the glories of the world; disappointment and grief may lay waste its fairest hopes; crowns may be trampled in the dust; thrones may be overturned; states may be convulsed; the birthright of freemen, the legacy of heroes, may be trodden beneath the profane feet of anarchy or popular fury; but the believer, though not untouched by the sadness, is no more affected by the loss, than if he were the inhabitant of another sphere. His treasure is hid where no convulsions can impair it, no enemies can snatch it away, any more than they could snatch the enthroned Redeemer from the Father's right hand.

Oh! what safety! Omnipotence its guardian, divine faithfulness its pledge! All may be darkness and gloom around his earthly path; a sea of trouble-billow after billow-may roll over his head; the relations in which the tenderest affections of nature seek shelter, may all be left unto him desolate, and the gathering clouds of coming wo may clothe the whole sky with blackness; still, looking through all the gloom, he can see "the blessed hope" undimmed, like a star upon the brow of night, of which the storms of earth cannot quench a single ray. Yes, thou afflicted, tempesttossed, and weary! the waves are numbered—the last rough billow will bear thee on its bosom into the haven of eternal rest, and there shall be no more sea. Through all the loud tumult of the storm there comes a voice, most distinct in its gentleness: "Behold, I come quickly!" When the gathering darkness is the blackest, it is the hour which foretells the dawn of day. Say, do not the first glimmering rays of the morning star already pierce the gloom, and tell thee, in the contrast, how sweet the rest will be after the toil-how calm the peace after the storm-how glorious the morning after night-how blessed heaven will be after earth?

MARRIAGE.

In the view both of God and man, a man's home is identified with himself; it reflects his character, and there we see him in his true character. Under God, the Christian is responsible for the ordering of his home according to the mind of the Lord, and for ruling it in the fear of God. Every thing about it should intimate that there dwells one who is crucified with Christ; nay, should leave upon the mind of all who enter it the conviction that God dwells there. While this earthly home reflects something of that heavenly home to which he hastens, it should still be evident that it is only the tent of a pilgrim here. It is easy to see how dishonoring to God, injurious to the Christian himself, fatal to his influence in the world, and disastrous to the members of the household it must be, if, with all his profession, the Christian discipline of his home is neglected, and if its furniture and arrangements, his style of living, and the general tone of his domestic intercourse, bear the stamp of worldliness.

The ordained head of the house is primarily responsible for its condition. He is responsible for the exercise of authority with which God has invested him. In a certain sense, he represents God there, not only in his rule, but also as with him it rests, under God, to provide for the household. Despicable as the man is in the eyes of his neighbors who indolently or heartlessly evades this obligation, and

throws himself a useless burden on the industry of wife and children, a Christian must guard, on the other hand, against being hampered by unseemly anxieties which imply a distrust of the providential care of a Heavenly Father; and especially must he be careful lest, under the plea of providing for his family, he should be cherishing a hurtful covetousness. How often do we find professing Christians excusing their niggardliness, and justifying their eager pursuit of worldly possessions, by a misapplication of that weighty utterance of inspiration: "But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own household, (margin-kindred,') he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." If they would read the passage in its connection, they would find that, instead of countenancing their selfish efforts to fill their homes with luxury, or to accumulate an inheritance for their children, it declares the man to be worse than an infidel who, under any such pretext, neglects to provide for destitute widows of the Church, especially if these be of his own kindred. Those who have misapplied it may find a correction of the injurious influence upon their own habits, in a prayerful consideration of another admonition in the same epistle: "Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. But they that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."

The Christian does not stand alone in his responsibility for the condition of the house of which he is the ordained head. Every member of the household shares the responsibility; but especially is it shared by his wife, whom we appropriately style his partner, who, with him, in fact, makes up the united head of the family, for as to all its relations they are no more twain; and only as they are truly one, and are

walking together as heirs of the grace of life, in mutual confidence and affectionate coöperation, can we ever see a Christian's home such as we have pictured it. We propose, therefore, to follow our remarks on the Christian's home, with a consideration of marriage and of conjugal duties, in the light of Scripture.

Marriage, which was designed in the original constitution of man, received a peculiar sanction in the express ordinance of God. When Adam received Eve, a gift from the hand of God, he recognized her as indeed bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh; and God ordained that there should be a perpetual memorial of that original oneness in marriage; "for, for this cause," said He, "shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Strong as were the ties which bound him to the household of which he was originally a subordinate member, a time comes when even these ties must be sundered, and, in union closer and dearer than any relation of blood, with the woman of his choice, he is to become the head of another home.

The divine ordinance not only declares the sanctity of marriage, which takes precedence of all other human relations, but it plainly intimates the design of God that we should live, not in communities, but in distinct families.

not forbear to testify against the violation of this ordinance, in spirit if not in the very letter, by a practice, which is one of the greatest social evils of this land-the practice of husbands and wives escaping the cares of a household, and sacrificing the thousand endearments of home, by living in hotels and boarding-houses. Occasions may arise when a family must temporarily avail themselves of the accommodations of such establishments; but the husband and wife who make it their choice, from indolence or parsimony, to

escape cares, or to enjoy the so-called pleasures of society, trample upon the ordinance of God, show themselves incapable of appreciating the highest enjoyments of their relation; and, as most unworthy parents, they inflict incalculable injury upon their children, whom they deprive of all the advantages of home, and leave destitute of those hallowed associations which most of us cherish in our hearts till the latest moment of life. The best interests of society demand that it shall be considered disreputable to marry without a reasonable prospect of establishing a home; or, being married, to neglect the most strenuous efforts to maintain it.

The duties of this relation begin before marriage; and it is of the highest importance that our youth of either sex should have correct and Scriptural views of it before they take the irrevocable step. The fact that it is irrevocable may well lead them to solemn deliberation. Even in a worldly point of view, there can be no greater folly than to enter, without confirmed love and esteem, into a state of which love and esteem form at once the charm and the safeguard; and there are few greater wrongs which one human being can inflict upon another than to engage, by solemn and indissoluble vows, to love and cherish while life lasts, without knowing well to whom such a pledge is given, and on what it is based. The man who does so is as heartless as he is criminal; and the woman who does so, equally guilty, brings upon her own head a fearful retribution for her voluntary degradation of herself. Those who form such engagements on mercenary or frivolous grounds, are guilty of a mockery of sacred affection by which they attempt to deceive men, and of a deliberate perjury in which they mock God, whom they call to sanction the deceit.

It is lamentable to see the levity with which all that re