the nursery both of the State and of the Church, and where the purity
and well-being of family life is impaired, both State and Church are
sure to suffer. There should be therefore an earnest and prayerful
endeavor upon the part of the young to cherish towards their parents
that loving sense of their superiority which is implied in the word
Honor. "Let them learn first," says St. Paul (1 Tim. v. 4), "to show
piety at home, and to requite their parents; for that is good and
acceptable before God." There can be no more pleasing memory for a
young man to have than this, that he has been a dutiful son; none more
bitter than this, that he has set at defiance, or neglected, those to
whom he owes so much.
2. _Affection_ is the atmosphere that should pervade the household.
"Without hearts," it has been truly said, "there is no home." A
collection of roots, and trunk, and branches, and leaves, do not make a
tree; neither do a number of people dwelling together make a home. "A
certain number of animal lives that are of prescribed ages, that eat
and drink together, by no means makes a family. Almost as well might
we say that it is the bricks of a house that make a home. There may be
a home in the forest or in the wilderness, and there may be a family
with all its blessings, though half its members be in other lands or in
another world. It is the gentle memories, the mutual thought, the
desire to bless, the sympathies that meet when duties are apart, the
fervor of the parents' prayers, the persuasion of filial love, the
sister's pride and the brother's benediction, that constitute the true
elements of domestic life and sanctify the dwelling." [1] These
beautiful words are true. It is love that makes home. The dweller, in
a distant land sends again and again his thoughts across the sea, and
reverts with fond affection to the place of his birth. It may be a
humble cottage, but to him it is ever dear because of the love which
dwelt there and united those who dwelt there by ties that distance
cannot sever. Even the prodigal in the matchless parable of our Lord,
herding with the swine and eating of their husks, was led to a higher
and a better life by the remembrance of his father's house. A home
without love is no home, any more than a body without a soul is a man.
It is only a corpse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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