The Fatherland
A certain man had two sons.” — Luke xv. 2.
Our cords are clumsy. Strand by strand, and rope by rope, we twist our cables; yet we dare not lengthen them too far, for fear their own weight break them, and in the strain of the tempest the strongest fly asunder like flax in flame. God spins his cords so fine that, except in diffracted light, you cannot see them; but these cords of His are seldom broken. You befriend a youth or relieve a stranger, and you think no more about it; till on a distant day, perhaps in a foreign land, in some hour of need, help is raised up, and in your deliverer you recognise the object of your former bounty. And just as in such an instance, held by a mystic clue, the little seed which you cast on the waters comes back into your bosom a loaf of bread; so the old saying also holds true, and “curses come home, to roost.” A crime is committed, and all trace is obliterated, every token buried; but now that the head which holds the/fatal secret is laid on a dying pillow, the leash is pulled, and dark and croaking descends the bird of evil omen, or with fiery eye and crimson beak the vulture of despair, and with fear of coming judgment scares the guilty conscience.
Of all God’s cords the finest, and perhaps the strongest, is the cord of love. Quitting his native chimney, among the canals and grassy fields of Holland, the stork pursues the retiring summer, and soon overtakes it in Nubia or Morocco. There, quite unconscious of the fetter beneath his wing, he revels on the snakes of Taurus or the frogs of Nile: till at last, on a brilliant May morning, there is a sharp tug, and then a long steady pull, and high overhead float the broad pinions, and presently in the streets of Haarlem the boys look up, and shout their welcome, as, with eager haste and noisy outcry, an old acquaintance drops down upon the gable, and, drawn back to the old anchorage by a hawser of a thousand miles, the feathery sails are once more furled. Like instinct over a generation s interval brings back the exile to his Highland glen. It matters not that in the soft Bermudas life is luxury; it is of no avail that in this Canadian clearing a rosy household has sprung up and in proud affection clings around him; towards the haunts of his childhood there is a strange deep-hidden yearning, which often sends absent looks towards northern stars, and ends at last in the actual pilgrimage. And although by the time of his return he finds that no money can buy back the ancestral abode; althougrv as he crosses the familiar hill and opens the sunny strath, strange solitude meets him; although when he comes up, the hamlet is roofless and silent, and the bonny beild, the nest of his boyhood, a ruin; although behind the cold hearth rank nettles wave, and from the cairn covering the spot where in the mornings of another world he waked up so cosily, young weasels peep forth; although the plane is cut down, or the bourtree, under whose sabbatic shadow his father used at eventide to meditate; although where the vision dissolves a pang must remain, there is no need that he should go back, bleak and embittered, as to a disenchanted world. This glut of reality was wanted to quench a long fever: but even here, if his own heart is true, he will find that God’s cord is not broken. Cottages dissolve and family circles scatter, but piety and love cannot perish. The cord is not broken; it is only the mooringpost which a friendly hand has moved farther inland, and fixed sure and stedfast within the veil; and as the strain which used to pull along the level is now drawing upward, the home which memory used to picture in the Highlands, faith learns to seek in Heaven.
We too were once at home. As even pagan Cleanthes and Aratus sang —
“We too are God’s offspring.”*
The race opened its existence under the eye of God, made after his image; and whether he exercised his
* The well-known expression quoted and endorsed by St. Paul in his address to the Athenians, Acts xvii. 28, 29. Like Paul, Aratus, who flourished about 270 B.C., was a native of Cilicia. His poem, the Fhceno7nena, opens with an acknowledgment of Zeus, and our dependence upon him, and derivation from him:
TidvT’q hk Albs Kexp’fjfJ-^da wavres’
Toil yap /cat yvos iafiv.
gentle dominion, or was occupied among the trees of the garden, or walked with his heavenly Father, listening to His voice in the cool of the day, nothing could be nobler or more blessed than that imperial infancy. Nor have we quite forgotten it. Betwixt what the Book has told us, and what is recalled by a dim mysterious memory, we feel that times are changed with us. We once were better off A love smiled over us, a glory shone around us, which never meets us now; and many of our dearest words — Love, Joy, Innocence — seem to be so much a reminiscence of a far-off, long-faded time, that we may be excused for standing still and asking in bewilderment —
“Have we been all at fault? Are we the sons
Of pilgrim sires who left their lovelier land %
And do we call inhospitable climes
By names they brought from home?”*
The true home of humanity is God, — God trusted, communed with, beloved, obeyed; and
“Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,”
do we come “from God, who is our home,” but “trailing clouds of glory with us.”t Alloyed and interrupted by much that is base and wicked, there are in human nature still touches of tenderness, gleams of good feeling, noble impulses, momentary visitations of a natural piety,
* Balder p. 18i.
t Wordsworth’s “Intimations of Immortality.”
brought away from that better time and Its blest abode, and which may be regarded as electric thrills along the line which connects with its Creator a fallen but redeemed humanity: as so many gentle checks of that golden chain which will one day bring back God’s banished, and see the world “all righteous.”
Far from home, humanity is still in the hand of God. Not only is it subject to His righteous and irresistible sovereignty, but it has a place in his deep and desirous compassion. And for every one of us it is a solemn and affecting thought, that before he can be finally and for ever lost, he must “break the band and cast away the cord” by which forgiving mercy would draw him to itself. We know that it too often happens. Too often do we see men turn the back to God and not the face; and the last glance we get of them they are still departing. Still averse from God, and still departing, the cord of love and life’s brittle thread snap together; and passing the bourne beyond which is “• outer darkness,” there is nothing which we are allowed to hope for them in that world where no gospel follows and no Holy Spirit strives. But, on the other hand, where there is any relenting towards the Ever-blessed, what can be more encouraging than the assurance that in the case of our fallen family, much as sin abounds, grace much more abounds? and that, notwithstanding all we have done to forfeit the filial position, there is on God’s side so much of fatherly affection as not only to desire our return, but to devise methods unprecedented and costly for bringing us back?
The head of the great household is God, and the earthly home He has constituted so as to be an image of his own paternity. Thaj; home is founded in love, and in administering it love is called forth every day, — often a pitying, forbearing, forgiving love, — a love sometimes severe and frowning, often self-denying, it may chance self-sacrificing. As the world now is — a ruin, with a remedial scheme in the midst of it — that home is the nearest image of the church, and should be the most efficient fellow- worker with it. “In the family the first man himself would receive lessons on self-government such as even the garden of Eden did not supply, and perpetual occasion for its exercise. In what a variety of ways would he learn to repeat to his children the substance of the divine prohibition to himself — ‘Thou shalt not eat of it’ How soon would he who had had paradise for a home discover that if he would convert home into a paradise he must guard his offspring at this point, subordinating their lower propensities to their superior powers.”* If presided over by those who themselves fear God — and otherwise no house is a home — there will be something sacred in its atmosphere, and alike enforced by affection and authority the lessons of heavenly wisdom will sink deep; and with a sufficient probation superadded to a careful protection, it is to be * * Harris’s Patriarchy, p. 113.
hoped that, before transplantation into the world’s rough weather, good dispositions may have been so far confirmed as only to strengthen by further trial.
We must not be too confident. It would be rash to say that where the home is right the inmates never can go wrong. There was once a great heart-break in heaven: angels grieved, for so many of their brethren had gone away to return no more. Since then, another great prodigal has left the Father’s house — for of all prodigals our race is the greatest. And when the Great Father has himself had to mourn over wayward runaway children, let us fence our habitations as we please, it would be too much to hope that evil shall never enter, or that headstrong folly shall never gather all together and go away.
Still, the promise to believers includes their children, and the instances are anomalous and few where a hopeful outset ends in a worthless old age. In seeking for your offspring the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness thereof, you who are parents may confidently claim the sympathy of the Father of spirits, and the succour of that great Teacher who has all hearts in his hand, and turns them as the rivers of water are turned. And the records of religious biography nearly all confirm the promise. The favoured Samuel is the son of the praying Hannah. The young evangelist is the child of the believing Eunice, and Eunice, again, is the daughter of the like-minded Lois. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob is the God of Joseph also. The first martyr in the days of the bloody Mary was John Rogers. He is still represented by honourable and Christian descendants in this country; and in the United States, where his children’s children have reached the eleventh generation, it has been remarked that few families contain so many pious members, and singularly enough, with one intermission, the eldest son has always been a minister. Having frequently heard the remark that the sons of ministers and deacons turn out badly, the secretary of the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society instituted an inquiry in a district where he could insure correct returns. It contained 268 families of the class in question, and in these there were 1290 young persons above fifteen years of age. Out of these 1290 young people 884 were hopefully pious, and the great majority (794) were united to the church of Christ. Amongst these households there were 56 highly-favoured families, with an aggregate grown-up membership of 249 individuals, where all were hopefully pious. On the other hand, out of the 1290 only 17 had become dissipated, and most of these had broken down whilst away from home.’’’^
In order to make your home the preparation for heaven, the first thing is to strengthen that cord of love by which you ought to hold your child, even as our heavenly Father holds his children. That love is yours already — an upleaping, uplooking affection, if you do not * Barnes on Isaiah lix. 21.
THE FATHERLAND. ii
destroy its tenderness by perpetual rebuffs, if you do not forfeit reverence by being yourself unworthy of it. “Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath;” be not always scolding, reproving, punishing; ‘’ but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Take advantage of their affection for yourself, and use it as the appointed medium for drawing them into the love of God. When the soft iron is in the electric circuit it grows magnetic, and not only clings itself, but keeps lesser and kindred masses clinging: so when the soul is in the right relation to the living God, it acquires a strong induction — a mighty power of attracting others in the same direction. If your conduct is consistent — if your life goes by God’s rules — power from on high will attend the occasional word or the special effort. Long lectures and formal advices are of small avail; but should there occur some solemnising season — a time of deepened spiritual earnestness — a time when your own soul is melted by the love of Christ — a time when your boy himself is brought to unwonted tenderness, by sickness or sorrow, or a departure from home; — if at such a season you should speak to him fully, affectionately, seriously, like the last charge of David to Solomon, like Israel’s farewell to his sons, a peculiar power and pathos will attend the words, and will secure the preservation of a father’s legacy.
Meanwhile, the precept is plain, the duty clear. Train up the child in the way he should go. If he is not to go in the way of low pastime and coarse indulgence, point him to higher joys; open to him the well-spring of knowledge; try to ascertain and develope a turn for some ennobling pursuit, or create a taste for the treasures bequeathed by genius. If he is not to go in the way of sinners — if you would preserve him from the temptations of idleness and the vacuity of an aimless existence — train him up in some craft or calling; let him go forth into society fit to do, and to do well, some portion or other of that work of which the world has need, and which makes so sweet the bread and so pleasant the rest of the labourer. If he is not to go in the way that leadeth to destruction, make it plain that you would rather see him good than great; and, yourself in the fear of God all the day, train him up in the way of simplicity and godly sincerity. Train him up in frugal tastes and self-denying habits — if possible with a Roman hardihood of frame, and as much as may be with a Spartan disdain of luxury. Train him up in energy and self-reliance, grappling with difficulties, and learning independence by doing things for himself Train him up in manly frankness, that with open face he may meet each friendly overture, — in modesty withal, lest a precocious arrogance repel the wise, lest his own mental growth be stunted by a supercilious priggishness. Train him up in the way of universal good-will and general helpfulness, so that wherever there is a burden to be borne he may lend a hand; so that wherever there is a friendly service to be done he may have an errand; so that gratitude, affection, and the blessing of them that were ready to perish, may surround his goings, and then embalm his memory.
After all, however, there is another influence which goes farther in creating the home. It is mother-love which endears the fatherland, and it is to the cradle that the fairy-line is fastened which even in the far country holds so mysteriously the heart of the wanderer.
When Napoleon, with his army of invasion, lay at Boulogne, an English sailor who had been captured tried to escape in a little raft or skiff which he had patched together with bits of wood and the bark of trees. Hearing of his attempt, the First Consul ordered him to be brought into his presence, and asked if he really meant to cross the Channel in such a crazy contrivance. “Yes, and if you will let me, I am still willing to try.” “You must have a sweetheart whom you are so anxious to revisit.” “No,” said the young man, “I only wish to see my mother, who is old and infirm.” ‘’ And you shall see her,” was the reply, “and take to her this money from me; for she must be a good mother who has such an affectionate son.” And orders were given to send the sailor with a flag of truce on board the first British cruiser which came near enough.”’
Napoleon was always eager to declare his own obligations to his high-spirited and couragecfus mother, the
* The story is told by Alison {French Revolution, ch. lxxxi.), who quotes Las Casas. It has been turned into verse by T. Campbell.
beautiful Letizia Ramolini; but the difficulty would be to find any man of mark who has not made the same avowal.“^^ Of a few biographical works lying near at this moment, v out of six begin to the same tenor. Take an instance or two. The first is Kirby, long the patriarch of English entomology.” To his mother, and to her alone, he did not hesitate to affirm that he was indebted for his taste for natural history.” While still a little child she gave him, as his most precious playthings, shells from an old family cabinet. He was exceedingly attracted by their different shapes and colours, and soon learned to know them every one, and ask for them by their right names; and when a veteran of eighty-four he still showed his friends a little herbarium which with the help of his dear mother he had compiled at nine years of age.f Next comes Goethe. His mother” is one of the pleasantest figures in German literature. Her simple, hearty, joyous, and affectionate nature endeared her to all... She had read most of the best German and Italian authors, had picked up considerable desultory information, and had that * mother- wit’ which so often in women and poets seems to render culture superfluous... To Wolfgang she transmitted her love of story-telling, her animal spirits, her love of everything which bore the stamp of distinctive individuality, and her love of seeing happy faces round
* Perhaps we should except Napoleon’s great rival; see the article on Wellington in the Quarterly Review for July 1866. t Freeman’s Life of the Rev. W. Kirby pp. 17, 18.
her.“”’^ The last is the great critic and grammarian, Thiersch. His mother did not teach him Greek, but out of her Lutheran hymn-book she taught him songs about the Saviour and His dying love. She also taught him kindness to the poor, — a lesson which all through life he practised liberally. On one occasion, whilst a small boy, his mother left him at home with the door locked and the window open. A beggar woman came. There was a French crown on the table, which little Fritz at once handed out to her, bidding her tenderly “Come soon back again.” She was so honest as not to go away till the lady returned, and for restoring the crown was rewarded with cakes and eight good groschen.f
Yes, If you choose, let the foundation be granite, let heart of oak be the roof-tree. Let masculine energy, stern rectitude, unflinching endurance build up the paternal abode; and assign to the head of the house such intelligence, elevation, dignity, as beseem “the father and the priest.” But for the cheerful plenishing, for that warm inner atmosphere In which childhood nestles, and in which good feelings are fostered into life, for those first and most Influential lessons which precede all teachers and tutors, you must look to a kindlier and more pervasive presence; you must think of one who Is more than either housewife or learned lady. With calm, clear eyes, deep Insight, ready sympathy; active, without bustle;
* G. H. Lewes’s Life of Goethe pp. 7, 8.
t Fr. Thiersch’s Leben (1866), vol. i. p. 3.
alert, without over-anxious vigilance; Ignorant perchance of aesthetic rules, yet with subtile touches transforming into a fine picture the home-spun canvas, and with a soft fairy music blending into harmony the noises of the day; apathetic about stocks and shares and far-off millions, but with a keen appreciation of new sovereigns and no disdain for sixpences; a mere formalist, if professing interest In city improvements or parochial reforms, but as touching torn curtains and threadbare carpets much exercised In spirit; sure that the commotions of Europe will all come right, but shedding bitter tears at any outbreak of juvenile waywardness, and praying earnestly, ‘’ Oh, that Ishmael may live before thee!” with small belief in the transcendental philosophy, and allowing that much may be said on both sides, but In the Interpretation of the Ten Commandments positive, unreasoning, absolute; in theology hopelessly confounding the distinctions of the schools, and in an innocent way adopting half the heresies, but drinking direct from the fountain that living water which others prefer chalybeate through the iron pipe or aerated from the filtering-pond, and in a style which Calvin and Grotius might equally envy teaching the little ones the love of the Saviour; — the angel In the house moulds a family for heaven, and by dint of holy example and gentle control her early and most efficacious ministry goes farther than any other to lay the foundations of future excellence, and train up sons and daughters for the Lord Almighty.