Transcribed from the 1876 Hatchards edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
THE
CHRISTIAN MOTHER:
OR,
NOTES FOR MOTHERS’ MEETINGS.
BY THE LATE
MRS E. HOARE.
Second Edition.
LONDON:
HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY.
1876.
LONDON:
Printed by John Strangeways, Castle St. Leicester Sq.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
The following Notes were prepared and published some years ago, by one who has since realised in Heaven the unspeakable value of those precious truths which she most diligently taught on earth. The little book has been for a long time out of print, but it appears so calculated to be useful in the Lord’s service that I have thought it well to publish another edition. It was said of Abel, ‘He being dead yet speaketh.’ May the admirable mother by whom these notes were prepared so speak in these pages to those who know a mother’s care, that they may be assisted to enjoy the full experience of a mother’s joy!
E. HOARE.
Tunbridge Wells,
April, 1876.
PREFACE.
The following notes have been used by the writer in conducting Mothers’ Meetings amongst the poorer classes, and it has been suggested that they may be useful to other ladies engaged in a similar work.
With this view, she has ventured to publish them in the present concise form.
It will be seen that they are merely skeletons, and will require to be filled up by each person who makes use of them. Thus it will be necessary to turn to the texts referred to, and to enlarge on each head as familiarly as possible, illustrating it by simple, and telling facts.
If this is done, and the subjects well studied, it will often be found, that, although each subject has been generally compressed into one chapter, it is better to take one, two, or three heads, as affording sufficient matter for the conversation of a single evening, rather than too hastily to go over the whole section.
It will be a cause for thankfulness, if these short notes may be the means of leading any mothers to search the Scriptures more diligently with reference to their own especial duties.
Whether rich or poor—educated or uneducated—mothers all need, in the great essentials, the same help, the same warnings, the same encouragements. They want to be comforted, both in duty and trial, by the same word of promise, and to ‘go boldly to the same throne of grace to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’ It is earnestly desired that the study of the following pages, which are, in fact, only a compilation of Scripture, may be the means of leading many to listen more closely to His voice, who knows so well the mother’s heart, the mother’s sins, the mother’s sorrows, and the mother’s need.
M. E. H.
Tunbridge Wells,
December, 1862.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| Importance of Children | [9] |
| The Temper of the Wife, and Mother | [11] |
| Truth—part I. | [12] |
| Truth—part II. | [13] |
| The Excellent Woman—as a Wife | [15] |
| „ „—in her Home | [17] |
| „ „—in her Conversation | [19] |
| „ „—her Religion | [21] |
| „ „—her Reward | [22] |
| How to spend Sunday | [24] |
| Companions | [26] |
| Sloth | [28] |
| The Watchful Mother | [29] |
| The Hasty Mother | [31] |
| The Weary Mother | [32] |
| The Careless Mother | [35] |
| The Careful Mother | [37] |
| The Patient Mother | [38] |
| The Firm Mother | [39] |
| Conversion | [41] |
| Thou, God, seest me | [43] |
| Jesus the Mother’s Friend | [44] |
| Helps for Mothers—part I. | [46] |
| Helps for Mothers—part II. | [48] |
| Teach your Children | [50] |
| The Parting Place, and the Meeting Place | [51] |
| The Mother’s Death-bed | [54] |
| New Year’s Day | [55] |
| First Meeting in the Year | [57] |
| Last Meeting in the Year. The Cradle and the Grave | [59] |
I. IMPORTANCE OF CHILDREN.
‘Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.’ Matt. xviii. 10.
I. They are important to Society.
Our future soldiers, sailors, servants, fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, &c., &c.
II. Important to yourselves.
The babe—the child—the young man—the young woman.
A gift (Gen. xxxiii. 5; xlviii. 9) which must prove either your crown (Prov. xvii. 6; Ps. cxxvii. 3) or your bitterness. Prov. xvii. 25; Gen. xlii. 38.
III. Important to themselves.
That child must live for ever.
A living soul committed to your care.
That child must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. Rev. xx. 12.
IV. Important in the sight of their Father who is in heaven.
So important—that for them He gave His only Son to shed His blood.
So important—that He especially calls, ‘Suffer little children,’ &c. Mark, x. 14.
So important—that He gives His angels special charge over them. Matt. xviii. 10.
‘Take heed then that ye despise not one of these little ones.’
No jewel so precious as the soul of your child, but how far more do parents often prize the casket containing it, than the gem itself!
No plant so needing watchful care and culture; Oh! neglect it not!
What have YOU done with your jewel, your plant?