Perhaps we can best and most simply introduce this topic by referring to an example. To find it, we go straightway to the fountain-head, and fix attention on "the father of the faithful." Among the things which signalized that remarkable man, was his strict regard to the fear of God in his home. "I know him," it is said by the Searcher of hearts; "I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment."--Abraham was selected to introduce a new epoch in the mighty movements of Providence, a new stage in that grand procession which is carrying the generations of men forward to their eternal lot; and one reason assigned for that selection is, that he would cultivate home-religion, or cause the fear of the Lord to circulate through his tents. Now every word that is employed to describe this epoch-making man deserves to be studied--it appears a very picture of the patriarch or the priest of home. He who blesses the habitations of the righteous, says, "/I know/ him." It is the Omniscient that speaks, and there can be neither hypocrisy on the one hand, nor deception on the other. "I know him that he will /command/." There will be no betraying of the truth on his part, no yielding to any guide but one. There is a law, and Abraham will keep it. He is answerable to the Lawgiver, and he will act on that conviction. PERFECT LAW, AND LIBERTY. And "I know him that he will command /his children/." Not blind affection; not that kind of indulgence which is the veriest cruelty; not that disorder which renders the young the masters of the old: Abraham will /command/ his children. He and they are the subjects of a common Lord. His functions are purely executive. The /Lord/ is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; and parents and children alike are to be ruled by Him. This should equally prevent parental oppression on the one hand, and filial disobedience on the other, and when the laws which we obey are enacted by our Father who is in heaven, when they flow from Him whose heart is love, what but blessings can be the lot at once of him who administers and of those who obey them? By the combined influence of authority and affection, Abraham was thus to rule his home. Like David, he was to walk within his house with a perfect heart, and that is the method by which parents "May sun them in the light of happy faces." If the Holy One has given us rules for the guidance of all, these rules form the standard from which there can be no sinless swerving, and the first principles of holiness have yet to be learned where God's will is not thus paramount. THE ONE WILL SUPREME.