Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

birth, and the sweet and delightful associations, which endear to us the scenes of our early years. Reformers of this stamp would have us attach no peculiar sacredness to parents or friends, to home or country, but would have us cherish the same feelings and the same interest for all men, for all scenes, and for all lands. Equally pernicious too is that utilitarianism which regards the world only as a theatre for the display of talent, or the gratification of ambition; or as a field where avarice may reap the richest harvests of wealth, or sensualism secure the most ample means of indulgence.

Now it may be safely affirmed that he who has never had his feelings intensely excited in favor of individuals, will not feel as he ought towards mankind in general. He who has no strong home attachments will have no strong attachments; he who has no love of country-will have no proper regard for the world at large.

As we are in great danger of losing sight of first principles amidst the excitements of ambition, the whirl of business, and the allurements of pleasure, it may not be improper on the pres ent occasion to consider the influence which a right home-feeling has upon the interests of religion, the formation of the highest style of virtuous character, and the production of the greatest degree of happiness.

The love of home, of kindred, and of country, though not strictly a religious affection-yet religious affection has such an affinity with it, is so connected with it, touches it at so many points, and depends so much upon it for its full development, that they are rarely, if ever, disjoined in the same mind. The love of our friends, of our home, of our country, seems almost a necessary antecedent to the love of God, and the full perfection of the graces of the Spirit. Hence religion never flourishes except in places where the population is permanently established in families; and where the character of the young is moulded by the kindness, the attentions, the instructions, the discipline of parental love, and the associations which cluster around the domestic circle, and the familiar scenes of childhood and youth. There may be exceptions, but so rare as not to affect the general principle. That the love of kindred, of home, and of country, is essential to the best interests of religion, the highest style of virtuous character, and the production of the greatest amount of happiness enjoyed in our present state. This will appear, if we consider,

I. The peculiar fitness of the family state for the early development and perfection of the natural affections. The family is the only proper school for the natural affections. There the young heart finds something to love and to reciprocate its love in the very infancy of being. It wakes up to consciousness under the similes and caresses of a mother and the fond endearments of a father. Their expressions of affection call into exercise similar

L

affections in its own bosom. Nor is the intensity of these feelings dissipated by a multiplicity of objects; nor chilled and repressed by indifference and neglect. The filial and fraternal * affections find in a well regulated household, and among brothers and sisters, an atmosphere genial to their growth and expansion. The objects and scenes around the homestead, as they become familiar and associated by pleasant recollections, serve to strengthen these feelings. The house, the garden, the tree, the rock, the brook, the hill, the meadow-where we played in childhoodstrengthen the ties of attachment to the friends who form the centre of attraction to our little world of home. Thus silently, and gradually, and sweetly are the natural affections unfolded and strengthened before we go out into the world, to be chilled by its selfishness, or hardened by its depravity and crime. The difference in respect to all that is winning and lovely in natural affection between a child brought up amidst the endearments of a good home and one who has not enjoyed such family nurture, is more striking than the most delicious of cultivated fruits and the same fruits in their native wildness. This will appear, if we consider,

II. That home is the best school for early mental training. There is a most important training for the mind before it receives any from the formal processes of education. This training is best received amidst the sweet and delightful associations of home. Our rudimental knowledge is, or might be, best obtained from the lips of a mother or the mouth of a father. For then it is received naturally and cordially, without that tasking and coercion which renders much of what we know like that obtained by Adam in eating the forbidden fruit. For at home, both the mind and the heart are, or ought to be, cultivated at the same time. Hence it is always better for the child to acquire as much of its education as possible under the paternal roof. The growth of the affections then keep pace with the expansion of the mental powers. Knowledge is not divorced from feeling, nor do we have the unnatural spectacle of a head without a heart. This will appear,

III. If we consider the influence of family discipline in regulating and restraining the passions. The constitution of the family implies subjection to their parents on the part of children. Order, therefore, of some kind, is essential to its existence. And where order is properly enforced, the child early learns to submit to the will of another, and to yield obedience to rightful authority. Restraint is imposed upon our wild and wayward propensities; and the passions are curbed and checked before they obtain the complete control of reason and conscience. In every well regulated household authority is blended with affection. Parental love tempers the exercise of power so as to prevent undue

severity; and filial affection induces the child to yield to the wishes and commands of its parents without imbibing hatred in regard to the authority that enforces obedience. Thus a habit of self-control is early formed, which exerts a salutary influence over the whole subsequent life. It is in the family, if any where, that the passions are so regulated and restrained as to prevent the evils of their excessive indulgence. For though, in many cases, there is an utter failure-and though, in none, all that is desirable is secured-yet it is to the family that society owes all its safety from the fury of unkindled passion, and individuals their exemption from the evils which result from unregulated desire. Every good home is a school of discipline for the passions. Its necessary restraints, its constant duties, its varied labors, its reciprocal attachments, its mutual conceptions, its common interests, joys, trials, and sorrows, while they do not eradicate, all tend to bring the passions into subserviency to the higher and nobler purposes of existence. This will appear,

IV. If we consider the influence of home in the formation of habits of useful industry. Toil and effort is the price of every thing good or great. The mind cannot be educated without study, nor the body remain sound and vigorous without exercise. The law of labor, therefore, is not only essential to our existence, but also to our happiness. Now to the end that the law of labor may be cheerfully and sweetly obeyed, habits of industry must be formed in early life. And where can this be done so easily and in a manner so likely to secure the great blessings of indus try as in the family, amidst the gentle attractions and associations of home? There the child has, or ought to have, constantly the example and encouragement of those it loves. Its tasks are assigned by those who have, or who should have, a proper regard to its health and strength. Its mistakes are rectified with patience; its failures are watched with sympathy; and its successes rewarded with approbation. There labor is so judiciously blended with recreation, that toil does not degenerate into drudgery, nor amuse ment become an employment. There the habit of industry becomes incorporated with our being; it accompanies us through life; it enters into all our pursuits; it contributes to all our successes, and thus prepares us to find enjoyment in all our efforts. Hence,

V. The love of home, of kindred, and of country, calls into exercise some of the highest and noblest qualities of our nature in behalf of their well-being and prosperity. Aside from religion, the brightest page in the annals of our race, is that which is connected with the love of home, of kindred, and of country. Home is, or ought to be, the sacred spot where the heart has garnered up its choicest earthly treasures. It is there that virtuous

character is formed. There the natural affections are developed and fostered. There the mind begins to expand; there the passions are regulated and restrained; and there those habits are formed which ensure to industry its honest joys and appropriate rewards. All our sweetest and tenderest recollections and associations are connected with our home.

Now our country is our home, in a wider sense. The very things, therefore, which endear home to us, bind us with strongest cords to our country. The whole land where that home is situated is ours. Its government is ours; its laws are ours. Its defence is the defence of all that we hold most dear. Its prosperity sheds brighter rays of happiness over our own domestic circle. We take a pride in its great names; we imbibe the spirit of its literature; we feel a thrilling interest in the glorious events of its history; we burn with indignation in view of its wrongs and injuries. Hence, next to our homes, our greatest sacrifices and self-denials will be in behalf of our country. This rouses to high activity our mental powers; this tasks to the utmost our physical energies. We lay our time, our wealth, and even life itself, on the altar of patriotism.

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land,
When home his footsteps he has turned
From wandering on a foreign strand.
If such there be, go mark him well,
To him no minstrel praises swell.
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,
Despite his titles, power and pelf,
The wretch concentred all in self,
Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And doubly dying shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung."-Scott.

Had there been no home for Washington to love, and in which was laid the foundation of his character, would he have acted the great part he did in our revolutionary contest? Had there been no such homes for the formation of virtuous character as the families of the Pilgrim Fathers and their descendants afforded, would this nation have risen to its present eminence, or would there have been secured to its inhabitants the possession of such blessings as we now enjoy ?

VI. This home-feeling affords a soil congenial to the growth of piety, as exhibited in love to God and our neighbor. The love of home and kindred is not religion. Patriotism is not religion. They may exist in a high degree, perhaps, though not in their purest form, in the absence of religious principle. Still it may be doubted whether true religion is ever found to exist in a heart

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

where the love of home, of kindred, and of country is wanting. The truth is, where the character is wanting in this respect, it is generally wanting in every other. He who is deficient in regard to domestic duties, will always be deficient in regard to his duty to God. The love of God therefore is always associated with the reverence and love of parents. The love of our Maker is ever found in close alliance with love of our kindred. He who cherishes no proper regard for his country, will cherish none for the whole world. I admit that when religion is embraced, and exerts its proper influence on the heart, its tendency is to bring into exercise right feelings in respect to all our civil, social, and domestic relations, even in those who have been wanting in respect to all relative duties. But this only confirms the remark, that love of home, of kindred, and of country, is essential to the formation of virtuous character. Because, religion and philan thropy and patriotism are never long disjoined in the same mind. Besides, those are much less likely to be affected by religious truth who have not been brought up under the influence of a well regulated home; and whose bosoms do not glow with filial and fraternal love, and patriotic devotion. The gospel has always been most successful in places where there are the greatest number of well regulated households; and its most lovely and useful converts are those who have been trained around the domestic fireside, and amid the genial influences and delightful associations of a happy home. That glowing love of home, of friends and country, which produced in the heart of Paul "continual sorrow for his brethren, his kindred according to the flesh," made him just so much the better missionary to the heathen. He who could wish himself "accursed from Christ" for the sake of his own people, was just the man to endure all kinds of privations and hardships, and to occupy any field (and on a very low salary too), in the difficult and toilsome work of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. So it ever has been so it ever will be. The foundation of the highest style of virtuous character is always laid amidst the sweet and delightful associations of home, of neighborhood, and of country. How sweetly does the religious element blend with the domestic and social affections in the heart of David, whose youth was spent amidst the quiet scenes of Bethlehem and the rural occupations of a shepherd's life! It was the love of home and of country, as well as the love of God, which preserved the piety of the captive Jews amidst the idolatries and corruptions of Babylon. "We wept," said they, "when we remembered Zion." "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning: if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy." What tenderness does patriotism give to the piety of Jeremiah when he exclaims, "O that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might

« AnteriorContinuar »