All But has the domestic constitution a reference only to the present world and its perishable interests? By no means. God's arrangements for man view him, and are chiefly intended for him, in his relation to eternity. "Every family has, in fact, a sacred character belonging to it, which may indeed be forgotten or disdained; but the family is constituted, and ought therefore to be conducted, with the prospect of the rising generation following that which precedes it, not only to the grave, but to eternity." Now, since all the institutes of God look to another world as their chief and ultimate reference, surely, surely, that institute which is the most powerful of all in the formation of character, must be considered as set up with a special intention to prepare the subjects of it for "glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life.” No one judges aright of this household compact, nor can any be in a capacity rightly to perform its duties, who does not consider this double relation which it bears to the state and to the Church, and who does not view it as a preparatory system for training up the good citizen and the real Christian. And for these objects, how great is the power which it really possesses! how considerable is the mutual influence of husbands and wives in moulding each other's tastes, or modifying each other's dispositions; of parents in forming the character of their children and servants; and of brothers and sisters in stimulating and guiding each other's pursuits! The power of other constitutions is remote, occasional, and feeble; but this is close, constant, and mighty. With other systems the character is only casually brought into contact; but this always touches us. We live, and move, and have our being in the very centre of it. So powerful is the influence of this association on its members, that it has preserved them, by the blessing of God, in the possession of piety and morality, in times and places of the greatest corruption of manners. "On what vantage ground does the conscientious Christian parent here stand! The springs of public and social life may be greatly corrupted; the nation in which he dwells may degenerate into licentiousness, into idolatry, or into the most daring infidelity. Retiring then to this sacred enclosure, he may entrench himself, and there, lifting up a standard for God, either wait the approach of better days, or leave a few behind him on whom the best blessings of those days will certainly descend. Though the heavens be shut up and there be no dew, the little enclosure which he cultivates, like the fleece of Gideon, will discover evident marks of the Divine favour. It actually seems as though in the wide scene where the vices of the age may, and can, reign triumphant, this were some secure and sacred retreat, into which they dare not, cannot, enter." It must be evident, however, that the great ends of the domestic economy cannot be kept in view, nor the moral power of it displayed, unless the heads of it rightly understand their duty, and have a disposition properly to perform it. They must be Christ ians in reality, or no Christian government can be maintained. Where religion is wanting as the basis of their union, these happy fruits of it cannot be expected. The inferior and secondary object may be accomplished in the absence of parental piety, though neither so certainly nor so effectually; but as to the more sublime and permanent end of the family constitution, which connects its members with the Church of God on earth and with the company of the redeemed in heaven, this cannot be looked for where the father and the mother are destitute of true religion. Happy then would it be for all who stand related by these household ties, if the bonds of nature were hallowed and rendered permanent by those of Divine grace! Domestic happiness in many respects resembles the manna which was granted to the Israelites in the wilderness. Like that precious food, it is the gift of God which cometh down from heaven; it is not to be purchased with money; it is dispensed alike to the rich and to the poor, and accommodates itself to every taste; it is given with an abundance that meets the wants of all who desire it; to be obtained it must be religiously sought in God's own way of bestowing it; and is granted to man as a refreshment during his pilgrimage through this wilderness to the celestial Canaan. HOW I WAS SAVED. O every wife, whose husband is the slave to liquor, I say Hope and Pray! Do not give up to despair; and your husband has any sense of religion or affection for you, he will, by the grace of God, reform. if For ten years alcohol was my master, and for seven years I battled fiercely to overcome him. Sometimes I would abstain for several months-once for six months-then, trusting to my own strength, would fall. My angel wife bore her troubles without a murmur, and though delicate and nervous, never gave way to despair; was always most kind and affectionate, and clinging to my neck, would say, "Poor dear John, how I pity you! but let us Hope and Pray, and you will yet conquer." We did hope and pray, and God, in His mercy, answered our prayers, and a happier home on earth than ours cannot be found. We are now old and grey, and are looking forward to that happy home above. No memory of the past is ever allowed to mar our perfect peace, for we know that the blood of the Lamb cleanseth from all sin. My wife says, "I love you all the more, John, for I know how you struggled; and I feel proud that I was the instrument in God's hands of saving you. I never, even in the darkest moments, regretted marrying you; for, I thought, if I had not, you would have been lost." Oh, if all wives were like mine, how many more might be saved, if they would adopt her course instead of a harsh one. TO THE BEREAVED. PES, thou mayest weep, for Jesus Such tears as those thou shed- When, for the living or the dead, As that in which He took a part. Turn thee to Him-to Him alone; We will not speak to thee, but sit, In prayerful silence, by thy side; Grief has its ebbs and flows-'tis fit Our love should wait the ebbing tide. T THE MOTHER OF JOHN WESLEY. was about the year 1689 that she became the wife of Mr. Wesley, when she was about nineteen or twenty. She had nineteen children, most of whom lived to be educated, and ten came to man's and woman's estate. Her son John mentions the calm serenity with which his mother transacted business, wrote letters, and conversed, surrounded by her thirteen children. All these were educated by herself; and as she was a woman who lived by rule, she methodized and arranged everything so exactly, that to each operation she had a time, and time sufficient to transact all the business of the family. It appears also, from several of their private papers, that she had no small share in managing the secular concerns of the rectory. Never was a more perfect code of laws than that laid down by Mrs. Wesley for the management of children, and no woman could have better opportunity for testing the operation of these laws by experience. From their highest duties to God, from the lisping of their infant prayers down to their respectful and courteous manner of speaking to servants, nothing was neglected; and when we add, what is stated by her son, that she even taught them as infants to cry softly, there remains no further evidence necessary to prove the practical efficiency of her plans. Much, however, in Mrs. Wesley's opinion, depended upon that essential point which, according to the custom of the times, was called breaking their wills. Had this been expressed as the teaching of proper obedience, it would be at once more intelligible, and better adapted to the habits of the present day. But Mrs. Wesley was strong and earnest here. Indeed, with her there could be no half conviction, as there were no half measures or half duties. In writing on this subject, she uses the following impressive and forcible language: "I cannot yet dismiss this subject. As self-will is the root of all sin and misery, so whatever cherishes this in children insures their after-wretchedness and irreligion; whatever checks and mortifies it, promotes their future happiness and piety. This is still more evident if we further consider that religion is nothing else than the doing of the will of God, and not our own; that the one grand impediment to our temporal and eternal happiness being this selfwill, no indulgence of it can be trivial, no denial unprofitable. Heaven or hell depends on this; so that the parent who studies to subdue it in his child, works together with God in the renewing and saving a soul." This is strong language; but so everything is strong, and real, and deep, and true, which has good and evil depending upon it to a nature like that of Mrs. Wesley; and we find that with all this Spartan stoicism, never was parent more beloved and confided in than she was by all her numerous children. Her own words can best explain the true meaning of her system, a meaning most fully understood, appreciated, and complied with by those who were the subjects of her rigorous discipline. "In the esteem of the world,” she says, "they pass for kind and indulgent whom I call cruel parents; who permit their children to get habits which they know must be afterwards broken. Nay, some are so stupidly fond, as in sport to teach their children to do things which, in a while after, they severely beat them for doing. When the will of a child is totally subdued, and it is brought to revere and stand in awe of its parents, then a great many childish follies and inadvertencies may be passed by." "Mrs. Wesley," says Adam Clarke, "never considered herself discharged from the care of her children. Into all situations she followed them with her prayers and counsels; and her sons, even when at the university, found the utility of her wise and parental instruction. They proposed to her all their doubts, and consulted her in all their difficulties." How she could find opportunity for such deep and earnest occupation is a mystery not easily solved by those whose constant cry is "want of time;" only that system and method may be made to work wonders in every department of life. And Mrs. Wesley was systematic in everything. Her devotional exercises appear never to have been neglected under any circumstances, and these claimed her faithful attention three times every day-morning, noon, and night. As her children grew older, and so numerous that she could not herself retire with each one alone, she so arranged these duties that the eldest retired alone with the youngest, and so on in their order, each child having thus the opportunity every day of reading, meditating, and receiving or imparting religious instruction without interruption. But the most remarkable feature of Mrs. Wesley's character was its moral grandeur-not shown in the assumption of dignity or greatness, but rather in the true simplicity resembling that which is recognised in some of the noblest structures of Grecian architecture. This moral dignity was chiefly evidenced by the influence which the mother always exercised over her sons; not |