The Family Circle

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There ’s magic in that littl
It is a mystic circle which
Comforts and virtues, neve
Beyond the hallowed lin

word;
irrounds

known

A FAMILY! How delightful the associations we form with such a word! How pleasing the images with which it crowds the mind, and how tender the emotions which it awakens in the heart! Who can wonder that domestic happiness should be a theme dear to poetry, and that it should have called forth some of the sweetest strains of fancy and of feeling? Or who can be surprised, that of all the objects which present them selves in the vista of futurity to the eye of those who are setting out on the journey of life, this should excite the most ardent desires, and engage the most active pursuits? But, alas, of those who, in the ardor of youth, start for the possession of this dear prize, how many fail! And why? Because their imagination alone is engaged on the subject: they have no definite ideas of what it means, nor of the way in which it is to be obtained. It is a mere lovely creation of a romantic mind, and oftentimes, with such persons, fades away,

“And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leaves not a wreck behind.”

It may be of service, therefore, to lay open the sources of domestic happiness, and to show that these are to be found, not in the flowery regions of imagination, but in the sober realities of piety, chaste love, prudence, and well formed connexions. These precious springs are within the reach of all who will take the right path that leads to them; and this is the way of knowledge. We must make ourselves acquainted with the nature, designs, and importance of the family compact.; we must analyze this union to ascertain its elements, its laws, and its purposes. Who can be a good member of any state, without knowing the nature of its constitution, and the laws by which it is directed? And it is equally vain to look for domestic happiness, without a clear insight into the ends and laws which Providence has laid down in the formation of the household.

In the discussions which have been ugitated, to settle the question, as to the form of civil government best adapted to secure the welfare of the human race, the FAMILY CONSTITUTION has been too much overlooked. Speculation has been indulged, and theories proposed by their respective authors, in reference to the greater aggregations of society, with all the confidence of oracular authority; while, at the same time, it is evident they have forgotten, how much the well-being of states is dependent on the well-being of the families of which all states are composed.

If there be any truth in the figure, by which a nation is compared to a pillar, we should recollect that, while individuals are the materials of which it is formed, it is the good condition of families that constitutes the cement, which holds it together, and gives to its fine form solidity and durability. Let this be wanting, and however inherently excellent the materials, however elegant the shape, however ornamental the base, the shaft, or the capital may be, it contains in itself a principle of decay, an active cause of dilapidation and ruin.

The domestic constitution is a divine institute. God formed it himself. “He taketh the solitary, and setteth him in families;” and, like all the rest of his works, it is well and wisely done. It is, as a system of government, quite unique; neither below the heavens nor above them is there anything precisely like it. In some respects, it resembles the civil government of a state; in others, the ecclesiastical rule of a church; and it is there the church and the state may be said to meet. This meeting, however, is only on a very small scale, and under very peculiar circumstances. When directed as it should be, every family has a sacred character, inasmuch as the head of it acts the part oi both the prophet and priest of the household, by instructing them in the know ledge, and leading them in the worship of God; while, at the same time, he discharges the duties of a king by supporting a system of order, subordination, and discipline.

Conformably with its nature is its design. Beyond the benefit of the individuals which compose it, and which is its first and immediate object, it is intended to promote the welfare of the national community to which it belongs, and of which it is a part. Hence every nation has stamped a great value on the family compact, and guarded it with the most powerful sanctions. Well-instructed, well-ordered, and well-governed families are the springs, which, from their retirements, send forth the tributary streams that make up, by their confluence, the majestic flow of national greatness and prosperity; nor can any state be prosperous, where family order and subordination are generally neglected; nor otherwise than prosperous, whatever be its political forms, where these are generally maintained.

It is certainly under the wise instruction and the impartial sceptre of a father, and within the little family circle, that the son becomes a good citizen; it is by the fireside, and upon the family hearth, that loyalty and patriotism, and every public virtue, grows; as it is in disordered families that factious demagogues, and turbulent rebels, and tyrannical oppressors, are trained up, to be their neighbors’ torment, or their country’s scourge. It is there that the thorn and the brier, to use the elegant simile of the prophet, or the myrtle and the fir-tree, are reared, which are in future time to be the ornament and defence, or the deformity and misery, of the land.

But has the domestic constitution a reference only to the present world and its perishable interests? By no means. All God’s arrangements for man view him, and are chiefly intended for him, in his relation to eternity. The eye of Deity is upon that immortality to which he has destined the human race. Every family has, in fact, a sacred character belonging to it, which may indeed be forgotten or disdained; but the family is constituted, and ought, therefore, to be conducted, with the prospect of the rising generation following that which precedes it, not only to the grave, but to eternity.

Every member of every household is an immortal creature; every one, that leaves the circle by death, goes into an eternity of torment or of bliss. Now, since all the institutes of God look to another world as their chief and ultimate reference, surely, that institute which is the most powerful of all, in the formation of character, must be considered as set up with a special intention to prepare the subjects of it for “glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life.”

Where religion is wanting as the basis of the marriage union, the happy fruits of it cannot be expected. How many interesting households are to be found, where all the mere social virtues are cultivated with assiduity, where the domestic charities all nourish, and public excellence is cherished; but which, on account of the want of vital godliness, are still losing the highest end of their union, and carrying on no preparatory course of education for the skies, and are destined to be swept away with the wreck of the nations that knew not God, and with the wicked who shall be turned into hell. Alas, alas! that from such sweet scenes, such lovely retreats of connubial love and domestic peace, to which learning, science, wealth, elegance, have been admitted, religion should be excluded; and that while many wise and interesting guests are continually welcomed to the house, He only should be refused, who blessed the little family of

Bethany; and who, wherever he goes, carries salvation m his train, and gives immortality to the joys which would otherwise perish forever.

Precious, indeed, are the joys of a happy family; but, oh, how fleet! How soon must the circle be broken up, how suddenly may it be! What scenes of delight, resembling gay visions of fairy bliss, have all been unexpectedly wrapt in shadow and gloom, by misfortune, by sickness, by death! The last enemy has entered the paradise, and, by expelling one of its tenants, has imbittered the scene to the rest. The ravages of death have been in some cases followed by the desolations of poverty; and they, who once dwelt together in the happy enclosure, have been separated and scattered to meet no more. But religion, true religion, if it be possessed, will gather them together again, after this destruction of their earthly ties, and conduct them to another paradise, into which no calamity shall enter, and from which no joy shall ever depart.

Happy then would it be, for all who stand related by these household ties, if the bonds of nature were hallowed and rendered permanent by those of divine gracel To found our union on any basis which does not contain religion in its formation, is to erect it on a quicksand, and to expose it to the fury of a thousand billows, each of which may overturn the fabric of our comfort in a moment: but to rest it upon religion, is to found it upon a rock, where we shall individually. still find a refuge, when the nearest and the dearest relations are swept away by the tide of dissolution.

It is a pleasing reflection, that the domestic constitution depends not for its existence, its laws, its right administration, or its rich advantages, either upon family possessions, or the forms of national policy. It may live and flourish in all its tender charities, and all its sweet felicities, and all its moral power, in the cottage as well as in the mansion; under the shadow of liberty, and even under the scorching heat of tyranny. Like the church, of which it is in some respects the emblem, it accommodates itself to every changing form of surrounding society, to every nation and to every age. Forming with the church the only two institutions ever set up by God, as to their framework, like its kindred institute, it remains amidst the ruins of the fall, the lapse of ages, and the changes of human affairs, the monument of what has been, the standing prediction of what will be.

Domestic happiness, in many respects, resembles the manna which was granted to the Israelites in the wilderness; like that precious food, it is the gift of God which cometh down from heaven; it is not to be purchased with money; it is dispensed alike to the rich and to the poor, and accommodates itself to every taste; it is given with an abundance that meets the wants of all who desire it; to be obtained, it must be religiously sought in God’s own way of bestowing it; and is granted to man as a refreshment during his pilgrimage through this wilderness to the celestial Canaan.

“By thee

Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure, Relations dear, and all the charities Of father, son, and brother first were known. Far be it, that I should write thee »in or blame, Or think thee unbefitting holiest place, Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets!”

Milton.