of this poor world if these correlative 
 j)rinciples of mastership and sei-vice were faith- 
 fully apphed in all the relations of human life ! 
 

 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Collateral Relations in the Family, 
 
 
CHAPTER YIIl. 
 
 COLLATERAL RELATIONS IN THE 
 FAMILY. 
 
 " A fritnd loveth at all timej, and a brother is lorn for 
 adversity." — Proverbs xvii. 17. 
 
 N the preceding chapters we 
 have gone through the direct 
 
 relations of the Family, taking 
 up the consecutive links of the 
 ^ chain as it reaches down from the 
 highest to the lowest. The discussion 
 would be incomplete, however, without 
 considering those which are collateral: the 
 secondary relations springing out of the prim- 
 ary, and widening out almost indefinitely. It 
 is important in two respects. We shall trace 
 that interlacing of relationships and cross-weav- 
 ing of influences, by which the design of the 
 Family is more fully accomj^lished, as a normal 
 school for the training of both old and young. 
 
 171 
 
172 THE FAMILY. 
 
 And we shall see how families, by theii' over- 
 lapping, grow mto larger communities, and 
 diffuse these principles of order through uni- 
 versal society. As this chapter will conclude 
 what we have to say upon the Family in its 
 civil aspects, the reader may be pleased to 
 gather up, in a brief resume, the points which 
 have been already elaborated. 
 
 We have seen law to be enthroned in the 
 authority of the husband, the parent, the mas- 
 ter ; and this authority given, too, under the 
 form of despotism. The supremacy is dele- 
 gated in terms apparently absolute, to which 
 submission the most prostrate, and obedience 
 the most unquestioning, are imperiously ex- 
 acted. The arrangement is not harsh, but 
 beneficent. The correlation of society cannot 
 be maintained without the subordination of 
 men in theii' distinct and allotted si)heres. 
 The first lesson to be taught is the necessity 
 of obedience. At the very place, therefore, 
 where society is born, and the individual will 
 begins to play, it is confronted by an authority 
 which is massive and impregnable. If men 
 
COLLATERAL RELATIONS. lid 
 
 are to acquire mastery over themselves, they 
 must be put at first under the pressure of a 
 despotism. No milder form of authority will 
 achieve the end iu view. 
 
 Yet fallen man cannot be trusted with ab- 
 solute power: and the checks against abuse 
 are interposed by Infinite Wisdom, just where 
 they can be most operative and the most safe. 
 In the two primary relations, the conjugal and 
 the parental, the authority is softened by an 
 instinctive affection, the most powerful known 
 to the human heart. In the relation of master, 
 the power is held under the restraint of inter- 
 est, the most universal and controlling of all 
 the motives which influence human conduct. 
 Again, throughout this domestic empire, power 
 is lodged w^ith a dual executive ; in which are 
 blended the oppositions of sex, with the mental 
 and moral characteristics b}^ which the two are 
 distinguished. The mother is associated with 
 the father in the rule over the child ; the mis- 
 tress is united with the master in the ascend- 
 ancy over the servant. In the conjugal tie, the 
 power is more absolutely a unit ; but there it is 
 
174 THE FAMILY. 
 
 softened b}' a more perfect coalescence of the 
 parties, by which they are melted into one. 
 Still further : the sphere in which authority is 
 exercised, is defined by the nature of the rela- 
 tion out of which it springs; and the limita- 
 tions upon the power are expressly stated in 
 the law by which it is conveyed. What is still 
 more important, the parties invested with juris- 
 diction are placed at the bar of conscience, to 
 render a judicial interpretation of their respec- 
 tive commissions ; whilst the ruler and the 
 ruled are continually sisted before the throne 
 of God, and reminded of the account which 
 must be given of their trasts, at the final judg- 
 ment. It is difficult to see how better re- 
 straints could be devised ; nor how they could 
 be more wisely placed, and yet leave the 
 authority in possession of sufficient force to 
 bring the untutored will under subjection to 
 law. 
 
 The Family is really the model state. It is 
 not simply a device for the propagation and 
 maintenance of the species ; it is a strongly 
 compacted government. In it, the nature of 
 
COLLATERAL RELATIONS. 175 
 
 law is punctually expounded by its actual en- 
 forcement. The lessons of obedience are 
 learned in the absolute subordination of the 
 parts to the whole. The great principles are 
 unfolded upon which all human government 
 rests, and society itself is created in the germ. 
 By natui-al expansion, the Family grows into 
 the tribe, and the principles of law are carried 
 out under an administration that is strictly 
 patriarchal. Tiibes diverge, and are then con- 
 solidated into nations ; and as society becomes 
 more complex, its diversified interests are con- 
 trolled by an authority which is more remote 
 and kingly. But in the whole development, it 
 is simply the law of the household expanding 
 itself through all the ramifications of the com- 
 monwealth ; and a true statemanship must glean 
 its great and essential principles fi'om the sub- 
 ordination first estabhshed in the Family. The 
 nearer a government is conformed to this ideal, 
 in the distribution of power and in the com- 
 bination of influences by which society shall be 
 controlled, the more perfect will it be, both in 
 its conception and administration. The type 
 
176 THE FAMILY. 
 
 of all authority and of all obedience is to be 
 found in the homes where we are born. 
 
 In these statements we have grasped only 
 half of God's design in the constitution of the 
 Family. Man needs to be onoiilded as well as 
 to be controlled. The two are co-ordinate. In 
 true obedience the will must be persuaded, and 
 naked force can never be aught but oppression. 
 The Family, therefore, would utterly fail of its 
 end, if it were not a school of education, as well 
 as an empire of law. Its superlative value is 
 found in the combination of influence with 
 authority, under which men are.traiiied to the 
 obedience which requires to be enforced. We 
 enter, then, upon the development of this view, 
 with special reference to the marvellous iyiter- 
 loeaving of relationships in the Family, and 
 the corresponding interaction of influence, 
 upon which its stupendous advantages as an 
 educational institute mainly depend, The 
 topic is broadly suggestive, but we must be 
 content with looking at its most obtrusive 
 features. 
 
 1. Within a small comjjass is embraced the 
 
COLLATERAL RELATIONS. 1 i i 
 
 largest variety of character, vnth the fullest 
 action heticeeii them all. The extremes of age 
 are brought together. Two generations must 
 of necessity co- exist. In many instances there 
 will be three ; when the grandsire gathers 
 around his knee the children's children, and 
 garrulous old age tells to prattling infancy the 
 tales of olden time. There is the father, in the 
 maturity of his strength ; the mother, in the ful- 
 ness of womanly dignity and pride ; while the en- 
 tire space, from teething childhood to the grace 
 and beauty of early manhood, is dotted with 
 the offspring who stand at every degree in the 
 scale of development. Age, with its ripened ex- 
 perience, blends with questioning childhood. 
 Parental strength lends its support to tottering 
 infancy. Learning brings its stores to enlighten 
 the expanding intellect, and wisdom yields its 
 counsels to dii'ect the path of inexperience. 
 
 This is no unreal picture. » Thousands of 
 happy homes present the original, of which this 
 must be reckoned but as the rudest sketch. 
 Now, let the moralist form the estimate of all 
 this interacting influence. Ai'e the scales of 
 
ITS THE FAMILY. 
 
 the most refined speculation sufficiently deli- 
 cate to weigh the exact measure and proportion 
 of each ? Who can determine the power which 
 lies in a smile, or in a frown, as the cliild looks 
 up into the face of the parent, radiant with ap- 
 proval in the one, or darkened with displeasure 
 in the other ? How many critical moments are 
 there in the perilous middle passage from youth 
 to manhood, when a boy's destiny, for this 
 world and the next, trembles upon the edge of 
 a single word? How often has the rebellion 
 of a wayward heart given way under the serene 
 piety of sweet old age, when it has broken its 
 staff at the brink of the river, and waits for the 
 shining ones to lead it over the flood '? How 
 many a wrinkle has been smoothed on the brow 
 of care by the tiny hands of a babe, so innocent 
 yet of the trouble it must come in its turn 
 to know? Has not the rattling glee around 
 the fireside often chased the gloom of despon- 
 dency and loss, and roused the flagging ener- 
 gies to ward off the cloud which thi'eatens to 
 burst upon the happy group ? 'NATien the grave 
 throws its dark shadow upon the soul, has not 
 
COLLATERAL RELATIONS. 179 
 
 bereavement lost its sting, nnder the soft caress 
 which kisses the tear from the cheek ? Home ! 
 Home ! that only trace of the original paradise 
 which God's mercy has spared, in a world of 
 sin ! WTio does not exclaim with the gentle 
 Cowper : 
 
 " Domestic happiness! thou only bliss 
 Of Paradise that hast survived the fall ! 
 Thou art the nurse of virtue : in thine arms 
 She smiles, aippearing, as in truth she is, 
 Heaven-born, and destined to the skies again." 
 
 But could this be, if old and young were not 
 grouped together, with this inter-play of feel- 
 ing between them both ? Ah ! cut the band 
 which winds around the house, and scatter these 
 ages apart ; unweave all this web of association, 
 and blot out the moral education of the fireside 
 and the daily meal, and how soon would society 
 sink into chaos and utter night ! We have a 
 ghmpse of this danger in the demoralization 
 which takes place, in the unnatural separation 
 of these parties in the pursuit of enjoyment : 
 men herding together in the club-room, from 
 
180 THE FA:>IILY. 
 
 wliicli all the sanatifying iufluence of woman's 
 presence is excluded ; women abandoning them- 
 selves to unlicensed gossip in their equally ex- 
 clusive associations ; the young in the wild 
 revelry of the ball-room, in whose glare and 
 folly the old can take no share. Against all 
 this, the home is a constant protest and protec- 
 tion. Its sweetest moral lesson is found in the 
 simple grouping of all classes together, in joint 
 participation of the pleasures which are rational 
 and gentle. For this the Family enjoys a 
 special advantage from its compactness. 
 Brought close together within its narrow circle, 
 the influence which each exerts is not weakened 
 by diffusion, whilst the constancy of the asso- 
 ciation allows no suspension of its power. It 
 is quiet and steady, and bathes us like the 
 light or the aii'; insinuating into the very 
 pores of oiu' nature, and incorporating with 
 the whole of our inner being and life. The 
 calm majesty of authority presides, too, over 
 all, holding each in its place, and checking the 
 first discord which threatens to distui'b the har- 
 mony. 
 
COLLATERAL RELATIONS. 181 
 
 2. Though not logically distinct, yet, from its 
 acknowledged importance, ice denote next the 
 influence arising from the union of the sexes. 
 The Family is constituted by such union in 
 marriage, and the vast influence of home springs 
 chiefly from the combination of male and female 
 in all of its relations. The husband is moulded 
 by the wife, and that in exact proportion 
 to the worthiness of character he shall attain. 
 The wife, with still greater flexibility, is de- 
 veloped into perfect womanhood by assimila- 
 tion to the husband. It is needless to expand 
 the thought. The distinction of sex runs com- 
 X^letely through the being of both, distinguished 
 from each other in their intellectual and moral 
 structure, for the very purpose of being united 
 as counterparts. The same modification of 
 character takes place in every sphere and upon 
 every plane, where this union is effected. In 
 the Family the influence of this combination is 
 the most pervading, because the combination 
 itself is there the most intimate. Female soft- 
 ness is added to manly finnness, in tempering 
 parental authority; whilst the blending ele- 
 
182 THE FAMILY. 
 
 ments are most conspiciously felt in the general 
 influence b}^ which the character of the young 
 is shaped. 
 
 AYe had occasion to speak incidentally of 
 the modification of love under the influence of 
 sex, when treating of that subsisting between 
 husband and wife ; also of that felt by the father 
 to the daughter, of the mother to the son ; 
 promising to give greater prominence to the 
 the thought when it should recur at this 
 point. Nothing is more singular. Love, in its 
 IDrincij^le, must be the same in all. There is 
 the same ground in nature, where the relations 
 are the same. The son is not more a child to 
 the mother, the daughter is not more a child 
 to the father, and yet a jDeculiar affinity causes 
 these lines of love to cross over to those of the 
 opposite sex. Perhaps it is beyond exjilana- 
 tion, as being an elementary principle of our 
 nature. All society is composed of but the 
 two ; who, because destined for each other, 
 are di-awn together by a reciprocal attraction. 
 Call it instinct, or sentiment, or by any name 
 we i3lease, there it is. We cannot go behind 
 
COLLATERAL KELATI02s'S. 183 
 
 the consciousness of the fact itself, and all hu- 
 man intercourse is of necessity modified by it. 
 It pervades all the relations ; for, the distinction 
 of sex is found in every one. Starting from 
 the husband and wife, it reappears in the father 
 and the mother, in the daughter and the son, 
 in the brother and the sister, in the master and 
 in the mistress, in the man servant and the 
 maid servant, in the uncle and the aunt, down 
 and through all the degrees of cousinship, until 
 relationship thins out and disappears. After 
 that, in the wider circles of general society, the 
 distinction recurs upon us in the modification 
 of all our friendships, colouring the feelings 
 and shaping the external intercourse. We 
 never escape from its presence and power. The 
 man and the woman are sent forth two and 
 two all through life ; and whenever they touch 
 each other, it is with this modification of senti- 
 ment which springs from the natui'e of both. 
 Distinct types of civilization take their form 
 and colour from its influence. It penetrates 
 even the domain of impartial law, and compels 
 
184 THE FAMILY. 
 
 a measure of discrimination in the administra- 
 tion of justice itself. 
 
 In the domestic economy, we are at the 
 fountain of this all-pervadmg influence. In the 
 lowest of its relations, the asperit}^ of obedience 
 is soothed to the servant who bends under the 
 gentle s^vay of the mistress, mitigating the 
 authority which would, perhajDS, be hard if 
 wielded only by the master. If we ascend to 
 the relation that is highest, who can describe 
 the power of a mother's constant love in de- 
 veloping the graces of the child, and in mellow- 
 ing the character as it ripens to maturity ? 
 The father's judgment and will are not a whit 
 more important than the mother's genial sym- 
 pathy and love. If the one be the strong soil in. 
 which the child's character finds its root, the 
 other is the light and air which the plant must 
 see and breathe, and both combined are the 
 indispensable conditions of its growth. Per- 
 haps, however, in the collateral relation of 
 brother and sister we shall find the best illus- 
 tration of the influence of sex, because it is 
 there unmixed with any thing else. "With the 
 
COLLATERAL RELATIONS. 185 
 
 parent and the master there is an overshadow- 
 ing authority, modified, it is true, in its appli- 
 cation, according as it is exercised by the one 
 sex or by the other, but distinctly felt in both. 
 We may not be able always to separate the in- 
 fluence from the authority, so as aijcurately to 
 measure it. But brother and sister stand upon 
 an equal footing. Neither possesses any facti- 
 tious advantage. Whatever ascendancy either 
 may gain, is acquired by the influence which is 
 exerted; and the whole effect which sex j)i'o- 
 duces in determining this influence comes dis- 
 tinctly forth. And how perfectly reciprocal is 
 that influence between the two, in the strength 
 which is imparted to the one, and in the re- 
 finement which is breathed into the other ! 
 Universal observation teaches that the best 
 constituted families are those in which the one 
 sex is balanced against the other throughout. 
 So much is this the case, that, when both are 
 thrown out into general society, it is not diffi- 
 cult to discriminate the man who has been 
 educated with a sister at his side, and the wo- 
 man who has been unconsciously moulded 
 
186 THE FAMILY. 
 
 through a brother's contact. It rarely tui'ns 
 out that a son, dutiful to his mother, or a 
 brother, affectionate to his sister, ever grows 
 up into a bad man or an unworthy citizen. 
 
 3. The gradation of rank in the Family 
 should not be overlooked, in estimating its 
 value as a school for training. No folly is more 
 conspicuous than the agrarianism which seeks 
 to level the distinctions in society, and to re- 
 duce all classes to a uniform grade. One migbl} 
 as well undertake to top the trees of the forest 
 to one standard of height, or decree them by 
 measurement to one uniform girth. The dif- 
 ferent varieties which grow together upon the 
 same soil, have their various proportions deter- 
 mined from the beginning, which no artificial 
 culture, or forced process of any sort, can hope 
 to change. This great rule of unity in diversity 
 is not more apparent in the forest than it is in 
 mankind ; the unity of the whole in the diversity 
 of the constituent parts. . Men are born with 
 different degrees of intellect, with different 
 tastes, with different advantages for improve- 
 ment. They are placed in different circum- 
 
COLLATERAL KELxVTIONS. 1ST 
 
 stances, giving a particular bent to the charac- 
 ter of each. There is every variety of disposi- 
 tion and temj^erament, going still further to 
 modify the work which each shall accomplish. 
 So that, if there should be a periodical redis- 
 tribution of wealth, placing all upon a momen- 
 tary equality, the laj^se of a single generation 
 would more than suffice to disarrange it again, 
 and reproduce the hated distinctions in then* 
 full separating force. It is well, therefore, that 
 in the Family they should meet us at the thi'es- 
 hold of life. From earliest recollection, we 
 have never known any thing else but gradation 
 in rank, and the subordination which it implies. 
 Here are the parents at the apex of the cone ; 
 a group of children, under the law of depend- 
 ance, form its sides as it widens downward ; 
 while at its broad base are the servants, in 
 pronounced subjection to the authority above 
 them. The monotony of equality is completely 
 broken ; whilst a wholesome interchange of 
 offices binds them all together in a unity that 
 is the more beautiful, fi'om the complexity of 
 relations out of which it springs. On the one 
 
188 THE FAMILY. 
 
 part, there is constant tendance and care, with 
 an overflowing love which transforms the very 
 anxiety into a dehght. On the other part, 
 there is the homage of obedience to authority, 
 and of reverence to station and to age. The 
 interaction of influences between the two is 
 without intermission from their proximity, and 
 is so reciprocal that we cannot determine which 
 receives the greater benefit. The hardness of 
 character, which is apt to be produced by habit- 
 ual command, is softened by the gentleness 
 which love infuses into authority. The habits of 
 reverence which grow out of dependence, fash- 
 ion the subordinates in a mould which is 
 scarcely less beautiful. And the amenities 
 which are shown to those inferior in station, 
 soften the asperity of subjection and of service. 
 In their combined influence, they prepare old 
 and young for the duties and intercourse of 
 the wider society which they find in the world 
 wdthout. 
 
 4. We notice, lastly, the overlapping of 
 Families, and the interioeaving of the remoter 
 relationships lohich are formed. An entirely 
 
COLLATERAL RELATIONS. 189 
 
 isolated Family is scarcely anywhere to be 
 found. They are rather grouped into clusters, 
 held together by ties of affection and of blood. 
 Almost as soon as a child knows its father and 
 its mother, it recognizes the brothers and sis- 
 ters of each as the founders of so many separate 
 homes just like his own. He crosses over the 
 boundary by which all these are divided, in the 
 reverence and love felt to the uncle and the 
 aunt, and in the more familiar tenderness felt to 
 the cousin. In the one case it is an extension, 
 properly qualified, of the sentiment cherished 
 towards the parent ; and in the other, a weaker 
 repetition of the love entertained for the brother 
 and sister. Presently, these families branch 
 out in their turn, and give the new relations 
 of nephews and nieces. As the circles widen, 
 the number of one's kindred is enlarging, 
 whilst the relationship is less intimate and the 
 affection less strong, until at length they dis- 
 appear upon the great sea of human society. 
 But it is in the bosom of these collateral rela- 
 tions, with all their pleasant associations and 
 influences, that we are educated. The inter- 
 
190 THE FAMILY. 
 
 change of kindly offices, and all tlie soft friend- 
 shij^s of which they are the source, blend with 
 a thousand cross-lights ujDon our life, insensibly 
 moulding the character. As we find ourselves 
 always in this nest of relationships, the heart 
 spins out from itself a thousand delicate threads 
 which unite us to the world without. As we 
 are at first fashioned in the Family, so, when 
 fully trained, we slide forth upon these more 
 diffused relations, and become at length a por- 
 tion of the great commonwealth to which we 
 belong. Families branch into clans ; clans, 
 into tribes ; tribes, into nations. But when 
 the close connection ceases to be traced, and 
 the peculiar affection, which springs from kin- 
 ship, is lost, the great princij)les, by which 
 society is constituted, have been firmly es- 
 tablished, and we are prepared to accept and 
 to discharge our respective trusts. 
 
 Such is the Family, as designed by God to 
 be the type of all society, and the model of all 
 government. Let the statesman and the pa- 
 triot, the casuist and the Christian, hold it in 
 the estimation which it deserves, and which was 
 fixed upon it by Him by whom it was ordained. 
 

 THE FAMILY 
 
 IN ITS 
 
 ChurchlyAspects. 
 
V akvka V 
 
 cK^^ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Family, the Germ of the Church. 
 Historical Development. 
 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE FAMILY THE GERM OF THE CHURCH, 
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 The Church that is in their housed 
 
 N the first part of this essay, an 
 attempt has been made to an- 
 alyze the several relations of 
 which the Family is composed, 
 and to trace throughout the dele- 
 gated authority, by which it is con- 
 stituted the model of the State. It 
 
 has been shown, in the subordination of its 
 various parts, how the essential principles of 
 government and law are illustrated, and how 
 these are carried over, in the gradual expansion 
 of the Family, into all the ramifications of the 
 most diffused society. 
 
 Profoundly attractive as these views may be 
 to the statesman and the citizen, there is an- 
 
 195 
 
196 THE FAMILY. 
 
 other aspect of the subject which more deeply 
 stirs the heart of the Christian ; and no discus- 
 sion of this grand and original mstitute would be 
 complete which did not signalize its uses in the 
 si)here of religion. This topic, though kindred 
 with the other, is yet independent of it ; and 
 we have preferred to make the consideration of 
 it the burden of a separate series of chapters. 
 
 The social princif)le in man leads to the 
 formation of innumerable guilds for mutual 
 protection or advantage. And as civilization 
 advances, the interests of society become more 
 complex, and their reciprocal competition calls 
 for constant and minute readjustment. Asso- 
 ciations, thecefore, spring up, almost without 
 number, limited in their design, and partial in 
 their results. There are, however, two corpo- 
 rations, and only two, which exist by Divine 
 appointment. They are provided expressly to 
 meet this craving of our nature, and with their 
 destruction society itself would be dissolved. 
 These fundamental and permanent institutions 
 are the State and the Church, the archetypes 
 of all the possible combinations into which so- 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHUKCH. 197 
 
 ciety may cast itself. If, then, the Family be 
 the primary germ from which all society is de- 
 veloped, the original spring from which the 
 flowing stream is derived, we will antecedently 
 expect it to exj)and, in this two-fold direction. 
 By an a priori deduction, it follows that the 
 Family will be the Church in embryo, as we 
 have already seen to be true in regard to the 
 the State. This chapter will be devoted to the 
 
 HISTOEICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THIS IMPORTANT FACT. 
 
 1. At the very beginning, under a system of 
 natural religion^ . Adatn was constituted the 
 head and organ of a religious Gommonuiealth. 
 God entered into a covenant with him, distinctly 
 religious in its character, and which proposed 
 for its end his promotion to the highest spirit- 
 ual felicity. The tree of knowledge, as the test 
 of man's obedience, was the appointed symbol 
 of God's moral government ; whilst the mys- 
 terious tree of hfe was the seal of all the 
 blessings which should accrue from a success- 
 ful probation. In the institution of the Sabbath 
 a more distinct claim was laid upon the hom- 
 age and worship of the creature, in which his 
 
198 THE FAMILY. 
 
 whole life and being were surrendered to the 
 Creator, in the tribute which was thus exacted 
 of him. In the language of Lord Bacon, " Man 
 was thus designated as the interpreter and 
 high priest of nature, to gather up its mute 
 praises, to fill them with his own mtellect and 
 soul, and to pour the universal song into the 
 ear of Him, whose glory was reflected in them 
 all." 
 
 But what is peculiarly pertinent to the argu- 
 ment in hand, these high transactions of the 
 Deity never contemplated the first man as an 
 isolated individual, but as the representative 
 and the parent of a race which was putatively 
 and potentially within his loins. By just so 
 much as he was under a jn'obation of law, a 
 subject of moral government, by so much was 
 this the trial of all his posterity, who were in- 
 volved in the consequences of his transgression. 
 And by just so much as he was the minister of 
 worship, by so much was this the typical and 
 germinant worship to be rendered by his seed, 
 in all the generations in which successively 
 they shouhl be born. It was the joint worship 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH. 199 
 
 of himself, and of her who was the partner of 
 his being, offered officially by him for her, in 
 the conjugal union from which the Family 
 should spring: an organic worship, in which 
 were represented the countless tribes into 
 which that Family should spread, to the end of 
 time. By the force of his position, as the root 
 and representative of all his offspring, he was 
 constituted the prophet, priest, and king of that 
 religious empire. Had he continued steadfast 
 in obedience, until confirmed in hohness at the 
 €nd of his probation, it had been his high 
 office, as prophet, to teach the doctrines of 
 natural religion to his descendants ; as priest, 
 to order the ritual of worship in which they, 
 with him, should engage; as king, to wield a 
 vice-regal sceptre over millions, who would re- 
 cognize in his authority the supremacy of the 
 great Lord over all, God blessed for ever. 
 From its origin, the Family, in its idea as it 
 stood before the mind of Jehovah, was the 
 Church, the temple of His worship. 
 
 2. Equally .80 after the fall, the first 7nan 
 heamies, m the Family, the minister of the re- 
 
200 THE FAMILY. 
 
 ligion of grace. Brief as the history is, it is 
 full of broad suggestions as to the churchly 
 character of the household. Look at the first 
 promise, the seedling in which is implicitly 
 contained the whole of our theology. In its 
 very terms, "the seed of the woman," it pos- 
 tulates the parent and the Family; and that 
 Family, as embracing the ark, with its mercy- 
 seat and the covering rainbow. Definitely as 
 it points through the ages to Him who should 
 be born of the Virgin, it could be fulfilled, both 
 as a promise and a prophecy, only through the 
 Family, bound together by natural 'ties, until 
 the fulness of the times. 
 
 Then what mean "the coats of skins," in 
 which the naked pair were clothed, but the in- 
 stitution of piacular sacrifice, teaching the doc- 
 trine of redemption through the shedding of 
 blood'? See how the hints thicken, when, in 
 the next generation, Abel offers " the firstlings 
 of his flock;" whilst the great apostasy from 
 the faith begins in Cain, who reverts to the 
 rites and worship of natural religion, to which 
 a sinner is henceforth incompetent. During 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH. 201 
 
 th'=». interval which stretched between the first 
 father and his sons, was there no practice of a 
 mediatorial worship in the first Family as the 
 Church of God? If not, why does the sacri- 
 ficial offering appear with Abel, with his brother 
 Cain as the first dissenter from the doctrine 
 and religion of grace ? The severe compression 
 of these early records shuts out, indeed, the de- 
 tails of the first family-life. But the inference 
 is inevitable, from the institution of sacrifices 
 instantly after the fall, and the mention of 
 animal sacrifice at the very next stage in the 
 history, that the space between the two must 
 have been covered by this form of worship. The 
 swiftness of the passage from the one event to 
 the other only places them the closer, side by 
 side ; w^hilst the divine reprobation of Cain's- 
 offering establishes it as a deviation from the 
 appointed and recognized mode of approaching 
 God in religious homage. 
 
 Earlier even than this, there is the self- 
 brandishing sword guarding the sacramental 
 tree of life, and warning man of his forfeiture 
 of all the blessings of the first covenant ; and as 
 
202 THE FAMILY. 
 
 an off-set to this, the stationing of the cheru 
 bim at the east of the garden, the s^nnbol of 
 Ood's presence, before whose face man, though 
 a sinner, is allowed still to worship. What 
 shall be made of all this, but as cumulative 
 evidence of the sinner's approach to God, under 
 the religion of grace? This being admitted, 
 the chui'chly character of the Family is con- 
 ■clusively proved. It was the only association 
 which then existed, in which alone the collec- 
 tive worship coulc^ be rendered that has always 
 been exacted of the creature. 
 
 3. Under the patriarchal economy lohich en- 
 sued, the traces of religious service are found 
 still hi the bosom of the Family. Civil magis- 
 tracy was first instituted in the death-penalty 
 commanded to Noah. No earlier hint is any- 
 where given. Not until we strike the pregnant 
 injunction, "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by 
 man shall his blood be shed," do we find the 
 germ fi'om which civil government is developed. 
 The long interval, therefore, of two thousand 
 years, from the creation to the deluge, has been 
 well termed the dispensational period of the 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH. 203 
 
 Family; since this was the only form under 
 which government is known to have been ad- 
 ministered. 
 
 But was not piety preserved in the line of 
 Seth, under the denomination of " the sons of 
 God," as distinguished from the ungodly de- 
 scendants of Cain, who were designated as " the 
 daughters of men " ? And through what chan- 
 nel was tiTie religion kept aliVfe and transmitted, 
 until that sad commingling of the two lines 
 brought on the enormous wickedness which 
 terminated in the judgment of the flood ? Was 
 not the first act of Noah, in coming forth fi'om 
 the ark, the resumption of the patriarchal pre- 
 rogative in offering burnt sacrifices for himself 
 and for his household ? And did not Job, at 
 a later period in the same dispensation, as- 
 sume the same function of priesthood in his 
 house, when he " offered burnt offerings accord- 
 ing to the number of all his sons ;" saying, " It 
 may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed 
 God in their hearts'?" When it is added: 
 *' Thus did Job continually," what inference 
 can be drawn, but that this was the customary 
 
204 THE FAMILY. 
 
 office of the patriarch under that economy? 
 The patriarchal blessing, too, was priestly and 
 official in its nature. And the birth right which 
 the profane Esau rejected, and which the sup- 
 ple Jacob acquired, was the investiture of the 
 first-born with all the patriarchal privileges, 
 magisterial and priestly, which death conveyed 
 from father to son. 
 
 It must not be omitted, further, that when 
 the Church came to be more distinctly consti- 
 tuted, with enlarged promises and with new 
 seals, in the days of Abraham, it was still 
 founded in the house of the patriarch. A cove- 
 nant was made with him, which included a two- 
 fold blessing. "I will make of thee a great 
 nation," said Jehovah to him ; " and in thee 
 shall all the families of the earth be blessed." 
 It is a double promise, of temporal enlargement 
 and of spiritual preferment. In the former, 
 we find the Hebrew nation in its germ ; in the 
 latter, the Christian Church. By virtue of the 
 first, he becomes the father of all the tribes 
 of Israel ; by virtue of the last, he becomes the 
 father of the faithful, through all generations. 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH. 205 
 
 "And the Scripture," says Paul, "foreseeing 
 that God would justify the heathen through 
 faith, preached before the gospel unto Abra- 
 ham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed ; 
 so, then, they which be of faith are blessed with 
 faithful Abraham."* The seal of this ecclesi- 
 astical covenant was put into the flesh accord- 
 ing to the law of natural descent, the servants 
 being admitted to the same privilege, by virtue 
 of their incorporation as the members of the 
 household: "And he received the sign of cir- 
 cumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the 
 faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised, 
 that he might be the father of all them that be- 
 lieve, though they be not circumcised."! Thus 
 visibly was the Church set up in the family of 
 Abraham for a time, even more conspicuous 
 than the Hebrew State which should issue from 
 his loins. 
 
 4. Under the institutions of Moses, lohen the 
 
 structure of the Church was so greatly enlarged, 
 
 the tie is not severed which connects it with the 
 
 Family. The most solemn of its feasts, which 
 
 * Gal. iii. 8, 0. t Eom. iv. 11. 
 
206 THE FAMILY. 
 
 looked backward as the memorial of the deliver- 
 ance from Egypt, and forward as the type of 
 the gi'eater deUverance fi'om the bondage of 
 sin — the great passover, which renews itself in 
 the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, and is one 
 of the bonds of connection between the two 
 Testaments — this feast was observed strictly 
 within the household. By special statute;^ the 
 childi'en of each family were to be iastiTicted in 
 the significance of the whole service. 
 
 Again, the famihes of Israel went up, as such, 
 thi'ee times a year to worship in Jerusalem. 
 And what is more suggestive than all, the 
 priesthood was originally constituted of the 
 first-born of exerj family; for whom the tribe 
 of Levi was afterwards substituted, a commuta- 
 tion tax being stni requii'ed as their redemp- 
 tion fi'om an obhgation which needed at least 
 to be legally recognized. 
 
 It remained, too, an organic law throughout 
 this entii'e dispensation, that membership in the 
 Church was founded upon the right of bii-th, 
 just as citizenship in the State. In both, by the 
 operation of a fixed piinciple, itself grounded in 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH. 207 
 
 •natm*e, the State and the Chui'ch are carried 
 back to the source from which they spring ; 
 and the Family is continually presented as the 
 organic institute fr'om which both derive their 
 privileges, together with theii* being. 
 
 5. Under the New Testament economy^ where 
 the Church assumes her final form^ the Family 
 is again her home. See the Apostohc refer- 
 ences to Priscilla and Aquila, and "the Church 
 that is in theu' house ; "* to " Nymphas, and 
 the Chui'ch which is in his house ;"t to "the 
 house of Chloe," " the household of Stephanas," 
 and "of Onesiphorus," and the like ; all giving^ 
 evidence that the earliest Christian organiza- 
 tions were formed within the enclosui'e of the 
 the Family, as long before in that of Abraham. 
 
 We have abeady referred to the ancient pro- 
 mise made to the father of the faithful, in which 
 the Family Hes couched as the germ of the 
 Church: "In thee shall all i\ie families of the 
 earth be blessed." Observe how this is re- 
 cognized by Peter in the first proclamation of 
 the gospel, after the day of Pentecost, when 
 
 ♦ Rom. xri. 5. f Col. iv. 15. 
 
208 THE FAMILY. 
 
 lie says to tlie Jews, "the promise is unto voit, 
 and to your children, and to all that are afar 
 off." The line of the Church is thi'ousfh the 
 household ; and the fundamental law is as- 
 sumed in its application to the Gentiles, that 
 the ecclesiastical position of the child shall be 
 determined by that, of the parent. It is upon 
 this identical principle the Apostle settles the 
 controversy which arose u23on the continuance 
 of the marriage relation between believers and 
 unbehevers, when he says, "The unbeheving 
 husband is sanctified by the wife, and the un- 
 believing wife is sanctified by the husband ; else 
 were youi' children unclean, but now are they 
 holy.'"* The faith of either party determines 
 the status of the offspring, as being within the 
 covenant of God, and thus constitutionally en- 
 titled to the privileges of His Church upon 
 earth. The household baptisms in the New 
 Testament proceed upon the same fundamental 
 idea, recognizing the law of bh'th fixing the fact 
 of Chui'ch relationship, as still unrepealed. 
 It is difficult to see how this cumulative e^- 
 
 * 1 Cor. vii. U. 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHUECH. 209 
 
 dence could be stronger than it is — all the more 
 valuable because so incidental — that God de- 
 signed the Family to be the radix of the Church. 
 It holds through all the dispensations, and will 
 continue to the end of time. The case is far 
 stronger as to the Church than as to the State. 
 As to the latter, the Family may be considered 
 as its source ; but as to the former, the Family 
 is its fundamental idea. The Family may he- 
 come the State, but it is the Church. Alas, how 
 often corrupt and apostate! 
 
 It is not aside fi'om the expository character 
 of this essay, to indicate the bearing of these 
 facts upon the doctrine of infant baptism. Two 
 principles emerge into view from the general 
 survey, which really determine the matter. The 
 first is, that in the Family are to be found both 
 the State and the Church in embryo, perpet- 
 uated as they both are, through its continuance, 
 until the end of time. The second is, that in 
 both alike, the civil and ecclesiastical status of 
 the child is defined from that of the parent, by 
 right of birth. It is understood, of course, 
 that we treat here of the Church as an or- 
 
210 THE FAMILY. 
 
 ganized society, administered under tlie con- 
 stitution and ordinances which God has pro- 
 vided for its government and growth in the 
 world. Of the invisible Church, with its constit- 
 uency of the truly regenerate, known only to Hint 
 from whom the election to eternal life proceeds, 
 it does not concern us in this connexion to 
 speak. In this visible Church, having a cor- 
 porate existence amongst mcsn, as in the State, 
 citizenship is not acquii'ed, but is inherited, by 
 all who are born witliin its x^ale. Such as are 
 not thus bom, pass, in either case, to the en- 
 joyment of this privilege by a process of natu- 
 ralization. The parallel is most exact between 
 the two jurisdictions, so far as we have yet 
 traced it. Does it stop at this point, or can it 
 be pushed into details, as the same ground 
 principle works itself out ? Let us see. 
 
 The State, whilst it recognizes the citizenship 
 of its infant members, withholds the full enjoy- 
 ment of its privileges until they shall be 
 rendered competent, by suitable training, to 
 assume and discharge the corresponding obH- 
 gations. It protects them through the whole 
 
DEVELOrMENT OF THE CHCKCH. 211 
 
 peiiod of theii' minority. It exercises a general 
 supervision over parental control itself, that its 
 unlimited power may not be abused. It pro- 
 vides a measure of education, which, however 
 inadequate, is still the confession of its re- 
 sponsibility m the premises. It becomes the 
 guardian of the orphan, assumes in trust the 
 j^atrimonial estate, and secui'es its descent ; 
 and then, at the period of majority, removes 
 evei*y restriction, and invests with all the digni- 
 ties and immunities of full citizen shij). In like 
 manner, the Church distinguishes between her 
 members in full communion and those who are 
 still minors, holding herself re'sponsible for the 
 spiritual over- sight and training of the latter, 
 until they are prepared to take the vows of 
 God upon themselves. She differs from the 
 State only in one particular, as to this matter ; 
 that in the civil jurisdiction a given age is fixed 
 upon as the period of majority, whilst in the ec- 
 clesiastical a weU-defined spiritual condition is 
 required, before admission to all the ordinances 
 of the sanctuary. In the State, a person is a 
 minor until he reaches the age of one and twenty 
 
212 THE FAMILY. *♦ 
 
 years ; it being presumed that be is tlien com- 
 petent to all the duties of a citizen. In the 
 Church, the ecclesiastical minority terminates 
 only when the man is born again of the Spirit 
 of God ; it being known that a new and divine 
 life is indispensable to fulfil the obligations of 
 the Christian. 
 
 Now, "the token of the covenant," which 
 God established ages ago "with Abraham, and 
 with his seed after him in their generations," 
 was that circumcision which Paul describes as 
 "the seal of the righteousness of faith." By 
 express command this "covenant" must "be 
 in the flesh of stich as are born in the house," 
 and of such as are "bought with money of any 
 stranger." In the Family Church, the seal by 
 which spiritual blessings were ratified must be 
 applied alike to those whose title rested upon 
 the claim of birth, and as the evidence of 
 naturalization to those who became members 
 of the household by adoption. Nothing, then, 
 remains but to establish the identity of circum- 
 cision and baptism, as seals of the same cove- 
 nant under the two dispensations ; and the 
 
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHUKCH. 213 
 
 conclusion is iiTesistible, that infant members, 
 whose bii'th invests with covenant privileges, 
 are entitled to the seal by which those privi- 
 leges are attested and confirmed. Our pur- 
 pose is fulfilled in simply indicating the line of 
 argument, without pausing to develope it. Of 
 coui'se, the plausible objection, that no special 
 statute in the New Testament enjoins the bap- 
 tism of infants, fells to the ground. It pre- 
 supposes that the principle of infant member- 
 ship in the. Church of God is now, for the first 
 time, introduced ; in which case an express law 
 would indeed be requu'ed. But, as we have 
 seen, this has been the organic law of the 
 Church throughout her entu'e history. It 
 would, therefore, most naturally be assumed as 
 a principle thoroughly understood, and it would 
 require a formal repeal before its operation 
 could be estopped. This repeal, too, would in- 
 volve such a reconstruction of the whole econ- 
 omy of the Chui'ch, that it could not be in- 
 directly and silently accomphshed. Instead, 
 therefore, of yielding to the demand for an ex- 
 press law instituting the right, we must rather 
 
214 THE FAMILY. 
 
 insist upon being sliown the legislative act by 
 which the right has been withdrawn. The New 
 Testament is clear in testifying to baptism as 
 the substitute for circumcision ; its silence be- 
 yond this only leaves the application of it to be 
 determined by the organic law which remains 
 in force. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Church under Natural Religion, 
 
 TO^^'^/Mt 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE CHURCH UNDER NATURAL 
 RELIGION. 
 
 "Which shoio the loork of the law loritten in their hearts.''^ 
 Romans ii. 15. 
 
 N discussing further the churchly 
 •aspect of the Family, it will be 
 proper to consider its adapted- 
 ness to promote the interests of 
 religion under the systeius both of 
 NATURE and of grace. The first of 
 these will be sufficient for this chapter. 
 It will be well, however, to define just here 
 the term used, especially as the current concep- 
 tion of natural religion does not appear to be 
 critically exact. It is usually opposed to revealed 
 religion ; and the distinction between the two is 
 sought in the modes, respectively, by which 
 the knowledge of Divme thuigs is obtained. 
 Natural religion is represented as resting upon 
 
 217 
 
218 THE FAMILY. 
 
 that knowledge of God which is acquired from 
 the interpretation of the works of nature, dr 
 by the operations of pure reason, independent 
 of any direct communication from God Himself. 
 Bevealed religion is construed t(5 be that sys- 
 tem of truth which is known to man, only 
 tlu'oughan authenticated and explicit revelation 
 from heaven. The difficulty, however, with 
 this discrimination is, that it has never been 
 submitted to experiment, how far the knowledge 
 of God may be acquired through the deduc- 
 tions simply of natural reason. It plea.sed 
 God to reveal Himself, at the very beginning, 
 to the first man ; and as a revelation more or 
 less complete belongs to both systems, it cannot 
 be made the feature by which they are dis- 
 tinguished one fi'om the other. The distinc- 
 tion, therefore, must lie far deeper in the nature 
 of the systems themselves. It will be more ac- 
 curate to define natural religion as the religion 
 of man in his original condition, as a holy being, 
 <jreated in the image of God ; whilst revealed 
 religion is simply the religion of grace, suited 
 to man's condition as a sinner. The antithesis 
 
THE CHURCH UNDER NATURAL RELIGION. 219 
 
 is, then, perfect and intelligible: natural re- 
 ligion is the religion of law ; revealed religion 
 is that of grace. The distinction does not lie 
 in the mode, nor in the degree, of the knowledge 
 enjoyed, but in the opposing states of holiness 
 and sin in which the creature is found, and in 
 the different methods of the worshipper's ap- 
 proach to God. The religion of nature is the 
 privilege only of beings who are holy ; the re- 
 ligion of grace is the refuge of such as are 
 fallen and sinful. 
 
 We are pleased to find this view supported 
 by so vigorous and acut.e a thinker as Dr. 
 Thornwell, who, after presenting the distinction 
 which we have criticised above, remarks, "This 
 distinction is real, but it is useless. There are 
 truths which reason is competent to discover, 
 as there are other truths which can only be 
 known by a special communication from God. 
 But the religion of man has never been con- 
 ditioned exclusively by natural truth. In his 
 unfallen condition, he was placed under a dis- 
 pensation which involved a supernatural re- 
 velation. He has never been left to the sole 
 
220 THE FAMILY. 
 
 guidance of his reason ; and therefore a mere 
 natural theology, in the sense indicated, has 
 never been the sufficient explanation of his 
 state." 
 
 The same writer proceeds to define natural 
 religion, as "that which springs from the rela- 
 tions, whether essential or instituted, which 
 subsist between God and the rational creature. 
 It was the theology of Adam before the fall, 
 the theology of the covenant of works ; and, 
 though remnants of it still linger in the human 
 mind, the perfect knowledge of it can only be 
 obtained fi'om the Christian Scriptures. Sup- 
 ernatural theology is the science of salvation ; 
 the doctrines of man's religion considered as a 
 sinner, and as redeemed by the mediation of 
 Christ. The true contrast, therefore, is not 
 that of natui'al and revealed, but that of natural 
 and supernatural ; the natural indicating the 
 religion of man in one aspect — the supernatural 
 his religion in another. Both are equally re- 
 vealed."* 
 
 * Thornwell's "Collected Writings," Vol. I, pp. 31, 
 32, etc., 268. 
 
THE CHURCH UNDER NATURAL RELIGION. 221 
 
 The reader will perceive, not only the con- 
 trast, but also the relation, between the two. 
 The one precedes the other, and lays the foun- 
 dation ux^on which it rests. The entire scheme 
 of grace, as unfolded in the gospel of both 
 Testaments, hinges upon the character and 
 government of God, as exhibited under a previous 
 dispensation of law. The problem to be solved 
 in the salvation of a sinner, is to show how 
 " God can be just, and yet justify the ungodly." 
 The terms in which this is expressed reveal it 
 as a problem of law, to maintain its absolute 
 rectitude and authority in the very manifesta- 
 tion of saving love. The two forms of religion, 
 therefore, though distinct, are yet bound to- 
 gether by an indissoluble connexion ; and it is 
 entii'ely fitting that the Family should be con- 
 templated, in its religious uses, under both. 
 The question is now submitted, how far the 
 Fojinily is adai^ted to subserve the ends of 
 Natural religion % Just to that extent it ful- 
 fills a function of the Church. 
 
 1. The supremacy of laic w^as put before 
 man to be distinctly recognized, under the first 
 
222 THE FAMILY. 
 
 dispensation in the garden of Eden; By this 
 law, as originally graven upon his nature, the 
 character and claims of Jehovah were in the 
 first instance revealed ; and a special covenant 
 was made with him, which formed a Divine 
 commentary upon that text. This stipulated 
 for a perfect obedience, as the duty of the 
 creature ; and promised, as its reward, confir- 
 mation in holiness, and future exemption from 
 trial. Its language was, do and live ; punctual 
 observance of the law, both as to its letter and 
 spirit, should issue in the eternal and unassailed 
 enjoyment of the Divine favoiu\ It will be seen, 
 however, that this was a dispensation, not of 
 mere government, but of religion as well. The 
 obedience required was not simply outward 
 conformity with an external command, but it 
 was the expression of inward homage to the 
 Infinite Being by whom it was enjoined. It 
 involved all the attributes of worship ; an abid- 
 ing trust in the promise addressed to man's 
 faith, and the concentration of the affections 
 upon One seen to be " glorious in holiness." 
 The posture of the soul was that of adoration 
 
THE CHUKCH UNDEK NATURAL RELIGION. 223 
 
 and love ; and the obedience of the subject 
 became of necessity the homage of the wor- 
 shipper. 
 
 If this view be correct, it is transparently 
 clear how the fundamental idea of natural re- 
 ligion is carried out in the provisions of the 
 Pamily. The scarlet thread of authority is 
 woven into the whole constitution of the latter, 
 asserting at every point the essence and soul of 
 natural religion. It vests in the husband, the 
 parent, the master ; and requires obedience of 
 the wife, the child, and the servant. It searches 
 down through all the constituent relations, 
 from the highest to the lowest, and becomes 
 the guardian of religion, in being the asserter 
 of law. Especially under a dispensation, where 
 worship takes the form of obedience, and where 
 the promise of eternal life hinges upon it, must 
 the Family be the calyx in the bosom of which 
 this religion of nature shall find its nourish- 
 ment and support. 
 
 2. This general inference will be strength 
 .ened by reverting to the absoluteness of this 
 authority, which we had occasion to denote in 
 
224 THE FAMILY. 
 
 our previous speculations, as characterizing" 
 Family rule. Though not wholly irresponsible, 
 which could not be the case in authority that is 
 delegated, yet we found it absolute towards 
 those who are under its sway. The parties in- 
 vested with jurisdiction sit as judges upon their 
 own commission, and determine, without ap- 
 peal, the extent of then* own authority. We 
 begin to have a deeper insight into this arrange- 
 ment, when it is remembered that this very 
 absolutism only the more closely approximates 
 domestic rule to the government of God. It 
 is the feature of the Divine supremacy needing 
 to be typified in human relations, which could 
 only be done under the form of a despotism. 
 The husband and the father must represent 
 within the household the awful majesty and 
 power of God ; and, looked upon, from either 
 of its sides, it gives a wonderful sujoport to a 
 religious dispensation that is founded upon 
 law. On the one hand, the ruler is awed into 
 a discreet use of his power by the representa- 
 tive character of his acknowledged prerogative, 
 and is taught to worship God in the very com- 
 
THE CHTJKCH UNDER NATURAL RELIGION. 225 
 
 mands which he himself issues. On the other 
 hand, the subject finds the yoke of obedience 
 lightened, when it is felt to be mediately ren- 
 dered to an authority which is Divme. In the 
 one and in the other, the sentiment of religion 
 is strengthened in the soul. 
 
 3. The diversity of authority, also, in the 
 Family, is worthy of remark in the same con- 
 nexion. It assumes a distinct form in the con- 
 jugal, in the parental, in the magisterial relations, 
 whilst in each the submission enjoined is unique 
 in its character. It is not necessary to repeat 
 the illustrations of this point given in the pre- 
 ceding portion of this essay. The application 
 of the fact is all that is required now. Con- 
 sidered, then, as representing the divine sup- 
 remacy, of which it is the earthly shadow, how 
 admu-ably it pictures to the mind the unity of 
 God's law, and the perfect flexibility with which 
 it bends to all the varieties of human condition ! 
 Nay, what an emblem is it of that universal 
 government, which comprehends within its 
 grasp all ranks of intelligent beings, whether 
 in heaven above or upon the earth beneath I 
 
226 THE FAMILY. 
 
 There is seen to be but one law, even as there 
 is but one God ; a law which, in its essential 
 unity, can be endlessly modified in its apphca- 
 tion to all the details in the existence of every 
 order and class within its broad empii'e. If 
 this be the law upon which the rehgion of 
 nature is founded, then the Family constitu- 
 tion, which so jDrofusely illustrates the one, 
 must equally foster the other. In every form 
 in which the obedience is rendered, there is a 
 corresponding modulation in the worship which 
 is expressed. The different domestic relations, 
 varying in their intensity of submission, are the 
 separate stiings of one harp ; whose different 
 notes blend in a common harmony, which is at 
 once the obedience of worship, and the worship 
 of obedience. 
 
 4. One more suggestion will close the parallel 
 we have been attempting to draw. It is not bare 
 authority alone that presides over the empii-e 
 of the house, but authority that is instinct with 
 love. Neither the husband nor the father is 
 simply a ruler. In these higher relations, he is 
 immeasurablv more ; and even in the lowest re- 
 
THE CHUKCH Ul^DEK NATURAL RELIGION. 227 
 
 lation, the rule of the master is softened by a 
 sentiment of sympathy and kindness. In them 
 all, dominion assumes the form of a watchful 
 providence, commanding only that it may more 
 effectually protect and bless. Conversely, too, 
 the obedience of the ruled is the homage paid, 
 not so much to authority, w.hich is the outward 
 body, as to love, which is its indwelling and ac- 
 tuating soul. Is there not in all this a shadow- 
 ing forth of the relations which a holy creature 
 sustains to Jehovah ? In the religion of nature, 
 is it law alone which is paramount ? Or is it 
 law springing out of the depths of infinite good- 
 ness, and presenting the Divine Ruler as also 
 the Father and Portion of His obedient chil- 
 dren? And what transforms this obedience of 
 theii's into worship, and a dispensation of au- 
 thority into a system of religion, but the recip- 
 rocal love which can see in duty nothing but 
 dehght, and in service nothing but a privilege ? 
 This is, perhaps, the crowning illustration of 
 the support whicli the Family lends to natural 
 religion. In the wonderful analogies between 
 the two we may rest the argument, that God 
 
228 THE FAMILY. 
 
 " set the one over against the other." Had 
 man never fallen, the teachings of natural re- 
 ligion might possibly have been conveyed from 
 age to age in the Family, as the only Church 
 which the race required. 
 

 "WQC^t^^TU^ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HE Church under the System 
 OF Grace. 
 
 t^^'^'^s*^ 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 TEE CHURCH UNDER THE SYSTEM OF 
 GRACE. 
 
 'Thoic Shalt call Me, my Father, and shall not turn aivny frora 
 Me.'' — Jkremiah iii. 19. 
 
 N the preceding chapter, the 
 Famil}'- has been presented in 
 its fitness to ilhistrate and to 
 support the essential principles 
 of natural religion. It is even 
 more conspicuously designed to sym- 
 bolize the doctrines of grace. The 
 consideration of this will, therefore, be more 
 articulate and full, as it will not fail to bring a 
 greater refreshment to the heart of the reader. 
 1. It is needless to suggest that adoption is 
 one of the most comprehensive terms of the 
 evangelical system. It wraps within itself the 
 whole of a sinner's salvation, just as an organ- 
 ized plant is im^Dlicitly contained in the seed 
 
 231 
 
232 THE FAMILY. 
 
 from which it is developed. It includes the 
 pardon of sin and the acceptance of our per- 
 sons before God, which are the constituents 
 of justification. It includes the new birth, 
 through the quickening power of the Holy 
 Ghost, which is the doctrine of regeneration. 
 It mcludes the believer's growth in holiness, 
 until he attains " the measure of the stature of 
 the fulness of Christ," which is sanctification. 
 And finally, it involves the saint's translation to 
 heaven, to take possession of the child's inherit- 
 ance, which is glorification. All, therefore, that 
 the word salvation implies — in deliverance from 
 the guilty the stain, the dominion, and the be- 
 ing of sin — is potentially included in the idea 
 of ADOPTION ; and is in every particular wrought 
 out when that idea comes to be realized in its 
 final results. Whoever undertakes the full ex- 
 position of the word, finds himself carried 
 around the entire circle of revealed religion ; 
 and touches, as he swings, the doctrines of 
 sovereign election by the Father, of redemption 
 by the Son, of the indwelling of the Spirit, of 
 union with Christ by faith, and of joint-heir- 
 
THE CHURCH UNDER GRACE. 233 
 
 ship with Him in eternal glory. If the gospel 
 has any term that is generic, in which is logi- 
 cally contained all that constitutes the experi- 
 ence of the Christian, it is adoption. 
 
 Yet this word, pregnant with all the wealth 
 of grace, is borrowed from the Family. "How 
 shall I put thee among the children? Thou 
 shalt call Me, my Father, and shalt not turn 
 away from Me." "To as many as received 
 Him, even to as many as beheved on His name^ 
 gave He power to become the sons of God." 
 Let it be remembered that an intelligible re- 
 velation presupposes an understood language 
 as its vehicle. Mysterious as may be the truths 
 unfolded, they must be translated to the human 
 mind tlu'ough ideas familiar to it. Human re- 
 lations must afford the analogies by which di- 
 vine things shall be represented. If there are 
 no pre-existing types out of which a language 
 may be created, then they must be appointed 
 by God, (as was largely the case with the cere- 
 monial law,) to found, in the sensible experience 
 of man, the explicit terms which a divine re vela- 
 
234: THE FAMILY. 
 
 tion may require.* Just so, the Family was 
 constituted, at the beginning, as the matrix in 
 which the language of grace should be cast. 
 Its perfectly defined relations yielded the con- 
 ceptions out of which the gospel frames its 
 terminology. Blot out from the mind all that 
 is associated with the Family, and the word 
 adoption becomes an unmeaning cypher, which 
 can never be interpreted for the want of some 
 mediating term. We find the Family, there- 
 fore, subserving a churchly purpose under this 
 dispensation of grace, as su]3porting, through 
 its analogies, the very conceptions upon which 
 that dispensation rests. 
 
 2. This will be more obvious, by considering 
 how perfectly the fatherhood of God, aiid the 
 sonship of believers, are foreshadowed in the 
 corresponding human relatio7is hi the house- 
 hold. God, in the gospel, is our Father, not in 
 the vague sense of being our Creator and Pre- 
 server, but in the covenant sense of being our 
 
 ♦See this largely illustrated in a popular book, by 
 "Walker, entitled ''the Philosophy of the Plan of Salva- 
 tion." 
 
THE CHURCH UNDER GRACE. 235 
 
 Redeemer and our Portion. The primary rela- 
 tions of creation and providence may possibly 
 constitute the natural basis for the higher and 
 more spiritual relations of grace ; but they are 
 nevertheless clearly distinguished in the Scrip- 
 tures. God is the Father of all the redeemed, 
 in the sense that they are made "partakers of 
 the. Divine nature," through the principle of 
 holiness, first implanted, and then sustained, by 
 constant communications from Himself; in the 
 sense that they are lifted above the plane of 
 mere subjects of law, to a more close and 
 blessed communion with Him, as the dear chil- 
 dren of His love; and in the sense that He 
 makes Himself over to them, as their everlast- 
 ing portion and inheritance. The language of 
 His covenant is, "I will receive you, and will 
 be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons 
 and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 
 
 Corresponding with this, the spirit of evan- 
 gehcal obedience is filial^ as contrasted with 
 the spirit that is legal and slavish. It springs 
 from the principle of love, under the constant 
 fascination of all that is beautiful and glorious 
 
236 THE FAMILY. 
 
 in the holiness of God. With the entire con- 
 sent of the will, under the sanction of reason, 
 and with the concurrence of the heart, the 
 homage of a loyal service is rendered, which is 
 never intimidated by fear, nor prompted by 
 mercenary advantage. It is the free commerce 
 of a dutiful and loving child, who rests upon 
 the parental bosom, and finds its joy in the 
 parental smile. 
 
 The beauty of the analogy, however, is not 
 simply that in these human relations are found 
 the figures of the true, but that it adumbrates 
 the very methods by which this gracious father- 
 hood of God is accomplished. Adoption with 
 God is not a legal fiction, as it is with man, 
 who may treat as sons those who by no possi- 
 bihty can be made actually such. But we be- 
 come the sons of God, first, by a substantive 
 union with Jesus Christ, who is the Only Be- 
 gotten of the Father ; and, secondly, by a ver- 
 itable spiritual birth, "being born not of blood, 
 nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
 God." The natural is a type of the spii-itual. 
 We be3ome the children of men by an actual 
 
THE CHURCH UNDER GRACE. 237 
 
 birth after the flesh, and by virtue of a law of 
 connexion, which places us potentially in the 
 loins of those by whom we are begotten. AYe 
 become the children of God through an actual 
 birth of the Spirit, by whom we are quickened ; 
 and this by our gracious connexion with Christ, 
 who is the Son of God. In Him we are " chosen 
 to be sons," by the sovereign election of the 
 Father ; and to Him we are given in the cove- 
 nant of redemption, as His seed, for the very 
 purpose of being made new creatures in Him, 
 by the quickening power of the Holy Ghost. 
 God is our Father in this dispensation of grace, 
 because He is already " the God and Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." He, who is the sole 
 Proprietor of the relation and the title, shares 
 them both with those whom He has redeemed, 
 who are united with Him by faith, and thus 
 have "power to become the sons of God." 
 Wonderful constitution of the Family ! which 
 is thus ordained to prefigure the stupendous 
 methods of grace, by the very processes through 
 which it was created. And, blessed be God, 
 the Family abides, that its analogies may up- 
 
238 THE FAMILY. 
 
 hold and elucidate those principles Avhich it 
 originally typified, and thus fulfils its churchly 
 office to the end of the world. 
 
 3. Let us trace next the principle of repre- 
 eentatiop, as it is imbedded in the structure ami 
 functions of the Family. God's dealings with 
 man have always been by covenant : under 
 natural religion, through the covenant of works ; 
 under revealed religion, through the covenant 
 of grace. In both alike the principle of repre- 
 sentation is recognized, in the relations which 
 the first Adam and the second sustain to their 
 respective seeds. We have thus incidentally 
 brought out the Family feature, in the bare 
 statement of the principle. The first man is 
 constituted the federal head of those who 
 were putatively in his loins as their natural 
 parent. So closely, indeed, are the two con- 
 nected, that no little confusion has sprung up, 
 in theological circles, from not keeping them 
 sufficiently distinct. But the fact is not a little 
 remarkable, that the original covenant should 
 plant itself upon the Family ide^, as its basis. 
 The principle of representation fastens upon 
 
THE CHURCH UNDER GRACE. 23^ 
 
 the parental relation, and works itself into view 
 through it. The representative with whom 
 Jehovah deals, is not a being arbitrarily ap- 
 pointed for that purpose, but is one from whom 
 the race springs as its natural root. The 
 typical idea, thus drawn from the structure of 
 the Family, is carried over into the economy of 
 grace ; in w^hich, by a similar covenant relation, 
 those redeemed by the blood of Christ become 
 His seed for ever, through a divine and spirit- 
 ual birth. 
 
 It will not be amiss to notice further, how 
 the Family, in its functional arrangements, up- 
 holds and exemplifies this principle of repre- 
 sentation. The husband, for example, is the 
 head of the wife ; with whom she blends in 
 union so intimate, that ideally she no longer 
 separately exists, but becomes "one body " with 
 him. We shall have occasion to refer to this 
 hereafter, and will not anticipate what needs to 
 be more articulately expounded. It is enough 
 for our present purpose that, in all transactions 
 before the world, he, as her head, is her con- 
 stant representative. Through him all her 
 
24:0 THE FAMILY. 
 
 privileges and franchises are maintained, and 
 the cover of his name is the broad shield be- 
 hind which she finds protection and defence. 
 In like manner, the parent represents the child ; 
 is the natural-and legal guardian, holding in pos- 
 session the child's rights, and is held responsi- 
 ble for the child's conduct. During the whole 
 period of minority, the parent is the represen- 
 tative of God, in the authority which he wields, 
 and in the providential watchfulness which 
 gathers the brood beneath his wing. Is there 
 no churchly ministry in offices Hke these, which 
 so constantly expound the great principle upon 
 which, as upon a pivot, the entire system of 
 human redemption is made to turn ? 
 
 4. Mediation is necessarily implicated in 
 Representation^ but has features of its own 
 which merit special consideration. The traces 
 of it to be found in the domestic economy may 
 be more faint, but they should not, for that 
 reason, be overlooked. We have seen, in a pre- 
 vious chapter, how the first father was the organ 
 of primeval worship, and the prophet to convey 
 the tenets of the primeval faith to the offspring 
 
THE CHUKCH UNDER GKACE. 24:1 
 
 of bis loins. Also, when sacrifices were insti- 
 tuted under the dispensation of grace, the 
 patriarch was invested with the functions of 
 priesthood ; and, as the appointed mediator, con- 
 veyed in the patriarchal blessing the utterance 
 of the Divine approval. These things need 
 not, therefore, be repeated ; especially as every 
 tyro knows that they were all typical prefigura- 
 tions of Him who should appear, in the fulness 
 of time, as both the Sacrifice and the Priest of 
 the universal Church. 
 
 Beyond this, however, mediation is inter- 
 woven into the very texture of the Family. In 
 the language which we quote from another pen, 
 "The child comes to the enjoyment of life 
 through the pain and travail of another ; from 
 early perils and death he is saved through the 
 self-sacrificing watchfulness of the mother. The 
 patient toil of the father is the price paid to 
 save him fi*om ignorance and want. Indeed, 
 the whole of parental duty is a system of media- 
 tion, often attended with suffering and self- 
 denial, but always impelled by love." If these 
 hints should be deemed obscure, and the an- 
 
242 THE FAMILY. 
 
 alogy but faint, it must be remembered that 
 the doctrine of mediation by Jesus Christ was 
 reserved as the great revelation of God's grace 
 to man. It is enough if, in the daily outwork- 
 ing of Family life, there should be found 6ven 
 this analogy to hold up the principle against 
 oversight and forgetfulness. 
 
 Certainly, the purest illustration of that im- 
 measurable love which made the Saviour's soul 
 an offering for sin, is to be found in the self- 
 sacrificing devotion of the parent. It is the 
 most unselfish affection known to the human 
 heart. Scarcely is the child born ere the parent 
 sinks his own ease and comfort out of sight, and 
 lives henceforth in the life of his offspring. No 
 labour is too exacting, no care too corroding, 
 no watchfulness too exhausting, to be declined 
 in behalf of those whom he has brought into 
 being. Not to dwell upon the fact that the 
 birth itself is accomplished at the peril of the 
 mother's life, the ceaseless anxiety and toil 
 which succeed render the mother's office as 
 nearly sacrificial in its character as that of any 
 creature can be. "When, therefore, we search 
 
THE CHURCH UNDER GKAO£. 243 
 
 amidst human relations for the nearest type of 
 the sacrificial work of Him who was bruised for 
 us, it must be found in that of the parent ; 
 whose love exceeds every other in its fervour, 
 in its patience, in its constancy, in its seK- 
 abnegation — outhving shame, degradation, and 
 even crime — stronger than death, and feeding 
 upon memories which fall upon the soul like 
 shadows of the happy jDast, that has been 
 swallowed up in the grave for ever. 
 

 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Symbolical Mystery of Marriage. 
 
 •^I^t^- 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 THE SYMBOLICAL MYSTERT OF 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 "Come hither; Twill sheio thee the bride, the LamVs 7oife." 
 Revelation xxi. 9. 
 
 N the preceding chapter were 
 brought to view several dis- 
 tinctive features of the scheme 
 of grace, as illustrated in the 
 Family constitution. The parallel 
 is far from being concluded ; and the 
 topic now to be considered is so im- 
 pressive that we single it out for presentation 
 in a chapter by itself. 
 
 We refer to the law of "marriage, as symbol- 
 izing the mystical union of Christ and the 
 Church. The analogy between the two must 
 be exceedingly close to justify the frequent al- 
 lusion, in the Scriptures, to the one as the most 
 expressive symbol of the other. The reader's 
 
 247 
 
248 THE FAMILY. 
 
 memory will instantly reproduce the passages 
 in which the comparison is elaborated. If not, 
 it will be refreshed by turning in the Old Testa • 
 ment to the forty- fifth Psalm, to the fifty-fourth 
 chapter of the Prophecy of Isaiah, to the six- 
 teenth of the Prophecy of Ezekiel, to the sec- 
 ond of that of Hosea, and to the beautiful alle- 
 gory in the Song of Solomon. It wiU be seen 
 that we omit all reference to the incidental al- 
 lusions which are scattered profusely through 
 these ancient writings, and signalize only those 
 expanded utterances which are pushed quite 
 into the dimensions of the parable. In the 
 New Testament the reader may consult Matthew 
 ix. 15, with its parallels in the other evange- 
 lists ; 2 Corinthians xi. 2 ; Revelation xix. 7, 8, 
 together with xxi. 9. But the locus classici'.s 
 on this point is the extended passage in Ephe- 
 sians v. 23-32, which we wiU quote entire, 
 because of its emphasis : " For the husband is 
 the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head 
 of the Church ; and He is the Saviour of the 
 body. Therefore, as the Church is subject 
 unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own 
 
SYMBOLICAL MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE. 24^ 
 
 husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your 
 wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, 
 and gave Himself for it ; that he might sanc- 
 tify and cleanse it with the washing of water 
 by the word, that He might present it to Him- 
 self a glorious Church, not having spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be 
 holy and without blemish. So ought 'men to 
 love their wives as their own bodies. He that 
 loveth his wife, loveth himself. For no man 
 ever yet hated his own flesh ; but nourisheth 
 and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church ; 
 for we are members of His body, of His flesh, 
 and of His bones. For this cause shall a man 
 leave his father and his mother, and shall be 
 joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one 
 flesh. This is a great mystery ; but I speak 
 concerning Christ and the Church." 
 
 Manifestly, the Apostle finds in marriage 
 something beyond mere analogy. It is in his 
 view a sy^nbol, the significance of which be- 
 comes more clear in the hght cast back upon 
 it from the thing symbolized. He is enforcing 
 the duties of the domestic state, and begins 
 
250 THE FxVMILY. 
 
 •with those arising from the conjugal relation. 
 His method is to illustrate these by the rela- 
 tions of Christ to His Church. He explains 
 the former by the latter, as being more per- 
 fectly understood. It is the archetype, having 
 its fulfilment in Christian experience, which is 
 brought to bear upon the elucidation of the 
 type. The relative duties of marriage are 
 more fully comprehended when the essential 
 oneness of the relation is compared with the 
 oneness of the believer with Christ. The hus- 
 band, for example, is the head of the wife, just 
 as Christ is the Head of the Church. The wife 
 is to be subject to her own husband, just as 
 the Church is subject to Christ. The husband 
 is to love the wife, just as Christ loved the 
 Church. He is to nourish her as his own 
 body, just as Christ nourisheth the Church, 
 which is His body. The parallel is drawn out 
 in all these details ; and then the very terms 
 are cited in which the law of marriage was first 
 given, in order to show that the two are one 
 flesh, precisely as behevers are members " of 
 Ohrist, of His flesh and of His bones." And, 
 
SYMBOLICAL MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE. 251 
 
 finally, the whole application of the one to 
 the other is pronounced to be "a mystery," in 
 itself incomprehensible, yet clearly revealed of 
 God. The whole form of exposition assumes 
 that there was a mystical feature in marriage, 
 designed to prefigure the mystical union of 
 Christ and the Church ; which, like every other 
 type, would not be fully measured until its ful- 
 filment in the antitype. 
 
 We press this fact, that St. Paul is not here 
 explaining union with Christ by marriage, for 
 which a simple analogy would suffice ; but he 
 is illustrating marriage by union with Christ, 
 which seems to constitute the former a symbol 
 of the latter. A "mystery" was put into the 
 most fundamental of our natural relations, and 
 was kept a secret through all the ages, until 
 the corresponding "mystery" was revealed in 
 our spiritual relations, which cleared up its 
 meaning — the hieroglyph over the very por- 
 tals of marriage, not to be deciphered until the 
 key was furnished in the work of redemption. 
 What sanctity is lent to the conjugal bond, 
 when from the beginning the husband was de- 
 
252 THE FAMILY. 
 
 « 
 
 signed as the type of Christ, and the wife a 
 type of the Church, and human marriage a sym- 
 bol of the sacred espousals between the Lord 
 and His people ! If there be a holy shrine upon 
 the earth, it is the Family ; which wraps with- 
 in its hidden folds the "great mystery " of grace^ 
 the believer's hving union with his living head. 
 
 It is time, however, to push our way into the 
 heart of this typical "mystery," and trace the 
 con-espondences at which the Apostle so dis- 
 tinctly hints. 
 
 1. The creation of the looman clearly sym- 
 bolizes the origin of the Church. She was 
 taken fi'om the side of the man ; was a part of 
 his substance ; and though builded into a sepa- 
 rate person, she holds her life as stiU involved 
 in his, and exists ideally in him. The unity of 
 the man was not broken in her creatic5n, but is 
 rather more distinctly expressed. The two 
 sides of his nature, the active and the passive, 
 are brought out, not to be disjoined, but to be 
 conjoined in a higher unity, in which their re- 
 ciprocal influence shall be more conspicuously 
 exhibited. She is made, therefore, in every re- 
 
SYMBOLICAL MYSTERY OF MARRIAGE. 253 
 
 spect, the counterpart of the man. With per- 
 fect identity of natui'e — corporeal, intellectual, 
 and moral — there rims through her entire or- 
 ganization the distinction of sex. The same, 
 yet different, the likeness and the variation 
 mark her throughout as the complement of the 
 man. We have had occasion already to denote 
 all this. It is, therefore, only for the use to be 
 made of it in the apphcation, that we repeat 
 what has been said in another connexion : that 
 this duahty exists only for the purpose of re- 
 turning into the unity from which it diverged. 
 The combination of the two in a voluntary and 
 moral union, makes a complete man as before. 
 It is an original and grand device of Divine 
 Wisdom to bring man to a better knowledge 
 of his own nature; when it is presented on its 
 distinct, .yet cognate sides, each being the re- 
 flected image of the other, and each adapted in 
 its very modifications to resume its counterpart 
 and fellow. 
 
 In Hke manner, believers are "created in 
 Christ Jesus;" and with them, of course, the 
 Church. Only in Him could they become the 
 
25i THE FAMILY. 
 
 subjects of that grace through which they be- 
 heve and are saved. The difficulty Hes at the 
 very initiation of a scheme of grace. If they are 
 fallen and condemned in their first representa- 
 tive, how shall God, consistently with His jus- 
 tice and truth, think towards them His first 
 thoughts of compassion and of love 1 The solu- 
 tion is found in the covenant of redemption, 
 formed in the depths of God's eternal counsel. 
 In this, the Son undertakes, in His tui-n, to be 
 the Representative of a seed whom the Father 
 shall give to Him. For these He consents to 
 stand, in the full assumption of their legal re- 
 sponsibilities. As viewed, therefore, in Him, 
 their disabilities are cancelled. They become^ 
 in Him, once more the objects of Divine favour. 
 Thus, the Church has always existed ideally 
 and potentially in Chi'ist, just as the woman 
 first existed in the man. As the woman was 
 taken from the man in her individual subsist- 
 ence, so all the seed of Christ are individually 
 renewed by the Holy Ghost. And as the wo- 
 man in her distinction retui'ns to the man, in 
 the movement of her own affections, so does 
 
SYMBOLICAL MYSTEKY OF MARRIAGE. 255 
 
 the believer return, in the acting of his faith, 
 to that glorious Head in whom first he was 
 chosen to eternal life. The analogy is perfect ; 
 and whatever be the lower ends accomplished 
 in the mystery of woman's derivation, its higher 
 office is to symbohze the " mystery concerning 
 Christ and His Church." 
 
 2. We have not yet probed the deeper secret 
 in marriage : the blending of two persons i7i 
 one, loith the distinct consciousness in both of 
 their se2yarateness. This is the pith of the 
 Apostle's argument, which, with its epigram- 
 matic clauses, is yet thoroughly compact, with- 
 out the slightest digression. Christ is said to 
 be the Saviour of the Church, and thus ac- 
 quires it as His body. Not only so ; He also 
 *' sanctified and cleansed it with the washing 
 of water by the word, that He might pre- 
 sent it to Himself a glorious Church, not hav- 
 ing spot or wrinkle or any such thing." Thus, 
 she is " adorned as a bride for her husband," 
 and is prepared to be "the body, the fulness 
 of Him that filleth all in all." This union is 
 not merely civil and legal ; it is mystical and 
 
256 THE FAMILY. 
 
 vital. Our life is derived from Him, and is 
 continually nourished by the communications 
 of His grace. We are thus the members of 
 His body, of His flesh, and of His bones; 
 through which come our resurrection from the 
 grave, and final glorification in heaven. 
 
 Exactly parallel with this is the mystery of 
 marriage, in which " the husband is joined unto 
 the wife, and they two become one flesh." The 
 extraction of the woman from the man marks 
 her as his flesh. She returns to him by the 
 preference of her own desii'e, thus transfigur- 
 ing the natural unity into one that is moral. 
 In loving her, the husband only loveth his own 
 flesh; and he nourisheth and cherish eth the 
 one even as he does the other. Still the .union 
 of the two in one is profoundly mysterious. 
 It is effected by that coalescence of the will 
 which is denoted by the term suhmissioii ; 
 which we remarked before, when handling this 
 point, is far deeper in its significance than the 
 term obedience. Its peculiar emphasis hes in 
 the fact that it rises above the determinations of 
 the will, to the will itself, and blends the two 
 
SYMBOLICAL MYSTERY OF MAKKIAGE. 257 
 
 personalities just where the persouahty essen- 
 tially resides. 
 
 Yet in all this marvellous procedure, a clear 
 consciousness of personal distinction is pre- 
 served. The woman is still herself. She is a 
 co-factor in the constitution of the house. She 
 has her individual functions as wife and mother, 
 and could not more emphatically assert her 
 own personality than in the act of choice, by 
 which she blends her being with that of an- 
 other. It is a mystery wholly by itself in na- 
 tui*e, which furnishes no analogy for its inter 
 pretation. For this we must come into the 
 sphere of grace, where the mystery of Christ 
 and His Church points back to it as the symbol 
 of itself. The hfe acquired for the believer 
 through the death of Cbiist, and held by Him 
 in trust under tenure of law, is communicated 
 by the Holy Ghost, the Quickener. Being born 
 again, he cleaves to his blessed Head by a faith 
 which carries the soul over in a full conveyance, 
 as His possession for ever. The union is vol- 
 untary and spiritual ; and is mystical, because 
 wrouofht in the free exercise of that will throuo'h 
 
•25S THE FAMILY. 
 
 which his own personahty is affirmed. Though 
 partaker of a Divine Hfe, there is no -apotheosis 
 of the creature, who obeys and loves in the 
 constant sense of his personal distinction as a 
 lost sinner saved by grace. 
 
 3. The priority of Christ's love Jinds its 
 shadoio in that of the husband. Paul signalizes 
 this, when he says, "Even as Chrst loved the 
 Church," In like manner, the husband's is the 
 challenging love ; that of the wife is simply re- 
 ciprocal. Under this aspect, his is the superior 
 love, in being the original. It constitutes him 
 the organ and representative of that high prin- 
 ciple by which the two are united. We think 
 it is for this reason he is represented as the 
 party leaving father and mother, that he may be 
 joined unto his wife ; and this, too, in face of 
 the fact that the sacrifice is greater with the 
 woman, in the surrender of privileges to which 
 she clings with the most exquisite sensibility. 
 In the creation of a new household he must 
 take the initiative, by breaking up the ties of 
 the old. His love, too, is always of the active 
 and providing sort, shrinking from no toil, and 
 
SYMBOLICAL MYSTEEY OF MARRIAGE. 259 
 
 receding from no sacrifice, that lie may nourish 
 and cherish her who is henceforward as his 
 own bod3\ In this there is just the faintest 
 analogy to that sacrifice which Christ made 
 when He gave Himself for the Church. 
 
 4. Nor can it be omitted, in this parallel, 
 that the wife^ like the Churchy holds all that 
 she has from her head. From the instant the 
 union is consummated, her name, her station, 
 her privileges, and her rights are all derived 
 by association with him. With a perfect com- 
 munity of interests, her title to everything vests 
 exclusively in her representative before the law. 
 Need we press the resemblance to the case of 
 the believer, who has nothing apart fi'om Christ ? 
 His title to life, his communion with God, his 
 personal sanctification, his hope of heaven, all 
 depend absolutely upon that union which makes 
 him one with his Lord. 
 
 5. Finally, marriage is indissoluble, except 
 hy death. Can anything earthly more perfectly 
 represent the indestructibility of that bond 
 which holds Chiist and His people together 
 thi'oughout eternity? "For I am persuaded 
 
260 THE FAMILY. 
 
 that neither death nor hfe, nor angels, nor prin- 
 cipahties, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
 things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
 other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
 the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus oui 
 Lord." Only one thing besides death maj 
 cancel the marriage covenant ; and that is, an 
 utter apostasy from the fellowship for which it 
 provides ; and if there could be such an apos- 
 tasy from Christ in a truly regenerate soul, it 
 w^ould by its nature operate a total dissolution 
 between the two. But blessed be the God of 
 our salvation, here is where " grace super- 
 abounds," and the analogy breaks. "Having 
 loved His ow^n, He loved them to the end." 
 He w^ill " ke<3p those w^hom the Father hath 
 given Him :," and " none shall ever pluck them 
 out of His hand." 
 
 AVhat can more clearly establish the churchly 
 aspect of the Family, than to find the system 
 of grace striking its roots down into that prim- 
 ary relation by which the house is constituted, 
 and selecting the sweetest and earliest of all 
 human bonds as the type of the believer's life 
 in Christ the Redeemer ? 
 

 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 The Church the Family of God. 
 
 •^IP^ 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE CHURCH THE FAMILY OF GOD. 
 
 'I how my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of 
 
 whom the whole familij in hearen and earth is named.^^ 
 
 EPiitSiANS iii. 14, 15. 
 
 HE significance of tlie Family in 
 its relations to revealed relio-iou 
 is not exliausted, until another 
 great fact is considered, ^dz.: 
 
 That, under all Dispensations 
 
 ALIKE, THE ChUECH OF GoD IS REPRE- 
 SENTED AS BEING His Family. In what 
 has alread}^ been said on the topics of adoption 
 and mediation, this has been shown in reference 
 to individual believers ; and as these collectively 
 constitute the Church on earth, this proj^osi- 
 tion will hold equally true of it. But the ob- 
 ject of this chapter will be to exhibit the testi- 
 monies which present the organized Church as 
 sustaining a household relation to Jehovah. 
 
 263 
 
264 THE FAMILY. 
 
 These are so numerous as to require a skilful 
 classification, in order to bring them all under 
 review. And when the more direct testimonies 
 have been recited, there will remain a large 
 body of Scripture, in which the general idea is 
 interwoven into the whole texture of the lan- 
 guage. It is one of the evidences of inspira- 
 tion, that the great doctrines of grace are con- 
 veyed to such an extent by implication. So 
 that, if a destructive criticism should succeed 
 in blotting out the formal and explicit state- 
 ments of Christian doctrine, it would be found 
 so thoroughly incorporated in other passages, 
 that the entire web of Scripture language must 
 be torn to shreds before the truth could be eli- 
 minated. This is just one of those marvellous 
 expedients of Divine wisdom which brings to 
 nought all the subtlety of human exposition, 
 when it undertakes the sad work of obliterating 
 the record which God has given of Himself. 
 
 Perhaps the faintest allusion to the Family 
 will be found in those places where the sanc- 
 tuary of public xoorship is denominated the 
 Lords house. David, for example, felt it a re- 
 
THE CHURCH THE FAMILY OF GOD. 265 
 
 preach that he should "dwell in a house of 
 cedar, while the Ark of God dwelt in curtains." 
 Yet at the dedication of the temple on Mount 
 Moriah, which originated in this pious thought, 
 Solomon, his son, confessed, "Will God in very- 
 deed dwell with men on the earth'? Behold, 
 the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot 
 contain Thee ; how much less this house which 
 I have built?" We cite this passage in prefer 
 ence to all others of this class, because it em- 
 bodies the idea that the temple, as the taber- 
 nacle before it, was the dwelling-place of Je- 
 hovah. Here, as a Father, He gathered the 
 childi'en of His covenant, and nourished them 
 with the ordinances of His worship. This was 
 His earthly house, in which was the symbol of 
 His special presence ; making the Family rela- 
 tion to underlie the form of the language. We 
 do not, however, emphasize this, beyond mak- 
 ing it a point of departui'e to another view. 
 
 Examine then the force of the same term^ as 
 applied to the collective people of Israel. In 
 places almost beyond count, they are styled the 
 House or Family of God. Take but one ex 
 
266 THE FAMILY. 
 
 ample from Amos : " Hear this word that the 
 Lord hath spoken against you, O children of 
 Israel, against the whole Family which I brought 
 up from the land of Egypt, saying, you only 
 have I known of all the families of the earth." 
 This is but a specimen of those passages in 
 ^hich the whole people of Israel are considered 
 under the aspect of a Family; and a Family 
 brought up and nourished by Jehovah himself, 
 so as to be His Family, to which He was bound 
 by peculiar ties. The reader need not be told 
 that this is the historic style in which the 
 ancient joeople of God are addressed through- 
 out the Old Testament : "I will be the God of 
 all the families of Israel, and they shall be My 
 people;" "for I am a Father to Israel, and 
 Ephraim is My first-born." 
 
 But we may rise a grade higher, to those 
 passages in which the Church is definitely 
 styled the House of God. "Every house is 
 builded by some man ; but He that built all 
 things is God. And Moses verily was faithful 
 in all his house, as a servant ; but Christ, as a 
 Son over His own house, whose house are we." 
 
THE CHURCH THE FAMILY OF GOD. 267 
 
 Again, in the same epistle, Christ is called "An 
 High Priest over the house of God ;" which can 
 only be His Church. Paul, too, delivers cer- 
 tain instructions to his son Timothy, that he 
 *' may know how he ought to behave himself in 
 the house of God, which is the Church of the 
 living God." And Peter declares that " judg- 
 ment must begin at the house of God ;" which 
 is put in contrast with "them that obey not 
 the Gospel of God." The conclusion cannot 
 be escaped, that the Church, as a spiritual body, 
 is viewed, in all these passages, as a common 
 household, over which God presides as the 
 Father of all His Eedeemed. This inference 
 will be sealed by the definite testimony of St. 
 Paul in Ephesians: " For this cause I bow my 
 knees unto ohe Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 of whom the whole Family in heaven and earth 
 is named." All the saints upon earth, all the 
 glorified in heaven, and those elder sons of 
 God, the elect angels, gathered into one body, 
 of which Christ is the head ; these form " the 
 whole Family " of God for ever, deriving theu' 
 name from Him as the Everlasting Father, as 
 
2G8 'I'lll'J FAMlhV. 
 
 the paronomasia iu tlio original most clearly 
 shows. 
 
 With those explicit statements before us, 
 there is no occasion to introduce the incidental 
 references to the Family as the ground idea of 
 the Church, running through innumerable other 
 passages. Indeed, the attempt would only con- 
 struct for the reader a concordance of texts, 
 without, perhaps, strengthening the conviction 
 already produced. 
 
 It will be niore satisfactory to trace the 
 points of resemblance between the two, show- 
 ing how the essential featiu'es of the Family 
 are reproduced in the Church. One or two of 
 the most stril^ing will answer all the XDurposes 
 of illustration. 
 
 1. Look, then, at the i^rinciples upon which 
 fellowship or conuin(nlo)i rests In both. The 
 fellowship t)f the Family does not found upon 
 mere association, nor simply upon commiuiity 
 of interest, as in society at large; but upon 
 community of origin, upon natural relationship, 
 tind upon instinctive allection. It is of one 
 blood, and a common life pervi\des the ^Yhole. 
 
•nil-; ciiriicii riU'; i^wmilv ok (jod. ti(')t) 
 
 Tho Family is uii orf^-anisiu ; it {^tows by vir- 
 tiio of its own lil'o I'rom its proper root, and 
 raiiiitios into all the branches which pprin^j^ 
 froni a common trnnk. *Tho children of a honso 
 are boiind to each other by tho one tie that con- 
 nects tliem with tho parents from whom they 
 are born. As the circle of relationship widens, 
 the tie is less close, but it still shoots from th(» 
 stem which is tho original support oi" all. 
 There may be a dozen circles, but they are all 
 concentric ; and it is this that gives unity to the 
 tribe, and even to tho nation into which event- 
 ually it expands. With all the variations, then, 
 of individual temperament — nay, with all the an- 
 tagonisms to which this gives rise — there is a 
 prevailing harmony, which the utmost per- 
 verseness can scarcely destroy, springing out of 
 this oneness of origin. All bt^ar the same name 
 as their signature ; all live upon the same 
 bounty, and are sheltered by the same provi- 
 dence ; all obey the same authority, are moulded 
 by tho same discipline, and are at last heirs to 
 the same possessions ; while through all these 
 interests runs the electric current of an instuic- 
 
270 THE FAMILY. 
 
 tive affection, making each member a partaker 
 of one common Family life. This is the basis 
 upon which the communion of the household is 
 foimded ; it is the fellowship of blood. 
 
 Precisely so with the communion of the 
 saints. It does not rest upon the accidents of 
 living together in one place, of worshipping to- 
 gether in one building, of sitting together under 
 the same ministrations of the gospel ; much 
 less does it depend upon the conventionahsms 
 of ordinary society. These are all ahke con- 
 tingent, hable to be interrupted, and are con- 
 tinually broken through, without impairing the 
 integrity of that spuitual fellowship which 
 abides amidst hfe's constant changes. Nor is 
 this fellowship to be confounded with those 
 sweet friendships which turn upon the natui-al 
 qualities, which render some more agreeable to 
 us than others. HoAvever it may be height- 
 ened by these when they chance to combine, 
 they are wholly distinct in thek origin and in 
 theii' nature. Christian communion, as the 
 term imports, rests upon a common relation 
 sustained to one Head. It is never found ex- 
 
THE CHUECH THE FAMILY OF GOD. 271 
 
 cept with those who have been redeemed by 
 the same sacrifice, who exercise the same faith 
 in Him by whom it was offered, who have been 
 renewed by the same Spirit, cherish the same 
 hopes, and are expectants of the same joy. It 
 is the one hfe manifesting itself in the same 
 experience, which brings them together as one 
 Family in Christ. They have substantially the 
 same conflicts, are agitated by similar doubts 
 and fears, breathe the same desires after holi- 
 ness, engage in the same toils, and look to one 
 heaven as their common home. They are the 
 children of the same Father ; and whenever the 
 seal of that parentage can be discovered in a 
 common spiritual likeness, the heart opens with 
 a spontaneous love, which is as truly the in- 
 stinct of the new nature, as the Family affec- 
 tion is an instinct of the old. 
 
 Here, then, is where we are to look for the 
 true imity of the Church ; not in massive eccle- 
 siastical organizations, which are but imperfect 
 representations of it ; not in the shallow senti- 
 mentalism which affects the language of Chris- 
 tian love, while it betrays the very principles 
 
272 THE FAMILY. 
 
 upon which a mascuhne and vktuons love can 
 alone rest. The true unity is a '' unit}^ of the 
 spirit in the bonds of peace ;" a unity in faith, 
 a unity in love, a unity in the graces of the 
 Spmt, a unity in Christ, the one Source of the 
 one life which all possess. Blessed be God, 
 this is a unity which is not broken by diversity 
 in opinion, by variety of individual character, 
 nor by distribution into parts and sections. 
 It is a unity that overrides the artificial grades 
 into which society may choose to arrange it- 
 self. It takes up rich and poor, learned and 
 ignorant, bond and free, as the constituents of 
 one and the same household of faith ; and out 
 of the very discords of jarring disj)utation pro- 
 duces a harmony in which these blend. For, 
 most certainly, the unity that rises out of diver- 
 sity, and causes that diversity to recognize its 
 essential agreements, is a deeper and freer unity 
 than can ever proceed from a dull and monoto- 
 nous uniformity. It is just the difference be- 
 tween the prolonged note of a single chord and 
 the blending of a thousand strings, in the full 
 harmony of song. But of this spiritual fellow- 
 
THE CHURCH THE FAMILY OF GOD. 273 
 
 ship in the Church of God there is no perfect 
 earthly type but that found in the Family. 
 
 2. A second illustration may be drawn from 
 the discipline ichich is exercised iii both. In 
 the State, as the empire of law, the suffering 
 visited uj^on transgression is predominantly 
 penal. The sword in the hand of the magis- 
 trate is to punish. It smites in the interest 
 of justice. And though the State may j)ro- 
 perly seek to arrest crime by methods of pre- 
 vention, and to devise measures of reform,, 
 still it is a sad omen when this spirit is pushed 
 to an extent which obscures the sense of a ro- 
 bust justice, so necessary to the preservation 
 of society. It is not requisite to pursue this 
 thought further, however tempting the digres- 
 sion may be. It will be seen at a glance that, 
 in this particular, the province of the Church 
 and of the Family is entirely different. Here 
 the object is not punishment, but correction. 
 The ends in both are disciplinary. This is pre- 
 eminently true of the Church, because it realizes 
 the purposes of gi'ace ; and it is true of the 
 Family, because the system of grace subordi- 
 
274 THE FAMILY. 
 
 nates it as a mighty agency for the training and 
 salvation of man. A father may chastise his 
 child, even with severity, but it is always in 
 measure, and under the prompting of the 
 purest love. He corrects that he may save. 
 Whilst, in reference to his own authority, the 
 act may be vindicatory, in reference to the 
 child it is reformatory. As soon as the ends 
 of discipline are attained, all motive ceases for 
 the infliction of paiD, and the instinct of pa- 
 rental love pleads for the sufferer. The effort 
 is studiously made to mingle smiles with 
 frowns, and rewards with censures ; so that, un- 
 der their combined influence, the character may 
 be formed to habits of vktue. 
 
 In like mariner, God sets these two, the one 
 over against the other, to the end that man may 
 be wise. When our sins provoke His just dis- 
 pleasure, it is the displeasure of a Father who 
 is grieved, rather than of a Judge who is in- 
 censed. And the reader well knows that, when 
 His discipline is expounded in the Scriptures, 
 it is under this very analogy, which is taken 
 fi'om the Family. " Whom the Lord lovetb 
 
THE ClIUKCil THE FAMILY OF GOD. 275 
 
 He chastenetb ; and scoiirgeth every son whom 
 He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God 
 dealeth with you as with sons ; for what son is 
 he whom the Father chasteneth not ? But if 
 ye be without chastisement, whereof all are 
 partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." 
 Similar language is used in the Old Testament. 
 Speaking of David's seed, which means the 
 seed of Christ, of whom David is here but the 
 tyj)e, God is represented as sa^dng, "If his 
 children forsake My law, and walk not in My 
 judgments ; if they break My statutes, and 
 keep not My commandments, then will I visit 
 their transgression with the rod, and their ini- 
 quity with stripes ; nevertheless. My loving- 
 kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor 
 suffer My faithfulness to fail." Language 
 could not more accurately discriminate the visi- 
 tation which is penal, fi'om the suffering that is 
 corrective. And in this very distinction we see 
 how deep the analogy hes, by which the Church 
 is intei'preted to us as being the true Family of 
 God on earth. 
 
ii&- 
 
 CHAPTEB VI. 
 
 The Family in its Offices of Instruction 
 AND Worship. 
 
 ^"^bvls r?L 4^ r,,'' w"^ 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 THE FAJIILY ly ITS OFFICES OF iiV"- 
 ST RUCTION AND WORSHIP. 
 
 *'And ye shall teach them jfotir children, speaking of them lohen 
 thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest hy the 
 way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." — 
 Deuterovomy xi. 19. 
 
 HIS chapter vrill close the ex- 
 amination vre are making of the 
 Afr^ constitution and desis"n of the 
 
 Family. The subject is, indeed, 
 T- far from being exhausted ; but the 
 object of this essay has been simply 
 to jDresent it in its general aspect, with- 
 out entering minutely into details. We shall 
 be content, therefore, with offering the only 
 topic which remains, the Adaptation of the 
 Family to Offices of Religious Ixsteuctidx 
 AND Worship. 
 
 From the earliest period in the history of the 
 
 Church, the duty of Family instruction has 
 
 279 
 
280 THE FAMILY. 
 
 » 
 
 been emphasized as the most important of all 
 agencies in perpetuating the knowledge of 
 Divine truth. In Deuteronomy xi. 19, the 
 command is thus laid upon Israel : " Therefore 
 shall ye lay up these My words in your heart 
 and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon 
 your hand, that they may be as fi'ontlets be- 
 tween your eyes ; and ye shall teach them your 
 children, speaking of them when thou sittest 
 in thine house, and when thou walkest by the 
 way, when thou liest down, and when thou 
 risest u]d." The same injunction is renewed 
 in the parting address of Moses, just before he 
 ascended Mount Nebo to die : " Set youi' Hearts 
 unto all the words which I testify among you 
 this day; which ye shall command your chil- 
 dren to observe to do all the words of this 
 law." In the new Testament, it is only neces- 
 sary to refer to Paul's commendation of Timo- 
 thy, as one that " fi'om a child had known the 
 holy Scriptures," and in whom the immense 
 advantages of a pious descent were signalized, 
 as he "called to remembrance the unfeigned 
 faith that dwelt first in his grandmother Lois, 
 
OFFICES OF INSTRUCTION AND WORSHIP. 281 
 
 and in his mother Eunice." Without pausing 
 to collate the testimonies upon this topic, it 
 will serve our pur230se better to indicate tho 
 conspicuous advantages possessed by the 
 Family for the transmission of this traditional 
 knowledge and influence. 
 
 For example, the ]jarent is the only teacher 
 who is 2:>(ir7nitted to stand at the beginnings of 
 human life, and to shape the first thoughts 
 •which arise in the mind. The infant is en- 
 dowed at birth with certain capacities, as yet 
 wholly undeveloped. The very senses, which 
 are the inlets of all knowledge, requh-e to be 
 trained to their respective functions : the eye 
 to see, the ear to hear, the touch to discern. 
 Gradually the involuntary movements of the 
 muscles and limbs are brought under the con- 
 trol of the will. The imperceptible education 
 of the mental faculties begins in the cradle, far 
 beyond the point which the memory is able to 
 reach. The first observation has to be made ; 
 the first comparison to be instituted ; the first 
 j"udgment to be framed ; and so onward, until, 
 at matui'ity, the perfect man is developed in the 
 
282 THE FAMILY. 
 
 furniture of all his powers, corporeal and in- 
 tellectual. 
 
 Just here, at the very springs of our being, 
 the parent is apj)ointed to stand. He watches 
 the mind, as it first awakes to conscious activity. 
 He answers its earliest questions, when it looks 
 forth in w^onder upon the strange world into 
 ■which it is introduced. He seizes the first 
 thoughts, and du'ects them upward to God, who 
 has "made ever^^thing beautiful in its time." 
 He shapes the first feeling of reverence in a re- 
 ligious mould, and turns the earhest affection 
 towards the Great Being who is the common 
 Father of us all. Is it possible to overstate 
 these advantages of his position for giving 
 shape and dii'ection to the immortal spirit 
 w^hich opens its career in his hand? Hence 
 the proverbial power of these infantile impres- 
 sions. However they may be overborne, or 
 seemingly erased, they abide with a secret and 
 reserved power. When disappointments shall 
 break the spell of life's delusions ; when sick- 
 ness and sorrow shall place us under arrest; 
 or when death comes, with its fierce execution 
 
OFFICES OF IXSTKUCTION AND WORSHIP. 2S3 
 
 upon all earthly hopes — how often they arise, 
 to lead the soul back to God and to peace. 
 Eternity alone will reveal the value of these 
 early associations, as the silver threads which 
 have bound even the worst of sinners to a des- 
 tiny of blessedness and glory in the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 Consider, next, the instinctive affections lohich 
 bring their aid, both in imparting aiid in re- 
 ceiving instruction. Fortunately, these affec- 
 tions do not depend uj)on the will for their ex- 
 istence, but have their ground in nature. The 
 will may regulate their exercise, but does not 
 determine their being. Thus the child, with 
 the supreme sense of dependence which char- 
 acterizes its first experience, looks up to the 
 parent with a reverence that is essentially re- 
 ligious. It knows no being who is greater, or 
 higher. The parent stands to it as God Him- 
 self, in whom it consciously lives and moves. 
 The whole being of the child is at first bound 
 within that of the parent, who appears to it 
 almost as creator. The thought is almost over- 
 whelming in its solemnity, that in any human 
 
284 THE FAMILY. 
 
 relation we sliould stanel in such resemblance 
 to the Infinite God, as to give being to another 
 like ourselves. No wonder the parent should 
 be charged with such a providence as that which 
 Avatches over the fortunes of the child, and that 
 he should be filled with such a wealth of love 
 as stumbles at no sacrifice for its good. And 
 no wonder that, in the child's view, a sort of 
 " Divinity should hedge about" the parent, and 
 that affection should be mingled with a species 
 of awe. But what must be the influence of this 
 in rendering the child docile and tractable ? 
 "What weight belongs to the utterances of one 
 Avhose wisdom, and power, and love are to the 
 child the very shadow of the Divine! What 
 school can equal that of the Family, where the 
 teacher stands at the fountain head of our being,, 
 armed with prerogatives so sacred as these ! 
 
 The complement to both these thoughts is 
 found in the parent's authority to enforce his 
 teachings. Education does not consist solely 
 in the communication of knowledge. Its prim- 
 ary aim is discipline. The dormant faculties 
 need to be aroused and developed. By a 
 
OFFICES OF instructio:n and worship. 285 
 
 gentle and constant compulsion they must be 
 held to certain exercises, until the permanent 
 habits are formed which make the student and 
 the thinker. This is, if possible, more con 
 spicuously true in the sphere of morals. Vir- 
 tue must not only be inculcated as a doctrine, 
 it must be practised as a principle, and be ac- 
 quired as a habit. The precepts which are en- 
 joined must be reproduced in successive acts, 
 until the character itself is cast perfectly into 
 their mould. Here all that has been said 
 above apphes with pre-eminent force. Armed 
 with despotic authority, which distinctly re- 
 flects the Divine supremacy, the parent en- 
 forces his instructions upon the will. The 
 child is held with a firm hand ^ to the practice 
 of what he learns. The indolence and the re- 
 beUion of his nature are both held under con- 
 trol, until the duty, which was at first ii'ksome, 
 becomes easy by repetition. Of course, we will 
 not be understood as endorsing the Pelagian 
 view of making men Christians only by the 
 power of habit. But if the Holy Spirit must 
 renew the soul " dead in trespasses and sins," 
 
2S6 THE FAMILY. 
 
 we need not overlook the training influence of 
 such an institute as the Family, in which men 
 are fitted to discharge the offices of virtue which 
 devolve upon them in life. To this end, the 
 teacher first provided for the young is supplied 
 with the high authority to enforce the practice 
 of knowledge as fast as it is acquired, until the 
 confirmed habit shall establish it as a second 
 nature, and make it as simple as to breathe. 
 
 All this is not accompHshed at once ; but a 
 long novitiate, covering nearly 07ie third part 
 of human life, affords the parent oppjortiinit'if 
 for repeating and deepening these impressions. 
 It matters not what may occur to interrupt the 
 continuity of the lessons. If the Family is per 
 mitted to remain unbroken by death, the pres- 
 sure of parental mfiuence is always felt. Even 
 the child at school is not removed fi*om it. He 
 is surrounded by it as an atmosphere ; and 
 every recollection of home carries him back 
 under its unseen power. The length and 
 steadiness of this pressure is one of the lead- 
 ing features of this beneficent discipline. 
 Though it is modified each year, to accommo- 
 
OFFICES OF INSTRUCTION AND WORSHIP. 287 
 
 date itself to the child's expansion and growth, 
 this very change only adds freshness to its 
 power ; which becomes more energetic just in 
 proportion as it is more relaxed in its authority, 
 and calls into j^lay the voluntary virtue of the 
 child. 
 
 Dui'ing this long period, there is the advan- 
 tage of contiguity to those icho are under 
 training, and the manifold forms in lohich 
 instruction is given. As to the former, the 
 jDarent enjoys a sort of omnipresence. In 
 earlier years, the child is constantly under the 
 eye of its guardians ; and these are the years 
 w^hen the foundations of character are laid. 
 When the growth of years removes it from this 
 closeness of inspection, the influence which this 
 has exerted carries the presence of the parent 
 mysteriously along in a certain sense of its 
 power, even where it is not visible. It is a 
 profound trath, and as mysterious as it is true, 
 this diffusion of parental oversight, which 
 reaches on to the years of our manhood. Per- 
 haps it is one of the features of that resemblance 
 which makes the parent so much the repie- 
 
288 THE fa:,iily. 
 
 sentative of God in the household. We will 
 not press these analogies. "We will leave them 
 to the reader's own thought, with only this sug- 
 gestion : that in the modified ereatorship of the 
 parent, in the power of that instinctive rever- 
 ence and affection by which he holds the child, 
 in the absoluteness of his authority, and in the 
 seeming omnipresence of his influence, there is 
 much that invests the relation with awe, and 
 which explains the position of the fifth com- 
 mandment in the decalogue. 
 
 In w^hat school but this does the teacher 
 come in contact with all the shifting moods of 
 the pupil — in his seasons of elevation and glad- 
 ness, and in moments of depression and ennui 
 — in the hours when the bounding heart pours 
 out' its love in all the gush of enthusiasm, and 
 when, coy and shy, it retires within itself, and 
 chews the cud of its own reflections ? In these 
 varying tempers, the skilful parent drops the 
 seeds of religious knowledge in exact accord- 
 ance with the mood; so that in a thousand 
 forms it challenges conviction, and the truth, 
 resisted in one shape, is accepted in another. 
 
OFFICES OF INSTRUCTION AND WORSHIP. 289 
 
 Combine all these, and the value of the Fa- 
 mily, as an institute for conveying religious 
 instruction, is seen to be paramount ; fulfilling 
 thus one of the most important functions of 
 the Church, which, therefore, subsidizes it to 
 accomplish her own high and gracious ends. 
 
 The Scrip tui'es equally emphasize the house- 
 hold as the altar upon which the fire of a pure 
 religious worship should ever burn. They de- 
 clare that God " will pour out His fury upon 
 the Families that call not upon His name." 
 The patriarch Abraham was specially com- 
 mended for his observance of family religion : 
 "for I know him, that he will command his 
 children and his household after him, and they 
 shall keej) the way of the Lord." In the New 
 Testament, the houses are carefully noted 
 which gave a shelter to the infant Church, un- 
 der its new organization ; and the pious family 
 at Bethany afforded a constant retreat to the 
 weary Saviour, when He sought refreshment in 
 the toil of His work. Wherever the ark of God 
 resides, it brings a blessing with it, like that 
 which rested upon the house of Obededom. 
 
290 THE FAMILY. 
 
 The Family is peculiarly fitted in its arrange- 
 ments to preserve the worship of God upon 
 earth. The head of it, if pious, is a personal 
 representative of true rehgion to all beneath 
 his wing. The influence of a godly character 
 is diffused through all the relations which he 
 sustains, and the example of his devotions 
 throws a savour of worship over the household. 
 The spiiit of consecration rests upon it, con 
 stituting it a temple, in which God delights to 
 reveai His presence. 
 
 Then there are distinct acts of worship in 
 which the household is daily led. As often as 
 bread is broken, the solemn blessing of God is" 
 invoked, as " the Giver of every good and per- 
 fect gift ;" and in their daily repasts the house 
 is conducted in worship before Him who opens 
 His hand, and supplies the wants of every hving 
 thing. When the morning and evening sacri- 
 fice is ofiered,*and the pious father leads his 
 offspring in daily prayer at the throne of grace, 
 the Family is seen in its true character as the 
 Church of God. When bereavement clothes 
 the house in mournmg ; at each recurring an- 
 
OFFICES OF INSTRUCTION AND WOKSHIP. 291 
 
 niversary of bii'th and death ; and upon those 
 occasions of reunion, when the scattered mem- 
 bers are re-assembled around the paternal 
 hearth ; O ! how various and how solemn are 
 the acts of worship, in which the Family ap- 
 j)ears as the Church in miniature ! On each 
 recurring Sabbath, when the father and the 
 mother sit at either end of the family pew, 
 with their offspring between them, does not 
 the great congregation appear as a collection 
 of smaller churches aggregated in one large as- 
 sembly of worshippers ? 
 
 But enough. If the Family holds the know- 
 ledge of God amongst men in the instraction 
 it affords, much more is it the depository of 
 His worship. Each pious household is a sepa- 
 rate fibre of those roots by which the Church 
 of the hving God takes hold upon the earth, 
 and preserves its existence in a sinful world. 
 
 
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