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In the spirit-land they "neither marry, nor are given in marriage,

Pure, passionless, spiritual, is
In heaven will be found, after

but are like the angels of God." every form of celestial existence. the completion of the drama of earth, one great redeemed family, that will be neither increased nor diminished in the progress of endless duration. This, then, is a subdivision of earth. "That was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual." Our progress is through a certain natural constitution here to the perfection of the spiritual constitution hereafter. "The first man is of the earth, earthy." And such are all they who descend from him. "As is the earth, such are they also that are earthy; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." The socialities of earth, the foundation of which is laid in the family constitution, being sanctified, become the socialities of heaven. Our pupilage below is brief. Our perfection in heaven will be complete.

What influence more strongly affects the memory in all the future, latest years of our life, than the recollection of the home circle? What sweetness, blended with what sadness, is there in the feeling! The sadness would prevail; it might deepen into melancholy, but for that beneficent provision, by which, having passed the period of childhood and youth, we enter the maturity of our years, and ourselves assume the prerogatives of the parental state, looking down with a more exquisite affection upon those below us. Thus we once looked up from the position of childhood to those above us. But, if the pleasure is enhanced, so is the responsibility. And responsibility is not without its healthful influence. Nay, its exercise is frequently with delight, preventing that stagnation, which might otherwise oppress the spirits. None enjoy more keenly the luxuries of the home circle, than those virtuous, pious parents, who have striven to cultivate on the right basis the socialities of home. These are the preparations for that better, blessed world, to which all God's children aspire.

The Family is a SANCTUARY. I use the term in a secondary The primal idea of the sanctuary is associated with some

sense.

thing holy and to be revered. And as it became a place of refuge to the fugitives, so I regard the family as, in an important sense, a refuge. Thus, in a literal sense, the common law regards a man's house as his castle, his natural place of protection and defence. Economically and morally considered, the family is the refuge, the protection, the defence of its members. If on earth there be a refuge for man, from earth's ills, toils, temptations, and calamities, it should be found there.

To the man of business, wearied with multiplied perplexities; to the industrious laborer, exhausted with the toil of the day; to the professional man, tired of the competition and strife that beset him on every side; to the politician, disgusted with partizan intrigues, and the scramble for office and power; to the traveler, returning from remote parts, to which curiosity or the love of gain had led him; to the sailor, long tossed on the stormy sea, perhaps a circumnavigator of the globe; to the soldier, who has periled his life in the "imminent deadly breach," or chased the phantom glory amid the dangers of the battle-field; to all who in any form are subject to the painful conditions and experiences of this busy, bustling life, how welcome the sight, the sensibilities, the charm of home; how refreshing to find one spot, where the heart can repose itself in quietude and contentment, undisturbed by the shade of a doubt that there every bosom beats a responsive welcome to the affection of his own; a welcome that greets him with a sincerity he is incapable of suspecting. Nay, even guilt, with all its penal sorrow and shame, will meet a tender, though reproving, look from those expectant eyes; and should the tear of penitence be detected on the cheek of the transgressor, who so quick to forgive the injury; so ready to inspire hope in the desponding bosom; so eager to spread the mantle of charity over all failings, as those devoted ones AT HOME? If thou art an unfaithful or neglectful husband, and hast left at home a fond and faithful wife; if thou art a prodigal son, and hast abandoned an anxious mother; if a wandering brother, and hast deserted thy lovely and affectionate sister—oh, return to the sweet spot of thy truest happiness, perhaps of thy glad and innocent childhood, linked as it is with a thousand precious and pleasant associations. Go there, and

refresh your wasted spirit at that pure fountain of domestic love. Then, if ever, will thy spirit burst forth in supplication to God! Oh, thou fond father or mother, when thou, like Joshua of old, dost say, As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," dost thou not feel thyself moving, in the strength of that resolution, to do a great work for God on earth? The mothers that have trained up sons for usefulness on earth, have also been preparing contributions for the happiness and glory of heaven.

The graces and virtues that are cultivated around the sanctified domestic circle, are types of heavenly things; adumbrations of the sweet perfections of thought, emotion, love, and devotion, that shall forever dwell in the bosoms of the redeemed, in glory. How sacred, then, should be the retirement of home! On that altar should the flame of devotion be perpetual and burning. Holy sacrifices should be daily witnessed there, and in every heart should the Holy Spirit be a welcome guest. A transporting assurance it would be, to know that all your family would meet in heaven! But no revelation could establish this so satisfactorily, as the devoted piety of all your family on earth. Blessed is the household, to which, like that of Bethany, Jesus loves to resort, to rejoice in its joys, to sympathize with its sorrows, and raise the affections of its inmates from earth to heaven, teaching (himself the resurrection and the life,) the certainty of the reunion of pious souls in a state of sinless purity, and of endless bliss. Thus may it be with all our loved ones. For such a consummation may we daily pray, and indefatigably toil. And may the grace of God help us to be "faithful in all our house" here, and happy with all our house, hereafter!

INFANT EDUCATION.

A MOTHER once asked a clergyman when she should begin the education of her child, and she told him it was then four years old.

"Madam," was the reply, "you have lost three years already. From the very first smile that gleams over an infant's face, your opportunity begins."

Original.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE YOUNG.

BY REV. ANSEL D. EDDY, D. D.

WE hope, in a brief series of articles, to awaken increased interest in the education and prosperity of the young, and to excite their minds and stimulate their efforts, in the attainment of spiritual and eternal life. There is no end, however high, at which we would stop, short of their everlasting good. Everything here is so important, so imperfect, and yet so progressive and so changing, that the very analogies of nature attest the truth of revelation, and forewarn of another and a nobler state to come. And it marks alike the goodness of God and man's worth in the scale of being, that the more we prepare for the future and the eternal, the better and the happier we are in the temporal and the present.

The age in which we live is remarkable for the bold and independent action of the young; and the earlier and more resolute they rush forward to the responsibilities and perils of life, the less care and anxiety seem to be felt to prepare them for its duties, and shield them from its dangers. We have become familiar with youthful adventure and daring, and from the multiplied wrecks that are strewed along the pathway of life, we have become familiar with the sad results of youthful discomfiture and failure; and almost every parent is expected to add another victim to the sacrificed thousands.

No one but an attentive observer has any correct idea of the proportion of youth that utterly fail of all success, usefulness, and good in this world. And there is not that difference between the sexes that is generally supposed. The early ruin of young men is, perhaps, more obvious, but tens of thousands of the unprotected daughters of the poor, the industrious, and often of the educated and refined, pass to obscurity and disgrace, while no eye follows their downward way. An army of twenty thousand of this class might, probably, be marshaled from a single city..

While more than one half of the young die before reaching the age of twelve years, more than one half the surviving utterly fail of success and virtue, and early crowd the abodes of infamy and the grave.

We have made an estimate on this subject, and have recorded the results of thorough and repeated examination. We regard, then, the journal which we present to the public as having special claims to patronage and attention, and the subject before us as solemnly appealing to every parent and guardian of the young; and while we make our appeals to them, we would solicit the sympathies and prayers of all to whose hands they are entrusted.

Twelve youth became associated and engaged in different pursuits in the same place. A few years since, but two remained, and one was closing the eyes of the other in death. The solitary survivor, standing over the graves of his associates, became alarmed, disclosed the course of their indulgence, and the causes of their disgrace and death.

Fifteen other youth entered together on the active duties of life, with flattering prospects. Twelve have already died in disgrace, and the remaining three are fast following in their steps.

From an examination respecting young laborers, in four different kinds of business, the following result appeared:-Out of one hundred and fifty engaged in the same occupation, only thirty maintained a respectable character; the remaining are either dead or abandoned. Two-thirds of those engaged in another branch of business became dissolute, and failed of success. In another, three-fourths were immoral and ruined; and in still another branch of labor, from thirty-four young men, only eight preserved habits of sobriety, and escaped early disgrace and death.

This investigation was not in the dense crowds of the city, where temptations are pressing on every side, but in the rural districts, where everything would seem to favor sobriety and virtue, and ensure success.

An examination in cities, among the mercantile and the professional classes, would no doubt add to the fearfulness of this picture. We are all interested in the living, and watch in hope the

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