Would you be thus careless of an earthly treasure? Would you not watch it—lock it up—guard it with a jealous eye? Your child’s soul a treasure passing all price. Yet you allow Satan to steal it—bad companions to corrupt it—ruin it yourself by neglect. A thing neglected is ruined. Keep in view the judgment day. Will your child then say, ‘No man cared for my soul’—‘even my _mother_ cared not that I perished!’ XVII. THE CAREFUL MOTHER. I. Careful in her _house_. No waste. Prov. xviii. 9. John, vi. 12. Yet not stingy. No needless expense—makes a little go a long way. II. Careful over her _children_. Their _bodies_—health—clothes—future. 1 Tim. v. 8. 2 Cor. xii. 14. Provident Club. Penny Bank, &c. Their _minds_. Gives education suitable to their station. No fortune so good. What a disgrace in these days to a mother, if a child cannot read and write! Their _souls_. Above all, let not care for the body choke this. Mark, iv. 19. Lay up treasure in heaven. Matt. vi. 20. III. Let not careful mother be _too full of care_. Not _overcharged_. Luke, xxi. 34; x. 41, 42. ‘Live not in careful suspense.’ Luke, xii. 29 (margin). Cast your care on One who can bear it. 1 Pet. v. 7. Phil. iv. 6. He will not despise it, ‘_for He careth for you_.’ For the future, take this for your motto when over-pressed by cares and trials, ‘The Lord will provide.’ Gen. xxii, 14. Philip, iv. 19. Ps. xxiii. 1. XVIII. THE PATIENT MOTHER. A mother has, in a peculiar degree, ‘need of patience.’ Heb. x. 36. I. In trials of temper. 1 Cor. xiii. 4, 5, 7. Prov. xiv. 17. II. With your children’s faults. Matt. xviii. 22, 35. Look back to the days of your childhood. Were not you equally trying to your mother? Remember your own faults, and God’s patience with you. He bears long with you. III. It may be you need patience in bearing with unjust tempers, and unkind treatment. 1 Pet. ii. 19, 23. Ps. xxxvii. 7. IV. For answers to prayer. Syro-Phenician mother. Matt. xv. 22, 28. Jam. v. 7, 8. ‘Tarry thou the Lord’s leisure.’ V. In tribulation, sickness, and poverty. Rom. xii. 12. Jam. v. 10, 11. Luke, xxi. 19. XIX. THE FIRM MOTHER. I. To obey is a child’s duty. Exod. xx. 12. Eph. vi. 1. Col. iii. 20. II. This obedience should be— 1. Implicit. 2. Unquestioning. 3. Immediate. 4. In manner, and spirit. 5. From love. 6. In absence, as well as presence. 7. To the _mother_ as well as the _father_. Prov. i. 8; vi. 20; xv. 20. Lev. xix. 3. _e.g._ Luke, ii. 51. This is most important. In the Bible no difference is drawn between the authority of the father and mother. III. A promise attached to obedience. Exod. xx. 12. Eph. vi. 2. Jer. xxxv. 18, 19. IV. To disobey is sin. Deut. xxi. 18, 21. Ezek. xxii. 7. Rom. i. 30. 2 Tim. iii. 2. 1 Sam. ii. 25. V. A punishment attached to disobedience.