there must be one there, unless the people are heathen or infidels. A
church is a society of Christians for Christian purposes, and it is not
easy to see how any worthy family can fail to answer to this large
definition, if they will only think of it. Is not the compact which united
the heads of the family to each other, and pledged them to their children,
a Christian compact, expressly sanctioned by religion, as well as by civil
law? Can the compact be kept in any tolerable sense without Christian
influences, and is it not expected as a matter of course, that every house
shall possess those standards of faith and practice, those Scriptures,
which set forth Christ as Saviour and mark his people as his own? Is not
all that is done in piety and charity within the household, as far as it
goes, a ministration of Christianity? We certainly might justly take
offence, if it were said of us, that the apostle's salutation could have
no sort of application to our home, on the ground, that there is nothing
distinctively Christian there. In all proper humility, consider how we
have been educated, what books, what teachers we have enjoyed, what
influences we have won from the great thoughts and great institutions of
Christendom, what convictions we have tried to cherish amidst all our
cares and changes;--consider these things, and would it be right to say
that there is nothing Christian at home, nothing of the church there? Some
families may indeed seem to be very worldly, almost godless; yet even they
are likely to have among them, however unworthily; some traces of
Christian institutions, and within their desecrated roof the Bible with
its glad tidings, and memory with its treasured wisdom, and conscience
with undying witness, still speak of God and Christ, and so far the place
is holy ground.
If thus in some sense there must be something of the church in every
household not utterly depraved, is it not well to give importance to the
fact, that what must be in _some_ way should be in the right way? Many men
have been Christians without knowing it, and many families have been
churches without thinking of it. All simple, unconscious goodness is to be
honored; but it is not so frequent as to make conscious effort dangerous,
nor will the most beautiful and spontaneous piety lose any of its grace by
opening its eyes fully to what is to be done. Let the spheres of our life
be distinctly seen, and the affections will be all the freer and fresher
for the clear vision. Let it be distinctly seen, that they who live in one
household, by that fact stand in close relations to each other, and have a
faith to cherish and a work to do. Let it be seen, that the family was the
oldest church holding its worship before temples were built or priesthoods
formed, and that the true temple and the true priesthood, instead of
repealing, do but consecrate anew the patriarchal church, and Moses and
Jesus both give new power and beauty to the covenant with Abraham and the
individual family.
* * * * *
Let there be a church then in every house. We now add, let it be a true
one. What makes it such, do any ask? The apostle's benediction is a
sufficient reply. To the church in thy house, grace to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace: these are the
true consecration of the household. Grace, bringing into all souls the
riches of God's favor, and winning them to him through a heavenly
faith,--peace, drawing all hearts into unity, and harmonizing all labors
by one ruling love. Grace--this comprises all that Jesus came to give to
men, all the divine life that he would impart. Its source is God's own
Spirit, his wisdom, his power, his mercy--and there is no way of defining
it so good as the simple gospel way. Consider what was in Jesus, and what
he gave to those that trusted in him, such a sense of God's being and
goodness, such life of the soul, such assurance of a divine kingdom both
present and future, such consecration of all faculties by one
comprehensive faith,--consider this, and we best discern what grace is,
and how it gives vigor and beauty to the household as to the individual.
Its source is in God, but it is to be received by the soul's own will, and
to open the soul to its influence has been the great effort of all worthy
theologies, creeds, worship, ministers. We would not disparage any of
them, while we do plead earnestly for the importance of the church in the
house, with its own peculiar means of grace, its affections so demanding
to be confirmed by a love that is divine, its pleasures so readily opening
the soul to gratitude, its sacrifices so full of blessing when devoutly
rendered, its labors so rich in the fruits of the Spirit when springing
from a root of faith, its vicissitudes so eloquent in providential
lessons, its memories so full of caution, its hopes so thirsting for
immortality. God surely has opened in our homes precious means of grace,
and blessed are they who by prayer uttered or unuttered--by devout trust
spoken or unspoken, use these means sacredly as in the church of Christ! A
transforming spirit will be at work there, and will transfigure all its
experience by a divine light, and consecrate all its various gifts and
faculties by a divine power.
And in its train peace will come--not merely the quiet that checks harsh
words, and regulates tumultuous cares; but the interior peace that
tranquillizes each mind without breaking down its force, and harmonizes
all diversities of talent and temperament without mutilating any nature.
Peace, as the corresponding Greek word teaches, is that which binds
together, and who needs this more than those whom God would bind together?
It is a great thing to have it, and it was a great triumph of Christianity
to give it. In some respects it was a greater triumph to win to living
unity the various tempers of the primitive Christian families, than it was
to subdue the empire of the Caesars into one confession of faith,--greater
certainly, inasmuch for various tempers to agree in all the numberless
points of daily contact is more than to agree in the one point of a
nominal belief. Paul, in defining the economy of the true church, began by
declaring, that there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit.
Blessed in many respects has been the comment of history upon that word of
inspiration! Who that has any sense of God's use of providential men, does
not adore the wisdom that has employed such various minds for the same
great purposes, and made history such a book of Providence, telling us of
the wise and good and mighty characters of insight or argument, learning
or eloquence, sensibility or daring, who have done their part to build up
the kingdom of God? The church is truer as this is better done, and all
differences of power combine in one work. Carry out this idea at home, and
what a sphere for that peace of God which would harmonize all diversities
by one good spirit!
In a worldly point of view shrewd men study the characters of their
families with something of this aim, and desire to see what their children
are best fitted to do, that they may choose such callings as shall bring
out their powers best for the wealth or dignity of the household. This
desire we are not quarrelling with, but enforcing a higher study of
character that seeks to look more deeply into the mind, and provide far
more thoroughly for the great work of life. Do not by any means fail to
discern the mathematician, the orator, the mechanic, the artist, the
farmer, or whatever else may be the varieties of talent in your family.
But discern also the various faculties and dispositions in a religious
point of view, that each may be duly guided, and all led to use their
various gifts in the true heart. See the tendencies that need to be
checked, and above all, those that need to be encouraged; and home
education will be a Christian nurture in the peace that passeth
understanding. Far more bountifully than many a kind-hearted but too
worldly parent thinks, has Providence enriched the house with gifts that
may be ministries. That boy whose restless impulse seems sometimes
wilfulness, needs your discriminate care to win his impulse to a noble
enthusiasm, and may be a reprobate if your neglect leaves him to his
passions or your violence stings him to retaliation. That girl so keenly
alive to what is pleasant to the eye and ear, may make of her native taste
a motive to every vanity, unless you train the sense of beauty into
reverence for the true loveliness and for the art that copies the
handiwork of God and makes life beautiful in making it holy. That keen
little reasoner who vexes you with so many strange questions, the doubting
Thomas of your fold, may be the chilling sceptic, unless he is encouraged
to be the thoughtful sage who can answer as well as ask. That sensitive
child who is so awake to religious impressions, whose choice reading is
hymns and Bible stories, and whose dreams upon the pillow seem often to be
in the sweet land of Beulah which so cheered Bunyan's Pilgrim, may by your
neglect become a morbid bigot, unless by your judicious sympathy she is
encouraged to become a healthful devotee, cheering and exalting the home
by that interior life that made Mary of Bethany love to sit at the feet of
Jesus, which filled with such holy quietude the heart of Jane Guyon, and
moved with such persuasive mercy the lips of Elizabeth Gurney and Mary
Ware.
We need not specify the varieties of character that require to be subdued
or encouraged to the same spirit. Blessed is the home where such peace is
found; and all are bound together in its unity! No cunning arts of mental
training, no formal systems new or old, no technical dogmas, no mechanical
ceremonials, much less can any cold worldly policy do this work. Grace and
peace must be sought from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, and
our thoughts, and studies, and labors quite as much as our prayers, must
rest upon the rock of faith, and look to the blessing from above. Such
grace and peace at once give strength to the utilities and beauty to the
courtesies of the house, ruling its economy in a divine order, and
refining its manners by a tender humanity. There may be various creeds and
forms in the habits of the various members, yet all are harmonized by one
faith and charity.
* * * * *
Such in brief is the true church in the house, and being such, instead of
petting any narrow familism it will best favor the church universal by
appreciating its office and helping its work.
It will appreciate its office, for what can better interpret the meaning
of Christian institutions than a faithful use of the social sphere, first
of all in time and importance? As we try to be wise and faithful in
matters nearest to us, how can we but cherish the wisdom kept by the
church for ages, and the sacred usages which appeal so tenderly to our
home feelings? How can we fail to honor the exposition of the Divine Word,
the lessons of public worship, and those various ministrations that take
such hold upon life as it is, whether to consecrate childhood into the
privileges of the Divine kingdom, to implore upon human love the Divine
blessing, to comfort the mourning, to rejoice with the happy, to
strengthen the dying with an immortal hope, or set forth the Resurrection
and the Life above the dust of the grave? For the sinful and the lonely,
indeed, the church universal has a tender and solemn voice, but it is not
for them alone. The city of God on earth which Jesus founded, has its best
offices for those who live together in the unity of the Spirit, and the
church in the house is a better interpreter of its riches of wisdom and
joy than any conclave of ghostly monks or assembly of keen scholastics.
Where such appreciation is found, true help will not be wanting. Helpers
to the church will go forth from the household, well trained to further
the various offices of general piety and charity. Every true family will
take due account of its own numbers, means, and gifts, to give its just
share of co-operation in every good word and work. Care for the poor,
light for the benighted, counsel for the young, strength to the
wavering--all will be duly given, and even the accomplishments that with
the worldling are means of giddy dissipation, or vain show, with the
Christian will be means of edification and comfort, so that winning
manners shall win souls to God, and voices tuned to melody shall breathe a
harmony not of this world, and give to the songs of Zion all the beauty of
holiness. The spirit of antiquated error shall feel the wholesome
renovation, and the fresh life of the church in the house shall go out
into theological schools and conventicles, purging away old superstitions
and carrying every where the catholicity of practical wisdom, wholesome
sensibilities, and earnest good-will. Thus it is that in the later ages
fountains of new power have been opened, and pure, genial home principles
and affections have done more than Luther's theses or John Knox's sermons
to drive monkery and all its brood of spectral charms and horrors from the
church visible, and the prospect of the church invisible, and thoroughly
to reform the creeds of men touching earth and heaven and hell. The end is
not yet, and a truer, more earnest and affectionate Christianity is to
carry out the great reformation and bring on a truer catholicity than the
world has ever seen.
* * * * *
Thus we meditate upon the church in the house, its necessity, its true
character, its help to the church universal. The topic is itself its own
personal application. The great point is this, that at home we are to live
as members of a spiritual kingdom, and strive to infuse the spirit and
carry the order of that kingdom into the feelings and habits of the
household. Take this thought seriously to heart, cherish it in meditation
and prayer, how can it remain idle? By paths seen and unseen, the heavenly
grace earnestly sought, will enter into the economy of the family, and
save its peace from the war of hostile tempers and the inroads of a
domineering world. Wise, and kindly, and devout habits will be formed,
which make religion at once a spirit and a law, free without being wilful,
orderly without being mechanical, like the waters of Siloa that flowed
sparkling in that regular channel so framed by God from rock, and made
sweet will of their obedience to Him who holds the waters in the hollow of
his hand.
Such a household will have influences and associations peculiar to itself.
The sons will be manly and tender; the daughters will be gentle and
strong: parents and children in their mutual affections shall bring out
the finer harmonies of human life, that show God's goodness even more
deeply than the chants of the psalmist's choirs. As changes come, and the
years pass, treasured remembrances shall fill the home with images sacred
as the tablets and pictures of ancient chapels, and hopes more living than
monumental marble can record in solemn church-yards, shall proclaim the
resurrection and the life over the dead; the absent ones of the family
will in thought always, and, when they can, in person, make reverent
pilgrimage to the old hearth-stone; and they who die of that family,
wherever they close their eyes, will have in the cherished ministrations
of that church in the house the mightiest of all proofs of the eternal
home. The house made with hands opens into the eternal spheres, and its
own life repeats Christ's assurance of heavenly mansions. It will have a
ministry seen and a ministry unseen, one seen in gentle charities, the
other known by unseen influences.
"Uttered not, yet comprehended
Is the spirit's voiceless prayer,
Soft rebukes, in blessings ended,
Breathing from those lips of air."
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
The following misprints have been corrected:
"themseves" corrected to "themselves" (page 20)
"diguise" corrected to "disguise" (page 107)
"may" corrected to "many" (page 107)
"unostentations" corrected to "unostentatious" (page 111)
"chidren" corrected to "children" (page 241)
"intepretation" corrected to "interpretation" (page 262)