And who can ever compute the guilt of those who tamper with a servant’s truthfulness, and train her to falsehood, to screen them from intruders? “NOT AT HOME”
—A LIE. That form of sin is perhaps now well-nigh banished to the highest ranks, and to those who mimic their example; but we can picture no more certain process for defacing all that is pure and lovely in a soul, than the practice to which we advert. And when such a habit as the utterance of a falsehood, for any purpose, is imposed upon a servant, that servant should resolutely reject it. There may come the storm of the cruel seducer’s anger; but better that than the tempest of the Judge’s wrath. There may come homelessness or poverty; but better that than a polluted conscience and a shipwrecked faith. Stanch Christian principle never yet inflicted a lasting injury upon any one, and he need not be afraid for what man can do, who has learned humbly, but firmly, to say, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment.... He that judgeth me is the Lord.”[12]
CHRISTIAN HOMES.
Nor let us fail to remark, that it was for the guidance of servants that these memorable words were inspired: “Exhort servants to be obedient to their masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity;” and mark the lofty motive, “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” That is surely truest dignity, and again we say, How would domestic life be sweetened; how would many of our sins be compelled to hide their head ashamed; how would the lowly be exalted; how would the general aspect of society be changed—were our homes Christian homes in this respect! CHRISTIAN
HOMES. Were masters in their spheres, and servants in theirs, alike setting the Lord before them, alike serving him, alike “walking in the way of the Lord”—that one maxim steadfastly obeyed, would revolutionize many a home for good. No petty invasion then of another’s rights on the one hand; no haughty neglect upon the other;—all would be well-ordered, for all would be according to the mind of God.[13]
THE TYPE OF HEAVEN.
And with this all before us, let fathers, mothers, and children—let masters and servants, or the employer and the employed, decide—Are they realizing their responsibility? Are they seeking the eternal good of those with whom they are connected? Are they enduring no wicked thing before their eyes, according to the Word of the Eternal? We know that a parent, for example, cannot impart grace to his child; nay, some of those whom parents most fondly cherish, may turn at last and rend them. But may not the hope be cherished that the blessing of God upon the use of means will turn the hearts of the children to the parents; or better still, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? May not parents hope, that in answer to their prayers and their pains, God will guide the young to Him whom these parents fear, to the Saviour whom they love, and the heavenly abode of which a Christian home on earth is the vestibule or type? THE
TYPE OF
HEAVEN. Let parents pray for that result; let them labour for it; let them hope for it; and the Spirit of God may thus honour them to win the young to Christ. But how terrific the portion of the parent who shall meet his child in the presence of God, when that child has perished through the parent’s sin! How blessed, how double the heaven, which is the home at once of parent and of child!
THE HAPPY HOME.
THE
HAPPY
HOME. Would men then be happy? Let the love of Christ reign in their homes. Let them yield to that heavenly power which alone can quell tumultuous passion, or charm away the unhallowed effects of sin from scenes which should ever be sacred to holiness and peace. That love should well up in the Christian soul like a stream in the desert, refreshing all, and turning sterility into greenness. Now, is that the case? Has the truth been lodged in the heart? Is the mind of God, the law of the Lord, our guide? Then the cheerfulness of heavenly peace will glance through our abodes. They may be only a straw-built shed, or they may be the halls of the princely; but wherever the love of Jesus reigns, there is peace with God, joy in God, and preparation to be for ever with Him.
CHAPTER III.
RELIGION IN THE WORKSHOP.
There is no error in religion more common or more deadly, than to put the means for the end. So rarely does man regard aright the great object of the soul’s pursuit, that he is ready to repose supinely upon something done, without ever solemnly inquiring whether he has reached the right result by doing it, or only been deceived by a semblance and a form.—We read the Word of God, and think that it can accomplish what only He of whom it tells can achieve. We hold certain doctrines, and because we hold them firmly, we hasten to the conclusion that we actually possess the blessings which these doctrines reveal or imply. Or finally, the intellect of some is filled with truth in its loftiest forms; but there it lies, exercising no influence upon the life. It quiets the conscience, but it does not sanctify the soul; and the anomaly of a spiritual creed side by side with a carnal life is thus frequently found among men—the worst of all heresies, the most deadly of all deceptions, a repetition of Chorazin and Bethsaida.