The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his covenant, and . . . remember his commandments to do them.—PSA. ciii, 17, 18.

GODLINESS hath the "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." If happiness is to be found on earth, it is only where God's blessing is, and in his favor which is better than life. Them that honor him, he will honor, and they that despise him, shall be lightly esteemed. Unquestionably the highest attainment of human happiness is to be found in conscious acceptance to his favor through Christ, and sanctifying communion with him through the Spirit, and is independent of all the external circumstances that can affect the believer in his pilgrimage through life. Here "Christ is all," and having him, though "having nothing" else, he possesses "all things."

But there are temporal blessings, personal, relative, and social, in the gift of the same gracious hand. And even now, as in the experience of the young monarch of Israel, where great heavenly and spiritual things are sought, very valuable earthly things are often bestowed in their company.

The dearest, best desire of the Christian's heart is to know more of God and to live to his glory. And not a Samuel only, but every member of his family is received as a sacred charge to be nursed for heaven, and dedicated in faith and prayer to the same happy service.

Thus have parents believed and worked, and one by one the reward has come down in the golden cords of heavenly love, to wind their everlasting folds around the heart of each precious child. Angels have been commissioned often to rejoice over that honored household; it is a familiar spot to them, and each time from their happy throng some bright spirit has lingered on the wing, henceforth to minister for another heir of salvation.

Thus and thus it had been in the family whose simple story is sketched in these pages, no solitary instance exaggerated into contrasting prominence, but an inadequate record in every circumstance of things that have been, that are, and will be again. It was emphatically "a Christian family."

"Train up a child the way he should go," had been the rule from the first dawn of intelligence in nursery days; and now they were old they were not departing from it. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge," had been the motto presiding over all intellectual pursuits; and "by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil" had been the moral consequence in life and practice.

And now, though first and chiefly such were the blessings sought, many others followed in rich abundance in their train. Prosperity and honor and respect abroad, peace and love and happiness at home, crowned the consistent lives of God's dear children. There was not a merchant in the town who would have hesitated to receive the son of such a family into his confidence and employment; there was not a housekeeper who would have rejected a servant recommended from that household; and there was no Christian parent who would not gladly have secured for his children a share of the hospitality and friendship of that well-ordered home.

"The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice" is a prophecy that has many a bright fulfillment on this side of the grave; and especially and peculiarly Mr. Latimer was permitted to realize its truth, on an evening subsequent to Philip's return from sea, when, with all he loved best on earth around him, he could adopt the language of the royal psalmist, and say,—

"Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou has brought me hitherto? Therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee . . . and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever."

The sunny presence of the young sailor not only made joyful holiday for hearts and hands while he stayed among them, but there was now the exquisite pleasure of communing together of things that belonged to his and their everlasting peace. And more cheering were his glimpses by faith into the land of promise, than the animated details of big, adventures among places and people of earthy clime and color.

Ernest was there, with his open, intellectual brow, and quiet ways, his father's friend and companion in hours of business, emulating the consistent example before him, and the welcome addition to the happiness of his mother and sisters in hours of recreation at home. And Herbert, still the mother-loving boy, with his young heart delighting in the hope that all he loved were journeying heavenward "hand-in-hand," and giving fair promise that one minister of the everlasting Gospel would yet be found among them.

Agnes and Marion, with two younger sisters, on whom was now being spent the same loving care which had been so successfully lavished on them, completed the family picture. And the parents, themselves scarcely past the prime of life, gazed on it with a deep and holy gratitude, more eloquent in the silent tear that glittered in the mother's eyes, than in any expression that human tongue could utter. Now was the hope which they had pleaded night after night, year after year, by their infant pillows, amply and richly fulfilled. Now was the watchful care, the self-denying patience, the consistent discipline, more than rewarded; and all the tears and fears, and anxieties and trials, were swallowed up and forgotten in an overwhelming sense of blessedness that God himself had given, and in which he too graciously sympathized ever to let man or devil take away.

"Lord, here are we, and the children thou hast given to us," was the anticipating thought, as overleaping the changes and chances that must yet checker the earthly lot of these youthful pilgrims, they seemed to stand together before the great white throne, and to receive the approving command to enter all into "the joy of their Lord."

Several Christian friends joined the domestic party to sympathize and rejoice together. And among them came another grateful parent in the person of Mr. Bingham, who had received back his reformed prodigal to his home. And though there was now no mother to be cheered by his return, her prayers were answered. And if she knew it not then, she would know it with adoring praise throughout the great hereafter.

But among those friends none experienced a warmer interest than Mr. Ashford, Mrs. Latimer's brother, the same who had desired to adopt Philip in his childhood, and who within the last few years had been led to see the path of human duty in the light of Christ's constraining love.

"Marion," he said, as he drew near to his sister's side, "I feel tempted to appropriate to you an angel's salutation to the favored one of old, and to say, 'Blessed art thou among women.'"

"It is true indeed, dear brother," said Marion with a grateful smile; "my cup of blessing is running over."

"I would ask leave to add one little drop, if it be not too poor a thought to mingle with your just thanksgivings. You would not give that boy to me, and you did right; I could not have brought him up as you have done. But I may be allowed to have my own way about his future provision in life; and when he is ready to launch, he shall command as fine a ship of his own as ever sailed from port. It will rejoice my heart to know that wherever his flag may float, it carries with it such a specimen of Protestant Christianity as any nation might be proud to own. I heartily wish the religion of Christ had more such representatives from the homes of our Christian land."

"Thanks, kind brother," said Mr. Latimer; "and we the more gratefully appreciate your generous proposal, in that it is a tribute of approbation to the mother who has for so many years, in prayerful faith and persevering love, presided over the duties and the happiness of one such home. Come here, Philip, and hear your uncle's comment on a Christian mother."

"I don't know what any one else says about her," replied Philip, gazing fondly in his mother's face; "but this I do know, that 'her children rise up and call her blessed,' and next to the favor of God, there is nothing more precious to them than her love."

"And she has 'no greater joy than to hear that her children walk in truth,'" said Mrs. Latimer, as her heart gratefully accepted the sweet and touching tribute.

"I am far from undervaluing the wisdom, authority, and consistent example of a Christian father," said Mr. Ashford. "But I confess to full sympathy with the reply given by a noble-hearted patriot of France to the great emperor's question,—What would preserve to his country the first place among the nations of the earth? The bold, wise answer was,—

"GOOD MOTHERS!"

THE END.